Podcast Summary: The Marketing Architects – “Nerd Alert: The Power of Priming in Marketing”

Date: January 29, 2026
Host(s): Lena Jasper & Rob Demars
Theme: The overlooked but critical role of “priming” in consumer decisions—how brand exposure before the buying moment dramatically shapes purchase behavior, and how marketers can leverage this to drive better results.

Episode Overview

In this episode, Lena and Rob geek out over a deep dive into new marketing research, exploring the often invisible process of "priming"—the way brand cues influence future buying decisions, sometimes long before shopping even begins. Using recent data from a massive, global purchase journey study, they unpack how most purchase decisions are actually decided well before a consumer actively engages with marketing or seeks out a product, and discuss the implications for media strategy, brand-building, and performance marketing.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Traditional Marketing Models Are Incomplete

(00:53–02:00)

• Lena introduces a white paper titled "How Humans Decide: What Drives Consumer Choice and How Brands Should Respond" by WPP Media and Oxford University.
• The paper expanded the classic model of “right audience, right message, enough attention” and instead highlights three decisive factors:
  • Brand priming: Life’s daily exposures subtly bias us toward some brands
  • Audience receptivity: Some people are simply more open to influence
  • Touchpoint influence: Not all channels/touchpoints are equally impactful

2. The Priming Stage—Decisions Happen Before the Store

(02:10–05:00)

• Priming is when consumers aren’t actively shopping but are absorbing brand and category cues through media, conversations, or in-store visuals, which quietly bias them.
• The active stage is when a need is triggered and shopping begins, which can last seconds (for soda) or months (for cars).
• MEMORABLE QUOTE:
  • “They found 84% of purchases are primed. So people end up buying brands they were already biased towards before they even start shopping, which I feel like we should let that sink in. That's crazy.” – Lena (03:56)
• Across all categories—cars or toothpaste—shoppers usually consider fewer than three brands, typically the ones they already favor.

3. Brand Loyalty and Mental Shortcuts

(01:09–01:35; 05:05–05:22)

• Rob explains his personal loyalty and how even new tech (e.g., Gemini assistant) is only slightly changing that pattern.
  • “Honestly, most of [my choices]...the decision is already made before I open my laptop.” – Rob (01:09)
  • “That initial instinct: I need to buy something. And you go to that semantic shortcut of what are you loyal to? And you start there.” – Rob (05:05)

4. The Reality of Influence: Audience Receptivity

(05:22–07:00)

• On average, 23% of buyers are unreceptive to marketing—they’re nearly impossible to sway when actively shopping, so priming is essential.

• 10% are highly receptive and will be influenced by almost any touchpoint.

  • “I lack all form of self-control and should not be allowed near targeted media because I am just gonna... Yep, I'm gonna buy. I'm very impulsive.” – Rob (06:29)

• Strategic Insight:

  • The hard-to-move group, if primed early, is less likely to be captured by competitors later. Trying to reach unreceptive consumers only during the active stage is “vanishingly” ineffective.

5. Not All Touchpoints Are Equal

(07:00–08:45)

• Picking the right touchpoints matters: choosing the “best” four channels versus four random ones doubles your influence (from 20% to 47%).
• Owned, shared, and earned touchpoints (like word of mouth and reviews) are about 3x more effective for “primed” consumers than paid media alone at the purchase stage.
  • Word of mouth: 48% relative influence
  • Reviews: 36%
  • Email & online ads: 17%
  • Outdoor: 12%
  • Radio/podcasts: 6%
• MEMORABLE QUOTE:
  • “They help turn bias into actual purchase. So things like word of mouth and reviews top the list.” – Lena (08:20)

6. Practical Marketing Moves

(08:45–10:10)

• To outperform “average” results, marketers must:
  • Prioritize long-term brand priming—especially via brand-building channels like TV.
  • Design for category-specific receptivity—balance priming vs. conversion spends based on how influenceable your audience is in each category.
  • Integrate owned, shared, earned, & paid (OSEP) touchpoints. Don’t rely on paid alone; build influence through multiple channel types.
  • “If most purchases are decided before your customer starts shopping, then this brand building isn't just a nice to have, it's essential.” – Lena (09:15)

7. Rob GPT Analogy: The Courtroom Drama

(09:10–09:40)

• Rob: “Think of consumer choice like a courtroom drama. By the time the trial starts, the jury has already heard months of gossip… That’s brand priming. Closing arguments and last minute evidence? That’s your performance media. If you spend all your time perfecting the closing speech but ignore the months of priming, you’re trying to win a case the jury quietly decided ages ago.”
• Lena: “We forget about the importance of priming in general in marketing. I think we get so right into...the funnel. But priming's use in the long game...may not pay off right away, but it's going to pay off.”

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “My enthusiasm is writing checks my judgment cannot cash, Lena.” – Rob, joking about his eagerness for marketing nerdiness (00:35)
• “84% of purchases are primed...In most categories, shoppers will consider fewer than three brands...” – Lena (03:56)
• “Performance marketing is often just helping them confirm the choice they already want to make. It's not creating brand preference from scratch.” – Lena (05:22)
• “Channels, they're all interchangeable, as long as the reach is there—that's not a thing.” – Lena (08:00)
• "If you spend all your time perfecting the closing speech but ignore the months of priming, you're trying to win a case the jury quietly decided ages ago." – Rob (09:27)

Final Takeaways

• The vast majority of purchase decisions arise from subconscious, long-term priming—not quick-response marketing or clever conversion tactics.
• Marketers should lean into brand-building for priming, use touchpoints wisely, understand their audience’s influenceability, and strategically integrate paid, owned, shared, and earned channels.
• If you skip investing in priming, you’re letting the verdict on your brand be delivered by default, long before you ever get to make your big argument.

Recommended For:
Anyone in marketing, brand management, or media planning who wants evidence-based insights on why “brand awareness” pays off, and how to stop misplacing credit on last-click channels.

(Find the research paper and further resources linked in the episode notes.)