Nerd Alert: When to change your messaging

Summary

The Marketing Architects Podcast

Episode: Nerd Alert: When to Change Your Messaging

Date: April 9, 2026
Hosts: Elena Jasper (Head of Marketing) & Rob Demars (Chief Product Architect of Misfits and Machines)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Elena and Rob dive into a major marketing debate: When should brands change their messaging versus refreshing their creative execution? They analyze a recent academic study, "Should you change your ad, messaging or execution? It depends on brand age," using real research from the U.S. minivan market (1990–2003). This discussion unpacks how the optimal approach to messaging depends on whether your brand is young or mature, and offers practical advice for marketers based on psychology and economics research.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining the Dilemma: Message vs. Execution

• [00:45 - 01:58]

  • Messaging: What you say—benefits, claims, positioning.
  • Execution: How you say it—imagery, tone, actors, style.
  • Marketers are split: Should you stick to your core message when results wane, or adapt to changing consumer preferences?

  “Advertising has these two core components. The message, which is what you say... and then your execution. This is how you’re saying it—imagery, tone, layout, style, actors, etc.”
  —Elena [00:58]

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2. The Study: Minivans and Market Evolution

• [02:58 - 04:40]
  • The study analyzed the U.S. minivan category as consumer priorities shifted—comfort, cost, safety, performance.
  • Two measures tracked:
    • Market consistency: How closely messaging aligns with current consumer values.
    • Changes in execution: How often brands refresh their creative execution.

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3. Brand Age Matters

Younger Brands: Flexibility is Key

• [04:40 - 05:04]

  • For young brands, frequently updating core messaging to match evolving consumer values drives significant sales growth.
  • Young brands pose less risk in changing message—they don’t yet have fixed consumer associations.

  “You have less risk involved in reframing a brand that is not known as well. So you’re still in the early stage of brand development where you can probably try big things until you find the story that really connects.”
  —Rob [04:40]

Mature Brands: Consistency Builds Equity

• [05:04 - 06:45]

  • For mature brands, staying consistent with core messaging but refreshing creative execution is best.
  • Changing the core message for older brands can confuse consumers and reduce sales.
  • Refreshing how you present the consistent message helps fight ad wear-out and keeps mature brands engaging.

  “For older brands, the formula is clear. Keep the promise, change the packaging. For younger brands, the message itself is still flexible.”
  —Elena [05:59]

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4. Reconciling the Two Camps

• [06:45 - 07:25]
  • The classic debate isn’t a matter of “stay consistent” or “adapt”—it’s conditional on brand age.
  • “Stay consistent” is right for mature brands; “adapt to the market” suits younger brands.

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5. Memorable Analogy: “19 vs. 48 Years Old”

• [06:46 - 07:25]

  • Elena offers a vivid analogy:
    • At 19, changing your self-presentation is expected—you're still finding yourself.
    • At 48, sudden and dramatic change triggers concern and skepticism.
  • Applied to brands:
    • Young brands can still tinker and evolve.
    • Mature brands erode trust if they change core identity overnight.

  “Imagine someone who’s 48... if they suddenly reinvent everything overnight—new name, new voice, new hair—people don’t say bold evolution. They say, 'Are you okay?' And that’s the study. Young brands can change who they are. Mature brands shouldn’t. They should just change their outfit.”
  —Elena [06:47]

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6. Real-World Brand Examples

• [07:34 - 08:47]

  • Coca-Cola: Maintains iconic message and assets (e.g., logo, red color), but stays fresh with new ad executions.
  • Budweiser: Uses Clydesdales every year—same core, new creative twist.
  • Creativity often thrives within constraints, not from a blank slate.

  “True creativity is working within those types of boxes... To work within a certain framework, that’s where the real creativity happens.”
  —Rob [08:35]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the compounded equity of brand assets:

  “You have a lot of compounded interest in those assets. So leverage that... in new and fun and surprising ways before you go, 'Holy smokes, we need to completely clean slate this.'"
  —Rob [01:22]

• On reconciling the debate:

  “The ‘stay consistent’ camp is right if you’re a mature brand. And the ‘adapt with the market’ camp is right for younger brands.”
  —Elena [05:59]

• Super Bowl Reference:

  “[Guy] changed his look and everyone’s like, is he okay?”
  —Rob [07:25]

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Key Takeaways

• For Young Brands:

  • Don’t be afraid to shift your core message to align with what the market values most; you’re still defining your identity.

• For Mature Brands:

  • Stick to your core promise and positioning, but regularly refresh how you present it to keep your audience engaged.
  • Radical message changes should be reserved for dire situations.

• The “Outfit” Principle:

  • Young brands can change “who they are.”
  • Mature brands should “change their outfit,” not their core identity.

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Recommended Actions for Marketers

• Evaluate your brand’s stage before revising your marketing strategy.
• If you’re early-stage: prioritize evolving your messaging as consumer preferences change.
• If you’re established: focus on creative ways to present your consistent, well-known message.
• Remember: consistency builds trust—but creative execution keeps attention.

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For updates and connections, find the hosts on LinkedIn and leave a review if you enjoyed the episode!

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End of Summary

Transcript

[A]

Nerd alert. Learning is important, right?

[B]

Yes, exactly. On a bunch of nerds.

[A]

Nerd alert.

[B]

Right. Marketing Architects. Hello and welcome to the Marketing Architects, a research first podcast dedicated to answering your toughest marketing questions. I'm Elena Jasper. I run the marketing team here at Marketing Architects. And I'm joined by my co host, Rob demars, the chief product architect of misfits and machines.

[A]

Hello, Elena.

[B]

Hello. We're back with your weekly Nerd alert. Every week I'll take a deep dive into academic marketing research and translate its complex ideas into simple and understandable language for Rob, and of course, for all of you. Are you ready to nerd out, Rob?

[A]

I've peer reviewed my own opinions this morning and none of them are statistically significant. So let's go.

[B]

So we're ready.

[A]

We are ready.

[B]

This week I read a study titled should you change your ad, messaging or execution? It depends on brand age. This is by Cohen, Powells, Bharat Sud, Robert Fisher, Percy and Tia and was published in the Journal of Business Research. Now, as that title suggests, it kind of gives away part of this episode, but this paper is about answering this debate of whether brands should stick to their messaging or switch it up with the times. But before I dive in, Rob, say you're running a 20 year old brand, running your campaigns and sales start to look soft. What's your first instinct? Is it to change the message or maybe, you know, just refresh the creative?

[A]

I guess it depends what you mean by softening. If results are just softening, the worst thing you could do is throw in the towel and start fresh with a brand new campaign. First, leverage the same distinctive assets that you've been using. You have a lot of compounded interest in those assets. So leverage that and leverage the equity that you've already created in new and fun and surprising ways. Before you go, holy smokes, we need to completely clean slate this.

[B]

Yeah, you're very aligned to the study, very statistically significant of you, I would say.

[A]

All right, all right.

[B]

So getting into it. But first I want to define some terms. So advertising has these two core components. The message, which is what you say. Things like your benefits, your claims, your positioning, and then your execution. This is how you're saying it. The imagery, tone, layout, style, actors, et cetera. Everything in the creative and historically marketing advice has been split. If things aren't going well, someone. One side will say, stay consistent, don't change your core message. The other side will say, adapt, evolve. Keep up with changing consumer preferences. And this study is measuring how changing your message versus Changing your execution impacts real sales over time and how that can change then as a brand ages. So, Rob, which camp do you tend to lean towards more like updating the execution or updating the message?

[A]

Do as I say and not as I do. I really love shiny objects and I am guilty of going, let's go try something big, different and new and smarter people than me in the room have calmed me down and focused more on the commitment to the long term play. So, yeah, I definitely fall into the camp of let's stick with the core message strategy. Let's make sure that we're building upon that and resist the temptation to clean sheet it.

[B]

Yeah. This study would say that both sides of this argument can be right, but not at the same time. Classic marketing study. So this study, they use the US minivan category from 1990 to 2003. Why minivans? While the category is fast evolving, consumer preferences have shifted over time from comfort to cost of ownership to safety to performance over time. So it's a category that has changed. So brands that sell minivans have had to decide, do we change what we emphasize or just refresh how we present it? So do we change our message or change our execution? And the researchers built two key measures. The first was something they called market consistency that measured how closely a brand's message aligns with what consumers currently value. So if safety is increasingly becoming more important and your ads emphasize that, they'd say you're aligned. If you're still talking about comfort while everyone else cares more about performance, then obviously you're not. The second measure was changes in advertising execution. That's just what it sounds like. How often a brand changes the visuals, tone, layout, and overall presentation style of their ads. And then they layered in brand age. And that was interesting because for younger brands, changing the message to match evolving consumer preferences significantly increased sales. The Rob, is that surprising to you? Does that feel intuitive that a younger brand would have better results from changing their message?

[A]

I guess if you look at the inverse of it, you have less risk involved in reframing a brand that is not known as well. So you're still in that early stage of brand development where you can probably try big things until you find the story that really connects. But then once you find that story, that's when you have to continue to double down and it becomes more dangerous and harder to reframe yourself.

[B]

Yeah, you're spot on. So the researchers say that this is possible because younger brands, they don't have those deeply locked in perceptions yet. So you're right, there's not as much risk of changing things up. Consumers are still forming their opinions about them. So if the market shifts, adapting your message can help. But for mature brands, changing the core message actually reduced sales. So older brands have established positions in our minds. We already know what they stand for. So if a mature brand suddenly pivots, it can create confusion, and that can we can trust. However, mature brands did benefit in the study from changing execution. So refreshing the creative while keeping the same core message boosted sales. That's likely because of something more like wear out. But mature brands, they're not novel anymore. So we need new creative treatments to stay engaged. But as consumers, we don't want the brand's core identity to change. So for older brands, the formula is clear. Keep the promise, change the packaging. For younger brands, the message itself is still flexible. That's where you probably have more freedom to adapt. All right, so to bring this home, if you're managing a younger brand, don't be so afraid to evolve your positioning. Try to align tightly with what consumers are valuing right now, because you're still shaping these mental associations people have with your brand. But if you're running a mature brand, protect your core message, refresh your creative frequently, and fight where with new execution, try to avoid new position unless things are very dire. So this research also reconciles two different schools of thought. The stay consistent camp is right if you're a mature brand. And the adapt with a market camp is right for younger brands. So it's not either or. They found. It's more conditional. All right, this might be one of my favorite Rob GPTs of all time.

[A]

I'm ready.

[B]

This is very funny. Imagine two people. One is 19. Every few months, they change their hair, their clothes, their major, their personality. This probably was me when I was 19. Everyone around them says, makes sense. They're still figuring stuff out. Now imagine someone who's 48. They've built a reputation, a career, a personality people recognize if they suddenly reinvent everything overnight. New name, new voice, new hair. People don't say bold evolution. They say, are you okay? And that's the study. Young brands can change who they are. Mature brands shouldn't. They should just change their outfit. I thought that Rob gpd.

[A]

That is great. So funny and actually poignant with the super bowl ad with Guy, right? Because he changed his look and everyone's like, is he okay?

[B]

What happened? It's actually perfect for how you should think about your brand. Like, if you have a brand that's familiar to people, known. That's why people got so upset when brands like Cracker Barrel, they take away what's familiar. They get very upset. But if you're a brand new breakfast shop down the road could probably afford to change your brand, change your positioning. But yeah, I don't know, I thought that was really interesting. It's like there's a lot of advantages to managing an older brand, but I guess that makes things simpler for you maybe. Like, let's not change unless we absolutely have to. If your brand is established, yeah.

[A]

You're still accountable for growth. And so what do you do?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you look at how do you continue to evolve. But I think great brands have figured out how to do that. Coca Cola stays fresh in their advertising and yet they have some of the most iconic, distinctive assets of any brand in America.

[B]

Even I think Budweiser. And how I'm obsessed again with that commercial from this year that they did. But they're still using the Clydesdales. But every year they're finding like a fresh way to showcase them.

[A]

True creativity is working within those types of boxes. You know, it's easy to just go blue sky, but to work within a certain framework, that's where the real creativity happens.

[B]

Agreed. That's it for this episode of the Marketing Architects. We'd like to thank Taylor de Los Reyes for producing the show. You can connect with us on LinkedIn and if you like the podcast, please leave us a review. Now go forth and build great marketing Marketing Architects.