SBP 219: The Sharp Cut - How Advertising Really Works

What if almost everything we've been taught about advertising is built on a sales model from 1904?

In this Sharp Cut, we unpack six of marketing's most persistent myths—from "digital has no waste" to "last-click attribution tells us what works"—before rebuilding a simpler, evidence-based explanation of how advertising actually works.

Rather than relying on theory, we challenge these ideas using our own careers, practical examples, and decades of marketing science from Byron Sharp, Les Binet, James Hurman, Orlando Wood and others.

In this episode

• Why digital isn't actually waste-free
• Why targeting isn't enough
• Why advertising isn't sales
• Why creative matters more than many marketers believe
• Why personalization has been oversold
• Why ROAS isn't telling the full story
• Why advertising is better understood as planting and harvesting

If you've ever struggled to explain marketing to your CFO—or even to yourself—this episode is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome to Sharp Cut

00:15 Why Most Companies Misunderstand Advertising

02:13 Myth #1: Digital Has No Waste

06:36 Myth #2: Target High-Intent Audiences

09:36 Myth #3: Advertising Is Sales Done Over Media

11:03 Myth #4: Creative Is Just Decoration

12:34 Myth #5: Personalization Is The Future

14:29 Myth #6: Last-Click Attribution Tells Us What Works

17:10 How Advertising Actually Works

18:04 Why We're Still Using a Sales Model from 1904

19:55 Advertising Is a Weak Force

20:47 The Two Jobs of Advertising

21:39 Plant vs. Harvest: A Better Mental Model

22:04 The McCain Case Study

23:59 Why Most Companies Still Think Like Salespeople

25:12 Becoming Experts in Our Own Trade

26:20 Les Binet's One-Slide Explanation

27:29 Final Thoughts: Start Planting

Supporting Links:

Binkley, M., & Douros, V. (Hosts). (n.d.). What marketers still get wrong with Prof. Byron Sharp (No. 215) [Audio podcast episode]. The Sleeping Barber Podcast.

Hurman, J. (2026). Future demand. https://futuredemand.com

Iwamoto, A. (2024). The origin of AIDA: Who invented and formulated the AIDA model? Japan Marketing History Review, 3(2), 150-166. https://doi.org/10.51102/jmhr.3.2_53

Mulroney, R. (2024). McCain: When the chips are down, margins matter. How a focus on long-term emotional brand-building reduced price elasticity and increased profits for McCain [IPA Effectiveness Awards case study]. WARC. https://www.warc.com/content/article/mccain-when-the-chips-are-down-margins-matter-how-a-focus-on-long-term-emotional-brand-building-reduced-price-elasticity-and-increased-profits-for-mccain/156769

WARC. (2026). The multiplier playbook: The CMO's guide to integrating brand and performance. WARC.

Foundational sources (optional, for show notes)

Binet, L., & Field, P. (2013). The long and the short of it: Balancing short and long-term marketing strategies. Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

Sharp, B. (2010). How brands grow: What marketers don't know. Oxford University Press.

To confirm before air: Hurman subtitle and publisher; the exact platform and date of Binet's How Advertising Really Works video (candidate: the Cannes Lions Advertising 101 course); the publication date of SBP episode 215; and a direct URL for the WARC Multiplier Playbook (produced with Analytic Partners, BERA.ai, Prophet, System1 and the ANA).