Marcos Malagris on Evidence-Based Marketing
In a talk with Bruno Gimenes, Malagris discusses his transition from Coca-Cola to System1 and applying science to marketing.
Marcos Malagris explores how psychology and empirical data shape modern marketing, tracing the shift from digital-only tactics to mass communication. He highlights the hidden risks of pausing ad spend and the critical balance between short-term conversion and long-term brand building.
Marcos Malagris, General Manager LATAM at System1, joined Bruno Gimenes on Marketing - The Podcast to discuss his career journey and the practical application of behavioral science in strategic communication decisions.
In the video above, Malagris explains how his academic background in marketing and psychology, combined with six years in marketing at Coca-Cola and agency experience, shaped his view on advertising effectiveness grounded in empirical data.
From Digital Euphoria to Mass Market Complexity
Early in his career around 2009 and 2010, Malagris experienced the rapid rise of social media and digital marketing across agencies and startups—a period dominated by the belief that online measurement would replace traditional media. His perspective shifted significantly during his tenure at Coca-Cola, managing mass-penetration brands.
"I think that was the first time my mind was blown, a real turning point: I wasn't just working with digital anymore; I was working with a massive brand, multiple massive brands, investing around 4% of global revenue in advertising," Malagris notes. He emphasizes the necessity of a broad media mix: "Digital alone isn't enough. You need a comprehensive channel mix—digital, out-of-home, TV."
Evidence-Based Psychology Applied to Business
Seeking deeper insights beyond isolated metrics, Malagris pursued undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology. He draws a direct parallel between the methodological challenges of psychology and empirical practices in corporate marketing.
According to Malagris, "in the end, it is all about human beings." He explains: "Hard sciences are straightforward—building a bridge is a plus b, anyone can do the math, joking aside. But solving human problems, changing human behavior, resolving structural issues in interacting groups involving incentives, punishments, memory, and attention—there are no simple recipes for that."
He argues that advertising in Brazil often relies on improvisation and intuition, overlooking meta-analyses and controlled studies. For Malagris, evidence-based practices serve to identify consistent patterns of effectiveness without stifling creativity.
The Airplane Engine Effect and Defending Market Leadership
Addressing why established brands must continue advertising, Malagris uses a classic industry metaphor: "Advertising is like an airplane engine: if you turn it off, you can stay airborne for a while, but eventually the descent begins."
Malagris points to longitudinal studies from organizations like WARC and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute on what happens when brands cut or reduce ad spend. He notes that market leaders with high brand equity take longer to feel the contraction, but market share erosion inevitably materializes over time.
Once a brand reaches the top of its category, ad spend primarily serves to defend against competitor advances rather than continuously accelerate new customer acquisition. Malagris points out that many executives mistake this stabilization for a loss of campaign effectiveness.
The Performance-Only Trap and Balancing Time Horizons
Pressure for continuous immediate growth often pushes advertisers toward conversion-only strategies. Malagris cites Les Binet and Peter Field's seminal work, The Long and the Short of It, to highlight the dangers of this approach.
According to the research, relying exclusively on performance media yields temporary sales spikes that decline over time if sustained brand building is neglected. This creates a vicious cycle requiring ever-increasing budgets to maintain the same baseline commercial volume.
Metaphors, Biases, and Message Retention
The discussion also covers cognitive psychology applied to persuasion and brand recall, referencing Daniel Kahneman's concepts in Thinking, Fast and Slow. Malagris highlights that the brain processes narratives and analogies far more easily than raw analytical data, using emotion as a retention shortcut.
He stresses that presenting raw figures is rarely enough to persuade decision-makers or consumers without framing them within clear analogies aligned with each stakeholder's incentives.
Brand Consistency, Familiarity Bias, and the 80/20 Rule
On building distinctive brand assets, Malagris shares findings from research conducted by System1 alongside the UK's Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA). The study tracked 80 brands over five years, evaluating a consistency index based on 11 criteria, such as agency tenure and the sustained use of jingles, characters, and visual formats.
Brands with higher consistency scores demonstrated superior performance across brand metrics and financial outcomes. This stems from familiarity bias: the human brain filters out daily sensory overload and prioritizes familiar cues, thereby reducing cognitive load.
For product innovation and reformulation, Malagris outlines a balance observed in System1 testing: "Generally, innovations that succeed in the market maintain about 80% familiarity and 20% novelty." Radical breaks from established assets—such as the infamous Tropicana packaging redesign—create friction in buying habits and lead to sales losses.