Field essays on causal AI and marketing science.
Shorter pieces by Dr. Frank Buckler — on specific decisions, methodology critiques, and patterns observed across SUPRA client engagements.
Latest essays
Why 90% of Price Models, MMMs and Driver Analyses Are Wrong
Machine Learning predicts. Causal AI explains. Why most price models, marketing mix models and driver analyses deliver biased results — and how to spot it.
Read essay →The 5% Pattern: Why Growth Is a Chain, Not a Lottery
Only ~5% of ads drive growth. The same 5% shows up in brands and innovations. It's not luck — it's a Success Chain that breaks at the weakest link.
Read essay →The Tenfold Rule: How a "Tiny" Research Mistake Cost Ford $19.5 Billion
Early mistakes multiply tenfold at every stage. Ford's EV bet, built on conventional research, cost $19.5B in 2025. The Tenfold Rule of marketing strategy.
Read essay →Apple Just Raised Prices 26%. Are You Managing Pricing This Professionally?
Apple raised prices 26% — from the top of the premium market. Most brands price on guesswork or flawed methods like Van Westendorp. Here's the professional way.
Read essay →Your Aversion to Getting Technical Costs You Millions
CMOs can't master every technical detail. But if you can't kick the tires on your insights, your strategy is built on sand. Here's what to ask — and why.
Read essay →What a World Cup Betting Pool Taught Me About AI
75 people used AI to bet on the World Cup. The scores couldn't be more different. Two lessons on why AI needs experts — and an end-to-end insights-to-impact chain.
Read essay →How "Good Standard" Research Almost Killed a Product Launch
Van Westendorp for the price, explicit surveys for adoption blockers — all by the book. The book missed the biggest purchase driver. How implicit research saved the launch.
Read essay →Three Growth Challenges Every CEO Faces — Which Is Yours?
Flawed execution, a strategy built on shallow insight, or a plan that outlived its purpose — three growth challenges, three different fixes, and a free AI Diagnostic to find yours.
Read essay →The Right Growth Strategy Can 4x Revenue — Even in a Commoditized Market
Most brands don't fully understand why their customers buy — so their strategy is built on sand. How clarity and insights can 4x revenue in a commodity market.
Read essay →Four Pricing Insights We Would Have Missed With Conjoint
A naming convention lifted demand by 10%. 38% of product value wasn't features at all. Four real pricing insights that conjoint analysis would have missed.
Read essay →Same Thinking, Same Outcome: Why Only 5% Truly Succeed
Only 5% of brands, launches, and creatives truly succeed. The story behind THE TOP 5% — and why copying textbook marketing wisdom guarantees average results.
Read essay →The Perfect-Marketer Paradox: Why Doing Everything Well Kills Growth
Trying to be a perfect marketer produces bad marketing. Why mastery in one high-impact domain beats competence in ten — and how T-Mobile proved it.
Read essay →The Growth Map: Stop Tinkering, Start Prioritizing High-Impact Fields
Most brands tinker with MMMs, digital marketing, and fuzzy segmentation. Science shows it won't create significant growth. The Growth Map shows what will.
Read essay →Ever Sought a Second Opinion From a Doctor? Do It With Your Strategy Too
A €1m MBB growth strategy is only as good as the insights beneath it. Why a low five-figure second-opinion project is the highest-leverage check you can buy.
Read essay →Pricing Is Not a Tactical Discipline — It's a Dynamic Market Game
The market price is not a given — long term, it can be nurtured. Why pricing is a dynamic market game, and how tactical optimization alone leaves the biggest lever untouched.
Read essay →Why Most Segmentations Die in Implementation — And How Causal AI Fixes It
A top consulting firm's segmentation faded out in implementation. Causal AI replaced it with 2 core value segments the organization actually used. Here's why.
Read essay →Segmentation Fails at Activation. Behavioral Triggers Fix It.
Demographic and psychographic clusters look sophisticated but fail at activation. Behavioral triggers plus Causal AI produce segments you can actually use in CRM and sales.
Read essay →5 Red Flags in Your SaaS Pricing (And Probably Beyond)
Most SaaS pricing is guesswork. Five red flags that your price is quietly capping profit and growth — and how causal, validated insights fix each one.
Read essay →€10M in Pricing Decisions Were Left to Key Account Managers
A B2B company let key account managers set €10M in prices. Causal AI turned their uncertainty into confidence — and delivered +8% contribution margin.
Read essay →Most Pricing Discussions Stay at the Surface. Here's What's Missing.
Frameworks, benchmarks, best practices — and still no answer to what happens when you move the price. Why pricing needs causal understanding, not plausibility.
Read essay →The Boutique Hack: How to Challenge Your MBB Consultants Without Firing Them
Everyone complains about their consultants. Nobody fires them. The Boutique Hack: give a specialist boutique one focused task and let the results compete.
Read essay →Awareness and Attention Are Vanity Metrics
Marketing tries to convince the rider while the mustang decides. Why awareness and attention are vanity metrics — and what market research should measure instead.
Read essay →Faster, Easier, Cheaper: The AI Research Trap
At IIEX NA 2026, the Greenbook sign crashed onto its own logo. A perfect metaphor for AI research tools chasing faster, easier, cheaper — instead of truth.
Read essay →Why Market Research Is Broken — And What to Do Instead
The conscious mind doesn't make the decision — it writes the press release. Why traditional market research builds strategy on stories, not behavior, and the Deep Implicit framework that fixes it.
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