Anyone who hears Jenni Romaniuk speak immediately notices that her vision is at odds with many persistent marketing intuitions. Where brands and agencies are often obsessed with innovation, differentiation and standing out, she advocates restraint, discipline and respect for how the human brain actually works. Her well-known adage "only change your assets when you really have to" may sound like a challenge, but in reality it is a concise summary of decades of empirical research.

According to Jenni, change in marketing is rarely the result of a well-founded diagnosis. More often than not, it is a reflex. When sales figures drop, a new campaign follows. When attention seems to be waning, the logo is changed. When the organisation feels it is stagnating, a rebranding takes place. "Marketing has a strong tendency to confuse action with progress," she says. The feeling of doing something (think: visible, tangible, measurable) is addictive. It is no coincidence that Jennie compares the effect of price promotions to that of cocaine: the immediate spike in figures gives the impression that the intervention is working, while the structural damage often only becomes apparent later.

Mental availability

This urge for action clashes head-on with what Jenni Romaniuk believes brands really need in order to grow: stability in consumers' memories. Her work is based on the principle of mental availability, the idea that brands must above all ensure that they are easily recalled in purchasing situations. This is not achieved by constantly telling new stories, but by reinforcing existing memory structures. Research has shown time and again that brands grow not because they are different, but because they are easier to remember.

According to Jenni, this mental availability rests on three pillars: reach, branding and message. Reach simply means being present in as many minds as possible. Small-scale activations – however creative or appealing they may be – cannot bring about a fundamental shift in a . "Small initiatives with limited reach cannot move mountains." Every pound and every hour invested in them also has an opportunity cost: they can no longer be used for activities with a more sustainable effect.

Distinctive brand elements

Branding is all about the consistent use of distinctive brand elements. Logos, colours, shapes, sounds and characters are not decorations, but tools. Jenni Romaniuk likes to compare them to a toolbox: you don't build it to admire it, but to use it. That's where things often go wrong. Brands invest years in developing recognisable assets, only to minimise, modify or replace them because they feel 'boring' to internal teams.

However, research shows the opposite to be true. Consumers almost always prefer the familiar over the new. This became painfully clear in studies on logo updates. While marketers expect that modernisation will be received at least neutrally, the opposite turns out to be true. Consumers systematically prefer the old, familiar logo. Not out of nostalgia, but because it leads them to the brand more quickly and with less cognitive effort. "Change rarely makes things better," says Jenni. "Sometimes it just makes things more difficult."

Messaging

The third pillar, messaging, is perhaps the most underestimated, she says. Many marketers overestimate what they can 'convey' in a single campaign. They confuse what they put in their copy with what actually stays in the recipient's mind. Jenni Romaniuk challenges professionals to ask one simple question with every advertisement: what is this message trying to change in my memory, and will that be useful when I buy this product category?

This exercise often leads to uncomfortable conclusions. Too many advertisements leave nothing behind that can be used later. They entertain, surprise or impress, but do not build memory structures that are activated in purchasing situations. The problem becomes acute when campaigns pursue multiple intended messages. Five messages in thirty seconds demand too much not only from the consumer, but also from the brain. Because learning takes effort, even when it comes to small memory updates.

Intellectual humility

Jenni Romaniuk therefore advocates intellectual humility. Brands constantly demand the attention of people who are already structurally overstimulated. This realisation should lead to sharper choices, not more complex communication, she says. "Attention is scarce and must be used carefully," she emphasises.

Jenni also advocates nuance when it comes to consistency in a debate that is often reduced to a black-and-white narrative. Consistency does not mean rigidity. A brand must remain recognisable in order to strengthen memory, but that does not rule out creativity. On the contrary. Those who have built up strong assets can use them in countless ways without undermining them. Jenni considers McDonald's a textbook example: a simple yellow M that is creatively applied as a road, arch, light or abstract symbol, without ever losing its recognisability.

The real problem arises when brands start to see the asset itself as the problem, when in reality it is a lack of imagination in its use. By constantly introducing new variants, shades or 'premium versions', brands create mental competition with themselves. The result is not a richer brand, but a more diffuse memory image.

Not a goal but a means

Her message to agencies is at least as sharp as that to advertisers. Creativity should not be defined as coming up with something new. Agencies should start from existing assets and demonstrate how they can be used in new ways. New slogans, characters or identities only make sense when there is a demonstrable problem that cannot be solved with the existing arsenal. Innovation is not an end in itself, but a means to an end.

Jenni Romaniuk also critically dismantles the marketing dogma of differentiation. If she could eliminate one misconception in marketing, it would be the obsessive quest to make a meaningful difference. According to her, this line of thinking has wasted countless resources. Brands do not compete in separate bubbles, but in shared memory structures. Category entry points are, by definition, shared by multiple brands. Success therefore lies not in exclusivity, but in stronger mental anchoring.

This idea clashes with the classic pursuit of being the 'first choice'. Romaniuk points out that consumers can easily recall multiple brands. It is enough to be present in that mental shortlist. Sometimes it is even better not to be the first, but the most suitable option at the moment of choice. Not being retrieved from memory, on the other hand, is fatal.

In an era of artificial intelligence, algorithmic media planning and automated creation, these principles remain as valid as ever, according to Jenni. Technology changes channels and formats, but not the human brain. "We have new technology at our disposal, but we still work with old brains." AI will also increasingly offer options in the future, but people will continue to select on based on recognition, memory and previous experiences. Mental availability therefore remains the decisive factor.

Double jeopardy

It is also this predictability of human behaviour that continues to fascinate Jenni Romaniuk in her research. Not because the world is simple, but because it proves to be consistent in unexpected ways. Laws such as double jeopardy seem intuitive, but they are not. They are tested again and again and confirmed again and again, even in unusual contexts.

For Jenni, marketing research feels like working on the edge of a continuous journey of discovery. Not because everything is new, but because there is still so much to understand. She works with an international, young and energetic research group, sees new generations emerging and remains driven by curiosity. Or as she herself concludes: "There are still so many things we don't know, and that's exactly what makes the profession so fascinating."