PhD research topics that I am supervising

I have recently received a number of e-mail inquiries from people asking whether I would be available to supervise their PhD studies. The answer is that I could take on one, maybe two new students. However, if we are going to work together for 3-4 years, we need to have research interests in common. Most … Continue reading PhD research topics that I am supervising

Why is Unilever having second thoughts about advertising on Facebook?

Unilever’s chief marketing officer, Keith Weed, has said that the company might stop advertising on Facebook and other online platforms. This announcement goes against the trend in advertisement spend, as more and more companies are looking at online platforms as a cost-effective way of communicating with their customers. Online social networks (OSNs) – like Facebook … Continue reading Why is Unilever having second thoughts about advertising on Facebook?

New Year’s resolution for marketers

Want to be a better marketer in 2017? Here is the one key thing to do: Choose one customer segment to focus your marketing efforts on. The problem that I usually come across, when advising companies, is that they do not have a suitable target customer. Often, they try to sell to everyone. … Continue reading New Year’s resolution for marketers

Consumer segments vs. tribes, and what it means for marketing strategy

In recent (or not so recent years) we have seen the rise of individualism, and the loss of traditional forms of social coherence such as family values, or geographical location. In its place, we have seen the emergence of alternative social arrangements and sub-cultures. For marketers, this social change has led to the popularisation … Continue reading Consumer segments vs. tribes, and what it means for marketing strategy

A great marketing lesson an unlikely place: drug dealing

Sometimes, good (marketing) lessons come from bad places. For instance, the dark web gives us great lessons about branding, reputation and social proof. And here is another one. It is an interview with an ex-drug dealer, Coss Marte, for the Gimlet Media's podcast Start-up. The interview gives us an amazing insight into: Segmentation – There … Continue reading A great marketing lesson an unlikely place: drug dealing

New paper: Segmentation practices in the age of the social customer

I am delighted to let you know that the paper ‘Segmentation practices in the age of the social customer’, which I co-authored with Moira Clark and Paul Fennemore, has been published in the Journal of Strategic Marketing. It is available here. The paper reports on research that we conducted into whether traditional segmentation approaches are … Continue reading New paper: Segmentation practices in the age of the social customer

So this is how Facebook sees me

You know what they say: on Facebook, you are not the customer; you are the product. Facebook collects our identity and activity (updates, likes and shares) information. This information is processed by Facebook’s algorithms, and churns out targets for advertisers to promote their products to. Naturally, Facebook keeps their algorithms secret. Though, much has been … Continue reading So this is how Facebook sees me