The Lucas Critique is a well know argument in economics that challenged many traditional results. The critique suggests that economic agents (here consumers) are forward looking. Consumers adapt their expectations and behavior given the marketers’ actions. Successful promotions tend to train consumers to expect promotions. This can mean the promotions may become less successful going…
Category: Understanding Marketing
Marketing And The Movies
I want to do a long piece on marketing and the movies — the good, the bad and the silly. Today isn’t the day. For now I’ll note that Jason Squire has compiled an extensive review of the movie business in a book. It has a ‘does what it says on the tin’ title of…
Bias And Algorithms
As algorithms play greater and greater roles in our lives a reasonable question is: “are they fair?” The answer is often; “no, not really”. To be clear that doesn’t necessarily mean algorithms are making the world worse. If things were unfair before (and they were) then just knowing that things are unfair now can’t tell…
Artificial Intelligence And Its Challenges
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has thrown up all sorts of questions for business and society. What then of artificial intelligence and its challenges? What To Do With It One of the first problems was recognizing what to do with it. Nowadays we can see AI making considerable impacts on the world but that this would happen…
Two-Part Tariffs and Disneyland
Interesting questions often precipitate (good) academic research. A great question is “why does Disneyland not make you pay for each ride”. This is the setup for Walter Oi’s examination of pricing back in 1971. Oi asks “If you were the owner of Disneyland, should you charge high lump sum admission fees and give the rides…
The Practitioner-Research Divide Beyond Marketing
Neil Anderson and his colleagues have given a lot of thought to the divide between research and practice. They focus on this in Industrial, Work and Organizational (IWO) Psychology. I don’t know much about this discipline. Still, a lot of the problems seem quite familiar. As such, they highlight the practitioner-research divide beyond marketing. In…
Woke-Washing: A Big Deal?
I find the discussions of the role of social purpose in marketing fascinating. Unlike a lot of marketing discussions this can make it into popular debates. Owen Jones, a UK Guardian (left leaning) opinion journalist gave his view on brands and the culture wars. The open question — Woke-Washing: A Big Deal? LGBT Sandwich Jones…
Demonstrating the Financial Impact of Marketing Actions
Paul Magill, Christine Moorman and Nikita Avdiushko raise a major problem in marketing. Demonstrating the Financial Impact of Marketing Actions Critical To Show The Financial Impact of Marketing Actions As the authors say When we asked over 300 marketing leaders in the U.S. to identify the activities they find most challenging, the number one thing…
Academic Life In The 18th Century
As a bit of variety today I will make some notes on academic life in the 18th century. The source is a book on the friendship between two of the great figures of the enlightenment, David Hume and Adam Smith. Dennis Rasmussen outlines their friendship. It is clearly remarkable that such great thinkers were such…
Entertainment Science
Thorsten Hennig-Thurau and Mark Houston published a comprehensive review of research in the entertainment industries. This book, Entertainment Science, gives more attention to movies than music, games and books, mainly for reasons to do with available research. It is still a fascinating look into all these industries and an amazingly comprehensive book. Nobody Knows Anything…
