Research
Global marketing confronts the digital age
Dec 19, 2012
In March of 2011, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, Atlanta-based insurance giant Aflac Inc. was forced to confront a marketing fiasco with global implications. The voice of their famous Aflac duck, comedian Gilbert Gottfried, had used his Twitter account to make tasteless jokes about the natural disaster that wiped out entire cities on Japan’s northeast coast. The online backlash against Gottfried’s social media outburst – and ultimately Aflac […]More...
Global marketing confronts the digital age: Beedie research
Oct 24, 2012
In March of 2011, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, Atlanta-based insurance giant Aflac Inc. was forced to confront a marketing fiasco with global implications. The voice of their famous Aflac duck, comedian Gilbert Gottfried, had used his Twitter account to make tasteless jokes about the natural disaster that wiped out entire cities on Japan’s northeast coast. The online backlash against Gottfried’s social media outburst – and ultimately Aflac […]More...
Beedie Professor named as Smart Thinker on prestigious Twitter list
Jul 25, 2012
Ian McCarthy, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Technology & Operations Management at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, has been named on Business Insider’s prestigious list “54 Smart Thinkers Everyone Should Follow on Twitter”. The Business Insider website provides commentary and analysis on the top business news stories from around the web. The list identifies the most influential thought leaders in the world currently active on Twitter who are respected in their fields and have […]More...
Engage consumers using social media
Jun 30, 2012
Beedie researchers urge brands to interact authentically with their customers online It isn’t enough for today’s companies to pay lip service to social media when developing successful marketing strategies, according to 2011 research from the Beedie School of Business. Instead, firms need to focus more on increasing two-way engagement through social media channels. This means garnering consumer participation beyond the monetary level, by creating opportunities for them to spend time with a brand or […]More...
Social media? Get serious!
Jun 29, 2012
Understanding social media ecosystem top priority for middle managers. Time-crunched middle managers and dismissive executives should take note: Deferring social media to your organization’s marketers or techies will soon become a relic of the past. At companies large and small, social media is expanding beyond the jurisdiction of the communications, marketing or IT departments. It requires corporate level strategic attention. For that reason, according to Beedie researchers, social media sites — including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn […]More...
Academic award toasts SFU branding research
Apr 28, 2012
New marketing research from SFU professor Leyland Pitt, focused on the relationship between luxury wine branding and social media, has been awarded the Outstanding Paper prize for 2012 by the Emerald Literati Network. The article, entitled “Luxury wine brand visibility in social media: An exploratory study” and published in International Journal of Wine Business Research, garnered the top billing as part of the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2012.More...