{"id":931,"date":"2009-11-06T15:05:42","date_gmt":"2009-11-06T15:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/magazines\/vanderbilt-business\/?p=931"},"modified":"2016-09-07T14:24:44","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T14:24:44","slug":"new-dynamic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/new-dynamic\/","title":{"rendered":"New Dynamic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NewDynamic-art\"<\/p>\n

Like information and technology, marketing is undergoing a continuing revolution. The needs and interests of consumers and corporations are evolving, and the means of informing them about products and services are changing dramatically.<\/p>\n

Owen has met this revolution with one of its own. The school\u2019s marketing department is essentially a new entity, bridging the gap between the quantitative and behavioral, presenting a cutting-edge synthesis to a new generation of students. As those students apply classroom lessons, and as alumni meet the business world\u2019s present-day challenges, this energized Owen team is helping to reinvent marketing in a digital age and bolster the school\u2019s reputation on the national and international scene.<\/p>\n

Guiding Text<\/h2>\n
\"Dawn
Dawn Iacobucci<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If one person could be said to embody the transition from the foundational strengths of 20th century marketing to the new realities of the 21st, it would be Dawn Iacobucci, E. Bronson Ingram Professor in Marketing. Highly awarded for her work at Kellogg and then Wharton, she is a widely regarded expert on networks and quantitative psychological research who has published in the top journals and worked alongside marketing luminaries Philip Kotler and Gil Churchill.<\/p>\n

If there is a guiding text for Owen\u2019s marketing revolution, it may well be her new book, MM: Marketing Management<\/em>. Practical, colorful and highly accessible, it is an introduction that brings nuance and application to the basics, swapping the stodgy for the downright sexy. It is\u2014in layout, design, writing style, even price\u2014the perfect example of what modern marketing can and must be. In taking for granted global business and the digital age, the book is as cutting-edge as her work and as the department\u2019s faculty and direction\u2014both of which she leads with what Dean Bradford calls \u201ca commitment to a shared vision of elevating our standard in the eyes of the university, the academy and the business community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iacobucci says, \u201cOur faculty is comprised of extremely talented marketing people who genuinely care about the student experience. We are devoted to building Owen and taking care of the students. We\u2019re looking to get the word out that, with the people and programs we have in place, our marketing MBA students are among the best anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consumer Behavior<\/h2>\n
\"From<\/a>
From left, Steve Posavac, Jennifer Escalas and Steve Hoeffler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the clearest proofs of Owen\u2019s ability to draw top talent and foster in it both vision and cohesion lies in the behavioral side of its marketing department. The teamwork is epitomized in the Consumer Behavior class taught by Jennifer Escalas, Steve Hoeffler and Steve Posavac, along with Dawn Iacobucci.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsumer behavior is the foundation for managerial judgment in marketing,\u201d Posavac says. \u201cEach of us carved out a quarter of the class in line with our unique specialties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escalas, Associate Professor in Marketing, who runs a company with her husband making and marketing customized swimsuits, is an expert on brands, identification and culture. Hoeffler, Associate Professor in Marketing, has a background in consulting for P&G and IBM, and research interests that include consumer behavior and radically new products. Posavac, E. Bronson Ingram Associate Professor in Marketing, who previously taught and served as Associate Dean at the University of Rochester, cites a long-term interest in \u201chow managers use what we know about people to make better decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The application of their varied research interests to their individual classroom work gives students a broad knowledge of technique and application. Their investment in the Owen community does the rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to know students on a one-to-one basis,\u201d says Hoeffler, \u201cso we can work from what they\u2019re interested in and where they\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the bottom line, Escalas says, \u201cHire the best faculty members you can, teach both the basics and the cutting-edge aspects of the field, give students some immersion in the real world, and you\u2019ll do well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quantitative Approach<\/h2>\n
\"From
From left, Mark Ratchford and Jeff Dotson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jeff Dotson and Mark Ratchford, both Assistant Professors of Marketing, are the department\u2019s young guns on the quantitative side. Dotson says he was drawn by the fact that Owen has an environment where people enjoy working together and get along. Ratchford heard good things about Owen from Steve Posavac, whom he had met while at the University of Rochester.<\/p>\n

Dotson\u2019s work employs statistical techniques in marketing. \u201cCompanies are drowning in data but starving for knowledge,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing able to take information and turn it into actionable insights is a huge challenge, and anyone who does analytical marketing is really in demand now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ratchford\u2019s work \u201chas to do with how people relate to one another with social networks, with the interactions among companies and people,\u201d particularly the way companies form coalitions and achieve synergy in developing products. He is teaching courses on new products and marketing strategy this year.<\/p>\n

Both are pleased with the department\u2019s approach and their roles within it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an amazing group in the sense that everyone is new,\u201d Dotson says. \u201cIt\u2019s really unusual for a marketing department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ratchford adds, \u201cI think even among the quantitative types, the kind of work Jeff and I are doing is a bit unique. My work uses cooperative game theory, which nobody in marketing does. I kind of knew that only places with more of a cutting-edge vision would be interested in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iacobucci agrees on both counts. She describes both as \u201cnice guys who are super-smart,\u201d adding, \u201cSince we\u2019re a small group, it would have been safer just to go traditional, but that would be boring, no?\u201d<\/p>\n

Resume Building<\/h2>\n
\"From
From left, Shashi Shanbhag, Cara Tragseiler, Patrick Phillippi, Phoebe Zhang and Allison Earnhart<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Five Owen marketing students took their classroom knowledge into the business world last semester in a pilot program that brought the immersion concept to the department. Phoebe Zhang, Cara Tragseiler, Shashi Shanbhag, Patrick Phillippi and Allison Earnhart, all MBA candidates for 2010, spent 11 weeks together under Yvonne Martin-Kidd, Executive Director of Marketing & Communications and Adjunct Professor of Marketing. Together they served as a consulting team on a rebranding and marketing project for a worldwide telecommunications software firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably learned more about marketing and brand management from that one project than from any single class I\u2019ll take,\u201d Phillippi says.<\/p>\n

The Brand Group met weekly with Martin-Kidd, who Zhang says, \u201cgave us the tools and great advice, drawing on her marketing background, and then she let us run with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillippi adds, \u201cThe great thing about Owen, is that it\u2019s a small school so you know everyone, but people have worked in all kinds of industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following interviews with senior management, employees and customers, the team made recommendations for everything from logo redesign to improved product bundling. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have asked for a better demonstration of the strength of Owen students,\u201d Shanbhag says, \u201cor our ability to do the job of high-priced consultants.\u201d<\/p>\n

All are excited about the future of such ventures. \u201cThis pilot program was a great addition to the marketing curriculum,\u201d Tragseiler says. \u201cI was excited to see they\u2019re planning to expand the Brand Group into a Capstone project and to add a Brand Week between mods 1 and 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earnhart, who, with her colleagues, represents the face of the department\u2019s continuing revolution, adds, \u201cThe marketing curriculum is definitely taking huge steps forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Investment Opportunities<\/h2>\n
\"From
From left, Gil Fuqua, BA\u201973, MBA\u201975, Dru Anderson, BA\u201980, EMBA\u201989, and Pat Watson, EMBA\u201983<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It may specialize in investor relations, but as a firm in the business of presenting other companies, Corporate Communications Inc. is a hub of strategic marketing. In producing, among other things, quarterly and annual reports for a variety of small- and mid-cap publicly held companies, it makes financial data useful to investors, analysts, the press and public. Doing so draws heavily on what Gil Fuqua calls the cross-training he and fellow Senior Vice Presidents Dru Anderson and Pat Watson received at Owen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the communications business,\u201d Fuqua says, \u201cbut what we do is largely based on a thorough and relatable understanding of a company\u2019s financial picture. Our Owen training in finance and accounting provided the right base of knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always say we are marketing companies as investment opportunities to a Wall Street audience,\u201d Anderson says.<\/p>\n

As in so many firms, theirs is a mixture of business basics and ever-changing technology. \u201cThe information we deliver to the market is the same as it was 25 years ago,\u201d Watson says. \u201cThe real difference is that instead of faxing or mailing it to a couple of hundred people, you\u2019re posting it online to countless people, and it\u2019s almost instantaneous.\u201d<\/p>\n

All have kept a close watch on Owen\u2019s continuing transformation. \u201cI\u2019m very positive about the changes Owen has made in its marketing department,\u201d Fuqua says. \u201cWhat has too often been left out and what Owen is addressing is that once you\u2019ve got the information, how you communicate it is just as important. Owen students learn both skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patients’ Needs<\/h2>\n
\"Jill
Jill Austin,\u00a0MBA\u201988<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The marketing challenges Jill Austin, the Chief Marketing Officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and her team faced with the $64 million rollout of Vanderbilt Health at One Hundred Oaks were both sweeping and intricate. They had to (1) reassure neighbors, (2) form alliances with physicians, the city and merchants, (3) inform the media, and (4) bring patients to 22 planned clinics and additional offices.<\/p>\n

Their playbook contained everything from community meetings to Twitter, reflecting the desire of the VUMC marketing team \u201cto communicate with people in all the ways they want to be communicated with,\u201d Austin says.<\/p>\n

The marketing process has been as much about listening as speaking. \u201cOne of my favorite quotes was from a focus group on our Web site: \u2018Please make this more about us than about you,\u2019 which is so great,\u201d she says. \u201cThat became a philosophy that pervades our work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyril Stewart, the Senior Director of Facility Resource Strategy and Management at VUMC, says, \u201cI think that Jill\u2019s careful crafting of the One Hundred Oaks focus group sessions is what turned the tide on the project.\u201d Austin, however, is quick to share the credit, saying, \u201cWe couldn\u2019t do what we do in marketing if it weren\u2019t for our colleagues in other areas, including news and public affairs, community outreach and physician liaison service. We are all part of the communications channel.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for Austin, the end is clear. \u201cIt\u2019s not about selling us,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s about understanding the needs of our patients, families and neighbors, and then working to best serve those needs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like information and technology, marketing is undergoing a continuing revolution. The needs and interests of consumers and corporations are evolving, and the means of informing them about products and services are changing dramatically. Owen has met this revolution with one of its own. The school\u2019s marketing department is essentially a new entity, bridging the gap […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":369,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-departments","tag-fall2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/369"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8903,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931\/revisions\/8903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}