Right before Christmas, University of Münster’s Marketing Center had the pleasure of hosting P.K. Kannan (University of Maryland), a leading marketing scholar and an expert in applying modeling, econometrics, machine learning, and AI methods to substantive issues in marketing. In addition to personal meetings with MCM’s faculty and PhD candidates, P.K. Kannan presented his latest research on how so-called large language models (LLMs) are powerful tools to explain, predict, and optimize customer journeys. Using complex journeys, large data and examples from healthcare and hospitality, Professor Kannan provided evidence for when and why LLMs are superior to traditional approaches. The audience of 20+ attendants discussed both methodological and substantive issues of this timely and thought-provoking research.

P.K. Kannan’s schedule was very tight with meetings from early morning to late in the evening. As a coincidence, he visited on the day of the Chair of Marketing Management’s Christmas Party and joined this group, even bringing his own gift to a “secret Santa” gift exchange. Obviously, our guest both enjoyed the nice atmosphere at MCM, the city of Münster, and the intellectual exchanges with colleagues and young scholars. So we hope that we will be able to have PK visiting Münster and our Marketing Center again very soon.