On November 29, 2021, the Marketing Center Münster hosted its second event of the format ‘Marketing Hot Topic’. This time we had the pleasure of welcoming the world's leading brand consultancy Interbrand to discuss the topic Inclusive Design.

Our master student, Madleen Banze, opened the event with an impulse talk with a short summary of the findings from her seminar paper “Social Media Firestorms Through The Eyes of Stigmatized”, the topic she worked on during the IfM seminar “Marketing for a Better World”. Afterwards, Interbrand’s Central & Eastern Europe CEO, Simon Thun, shared practical insights on inclusivity from the brand perspective. Building on both keynotes, a lively and controversial roundtable discussion among the 15 participating students, research assistants and Mr. Thun followed. A variety of aspects were critically examined, including the added value from barrier-free brand experiences, possible motivations why firms get involved in this business case, and its potential consequences for both consumers and firms. We again would like to thank Simon Thun and Thomas Brandl (Marketing Manager, Interbrand) for their time and inspiring insights.

After several students expressed great interest in a regular informal discussion group covering issues outside the curriculum to focus on new marketing trends or social marketing aspects, the MCM initiated the Marketing Hot Topic event format. The Marketing Hot Topic round is planned to become a recurring discussion series which lives from students’ initiative. If you are passionate about a topic that is not covered enough or at all in your studies, please reach out to Felix Lehmkuhle! We do not expect any time-consuming preparation. So, to make the next event happen, which is planned for the beginning of April 2022, we encourage YOU to suggest topics. There is no need to create fancy presentation or organize external speakers. Also, we want to emphasize that we will support you with the organization (room booking etc.). Thus, if you have a topic in mind that you find worth discussing, do not wait to contact us! We are looking forward to your ideas and the next Marketing Hot Topic.