From May 28^th until May 31^st 2019, the 48^th EMAC Annual Conference was held in Hamburg, with more than 1,000 scholarly attendants from all over Europe and the world. The conference provides a unique forum for the presentation and discussion of current academic research projects, panel discussions, and special sessions with thought leaders in their respective fields. Scholars from different areas of the MCM took part in all those different activities.

As a kick off-event before the start of the main conference, Kim Kötterheinrich, Agnes Roggentin, and Jonas Schmidt (all IfM) participated in the EMAC doctoral colloquium, which provides selected doctoral students in marketing with an opportunity to discuss their dissertation research with other doctoral students and leading academics. The doctoral students discussed their work in different consumer behavior tracks. Furthermore, Ricarda Schauerte and Dr. Ann-Kristin Kupfer (LMM) were part of a special EMAC pre-event, organized by the DFG research unit “How social media changes marketing”. Here, distinguished scholars from MIT, INSEAD, and Cornell University, among others, discussed the implications of artificial intelligence for marketing.

During the main conference event, MCM scholars presented their research projects, participated in special sessions, were part of panels in special interest groups, and answered to questions in Meet-the-Editor sessions. Professor Thorsten Hennig-Thurau (LMM) and WWU Visiting International Professor Mark Houston (Texas Christian University) organized not one, but two special sessions on “Entertainment Science”. As part of these sessions, Ricarda Schauerte presented her research project on the causal effects of pre-release buzz on movie adoptions, a joint project with Prof. Hennig-Thurau and Dr. Kupfer (all LMM), whereas Professor Raoul Kübler informed the audiences on the effects of product placements within movies on car purchases, a project co-authored by Professor Koen Pauwels (Northeastern University). One highlight of the special sessions was the raffle in which audience members could win copies of Hennig-Thurau and Houston’s “Entertainment Science” book (Springer, 2019).

Moreover, Dr. Mirja Kroschke (IfM) organized with Professor Els Breugelmans and Dr. Marleen Hermans (both at KU Leuven) a special session on the future of the retailing landscape. In this special session, Dr. Kroschke also presented her work on store re-inventions, co-authored by Professor Manfred Krafft (IfM), among others. Further appearances by the MCM included the presentation of Vanessa Steppuhn (IfM) on the effect of ethical labels on customer product perceptions. The work on cross-channel synergies by Professor Lara Lobschat was also presented at the EMAC conference as well as Prof. Kübler and Pauwel’s findings on the role of fake news in the 2016 presidential elections in the US.

Both junior professors of the MCM were also part of a much frequented special interest group on digital marketing, which was organized by Prof. Lobschat with Professor Evert De Haan (University of Frankfurt). Here, scholars discussed future research possibilities with richer data but more (privacy) constrains.

In addition, Professors Thorsten Wiesel (IWM) and Kapil Tuli (Singapore Management University) organized a marketing strategy special-interest-group event on the impact of marketing research on practice. During this event, JM editor Professor Chris Moormann (Duke University) along with other leading scholars, discussed how to ensure high chances of being published in a premier journal and, at the same time, having an impact on practitioners. Also, a special interest group on CRM was organized by Prof. Krafft (IfM) together with Professor Javier Sese (University of Zaragoza). They shed light on how to manage customer experiences in an increasingly digital world, featuring talks by MCM guest professor and Humboldt scholar Wayne Hoyer and Professor Peter C. Verhoef (University of Groningen).

In addition, Prof. Krafft also participated in a Meet-the-Editor session, answering the audience’s questions relating to the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. During the conference’s awards ceremony, LMM scholars Nele Hansen, Dr. Ann-Kristin Kupfer, together with Prof. Hennig-Thurau (all LMM) received the IJRM’s Best Paper Award (see our previous news release here).

The overall conference experience was completed with various social events, offering the scholars the opportunity to interact with other academics on a more informal basis, discuss research projects with co-authors, and simply enjoy the vibrant community of 1000+ international experts.