We are quickly approaching the end of the 2024 – 25 academic year and will be sending all of our students off into the world next week at graduation. Looking at my last post, I know it has been a busy year because I have not posted here in quite a while. Over the last year, I have transitioned into the role of Co-Director of the Nelson Center for Brand and Demand Analytics and it has been keeping me occupied with lots of interesting research projects and curriculum development around the concepts of B2B and D2C analytics. I have also been teaching all of my normal courses and trying to have some fun along the way, too!

Here are the major milestones from this past year …

Journal Publications & Book Chapters

• Safaoui, Asma, Laura F. Bright, and Matthew S. Eastin (2025 – In press), “Social Contract Literacy and Consumers: Scale Development through the Advertising Lens,” Journal of Information Policy, Revisions submitted March 28, 2025.
• Sussman, Kristen L., Laura F. Bright, and Gary B. Wilcox (2025 – In press), “Harnessing the Power of Joy: Exploring the Role of Discrete Positive Emotions in Driving Consumer Behavior and Advertising Engagement”, Journal of Digital and Social Media Management, Accepted March 5, 2025.
• Iyer, Pooja, and Laura F. Bright (2025 – forthcoming), “Privacy Regulatory Remedies,” In Encyclopedia of AI in Marketing, Ladhari, R. (Ed.), Springer Nature Publishing. ISBN and Doi TBD.
• Bright, Laura F., Asma Safaoui, and Matthew S. Eastin (2025 – forthcoming), “Privacy Concerns in Digital Public Communications,” In Research Handbook for Public Communication, Matusitz, J. (Ed.), Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. ISBN and Doi TBD.

Conference Presentations and Invited Talks

• Iyer, Pooja, and Laura F. Bright (2025), “I’m In This Industry and I Don’t Know How to Protect My Data”: An Exploration of Advertising Practitioner’s Perceptions and Solutions to Consumer Data Privacy Regulation,” International Conference for Research in Advertising, Rotterdam, Netherlands, June 26 – 28.
• Wilson, Rick T., Therese Roux, and Laura F, Bright (2025), “Persuasion in the Age of AI: The Role of Disclosure in Synthetic Advertising,” International Conference for Research in Advertising, Rotterdam, Netherlands, June 26 – 28.
• Bright, Laura F., and Pooja Iyer (2025), “Navigating a Paradigm Shift: Understanding AI and Big Data Adoption in Advertising and Marketing Agencies,” International Conference on Computer Science and Engineering (Theme – Innovations in AI and Machine Learning),” Copenhagen, Denmark, May 12 – 14.
• “Social Media and Wellbeing”, College of Liberal Arts Faculty Connection Series, UT Austin, April 29, 2025.
• “Health and Wellbeing: Digital Wellbeing for Athletes and How to Deal with Social Media Haters”, UT Athletics Department, March 31, 2025
• Kim, Jeewon, Matthew S. Eastin, and Laura F. Bright (2025), “AI Anxiety and Consumer Experience: Defining Consumer AI Anxiety through Scale Development and Validation,” American Academy of Advertising Annual Conference, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, March 6 – 9, *Best Student Paper Award*.
• Iyer, Pooja, Asma Sifaoui, Matthew S. Eastin, and Laura F. Bright (2024), “”Are You REALLY Sure You Want to Share Your Location?”: Third-Person Effect on Privacy and its Impact on Technology Adoption of Location Sharing on Social Media Platforms”, National Communication Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 21 – 24.
• Bright, Laura F. (2024), “Becoming and Being a Successful Doctoral Student: Conquering Your Coursework,” American Academy of Advertising Graduate Symposium, Virtual, September 19.
• “Digital Wellbeing for Athletes”, UT Athletics Department, Women’s Volleyball and Basketball Orientation, June 11, 2024

Press Mentions

• Torres, Gabriel (2025), “Meet Laura Bright: Taking a Risk,” Canvas Rebel, https://canvasrebel.com/meet-laura-bright-2/, published March 3, 2025.
• Torres, Gabriel (2024), “Daily Inspiration: Meet Laura Bright,” Voyage Austin, https://voyageaustin.com/interview/daily-inspiration-meet-laura-bright, published December 3, 2024.

Courses Taught

• Art and Science of Social Media (graduate)
• Media Management (graduate)
• Script to Screen Commercials (undergraduate and graduate)
• Personal Identity Branding (graduate)

Scott Rice and I also completed our third year of teaching the Script to Screen Commercials course with Matthew McConaughey that features his commercial work with Salesforce. It was another informative semester of reverse-engineering all of the new campaign work for the Salesforce AI tool, Agent Force, and analyzing their transition from a broad-based values driven advertising campaign to a product-focused campaign that relies heavily on humor and the on-screen chemistry between Matthew and Woody Harrelson. We also had a lovely set of student visitors from the Film Akademie in Ludwigsburg, Germany to help round out the class and offer an international perspective. Can’t wait to see what this class offers in the future!

I am quite thrilled to finally see this one in print – my doctoral student, Pooja Iyer, and I have been working on this piece of research since Summer 2022 and it is now officially published in the Journal of Business Research.

Title: Navigating a paradigm shift: Technology and user acceptance of big data and artificial intelligence among advertising and marketing practitioners

Abstract: The advertising and marketing industry is witnessing a paradigm shift with the inclusion of big data and artificial intelligence, expecting practitioners to adapt to this rapidly transforming environment. Utilizing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, a mixed methods approach examines how performance and effort expectancy mediate the psychological factors of anxiety and self-efficacy on behavioral intention to accept and engage with big data and AI systems amongst practitioners. To examine the psychological factors of UTAUT in relation to behavior, this research surveyed 100 mid-level advertising and marketing practitioners and found performance expectancy fully mediated anxiety, and effort expectancy partially mediated self-efficacy on behavioral intention. Qualitative insights identified psychological, social, and organizational factors, including fear of losing jobs, collaboration, motivation, training, social influence, and facilitating factors are critical to technology acceptance. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed as they relate to this ongoing paradigm shift.

The full article is available here.

We will continue working on this topic in the months ahead with a pedagogy focused piece coming soon!

It has been another incredibly busy year on the forty acres at UT – loads of students to teach, lots of research to conduct, and of course many administrative duties that need attention. Hence, I have not had much time to stay updated with my posts here :).

The most exciting thing I was able to participate in at UT this year was the Aspiring Leaders Academy offered through the Provost’s Faculty Development Office. This program was designed to teach aspiring leaders about management frameworks, dealing with the academic environment, handling difficult people and situations, as well as time management and work-life balance. It was an amazing program and I was able to meet 14 new friends in my cohort who provide valuable connections across our vast campus network. We all completed the program and graduated on April 19.

Beyond the leadership academy, here are the research projects that I had the pleasure of publishing with my doctoral students and research partners this year:

Published Journal Articles …

Iyer, Pooja, and Laura F. Bright (2024 – In press), “Navigating a Paradigm Shift: Technology and User Acceptance of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Among Advertising and Marketing Practitioners,” Journal of Business Research, Accepted April 27, 2024.

Alavi, Setareh, Pooja Iyer, and Laura F. Bright (2024 – In press), “Algorithmic Awareness and Advertising: Implications for Consumers and Brands,” Journal of Digital and Social Media Marketing, Accepted March 15, 2024.

Sussman, Kristen, JoAnn Sciarrino, Gary B. Wilcox, and Laura F. Bright (2024 – In press), “Audience Response to Brand Activism: An Alignment Evaluation Framework,” Journal of Brand Strategy, Accepted December 15, 2023.

Published Book Chapter …

Sussman, Kristen, Jiemin Looi, Laura F. Bright, and Gary B. Wilcox (2024), “How Does Fear Drive the News of the Day? Examining Topic Salience During Trump’s Transition of Power,” In The Darker Side of Social Media: Consumer Psychology and Mental Health, Scheinbaum, A.C. (Ed.), London: Routledge/Psychology Press. ISBN: 9781032530680
DOI: 10.4324/9781003410058.

Upcoming Conferences …

Lee, Jihye, Laura F. Bright, Hyunji Kim, and Mikayla Francisco (2024), “Data for good in advertising? A computational analysis of social media advertisements for U.S. public benefits programs,” International Communication Association Annual Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, June 20 – 24.

Fun press mentions …

Saric, Ivana (2023), “Why TikTok retains is popularity, despite users having security concerns,” Axios, https://www.axios.com/2023/07/13/tiktok-popularity-national-security-threat, published July 13, 2023.

Kaur, Anumita, and Maham Javaid (2023), “Download. Scroll. Post. Repeat. New social media apps are exhausting us.”, Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/07/social-media-platforms-threads-twitter-fatigue/, published July 7, 2023.

Moore, Megan (2024), “Matthew McConaughey’s commercial experience landed him a unique teaching gig,” The List, https://www.thelist.com/1493514/matthew-mcconaughey-teaching-commercial-class/, published January 17, 2024.

It will be nice to welcome the Summer this year as it will include lots of transitions to new roles within my department, different research topics to tackle, and a new course to prepare for Summer school.

Off we go!

This whirlwind of a semester has come to a close and Summer vibes are floating through the halls at UT … students are gone, offices are empty, and the hallways are quiet. As we head into Summer hibernation mode, I wanted to share some of the fun projects I have been working on this semester with some fabulous PhD students and colleagues at UT …

Latest Journal Publications …

• Hendricks, Abby, and Laura F. Bright (2023), “Influencer Trends Shift: The Psychological Predictors of Influencer Engagement on Instagram,” Journal of Social Media in Society, Vol 12(1), pgs. TBD.
• Jang, Haneul, Eunjoo Jin, Laura F. Bright, and Gary B. Wilcox (2023), “#Sponsored by a Robot?: How the Human-Likeness of Virtual Influencers Influences Purchase Intentions Toward Sponsored Products,” Journal of AI, Robotics & Workplace Automation, Vol. 2(4), pgs. TBD.
• Sussman, Kristen L., Lindsay Bouchacourt, Laura F. Bright, Gary B. Wilcox, Michael Mackert, Aliza Norwood, and Brandon Altillo (2023), “COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitation on Social Platforms: A Textual Analysis of Social Media Mentions in 2020,” Digital Health, DOI: 10.2196/preprints.29569.
• Sussman, Kristen L., Laura F. Bright, and Gary B. Wilcox (2022), “Impact of Facebook’s automated placements: Advertising outcomes by placement, platform, and device,” Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, DOI: 10.1108/JRIM-10-2021-0265.
• Lim, Hyun Joo, Laura F. Bright, and Gary B. Wilcox (2022), “Is Repetition Really the Key to Success? The Impact of Ad Repetition and The Power of “Likes” on Facebook,” Journal of Interactive Advertising, DOI: 10.1080/15252019.2022.2106327.

Upcoming Conference Presentations …

• Iyer, Pooja, and Laura F. Bright (2023), “Transformation of the Advertising Industry: Big Data and AI make a case for revised Advertising Curriculum,” Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference, Washington D.C., August 7 – 10.
• Alavi, Setareh, and Laura F. Bright (2023), “Navigating the Negative Impact of Algorithmic Mediascapes on Advertising: Exploring the Impact of Social Media Fatigue, Privacy Concerns, and Algorithmic Media Content Awareness on Advertising Avoidance,” International Conference on Research in Advertising, Bordeaux, France, June 29 – July 1.
• Ghosh, Charulata, and Laura F. Bright (2023), “Examining the relationship between consumers’ self-disclosure and digital advertising on Facebook post Cambridge Analytica,” International Conference on Research in Advertising, Bordeaux, France, June 29 – July 1.

Excited to see what the next few months bring with new research projects percolating and making a shift into some emerging topic areas for my first author work. And, you can’t beat a Summer trip to France for an academic conference – off we go!

This semester I have the extremely unique opportunity to co-teach with our UT Minister of Culture, Matthew McConaughey, and another film professor, Scott Rice from Two Shot West Productions here in Austin, Texas. The course does a critical analysis of all of Matthew’s commercial work including Salesforce, Lincoln, and Wild Turkey. There is a great deal of experiential learning happening with in-person visits from the Salesforce creative team, commercial directors, and creative professionals from the advertising and film industries. Students deconstruct the creative process behind each of these brands and then get to learn from the creators themselves about how it all came together for the chosen campaign. The picture below is from a recent class where we interviewed the Salesforce creative team to teach the students about how the commercial for “The March” was created. A wonderful learning experience all around – with special thanks to the student film crew who produced the whole show!

Salesforce Creative Strategy Head, Darren-Brady Harris, joining us for class in February 2023.