As we turn the page on another year, I will be starting an administrative role in the School of Advertising and Public Relations in the Moody College of Communication at UT Austin.

Beginning next week, I will be the newly appointed Associate Director of our school serving with Dr. Natalie Tindall as our Director. I am excited to take on this challenge and look forward to helping students and faculty with their work in our college despite the many challenges that the pandemic continues to present.

And, here’s to hoping we can cruise through this semester like this …

I have a new publication out with two of my favorite co-authors – Dr. Gary Wilcox and Kristen Sussman – in the Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness. We used a fun dataset containing over 20,000 Facebook ads from a variety of industry verticals to better understand what drives advertising recall in social media environments over time.

Title: More Is (Not Always) Better: A Multi-Year Analysis of Advertising Effects on Ad Recall

Authors: Kristen L. Sussman, Laura F. Bright, and Gary B. Wilcox

Abstract: Using data from 46 businesses and over 21,000 ads, this study provides an analysis of the relationship between advertising spend, engagement and ad recall on Facebook. An initial analysis reveals that advertising spend, and post comments are positively associated with ad recall, while frequency is negatively associated. A second analysis, segmented the data by the advertiser objective of brand awareness, video views or post engagement and reveals additional insight into the relationships between the variables. It is concluded that Facebook offers an effective channel to drive recall, but that advertisers should be careful to avoid ad fatigue. In total, the results provide evidence that Facebook advertising can easily become intrusive, and that brand awareness driven advertising exhibit the most promising relationship with ad recall.

Keywords: engagement, brand communication, social media, recall, ad technology, Facebook advertising, ad fatigue, advertising effects

Full article available here.

I am excited to share that my book chapter co-authored with Dr. Karen Anne Wallach is now available in “An Audience of One: Drive Superior Results by Making the Radical Shift from Mass Marketing to One-to-One Marketing” by Jamie Turner and Chuck Moxley, Sr. The chapter is entitled “How to Turn Consumer Privacy into a Strategic Benefit for Your Brand” and it covers key privacy issues that brands need to consider in their interactions with consumers.

You can find more about the book and authors here.

Excited to have this one done and dusted after many months in the review and revision process! I worked on this with three of our rising PhD stars and it was so much fun to see them in action. The manuscript will be published in the forthcoming special issue of the International Journal of Advertising on “Social Media Influencers and Advertising”.

Title: Why are consumers following social media influencers on Instagram? Exploration of consumers’ motives for following influencers and the role of materialism

Authors: Jung Ah Lee, Sabitha Sudarshan, Kristen L. Sussman, Laura F. Bright, and Matthew S. Eastin

Abstract: Despite the ubiquity of social media influencers (SMIs) and the clear value they hold for marketers, little is understood about the sociopsychological motives that drive consumers to follow them. The current research identified unique consumer motivations for following SMIs on Instagram and examined its association with important consumer behavior outcomes (i.e., trust towards SMIs’ brand-related posts and frequency of purchasing SMI-recommended brands) as well as materialism. Based on survey data, findings revealed four motivations for following influencers on Instagram – authenticity , consumerism , creative inspiration, and envy – which had varying effects on trust and purchase frequency. Additionally, materialism was a significant individual difference variable that was strongly associated with the four motives, some of which served as key mediators underlying materialism’s impact on purchase behavior. Managerial and theoretical implications for marketers and advertisers are discussed as well as suggestions for future research in this burgeoning area.

Full article available here.

I am so happy to finally see this pop-up section in print! The process of co-editing this issue of Journal of Advertising began in Summer 2020 and is now available online here: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ujoa20/current.

It was a learning experience to put together an issue like this and I am thankful for my co-editor, Dr. Hope Jensen Schau, for showing me the ropes. Out of 50 submissions, we accepted 8 excellent manuscripts that showcase the impact that COVID-19 has made on the advertising industry and consumer behavior. Hope and I wrote the introduction that speaks to the overall themes showcased in the issue.