Sigma
Winter 2015 MMR Newsletter
Coca-Cola Center for Marketing Studies
Alumni Update
from Mike Courtney
A HUGE thank you to the corporate (Gold: Burke, M/A/R/C, MMR Research
Associates; Silver: ESOMAR, InSites Consulting and Marketing Workshop) and alumni
sponsors (Rob Arnett, Mike Courtney, Carl Fusco, and Joyce Lizzi), who made the 2014
UGA MMR Anniversary Research Summit possible.
My deepest appreciation for the countless hours of effort put in by Dr. Mason, Jamese
Meyer and the steering committee of Rob Arnett, Carley Metsker, Christina Collepardi,
Win Blair, James Hess, Niels Schillewaert, Stephanie Greene and our MVP Suann Griffin
who literally broke body parts to get things done in time for the event.
They not only lined up 10 fantastic speakers but helped put on an event that kept the
attention of over 150 attendees for a jam packed day of content PLUS two great evening
events.
If you weren’t able to attend OR just want to relive it a little (who doesn’t want more
of Carlos Garcia?), here is a Dropbox link to videos and presentations. Enjoy!
Dropbox with UGA MMR 2014 Speaker Video Files:
www.dropbox.com/sh/gg01e7w9ytv1go9/AABnlNE_WPrse-8zJF3JDKU5a?dl=0
Again, thank you to everyone who made the trip to Athens for the 2014 UGA MMR
Research Summit and helped make it a success. NOTE: If we can ever talk Dr. Mason
into letting us hold another one we’ll be sure to give everyone a bit more notice to better
accommodate work and travel plans.
Regarding the MMRAlumni.com website – we will be changing the role of the site to
be more of a publicly viewable notice board with links to UGA/MMR related events and
info. It was originally planned to be a private, members only social site for discussions but
more conversations are happening on the UGA MMR LinkedIn site, and most of us seem
to keep our LinkedIn contact info relatively up to date. Have a job to post for MMR eyes
only? Use the LinkedIn site. Have an event or link that is MMR related but not limited
to MMR eyeballs? Feel free to use either LinkedIn or the mmralumni site.
Meanwhile - we are planning to organize some informal MMR Alumni happy hour
meetups at various events throughout 2015.
• The next event will be the upcoming “The Quirks Event” conference in the NYC
area on Feb 23/24.
• Another will be the IIeX2015 North America conference in the ATL area, June
15-17
If you are attending either of these events OR will be in the area please ping Mike@
AperioInsights.com for details on exact time and location.
Please let us know if you have ideas for future UGA MMR meetups!
From the Director
The class of 2015 has been busy –
both in and out of class. The theme for
this class might very
well be ‘Beyond the
Classroom.’ In the
first two semesters
students participated
in two industry conferences in Atlanta,
several ‘immersion’
days in Athens,
and the Research
Mason
Summit in Athens
in November to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the UGA
MMR program. These events, along with
the Altria sponsored seminar series, illustrate the strong ties the program has with
the market research community and consumer insights industry.
IIEX NORTH AMERICA 2014
The 2014 Insight Innovation Exchange
North America was held June 16-18
in Atlanta. The event drew over 650
professionals from client organizations,
technology innovators, market insights
suppliers and start-up companies. The
entire MMR class along with some of
the faculty were in attendance – with the
MMR’s working the registration desk,
handling microphones during Q&A, and
helping out where needed. A very big
thanks to Lenny Murphy for including
the students in this event. It was a great
opportunity to attend presentations on the
latest trends and to meet so many in the
industry in person.
continued on page 4
Class of 2015
EMILY BESSE
Emily graduated
Summa Cum Laude
from Radford
University with a
Bachelor in Business
Administration
degree in Marketing
and a Bachelor
Besse
of Science degree
in Media Studies concentrated in
Advertising. Following graduation, Emily
worked at Choice Hotels International in
Rockville, MD as part of the marketing
research team. Her responsibilities included, questionnaire design, online survey
programming, ad tracking of promotions,
analysis and interpretation of data using
statistical software (i.e. SPSS, DKSA), generating reports with key findings, presenting to internal clients, and even participating in a usability study for a new product.
ALLY BURTON
Ally graduated Phi
Beta Kappa and
Summa Cum Laude
from the University
of Arkansas with
a Bachelor of
Arts degree in
Psychology and a
Burton
minor in Spanish.
As an undergraduate, she gained research
experience in multiple research labs.
These included a social psychology, clinical psychology, and a consumer behavior
lab. Ally is the first author on a publication in an undergraduate research journal
and has co-authored two papers that are
under review in top psychology journals.
She has also co-presented a paper with
her father (holder of an endowed chair
in marketing), and presented her honors
thesis at a national psychology conference.
She has lived for short periods of time in
both Italy and Spain, and has traveled to
Morocco, India, and throughout much of
Europe.
2 • MMR Newsletter
KATHERINE
CHENEY
Katie recently
graduated Summa
Cum Laude from
Clemson University
with a Bachelor
of Science degree
in Marketing,
Cheney
including a
Sports Marketing concentration. Katie
also has a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Political Science with a minor in Business
Administration. Her family relocated several times, but settled in Fort Mill, South
Carolina about ten years ago. While at
Clemson University, she was a member
of Kappa Delta Sorority and participated
in variety of creative inquiry research
projects. Katie is especially interested in
researching the effectiveness of sponsorship, particularly through major league
sports as a means of marketing communication.
CORI DEUTSCH
Cori graduated
Summa Cum Laude
from Vanderbilt
University with
a Bachelor of
Arts degree in
Psychology and a
minor in Corporate
Deutsch
Strategy. During
her undergraduate years she worked for an
educational technology startup business,
LiveSchool, where she researched target
markets, created marketing and training content, and developed and analyzed
marketing campaigns. While at Vanderbilt,
Cori was President and an executive
board member of Alpha Delta Pi, actively
involved with tutoring and mentoring
Nashville youth through the Vanderbilt
After-School Program, and participated in
the Honors Scholars Program.
CHARLES FARR
Charlie graduated Summa Cum Laude
from Mercer University in 2014 with
majors in Marketing
and Economics and
a minor in Statistics.
As an undergraduate, Charlie published a paper that
examined the impact
that star ratings
had on predicting
Farr
sales for products.
Charlie worked for the student admissions
team and was awarded the Tour Guide of
the Year Award for 2012. Additionally,
Charlie interned at Chick-fil-A’s corporate
office during the summer of 2013 and
completed two marketing research projects that were both qualitative and quantitative. Charlie also wrestled at Mercer
University and earned All-American honors three times, placing as high as fourth
in the national tournament.
XIANGMENG
(GISELLE) GE
Giselle graduated
Summa Cum Laude
from the University
of Georgia in 2013
with a Bachelor
of Business
Administration
Ge
degree in Marketing
and a minor in Statistics. During her
undergraduate years, she gained research
experience through numerous marketing research positions and class projects
in UGA. In the summer of 2012, as a
research assistant, Giselle had a chance to
participate in an internal auditing of the
National Bureau of Statistics in Baoding,
China. During the project, she collected
and processed primary data and oversaw
reporting duties from subordinate local
authorities. After graduation, Giselle was
employed by a Georgia company, Athens
Home Organizer, as a marketing coordinator. At AHO, she was responsible for
survey designs, data collection, and data
analysis. Giselle enjoys spending free time
volunteering in local charity activities and
organizations.
Winter 2015
KATHERYN
KNARR
Katheryn graduated
Summa Cum Laude
from Piedmont
College with a
Bachelor of Arts
degree in Business
Administration with
Knarr
a concentration in
Marketing, and a second Bachelor of Arts
degree in History. While at Piedmont, she
was a four-year starter on the women’s
volleyball team, a member of student government, and the President of the Debate
Team. During her senior year, Katheryn
founded and served as the President of the
American Marketing Association Chapter.
She also gained research experience by
working as a marketing research intern
for Superior Research in Atlanta, and as a
marketing & communications intern for
the Georgia Conservancy.
CATHERINE
KNOTTS
Born and raised in
Cumming, Georgia,
Catherine “Cat”
Knotts graduated
Summa Cum Laude
from Clemson
University in 2013
Knotts
with a Bachelor
of Science degree in both Marketing
and Management. After graduation, she
returned to the Atlanta area to work as an
account manager/technical recruiter for
an information technology staffing firm
before deciding to return to school to earn
a Masters of Marketing Research degree.
During her time at Clemson University,
Cat also interned at the BI-LO Center in
Greenville, SC as the marketing, group
sales, and premium services intern. In this
internship she was responsible for grassroots marketing, promotional efforts, and
market research in order to better reach
each individual events’ target market.
ANNALISE LEVANDOSKI
Annalise graduated Cum Laude from the
University of Georgia in May 2014 with
a Bachelor of Business Administration
degree in Marketing, a minor in Spanish,
and an emphasis in digital marketing.
While an undergrad, Annalise held mulWinter 2015
tiple leadership positions as a member
of Sigma Kappa
Sorority including Vice President
of Finance and
Vice President of
Membership. While
at UGA, she gained
Levandoski
marketing research
experience through coursework and
various projects and she is very excited to
continue her education in a field that she
has grown so passionate about.
REEBA MATHAI
Originally from
India, Reeba
received a Post
Graduate diploma
in Management
with distinction from Loyola
Institute of Business
Mathai
Administration.
During her graduate studies, Reeba
interned with ICICI Bank where she
researched and documented the customer
satisfaction and retention levels among the
corporate clients of the bank. After graduating, Reeba worked with Citibank N.A.
in a relationship management role that
exposed her to grass root marketing in the
areas of customer experience enhancement
and consumer centric sales. She chose to
pursue her growing interest in marketing
by transitioning into business development
and accepting a position with Huston’s
Mergers & Acquisitions in Atlanta. There
she took on the challenges of researching
business prospects, networking, negotiating deals and increasing the company’s visibility in the internet space. She has more
than five years of cross cultural experience
in the United States and India in the areas
of relationship management, business
development and internet marketing. After
working in a variety of broad marketing
capacities, Reeba found her calling in marketing research. Upon graduation from
the MMR Program, she looks forward to
combining her skills with her passion for
marketing in a marketing research and
analytics career.
KATELYNN MENDRALA
Katelynn graduated from the University of
Georgia, receiving a
Bachelor of Business
Administration
degree with a dual
major in Marketing
and Management
and a minor in
Child and Family
Development. Since
Mendrala
her completion of
the program, she has worked in Orlando,
FL and Charleston, SC in various sales
capacities, advancing from intern to coordinator to account executive. Katelynn
practiced market research within these
sales roles to understand her potential and
actualized clients. She also had the opportunity to do various qualitative research
studies with a travel consultancy, Global
Escapes, prior to drafting the firm’s first
marketing strategy plan.
SARAH MITCHELL
Sarah graduated Cum Laude
in May 2014 from
the University
of Alabama with
a Bachelor of
Marketing degree
and a minor in
Mitchell
Italian. Her degree
also holds the University Honors and
International Honors distinctions. She was
awarded the Faculty Excellence Award in
Economics and the Delchamps Endowed
Scholarship of Marketing. Sarah also studied abroad in Florence, Italy, focusing
on language and culture and in Oxford,
England, studying literature and history.
As a result of her study abroad experiences, Sarah has developed a real interest
in how different cultures affect consumer behavior and branding. During her
senior year, she worked for Atlas College
Marketing Group, Inc. where she helped
to brand new products of companies such
as Sally Hansen and Spanx to students on
campus through product demonstrations
and social media.
ANDREW OLSON
Andrew graduated Cum Laude with a
Bachelor of Applied Science in Psychology
degree and a Bachelor of Business
continued on page 5
MMR Newsletter • 3
2014 MMR Anniversary Research Summit
Topic
Speaker
Welcome/Opening Remarks
Dr. Charlotte Mason
Speed, Accuracy, and a Single Version of the Truth —
How Technology is Changing Research
Erin Matts
Chief Marketing Officer, Annalect
Superman & Avatars — the Promise of a Better World
David Sackman
CEO, Lieberman Research Worldwide
ESOMAR 2014 Global Market Research Report
Dr. Niels Schillewaert
Managing Partner, InSites Consulting
Gathering Market Data through Mobile Gameplay
Joe Marks
Co-Founder, Upfront Analytics
How MROCs Can Uncover Deeper Insights through
Long-term Relationship Building
Lisa Courtade
Executive Director - Global Market Research Excellence, Merck & Co.
Clarke De Pastino
Vice President Engagement, Ipsos Social Media Exchange (SMX)
Measuring Motivational Response in Complex Categories
John Whitaker
Vice President, Market & Consumer Insight
Lowe’s Home Improvement
From Ricedough to GoPro —
Technology Applications in Research
Ashley Shomaker
President & CEO, U30 Group, Inc.
Trends in Acculturation — How Shifts Among Multi-Cultural,
Millennial and LGBT Consumers are Changing Research
Carlos E. Garcia
Senior Vice President Multicultural, GfK
Make Your Stakeholders Smarter — Moving Beyond the
Dashboard and Into Configurable Insights.
Tom Kelly
Director, Insights & Analytics, AOL
Cultural Forces — Reshaping Business, Repositioning Market
Research
Tom LaForge
Global Director, Human & Cultural Trends
The Coca Cola Company
FROM THE DIRECTOR
continued from 1
MMRS ACCEPT THE ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE
Julie Haydu (MMR ’09) and her colleagues at Directions
Research challenged the MMR class to the ALS Ice Bucket
Challenge. The challenge was meet one sunny afternoon on
Herty Field (see picture on page 7) and the full video can be seen
at http://youtu.be/PWbt2edJfWQ.
ESOMAR B2B FORUM 2014
In October, several MMRs were volunteers at ESOMAR’s first
B2B Research Forum which was held in Atlanta. Topics spanned
social media engagement, cross-cultural research, innovation, legal
considerations, and return on customer experience – all focused
on the B2B domain.
IMMERSION DAYS
In September Bruce Olson, a partner with MMR Research
Associates, returned to UGA for an all-day workshop to offer
students valuable, real-world advice on where new researchers need to take the marketing research industry. In October
4 • MMR Newsletter
InSites Consulting’s Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Niels
Schillewaert returned for another one-day workshop focusing on
online research communities and social media.
Student Team Projects
This year’s students are at work on four different team projects.
The Coca-Cola team is working with Marcus Cunha to investigate what leads to successful Super Bowl advertising. Rich Fox
is working with the Anheuser-Busch team to investigate young
Millennials’ usage of, and attitudes regarding, alcoholic beverages.
The Eli Lilly team, with faculty advisor John Hulland, is exploring the future landscape for treating diabetes. Candice Hollenbeck
and Jennifer Osbon are co-advisors for the Merck team which is
investigating information seeking for contraceptive products by
Millennials.
Brief summaries of the projects will be given at the Spring
Advisory Board meeting scheduled for April 28.
Winter 2015
ADVISORY BOARD
CLASS OF 2015
continued from 3
Administration in
Marketing degree
from the University
of Minnesota
Duluth. Andrew
worked as a research
assistant in the
psychology department, and was a
Olson
tutor for business
courses while attending. He also was a
test instructor for a new study group for
general psychology through the tutoring
department. During his time at UMD,
Andrew also worked on a consulting
team for Cook Building Center in Cook,
Minnesota. This team was tasked with
developing and subsequently developed
an integrated marketing communications
plan for Cook Building Center.
GLENNA (MARTI)
RICHMILLER
Marti graduated
Magna Cum Laude
from the University
of New Orleans
with a Bachelor
of Science degree
in Marketing
Richmiller
and a concentration in Sales in May, 2014. During her
undergraduate years, Marti received top
honors at the Innovate UNO Research,
Scholarship, and Creativity Showcase
and presented her winning research at
the University of Louisiana – Lafayette
Academic Summit. She also received the
Irwin Brown Top Graduating Marketing
Senior Award, the UNO Women’s
Club Outstanding Woman Graduate in
the College of Business Administration
Award, and UNO Student Athlete of the
Year Award. Marti interned with three
firms: ‘stache Media, a marketing department of SONY Music; Party Planners
West, Inc., a company contracted by the
National Football League to plan and execute all Superbowl activities in February
2013; and the UNO Department of
Athletics Marketing Department.
Winter 2015
MICHAEL
SAVERINE
A native Texan,
Michael graduate
Magna Cum Laude
from the University
of Arizona with a
Bachelor of Arts in
History and Political
Saverine
Science degree.
While attending university, Michael investigated the applicability of works of military strategy to modern business, interned
as a research assistant for a nonprofit
organization, and worked on independent
research with a professor at the Naval War
College. While in school he was admitted to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.
After graduating, Michael started PMI
Strategic Analysis, a research consultancy.
During his time running the company, he
proposed, designed, and executed a number of marketing and operational research
projects for a local chain of restaurants.
These projects were aimed at expediting
service and expanding the client’s customer base. In his spare time Michael enjoys
playing chess and climbing mountains,
and would like to try doing both simultaneously someday.
KAITLYN
STEWART
Kaitlyn, though a
native of Maryland,
graduated Cum
Laude from
Clemson University
with a Bachelor of
Science degree in
Stewart
Marketing with a
minor in Psychology. She gained international experience through a study abroad
semester in Florence, Italy. Throughout
her undergraduate career, Kaitlyn was
employed with both The SK&A Group
and Erickson Living at Riderwood Village
as a marketing intern. She gained research
experience through these internships as
well as through separate projects and
courses at both Clemson University and
her school in Florence.
The Advisory Board is comprised of recognized leaders in marketing research from a
broad cross-section of client and supplier
firms. Board members provide strategic and
curricular guidance to the program, share
their experiences including new methodologies and practices via the Altria Executive
Seminar Series, and provide placement
opportunities for students.
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Altria
Anheuser-Busch
BBDO
Bellomy Research
Burke, Inc.
CASRO
Consumer Insights
Directions Research, Inc.
dunnhumbyUSA
Eli Lilly and Company
InSites Consulting
Johnson & Johnson Vision Care
JPMorgan Chase
Kimberly-Clark
Lynx Research Consulting
M/A/R/C
McKinsey & Company
Merck & Co., Inc.
Millward Brown
MMR Research Associates, Inc.
PepsiCo
The Coca-Cola Company
The Marketing Workshop
ADVISORY BOARD STEERING
COMMITTEE
Board Chair: Rob Arnett
Past Chair: Jeff Miller
Chair-elect: pending
Co-Chairs of Corporate Outreach
Committee: Niels Schillewaert and Lisa
Courtade
Co-Chairs of Student Skills Committee:
David Sackin and Leslie Schall
Chair of Alumni Engagement
Committee: Mike Courtney
MMR Director: Charlotte Mason
MMR Graduate Coordinator: Rich Fox
MMR Students of the Year (ex officio):
Kevin Smith (MMR ’14) and Leah Root
(MMR ’13)
MMR Newsletter • 5
2014 MMR Anniversary Research Summit
1
1
3
4
5
6 • MMR Newsletter
2
6
Winter 2015
1.
2.
8
Ashley Shomaker, U30 Group, Inc.
Tom LaForge, The Coca-Cola
Company
3. Niels Schillewaert, InSites Consulting
4. Carlos Garcia, GfK (left) and Mike
Courtney, Alumni President (right) at
Creature Comforts opening reception
5. Chris Miller (MMR ’91) and Betsy
Sutherland (MMR ’88)
6. Joe Marks, Upfront Analytics
7. Carlos Garcia, GfK
8. Research Summit session
9. Buffet lunch
10. John Whitaker, Lowe’s Home
Improvement
11. Erin Matts, Annalect
7
9
10
11
2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Winter 2015
MMR Newsletter • 7
Alumni Corner
2012
Ryan Kantor accepted a new job in Atlanta with GeorgiaPacific Professional. He also reports that some of the
class of 2012 gathered in Athens over the Labor Day
weekend for a mini-reunion.
2009
Cole & Kristi Heyer welcomed their son, Holden Christopher Heyer, on August 23, 2014.
2003
Latrice (Cockett) Abanyie reports a year of changes: In
the summer of 2013, she celebrated 10 years at BristolMyers Squibb (BMS) and was promoted to Director of
Worldwide Immuno-Oncology Market Research. She
welcomed a second baby boy into her family on August
4, 2013 (just 3 days after her 5-year wedding anniversary).
And she purchased her first single-family home in October
of 2013.
1999
Andrea (Tuer) Widener and her husband, Kurt, welcomed
their son, William Grant, on September 25. William joins
big sister Charlotte, age 2. Andrea is a Lead Analyst at
Market Strategies International, where she has worked
since 2000.
1995
Jeff Jamer received the Market Researcher of the Year
Award from the PMRG (Pharmaceutical Market Research
Group). Criteria for the award include demonstrated leadership, business impact, research innovation and commitment to healthcare market research.
1994
munications industry. She reports that there are 4 MMR
grads in the team of just 7!
1992
Mary Darden Tarczynski is proud to report Ditto Labs,
the innovative photo analytics start up she joined in early
2014, was recently named “Research Entrepreneur of the
Year” by CASRO. As image-centric social conversations
continue to grow, computer vision uncovers what was
previously a data blind spot for marketers. Mary continues
to enjoy life with her family in Northern California and connecting with MMR Alums at conferences and via LinkedIn.
Lisa Courtade and Merck colleague Marjorie Reedy have
been recognized by RBDR as recipients of the Client
Innovation Award for championing innovation in marketing research. IPSOS OTX recognized this client team for
pushing their organization, internal business partners,
research agencies and the next generation of researchers
to leverage innovation to deliver business insights beyond
the obvious. In the words of Jill Wiltfong of IPSOS OTX,
“They challenge us all to be better researchers.”
1988
Betsy Sutherland joins Directions Research, Inc. with
over 25 years of experience, most recently at M/A/R/C
Research as Executive Vice President/General Manager
East Division. In her new role, Betsy
will focus on key accounts, as well
as leverage her experience to help
expand business in new areas. She
is responsible for building strategic
partnerships, managing strategic and
tactical research engagements, and
helping to effectively communicate
the results to clients.
Wendy Rosen has recently changed roles joining Cox
Communications as Senior Manager, Consumer Insights
and is excited to learn about the fast changing telecom-
Master of Marketing Research
Ben C. Ayers, Dean
Charlotte Mason, Director, MMR
Richard Fox, Graduate Coordinator, MMR
Jamese Meyer, Program Coordinator, MMR
8 • MMR Newsletter
The University of Georgia
Terry College of Business, Brooks Hall, Athens, Georgia
(706) 542-0426
terry.uga.edu/mmr
Winter 2015