Sigma
Winter 2014 MMR Newsletter
Coca-Cola Center for Marketing Studies
The Transformation of
Marketing Research
Traditional marketing research is seemingly under pressure like no time in its history.
Many organizations are frustrated with the slow pace, high cost, and questionable value
of our “go-to” research approaches. At the same time we are currently in the midst of
a digital data explosion – behavioral, social, mobile, location, and passive data to name
just a few. Calls to integrate these “Big Data” into a cohesive model are getting louder,
and some are making headway. Indeed, the research landscape is shifting under our feet.
A few years ago, who would have predicted that Google would be in the research business, or that SurveyMonkey would bring DIY to the masses? Until recently, words like
Gamification and Micro-Surveys had no meaning, at least not in the context of marketing
research.
What should research professionals and their organizations do in the wake of this
evolution? Should we throw out our old models and methods and embrace the changes
that are unfolding, or do we try to straddle the old world and this new world, waiting
to see what sticks and what doesn’t? Can these worlds be blended to bring new insights?
What tools should we have in our toolkit today? What skills should we be bringing into
our organizations now to help manage this transformation? Will our own research skills
be obsolete? These questions were the focus of a panel discussion at the Fall 2013 MMR
Advisory Board meeting (see below).
Thanks to Rob Arnett and Lisa Courtade (co-chairs of the Corporate Outreach
Committee) as well as Jeff Miller for lining up an excellent and distinguished panel!
From the Director
In September, I had the opportunity to
participate on a panel at the 2013 CASRO
Annual Conference held in Los Angeles
on ‘Training the Next Generation of
Research Leaders.’
As background, I
shared the following
statistics with the
CASRO audience.
Ours was the first
program – and soon
will celebrate its
35th ‘birthday’. The
Mason
program attracts students from around the country and globe.
Statistics based on the last seven classes of
students show that 91% are from the U.S.
and 9% international. The 91% U.S. students include 28% from Georgia and 63%
non-Georgia. One-third come directly from
their undergraduate studies, 38% have one
to two years of experience, and the remaining 28% have three or more years of work
experience. Upon graduation, 45% have
accepted positions with client firms and 55%
with suppliers.
Program Statistics
Continuing the trend of recent years, placement for the class of 2013 was split between
client and supplier firms. Geographically,
the graduates scattered across the country
including California, Florida, New York,
Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Georgia, Virginia,
and North Carolina.
Placements: Class of 2013
• Affinnova
• Aflac
(From left): Panel Moderator: Rob Arnett, Executive VP, M/A/R/C; Jake King, Senior Vice
President, dunnhumbyUSA; Ajay Gupta, Consumer Insights Senior Practice Expert, McKinsey & Co.; David Sackin, Executive VP Consumer Analytics & Insights, BBDO; Debbie
Beers, Global Director, Kimberly Clark.
continued on page 2
Immersion Day: Beyond Report Writing
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. His direct approach made it clear that
to succeed in marketing research, it is not enough merely to know the methods and
tools, but that a researcher needs to be in the business decision process.
The day was full of practical advice on how marketing researchers can maintain
an edge. Working with clients’ needs in mind was consistently emphasized. More
specifically, he discussed developing two areas, consulting skills and reporting. Students were urged to take a point of view when reporting results as opposed to simply
presenting findings. He advised MMRs to avoid being “the data guy,” and to instead
create value for themselves by conducting research within the context of the business
decision and the value for the client.
Brian Stifel, Senior Director of Research at Cox Communications participated in
the workshop via conference call. He provided valuable insight to the students about
what he looks for from young researchers. He reinforced Bruce’s message in that he
seeks researchers who work efficiently and who maintain the larger business objective in mind. He warned that there are many researchers who become too focused on
methodologies and data, and that the ones who set themselves apart are those who
can provide results that are impactful to business decisions.
The workshop concluded with skills necessary for effective reporting. The students
were given a presentation deck from a real-world project and asked to reduce it down
to only the most relevant and necessary information. The point of the exercise was to
realize that not all findings are relevant to a client’s needs, and that presenting results
in an efficient, easy to understand manner can set a researcher apart. Overall, the
workshop offered students a perspective how they can apply their research skills to
their and their client’s advantage.
Immersion Day: Online Research
Communities and Social Media
InSites Consulting’s Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Niels Schillewaert, conducted a one-day workshop regarding online research communities and social media
for the MMR students and faculty this past Fall. This full immersion day focused on
the trends within social media and worldwide online communities. Niels explained how
marketing research can benefit from the ever expanding digital world and the many
opportunities it presents to researchers. Case studies were presented to demonstrate
these benefits and opportunities, as well as the ongoing shift from traditional research
methods to the use of new media for some studies. Heineken provides one example
of the new media at work. With the help of InSites Consulting, Heineken organized
online communities to share clubbing experiences which helped Heineken to create
the ultimate club event. Niels emphasized the need to encourage engagement when
managing online communities, and how crucial making participation fun is to the ultimate success of such projects.
Students worked together in groups to present their own ideas on the future of
online communities and the evolving relationship with marketing research. The whole
day was interactive and informative, and the MMR class thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet Niels Schillewaert. With the continuing growth of online communities
and social media, there is no doubt that the knowledge and insights Niels shared with
the class will prove valuable in the future.
2 • MMR Newsletter
FROM THE DIRECTOR
continued from 1
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Altria
Anheuser-Busch
Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau
Autotrader.com
Chepp
Digitas
Directions Research
dunnhumbyUSA
Eli Lilly (2)
InsightExpress
Insites Consulting
Ipsos
Kids II
The Marketing Workshop
Millward Brown (2)
NCSU Advanced Analytics program
PepsiCo
Summitry Worldwide
Advisory Board Meeting
As part of the Fall 2013 Advisory Board
meeting, we were very fortunate to have
Professor Brian Wansink, the John S.
Dyson Professor of Marketing at Cornell
University and behavioral economist,
as a keynote speaker (see Changing the
World One Meal at a Time on page 3).
Following lunch, the Board meeting
concluded with a lively panel discussion
on ‘The Transformation of Marketing
Research’
Master of
Marketing Research
Charles B. Knapp, Interim Dean
Charlotte Mason, Director, MMR
Richard Fox, Graduate
Coordinator, MMR
Jamese Meyer, Program
Coordinator, MMR
The University of Georgia
Terry College of Business, Brooks Hall,
Athens, Georgia
(706) 542-0426
www.terry.uga.edu/mmr
Winter 2014
Changing the World One Meal at a Time
Cornell Professor Brian Wansink’s work delivers insights
laced with humor that explains how we eat, why our
choices aren't logical, and what we can do about it.
By Matt Waldman (AB ‘96)
a school lunch room is a garbage can, which is a symbol of how
much work we have to do,” says Wansink, who disagrees with the
typical knee-jerk response of public policy administrators to ban
items like ice cream, chocolate milk, or pizza in school cafeterias
as the solution to the problem. By simply changing the logistics of
a school lunchroom, Wansink generated a dramatic increase in the
consumption of fruits and vegetables without the drops in attendance that typically comes from banning foods.
“We asked the schools to put fruit in a nice bowl under a
nice light and place it near the cash register,” says Wansink about
an experiment he conducted with a district in upstate New York
that was offering grants to the schools that could increase fruit
consumption by 5 percent. Wansink’s simple changes yielded a
100 percent increase in all but one school that tried his approach.
“That one school didn’t have a nice light – just a desk lamp they
got from a supply closet – and they had a 187 percent increase.”
The professor also notes that his research not only helps individuals trying to maintain a healthy weight, but it also aids restaurants seeking a more efficient, cost-effective management of its
resources. Even the military has taken notice; Wansink’s appearance at Terry came on the heels of a consultation at Fort Bragg.
“Brian is one of the few academics in marketing that has
changed the world,” says marketing department head Charlotte
Mason.
Brian Wansink doesn’t have much regard for your palate. The
applied economics and management professor, who heads the
Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, explained as much in
his keynote address at the Fall 2013 Terry Master of Marketing
Research Advisory Board Meeting at the Terry Executive
Education Center in Atlanta. According to Wansink, the names
given to food, its presentation, and its placement in a restaurant
or cafeteria all have a greater impact on what you eat than your
sense of taste.
Wansink, a best-selling author, has demonstrated his point
with an entertaining mix of award-winning research and prankish
humor during appearances on CNN, 60 Minutes, and even Penn
and Teller’s original documentary series on Showtime. During an
episode of ABC’s 20/20, Wansink did such a good job of convincing people that they were evaluating the amount of strawberry
flavor in yogurt that, when he finally came clean and explained
what they were actually eating was plain yogurt mixed with chocolate syrup, they refused to believe him.
Yet, behind the laughs generated from these experiments
are insights that hold tremendous power: When it comes
to eating habits, not only do
people have no idea what they
like to eat, but they also have
no idea why they make the
decisions they do. Wansink,
who earned a Presidential
appointment as Executive
Director of the USA’s Center
for Nutritional Policy and
Promotion (2007-2009), is
taking the work he’s done to
help people change their eating
habits for the better, including the introduction of smaller
“100 calorie packs” to prevent
overeating, the use of taller
glasses in bars to prevent the
over-pouring of alcohol, and
the creation of smarter lunchWansink during his keynote address at the Fall 2013 Terry Master of Marketing Research Advisory
Board Meeting at the Terry Executive Education Center in Atlanta.
room designs.
“The first thing you see in
Winter 2014
MMR Newsletter • 3
Class of 2014
VAN
BLACKWOOD
Van graduated
summa cum Laude
with his Bachelor
in Business
Administration in
Accounting from
Kennesaw State
Blackwood
University. While
at Kennesaw State, he was selected as
the Outstanding Accounting Student
for his graduating class and honored as
a University Scholar. After graduation,
Van decided to continue his education
in his hometown of Atlanta by pursuing and completing a Master of Business
Administration degree at Georgia Tech
with an emphasis in marketing. Van served
as a class officer and honor code representative for his MBA class. Also during
his time at Georgia Tech, Van worked
as a graduate research assistant in the
Enterprise Innovation Institute, serving as
the lead analyst on two technology commercialization projects. His responsibilities
included qualitative and quantitative market research focused on developing strategies for market entry.
CATHERINE
CALLAWAY
Catherine graduated
from the University
of Georgia in May
of 2012 with a
Bachelor in Business
Administration in
Marketing. She
Callaway
is originally from
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina but
has spent the last year in Atlanta, Georgia.
During part of that time, she worked as
a client services intern for Ignition One,
a digital marketing solutions company,
where she assisted both the account team
and the media team with the development
of new and existing client accounts.
CHRISTINA COLLEPARDI
Christina graduated magna cum laude
from the University of Georgia in 2009,
4 • MMR Newsletter
earning a bachelor’s degree in
Psychology and
completing a minor
in Statistics. Desire
to research drove
her undergraduate experiences as
both a Research
Collepardi
Assistant in UGA’s
Psychology department and a Market
Research Analyst Intern with The Myers
Group (TMG), a healthcare market
research firm in Duluth. Shortly after
graduation, she accepted a full-time position with TMG and was named Employee
of the Year for 2012. Christina currently
holds a Senior Research Analyst title in
TMG’s Analytics department and leads
analysis and reporting for a nationally-run
customer satisfaction survey.
CHAD COWN
A Georgia native,
Chad graduated
with honors from
Western Kentucky
University with a
Bachelor Science in
Marketing. During
his undergraduate
Cown
years, Chad competed for Western Kentucky on their swim
team. He worked for Wendy's of Bowling
Green as a social media intern and for the
Bowling Green Kentucky Convention &
Visitors Bureau. He has also gained experience through several research projects.
JOSH DARLING
Originally from
Savannah, Georgia,
Josh graduated
from the University
of Georgia in May
of 2011 with a
Bachelor of Business
Administration
Darling
degree in Marketing.
After graduation, Josh chose to pursue his
growing interest in marketing research by
accepting a position at P.K. Data, a market
research consultancy in Atlanta, Georgia. As
a market research analyst with P.K. Data,
Josh’s main responsibilities have involved
tracking and reporting on the U.S. pool and
spa industry. In doing so, Josh conducted
numerous quantitative (consumer purchase
behavior and brand/product awareness) and
qualitative (brand positioning and consumer
sentiment) research studies and also monitored various leading economic indices for
their attendant effects on the industry.
DERICK
DAVIDSON
An Idaho native,
Derick graduated
with a Bachelor
in Business
Administration
in Marketing and
Management
Davidson
from Idaho State
University. While completing his undergraduate degree, Derick was employed
as a Team Leader for Convergys
Corporation in the Customer Relationship
Management division. Initially part of
a project to test the feasibility of virtual
employees for one of the company’s largest clients, Derick eventually transitioned
from the brick and mortar environment
into the virtual environment onboarding
new employees. During this time Derick
also had the opportunity to experience
marketing research as an assistant for a
professor at Idaho State University as well
as through an independent study course.
Derick recently returned from assisting
one of the company’s sites in the South
Eastern United States and published a case
study on the experience.
Hall
EMILY HALL
Emily graduated cum laude
from Florida State
University with a
Bachelor of Science
in Marketing and a
Bachelor of Arts in
Advertising. During
her undergraduate
Winter 2014
years, she gained primary and secondary
research experience as a group leader for
the Arrowhead Advertising Team, which
represented Florida State at the National
Student Advertising Competition. Emily
also worked as the Consumer Marketing
intern at Country Music Television, as
a student researcher for the Marketing
Institute at Florida State University, and
as the marketing intern for Four Oaks
Community Church.
SARAH KALFON
Sarah graduated summa cum
laude with her
Bachelor in Business
Administration
in Marketing
and International
Business from the
Kalfon
Terry College of
Business at the University of Georgia. As
she moved from Paris, France in 2007, she
decided to add a double minor in French
and Spanish to continue practicing her
language skills. During her undergraduate
college career, Sarah gained experience
at SapientNitro, an interactive marketing
firm in Atlanta, where she was employed
as a Marketing Research and Analysis
intern. Furthermore, she developed leadership skills as she was selected to be the
2012-13 UGA Morningstar-Grinspoon
campus intern as well as through various
study courses and projects.
ISAAC KAUFMAN
Originally from
Raleigh, North
Carolina, Isaac
graduated from the
University of North
Carolina-Chapel
Hill with Bachelor
of Arts degrees in
Kaufman
Psychology and
Political Science in 2012. During his time
there he also earned the UNC Business
Essentials certificate and served as an
ambassador for the Business Essentials
program where he worked with other
ambassadors to craft ways to better market
the program to students. After graduating,
Isaac interned as a junior business analyst
at a railroad IT company called Railinc,
where his responsibilities included industry
Winter 2014
research, data analysis and presentation,
and authorship of the white paper for the
project he was assigned to.
ALLISON
LEFEUVRE
Allie graduated
cum laude with her
Bachelor of Science
degree in both
Economics and
Marketing from
Berry College.
Lefeuvre
During her undergraduate years, Allie worked as the executive editor of the Undergraduate Business
and Economics Research Journal. She also
gained research experience through various research projects, one of which will
be published in the upcoming issue of the
Journal of Sports Economics. In the summers she worked as an intern at Tifosi
Optics, an international sports sunglass
company, completing various marketing
and research related tasks including the
development and distribution of a consumer survey.
KATHERINE
MCCOMB
Katherine graduated
cum laude from
Furman University
with a BA degree
in Psychology.
During her junior
and senior years,
McComb
she worked as a student researcher in the Furman Psychology
Department. Katherine presented her
study on decision making in older adults
at the undergraduate section of the
Southeastern Psychological Association
Conference. Previously, she interned with
CBRE and researched data on commercial lenders for multi-housing real estate.
Katherine looks forward to combining
her love of psychology with the powerful research methodologies learned in the
Masters of Marketing Research Program
at the University of Georgia.
STEPHANIE SCHULTZ
Stephanie graduated magna cum laude
from the University of Georgia in 2012.
She received her Bachelor of Science
degree in psychology with a minor in
political science.
Since graduating,
she has served as a
Community Disaster
Education intern
for the American
Red Cross, gaining
invaluable leadership
and marketing skills.
Schultz
Stephanie has a
broad academic base, with relevant coursework in statistics, marketing research,
and research analysis in psychology. In
addition, she gained research experience
by conducting a psychology research project her senior year. In 2011, Stephanie
studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain with a
focus in globalization and the European
economy.
NISHA SHETH
Nisha graduated
with her Bachelor
of Business
Administration
degree in
Accounting &
Finance from
Georgia State
Sheth
University. Nisha
is originally from Massachusetts, but
moved to Georgia with her family seven
years ago. After graduation, she shifted
temporarily to Mumbai, India. There, she
worked as a Marketing Manager at Décor,
a full service art consultancy and supply
firm. Nisha was responsible for conducting thorough research and analysis of the
market to evaluate dynamic trends within
the hospitality industry and develop innovative ways to market new and existing
products and services. During her tenure
at Décor, Nisha traveled not only within
India, but also to foreign countries such
as Dubai. Most recently, and for a short
period of time, Nisha worked at Arhata
Finsolutions Pvt. Ltd. as Head of Business
Development, communicating new industry advances to prospective clients. Nisha
has returned from traveling throughout
South Asia and the Middle East to pursue
her Master of Marketing Research.
KEVIN SMITH
Kevin graduated from Clemson University
in 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in
Communication Studies and returned to
MMR Newsletter • 5
his hometown of
Charleston, South
Carolina upon
graduation. After
spending a year
gaining marketing
and public relations
experience, Kevin
spent nearly four
Smith
years working as a
research assistant in the Office of Tourism
Analysis at College of Charleston. In this
role, he worked with festivals, attractions,
and hospitality and tourism organizations
in the Charleston area to conduct research
studies on visitor behaviors and trends.
Kevin was responsible for handling client
relations, designing questionnaires, cleaning and analyzing data, preparing reports,
and presenting findings at client and
industry meetings.
SYNTRELL TATE
Syntrell received her
Bachelor of Science
in Marketing from
the University of
Alabama. While
enrolled there, she
gained research
experience through
Tate
courses as well
as through internships with Cumulus
Broadcasting and Aramark. After graduating, she worked as an account representative for C Spire Wireless.
HANNAH
THOMPSON
Hannah graduated
Magna Cum Laude
from the University
of Georgia with a
Bachelor of Arts
in Journalism
and a major in
Thompson
Advertising.
Following graduation, Hannah moved
abroad to Copenhagen, Denmark where
she received a job as a business development manager with MatchOffice, an international broker for executive office suites.
While at MatchOffice, Hannah increased
their client base by 76% in the United
States and by 56% in Canada. As a fluent
Danish speaker, she regularly translated
and edited various website materials from
6 • MMR Newsletter
Danish to English. She also assisted in
developing and launching MatchOffice’s
website for the North American market. While living in Denmark, Hannah
also worked as an intern at the Danish
American Business Forum where she conducted interviews with DABF members,
wrote articles for their online newsletter, helped to plan member events, and
assisted in financial administrative tasks for
the organization. While abroad, Hannah
has traveled extensively in Western Europe
and Scandinavia and, most recently, South
America.
EMMA TORPY
A Georgia native,
Emma also attended
the University of
Georgia for her
undergrad degree,
graduating magna
cum laude in three
Torpy
and a half years
with a dual degree in Advertising and
Psychology. Marketing research was the
obvious combination of these two passions and she was eager to return to her
alma mater for a masters degree. During
an internship with an Atlanta advertising
agency, Emma gained experience in search
engine optimization, website usability
and web-based analytics. Emma also has
experience through both school and work
in secondary research, survey and questionnaire design and interviewing. In the
marketing research field, Emma is interested in qualitative and digital research.
Her outside passions include animals and
classical studies.
CHRISTOPHER
VAUGHAN
Chris started out
his undergraduate
career at the Air
Force Academy,
which he concluded
in 2008 at Emory
University with a
Vaughan
degree in psychology. There he earned the distinction of
summa cum laude for completing a self
directed research project as an honors
thesis. For three years he was a research
assistant in Emory’s department of psychiatry where he managed recruitment
and marketing for numerous pharmaceutical and NIMH studies. Most recently, he
has managed the operations and financial management for the Archdiocese of
Atlanta’s GRACE scholarship program.
SHAWN WICKER
A South Carolina
native, Shawn graduated summa cum
laude from Clemson
University with a
Bachelor of Science
in Marketing
and a minor in
Wicker
Management.
During his undergraduate years, Shawn
was employed by the Clemson University
Athletic Department, conducting a customer satisfaction study of Executive
Suite Holders in Memorial Stadium.
Additionally, he gained research experience through a creative inquiry class that
engaged in the sponsorship sales process
for Mike Wallace, a Nationwide NASCAR
driver. He was responsible for a brand
equity study, attempting to co-brand
Clemson University, NASCAR, and the
United Service Organization.
CAROLYN
WITTENBRAKER
Carolyn joins the
MMR program
from Passenger, a
start-up technology
company with offices in New York and
Wittenbraker
Los Angeles that
creates and manages online brand communities. Her responsibilities there included
community management, research questionnaire design, extracting and analyzing
project data and formulating marketing
insights for leading brands in the athletic
apparel, car rental and beer categories
among others. Carolyn graduated magna
cum laude from Franklin & Marshall
College with a dual major in Psychology
and Latin. At F&M, Carolyn worked as a
lab assistant for a consumer psychologist
and also did independent research on the
impact of website atmospherics on perception of brand personality.
Winter 2014
Remembering “Bud” Phillips
Cecil B. “Bud” Phillips, one of the founders of the University of Georgia MMR program,
passed away peacefully on January 21, 2014 at the age of 89.
Bud led a great life and will long be remembered for his generous contributions to
the lives of thousands of people through the companies that he led
and the institutions that he served. During World War II, he flew
28 successful bombing missions as a radio operator/ gunner in the
Army Air Corps before he and his crew were shot down over Kiel,
Germany. He was interned in Sweden where he remained until the
end of the war.
In 1946, Bud was reunited with his brothers in Dallas before
entering SMU to study journalism.
After graduating from SMU in 1949, Phillips began his career
Phillips
as an assistant production manager at TracyLocke Advertising in
Dallas. A year later, he convinced management to let him open a marketing research
department. The first of its kind in the Southwest, Bud did it all - gathered the data,
analyzed it, and delivered the marketing recommendations to clients. Phillips’ brainchild
helped to distinguish and grow TracyLocke into one of the leading advertising agencies in
the country.
The department was later spun off as its own company, Marketing and Research
Counselors (M/A/R/C) and under Bud’s leadership it experienced explosive growth and
success as one of the leading marketing intelligence firms in North America. As founder
and Chairman, Phillips pioneered innovation in the industry and set a standard for
excellence that defined best practices in methods, technology and business models in the marketing research industry. He made a lasting impact on the industry that is still felt today.
Along the way, Bud mentored hundreds of professionals and students who later went
on to build successes of their own because of the entrepreneurial skills and values he
continued on page 8
Student Team Projects
This year’s MMR students are at
work on six different team projects.
The project sponsors and faculty
advisors are Coca-Cola I (Marcus
Cunha), Coca-Cola II (Caglar Irmak),
Eli Lilly (John Hulland), Salon 134
(Candice Hollenbeck), MeadWestvaco (Rich Fox), and the U.S. Post
Office (Son Lam). The students and
faculty are grateful to the companies
for the project sponsorships, which
offer invaluable practical experience.
The projects span topics including young adults’ perceptions of artificial sweeteners, consumers’ brand warmth perceptions, reducing the stigma of Alzheimer’s
disease, stylist and consumer perceptions of the retail salon experience, perceptions of sustainability in the context of product packaging, and consumer decision process for holiday shipping behavior. Brief summaries of the projects will be
given at the Spring Advisory Board meeting scheduled for April 25.
Winter 2014
ADVISORY BOARD
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.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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
MeadWestvaco
Merck & Co., Inc.
Millward Brown
MMR Research Associates, Inc.
PepsiCo
The Coca-Cola Company
ADVISORY BOARD STEERING
COMMITTEE
Board Chair: Jeff Miller
Past Chair: James Mendelsohn
Chair-elect: Rob Arnett
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
Leah Root (MMR ’13) and James Hess
(MMR ’12)
MMR Newsletter • 7
Alumni Corner
2012
2009
In November, Elisa Cooper received the Lilly Bio-Medicines
Business Unit Distinguished Market Research - Rookie of
the Year Award. This was for the work she completed in
the cardiovascular therapeutic area for 2013.
Brooke Zalesky Shafer was married Oct. 21st and some
of her graduating class was there. She also took a job
at AT&T in May of this year where she heads up their
Advertising Insights for AT&T Mobility.
Krysten Hoversen reports moving to the Charlotte area
at the end of August for her position at NASCAR: “I am
currently the Senior Account Executive of Sponsorship
Research in the Charlotte office at NASCAR. I have had an
awesome experience at NASCAR so far and look forward
to what the future holds for me at the company. They are
a great employer and really go out of their way for their
employees and the community.”
2008
2010
Lindsey Coker Gladden joined Verizon as a Senior Consultant, Research and Insights in May. She also married
Douglas Gladden (JD ’10) on December 14, 2013. She is
now living in Dallas, Texas.
REMEMBERING “BUD” PHILLIPS
continued from 7
instilled in all with whom he worked. Thanks to Bud, the “M/A/
R/C Way” has traveled near and far.
A staunch supporter of education, Phillips was a co-founder of
the Masters in Marketing Research Program at the University of
Georgia, where he served as chair of the advisory board for the
first three years. He also established two fully endowed scholarships for the program. Through his leadership, M/A/R/C maintains ongoing relationships with several other universities for the
purpose of educating and training professionals for the marketing
research field.
The M/A/R/C people will miss his common sense counsel
and creative, generous spirit. His fellow golfers will miss the back
nine stories and the admonitions to “just play better.” At SMU,
they will miss his loyalty and dedication to cheering them on. And
at the University of Georgia, Bud will long be remembered for
his lasting contribution to the University and to the marketing
research industry.
8 • MMR Newsletter
Carla Jordan was promoted this past summer to Account
Manager, still with Bellomy Research.
1992
On October 21, 2013, Lisa Courtade was awarded the
R.R. Fordyce Award by the Pharmaceutical Marketing
Research Group. This award is given to individuals who
exemplify the behaviors of Dick Fordyce, the legendary
figure for whom the award is named including:
• Willingness to dedicate time and attention to the
betterment of the profession by making an
outstanding contribution to healthcare market
research
• Exemplary level of character, business ethics,
and leadership
• Service and dedication to company and colleagues
including tenure, advanced position, and reputation.
We Want to
Hear from You!
Please send your news via email to:
jmeyer@uga.edu
or
cmason@uga.edu
Winter 2014