Multiple academics share marketing insights

Posted by Elena del Valle on January 22, 2020

Mapping Out Marketing

Photos: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

Ronald Hill, Ph.D. and Cait Lamberton dedicated two years to editing Mapping Out Marketing Navigation Lessons From The Ivory Trenches (Routledge,$39.95), a book targeting marketing students and marketing practitioners. The 193-page softcover book co-edited with Jennifer Swartz, a graduate student, features 55 entries (23 men and 22 women) from multiple academics. Submissions were limited to 500 words each as was the introduction. Proceeds from the book were earmarked for scholarships for underrepresented doctoral students.

“The American Marketing Association played a significant role in helping us find a publisher for our work,” Hill said by email (when approached by email Lamberton referred questions to Hill). “That is an important step that required putting their reputation on the line for our idea.”

When asked what prompted them to search this topic now Hill said “There is so much accumulated wisdom among marketing professors from around the world that does not get to folks interested in marketing practice. Most the self-help books have one good idea that they expand into an entire book. Why not have a book with many such ideas that cover a vast terrain!

Why not now? This wisdom is as necessary today as it ever will be. Let marketing professionals learn what we have to say and use what is most relevant!”

Referring to the meaning of the subtitle he said, “Ivory trenches are the difficult environments professors must navigate every day. So many outsiders think that we stay in our ‘ivory towers’ and ignore the world around us. Instead, we are embedded in a very difficult environment to maneuver and the lessons learned are profound!”

Beyond the distribution of a press release how has the book been promoted? “Our hope is that all contributors will tell two friends and so on and so on … It should be in every class and executive program around the world!”

Ronald Hill

Another book may follow. Hill said, “I’d like a new volume on marketing ethics that takes practice and infuses it with values. For example, marketers are good at deciding who they want to sell to, but does it align with all the people who could gain from purchase despite societal prejudices, poverty, and other forms of restriction? We CAN make the world a better place and still thrive as an organization. We just need to consider deeply what that means.”

When asked by email about the scholarship funds an American Marketing Association spokesperson declined to respond on the record. When asked the same question Hill said, “All royalties received from sales of this book go directly to the AMA, and we have no other financial connection with the publisher.”

Hill is a visiting professor of Marketing and holds a Dean’s Excellence Faculty Fellowship at the American University, Kogod School of Business. He is chair, Transformative Consumer Research Committee and recipient of 2019 American Marketing Association Wilkie Marketing for a Better World Award. He has authored over 200 journal articles, books, chapters, and conference papers on impoverished consumer behavior, marketing ethics, corporate social responsibility, human development, and public policy.

Cait Lamberton

According to promotional materials, Lamberton is associate professor and Ben L. Fryrear Chair in Marketing at the University of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business, where she researches and teaches consumer behavior and applied behavioral economics at the MBA and Ph.D. levels, in addition to providing consulting services in government and the private sector.

In 2018, Swartz was a full-time MBA student at George Washington University with a focus on operations, strategy, and brand management. Prior to George Washington, she worked in Corporate Communications at Marsh & McLennan Agency in San Diego, overseeing various aspects of digital media strategy, branding, public relations, and non-profit fundraising efforts.