HEC Marketing Workshop Explores AI, Activism, Advertising, and Branding

The HEC Paris Marketing department tackled key issues of Advertising, AI, Activism, Brand Management in the course of their annual HEC Paris Marketing Camp, held this year on November 15. Over 60 faculty and PhD students from across Europe spent the day discussing and exchanging their research and ideas on a variety of opportunities and challenges in the field of Marketing. As technology, consumer behavior, and social dynamics rapidly evolve, businesses, policymakers, and researchers are increasingly called to understand these complex landscapes.

The four guest researchers unveiled diverse but connected challenges for marketers today:

1. AI for Social Good

Chiara Longoni from Bocconi University explored the potential of AI in sectors like healthcare and government while addressing resistance to medical AI and ethical challenges such as the "black-box" nature of AI. She emphasized aligning AI development with human values and addressing misperceptions to maximize societal benefits of AI.

2. Advertiser Learning in Direct Advertising Markets

Carl F. Mela, Austin Finch Foundation Professor from Duke University showed that advertisers learn to match with publisher sites through iterative ad placements, with information sharing improving efficiency and welfare for advertisers, publishers, and ad networks.

3. How climate protests can increase- rather than decrease- support

Eduardo B. Andrade from Imperial College London found that both the perceived logic of protest actions and their level of disruption influence public support for climate activism, with high action logic enhancing support even for disruptive protests.

4. Brand Equity and Retail Media Effectiveness

Elea McDonnell Feit, Associate Dean of Research at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, demonstrated that stronger brands experience lower price elasticity and greater benefits from retail media, with dynamic brand equity influencing the effectiveness of advertising channels like displays.

Learn more about the program of the past HEC Paris Marketing Research Camp, organized by Assistant Professors of Marketing Klaus Miller and Anastasia Buyalskaya, here.