Post by Pia Eck

Many lessons learned and lots of inspiration 🤩 At DERMARKENTAG in Hamburg, I got way more useful takeaways than from many other events. That's because scientists, intermediaries and CMOs come together here to bridge the gap between #theory and #practice. Here are a few takeaways and highlights: 🌟 The gap between science and practice is immense, and more formats like the Markentag are urgently needed to close it (strong scientific input from Prof. Dr. Tatjana Steusloff, @Michael Schade, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Wolf and others...) 🌟 Emotional communication, such as that used by Rügenwalder Mühle Carl Müller GmbH & Co. KG, is always a powerful tool in branding & marketing (thanks for the valuable insights, Claudia Kleyboldt). 🌟 Organizations should dare to create a space for co-creation of the brand if they want to harness the power of the masses, as FC St. Pauli is doing (pretty cool vibe that was palpable in your presentation Martin Drust). 🌟 Restructuring marketing and sales departments works where the pain is great and the digital solution is powerful (strong presentation Hauke Hansen). I particularly remember Carsten Baumgarth's keynote speech on the practical investigation of a brand-aligned AI chatbot. One thought stayed with me on my long journey home to Vienna: perhaps science has never been so dependent on cooperation with practitioners such as agencies and marketing managers as it is in the age of #artificialIntelligence. In such fast-moving times, can researchers still develop descriptive and observational theories without venturing into open-heart surgery? (My apologies to all professors and lecturers if I am using scientifically incorrect technical terms here 🫣 😅 ). Or do they need more direct practical references and projects to help them conduct research in order to develop theories that are relevant for the future rather than “outdated” ones? I am very interested in your opinion on this. Please share your thoughts! And of course, it was an incredibly enriching experience to meet people like you, Jan Biallas, Colin Fernando Andreas Enslin, Maximilian David, Pascal Lauscher, and many more! Great moderation and organization Prof. Dr. Oliver Errichiello, Carsten Baumgarth, Joern Redler, Holger J. Schmidt, @Arndt Zschiesche. Happy to participate and explore again next time 🫶