Research in the Triad markets of Japan, Europe and North America have pointed to new trends in the way brands are being perceived, thought of and built. CSR and sustainability are becoming more important in the way brands are managed, and internal branding is becoming more and more important particularly in the service industries.
In his presentation, Dr Alan Middleton explains that the Frontier for marketers, branding specialists and CFO’s is to measure how well their brands are meeting these needs, while the Frontier for market researchers is to measure these new facets – not only in themselves but in relation to one another.Dr Alan Middleton is currently Assistant Professor of Marketing and Executive Director, Executive Education Centre of the Schulich School of Business, York University (SEEC) in Toronto. In this role he teaches undergraduate and graduate classes and executive training programs in Marketing; SEEC is an executive and management training organization that trains over 16,000 managers yearly from
round the world.
Prior to joining York, Alan spent 23 years working in marketing and advertising in the UK, US, Norway, Japan, China and Canada. During this period he had worked for and with companies in financial services, telecommunications, computers, packaged goods, foodservice and retail. His last role before switching into academe was as President/CEO of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in Japan, and Executive Vice-President and a member of the Board of Directors of
the global company.
Since joining York and receiving his PhD. in Business Administration (Marketing) he has taught at management schools in Argentina, China, India Russia, and Thailand and was a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Business, Rutgers University in the US. His research work is on brands internationally and particularly packaged goods, financial services, foodservice and dot.com brands.
He is the co-author of two editions of “Advertising Works” and was a judge and co-editor of the book of the first ‘Cassies’ winners. He has done training and consulting for AT&T, Bell Canada, Manulife Financial, ACNielsen, Unilever and Warner-Lambert. Alan continues his research on brands and his latest book “Ikonica – a Fieldguide to Canada’s Brandscape” came out in July 2008. He was inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends in 2005 in the Mentor category.
Alan is Chair of the ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation, and of the AIESEC – Canada organization. Additionally he is on a Board committee at the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership, and on committees at the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Ministry of Health and on the
Academic Committee of Leger Marketing. In his spare time, he swims, plays the occasional bridge game, attends classical music, opera and theatre performances, and travels to, and reads anything to do with the sociology, culture, archaeology, anthropology and history of the pre-Columbian Americas and Pacific Asia.
