Figure 1. 

Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D., is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Consumer Research in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University. Previously, he served as the Human Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior at Auburn University and as Chairman of the Department of Marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University. He began his academic career in the Graduate School of Business Administration at New York University.

Dr. Solomon is no stranger to writing top-selling books. His textbook, Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, published by Prentice Hall, is widely used in universities throughout North America, Europe, and Australasia and is now in its eighth edition. His textbook, Marketing: Real People, Real Choices, also published by Prentice Hall, is one of the most widely adopted principles of marketing texts in the United States. Soundview Executive Summaries named his trade book, Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World (AMACOM), one of the best business books of 2004. He is coeditor of The Service Encounter: Managing Employee/Customer Interaction in Services Businesses, published by Lexington Books.

Dr. Solomon’s research interests include consumer behavior and lifestyle issues, branding strategy, the symbolic aspects of products, services marketing, and the development of visually oriented online research methodologies. He has published numerous articles on these and related topics in academic journals, and he has delivered invited lectures throughout the world. He currently sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Consumer Behavior, the Journal of Retailing, and The European Business Review, and he recently completed an elected six-year term on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science. Dr. Solomon has been recognized as one of the fifteen most widely cited scholars in the academic behavioral sciences/fashion literature and as one of the ten most productive scholars in the field of advertising and marketing communications.

In addition to his academic activities, Dr. Solomon is a frequent contributor to mass media, with feature articles appearing in such magazines as Psychology Today, Gentleman’s Quarterly, and Savvy. He has been quoted in numerous media, including Allure, Elle, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Mirabella, Newsweek, the New York Times, Self, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on television and radio to comment on consumer behavior issues, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, Channel One, Inside Edition, Newsweek on the Air, the Wall Street Journal Radio Network, the Entrepreneur Sales and Marketing Show, the WOR Radio Network, and National Public Radio.

Dr. Solomon has provided input as a marketing consultant to a variety of organizations, including Armstrong World Industries, Bayer Healthcare, Gap Inc., Hakuhodo Advertising (Tokyo), H&M, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss, Living Tomorrow, Prudential Securities, State Farm, and United Airlines. He is a Managing Director of Mind/Share Inc., a consulting firm specializing in consumer research and lifestyle marketing issues for such clients as DuPont, Black & Decker, eBay, PPG Industries, Visa, VF Corp., Timberland, and Calvin Klein.

Dr. Solomon earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was awarded the Fulbright/FLAD Chair in Market Globalization.

Figure 2. 

Lisa Duke Cornell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Dr. Duke Cornell joined the advertising department after ten years as an award-winning copywriter and creative supervisor at Long Haymes Carr/Lintas, working on major accounts like Hanes, Planters/Lifesavers, Jefferson-Pilot Insurance, Rich Foods, Wachovia Bank, and Tyson/Holly Farms. She has won numerous industry awards, including “Best of Show” Addys for print and television, as well as recognition by the New York Art Directors Club and the International Film and Television Festival. Her creative work was also featured as one of Advertising Age’s best commercials of the year.

Dr. Duke Cornell received her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, where she also earned her master’s degree. The American Association of University Women named her an American Fellow for her research on the role of communications in the socialization and identity development of children and young women. Dr. Duke Cornell is also interested in the role of creativity in advertising and in helping facilitate creative solutions to marketing problems. Her research has been published in the Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Advertising, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Communication Inquiry, and The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

In 2001, Dr. Duke Cornell was recognized as the College of Journalism and Communications Teacher of the Year.

Figure 3. 

Amit Nizan’s fascination with communication sprouted from the need to be heard as one of six children growing up in suburban Florida. At the tender age of seven, she created her first ad: an interpretation of the “Get Met, It Pays” campaign for MetLife featuring Snoopy. Ms. Nizan always had a keen passion to understand marketing messages, how they broke through, and what psychological motivations kept brands top of mind.

Ms. Nizan earned her B.S. in Advertising from the University of Florida. She then went on to work in account management at TBWA\Chiat\Day and SS+K, both in New York City. Among her clients were local, international, and competitive brands such as A&E Television Networks, Boots Retail International, Nextel, NASCAR, BlueCross and BlueShield Association, The Massachusetts Teacher’s Association, and msnbc.com.

Ms. Nizan led the msnbc.com account team, responsible for overseeing the “Fuller Spectrum of News” campaign that would receive a host of accolades including the 2008 Webby for Integrated Campaign and 2008 Effie Gold for Small Budgets.

In 2008, Ms. Nizan joined the editorial team at Advertising Age where she curated the content of the leading industry publications’ events. She organized experts from leading brands such as Nike, Verizon, Facebook, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble and agencies such as BBDO, Barbarian Group, and Martin Agency.

Ms. Nizan now enjoys working in Business Development at Indaba Music, where she applies her marketing background to developing and growing business streams for the budding music collaboration site.