Printable Biography of Michael Solomon

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Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D. is the Human Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior in the Department of Consumer Affairs, College of Human Sciences, at Auburn University. Prior to joining Auburn in 1995, he was Chairman of the Department of Marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. Prof. Solomon began his academic career at the Graduate School of Business Administration at New York University, where he also served as Associate Director of NYU's Institute of Retail Management. He earned B.A. degrees in Psychology and Sociology magna cum laude at Brandeis University in 1977, and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. He was awarded the Fulbright/FLAD Chair in Market Globalization by The U.S. Fulbright Commission and the Government of Portugal, and in Fall 1996 he served as Distinguished Lecturer in Marketing at The Technical University of Lisbon.
Prof. Solomon's primary research interests include consumer behavior and lifestyle issues, branding strategy, the symbolic aspects of products, the psychology of fashion, decoration, and image, 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 on these subjects in The United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Australia, and Latin America. His research has been funded by the American Academy of Advertising, the American Marketing Association, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the International Council of Shopping Centers and the U.S. Department of Commerce. A current research project, "Consumer Preferences for Apparel and Textile Products as a Function of Lifestyle Imagery," is funded by a major multi-year grant from The National Textile Center, U.S. Department of Commerce. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Consumer Behaviour and the Journal of Retailing, and he serves on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science. Prof. 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.

Prof. Solomon received the Cutty Sark Men's Fashion Award for his research on the psychological aspects of clothing. He is Editor of The Psychology of Fashion and Co Editor of The Service Encounter: Managing Employee/Customer Interaction in Services Businesses, both published by Lexington 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 fifth edition. The text has been translated into several languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Korean and separate European and Canadian versions were published in 2001. Prof. Solomon's text, Marketing: Real People, Real Choices was published in its third edition by Prentice Hall in November of 2002. His latest book, Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World, was published by AMACOM (American Management Association) in Spring of 2003.

In addition to his academic activities, Prof. Solomon is a frequent contributor to mass media. His feature articles have appeared in such magazines as Psychology Today, Gentleman's Quarterly and Savvy. He has been quoted in numerous national magazines and newspapers, including Allure, Elle, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Mirabella, Newsweek, The New York Times, Self, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. He has been a guest on "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," CNBC, Channel One, "Inside Edition," "Newsweek on the Air" and National Public Radio.

Prof. Solomon has provided input as a marketing consultant and an expert witness to a variety of organizations on issues related to consumer behavior, branding, services marketing, retailing and advertising. Mike is in demand as a speaker to business groups; he has presented keynote addresses to numerous organizations including The Association of Fashion and Image Consultants, Burson Marsteller, The Can Manufacturers Institute, Color Me Beautiful, The Cosmetics, Toiletries, and Fragrances Association, Credit Agricole Mutuel, Experian, The Image Industry Council International, The International Furnishings and Design Association, The Japanese Financial Services Council, The National Kitchen and Bath Association, The Fragrance Foundation, The Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, Newsweek, Napier, The Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, Southmark, The Textile Rental Services Association, The Toy Industry Association, The Vision Council of America, The Fashion Group International, The International Apparel Federation (Milan), Resum?agazine (Stockholm), Self magazine, Total Research Corporation, U.S. Cellular, DDB Needham, McCann Erickson, MKT Consulting (Buenos Aires), and the Institut f?munikations-Forschung (Hamburg).

He currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, U.S.A. with his wife Gail, and their three children, Amanda, Zachary, and Alexandra.

Speech Topics
Consumer Behavior and the Marketing Mix
Understand fundamental marketing strategy from the perspective of the consumer. Explore how shoppers infer product quality from such signals as price, place of purchase, product design and packaging and marketing communications. Learn how firms around the globe have successfully used these elements of the marketing mix.

Consumer Trends
Today's consumer is a moving target. Learn how trends such as product simplification, disintermediation, time poverty, hedonism, ethnic diversity and Generation Y will impact your bottom line.

Lifestyle Marketing--You Really Are What You Wear (and Eat, and Drive, and…)
Products, services, and media surrounding us, from Nike to Gucci, Ford to BMW, MTV to Vogue, form consumption communities that define who we are -- and who we want to be. To develop a brand personality that will become part of these communities, marketers need to understand how consumers use products to define themselves and to create a social identity they want to communicate to others.

Net Profit
When it comes to marketing on the World Wide Web, you're either on the train or under it. But how do consumers respond to Web marketing strategies? Focus on designing consumer-friendly internet communications. Learn about state-of-the-art marketing research techniques that collect data interactively by harnessing the power of the Web.

The Brave New World of Consumerspace
Evolving trends in technology and lifestyles are fundamentally changing the ways relationships between consumers and companies are formed, maintained -- and dissolved. Many people now feel empowered to choose how, when, or if they will interact with corporations as they construct their own consumerspace. How are firms innovating to optimize their presence in consumerspace? Reality engineering strategies such as product placement, virtual communities and guerrilla marketing are some alternatives for penetrating consumer awareness. Learn how approaches such as mass customization, personalization of online shopping environments, and the integration of lead users into the product design cycle have the potential to let producers and consumers work together to map the brave new world of consumerspace.

Why We Buy
Learn how modern-day consumer rituals and magical beliefs associated with activities and products from bathing to blue jeans have been successfully used by firms to drive their marketing communications and positioning strategies.