The Institute for Research in Marketing uses outreach initiatives such as conferences and a speakers' series to provide forums for dialogue among marketing scholars, industry practitioners, policymakers, and other constituents.  By leveraging the expertise of the Carlson School's world class marketing faculty and an advisory board of practitioners from leading corporations, the institute helps foster rigorous and relevant research that improves the science and practice of marketing.

Listed below are rosters of both our upcoming events and past events the institute has hosted.  For more information, please follow the links provided or contact the Institute at mktginst@umn.edu

• November 10, 2009. The Institute for Research in Marketing will co-host the Food Industry Center's Fall Conference, Local Foods and Consumer Demand. At the conference, to be held at the University of Minnesota's Coffman Memorial Union, Institute Associate Director Rebecca Monro will give a talk titled "The Cooperative Business Model: Hip, Not Hippie."

• September 23, 2009. "Even Buffett Isn't Perfect." Vahan Janjigian, Chief Investment Strategist at Forbes, addressed Warren Buffett's revered investment strategies, other profitable paths, and the marketing principles underpinning his approach. Click the talk title link to listen to Janjigian's speech.
   
• July 28, 2008. In July 2008, the Institute for Research in Marketing was honored to host the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, who, along with the Carlson School's Rajesh Chandy, James D. Watkins Chair in Marketing, moderated a Forum on Innovation: Drivers and Impediments. The expert panel featured executives from 3M, Medtronic, and the Carlson Companies. Click here to read more.
  
   
• May 21-23, 2008.  Carlson on Metrics, the Institute's third annual conference, brought together practitioners and academics in May 2008 to discuss the latest thinking on marketing metrics. As marketing budgets tighten internationally, Carlson School faculty and their research colleagues around the world have been at the forefront of the creation of innovative marketing metrics such as the Brand Iconicity Scale and Brand Concept Maps. Sharing their new approaches to measuring marketing actions, along with the practical experiences of thought leaders from illustrious firms including Wells Fargo, General Mills, 3M, and CVS Caremark, faculty from the Carlson School, Harvard Business School, UCLA, and the University of California-Davis came together for a valuable exchange of ideas. Over two days of insightful sessions, this group tackled a wide range of issues surrounding marketing metrics - including brand health, short- and long-term impacts of marketing spending, and the management and application of customer data - in five broad, thematic areas. Called by one attendee "a balanced mix of perspectives" and "the right content at the right time," Carlson on Metrics proved a productive confluence of research and practice.
  
   
• October 24, 2007.  "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," an Institute for Research in Marketing speakers' series event featuring Brian Wansink discussing his new research into the influence of marketing and advertising on eating.  Wansink's consumer-relevant research, prominently featured in the New York Times, Time Magazine, and numerous other national outlets, focuses on the psychology behind what people eat and how they eat it, searching to help companies develop "win-win" strategies to help people eat more nutritiously and control their portions and, in turn, leverage those strategies in a fast-paced, competitive marketplace.  Wansink is the Dyson Professor of Marketing and of Nutritional Science at Cornell University and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. 
  
   
• June 6-8, 2007.  Creating and Cultivating Brand Connections, the second annual Institute for Research in Marketing conference, co-hosted by the Marketing Science Institute, a Cambridge, MA marketing think tank.  Featuring faculty from the Carlson School of Management, Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, and Stanford University, along with practitioners from Carlson Marketing, Frito-Lay, Target, and TD Ameritrade, the conference presented cutting-edge research on topics linking theory and practice.
  
   
• March 19, 2007.  Rybak and Coleman Reposition Minneapolis and St. Paul: Two Cities, One Destination with Mayors R.T. Rybak and Chris Coleman, an Institute for Research in Marketing Speakers' Series event featuring a discussion of the new initiative to apply cutting-edge marketing principals to city government. 
  
   
• September 27, 2006.  Juicing the Orange with Fred Senn, an Institute for Research in Marketing Speakers' Series event featuring a discussion of "creative leverage" with Senn, a founding partner of Fallon Worldwide, followed by a reception and book signing. 
  
   
• May 19-20, 2006.  Carlson on Branding conference hosted by the Institute for Research in Marketing at the Carlson School of Management.  Associate Professor Rohini Ahluwalia served as the conference chair.
  
   
• March 1, 2006.  Inaugural reception for the Institute for Research in Marketing held at the Carlson School of Management.