As the summer semester 2025 comes to a close, the Marketing Center is pleased to present the latest issue of the MCM News!

In this issue, we share updates on current developments in research and teaching and draw your attention to an exciting Marketing Alumni Münster event on November 14.

In the cover story of this issue, we look ahead - but also back - in the spirit of Klaus Backhaus’s lovely credo, “future needs heritage.” Three years ago, in the first issue of the redesigned MCM News, we reported on the many possibilities of virtual worlds - back then on everyone’s mind thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s proclaimed “metaverse” - and on the origin story of the eXperimental Reality Lab (XRLab@MCM), launched in spring 2022. Today, we look back at the changes of the past three years and ask: What happened to the metaverse? In doing so, we examine the potential and future prospects of virtual worlds in light of competing technology trends. We also address further developments, changes, and events at XRLab@MCM in this issue. Keep an eye out for our cover-theme sticker in the articles!

In addition, this issue features reports on various talks by MCM researchers at high-profile academic conferences. Among them is the 2025 Winter AMA Academic Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, at which Prof. Manfred Krafft received the Selling & Sales Management Lifetime Achievement Award and Prof. Sebastian Hohenberg received the American Marketing Association’s TechSIG Lazaridis Best Paper Award - we extend our warmest congratulations!

Finally, we look back at last year’s Marketing Symposium (including the presentation of the first Alumni Excellence Award) and cordially invite you to our upcoming “Small” Symposium on November 14, 2025 - where top-flight soccer (which, as you know, once again is played in Münster!) and its marketing management will take center stage.0

The latest issue of the MCM News can now be downloaded for free here.

We hope you enjoy reading our MCM News - and we look forward to welcoming many of our readers to Münster in November!