The main research of the Chair of Marketing & Media involves marketing and management questions with a particular focus on media products and services.

In the field of media management, the department deals with traditional hedonic media (TV, movies) as well as "new" media, which is consumed via internet or mobile. The chair is interested in the effectiveness and factors of success of media itself on one hand and in its utility for suppliers of non-media content such as services and consumption goods on the other.

• Entertainment Science

  The entertainment industries, enlightening billions of people with movies, games, music, and books, are often characterized by their “Nobody Knows Anything” mantra. This mantra, coined more than 30 years ago by screenwriter legend William Goldman, argues that survival and success is a function of managerial intuition and instinct and refuses the existence of economic rules and laws for entertainment products. The Goldman adage strongly collides with today’s production and marketing budgets for entertainment products which are often exceeding $100 million and can reach up to $500 million – for a single new movie or video game.

  Against this background, entertainment science builds on the assumption that in the era of almost unlimited data and computer power, intuition remains important for success in the entertainment industries, but that the combination of smart analytics and powerful theories can provide equally valuable insights to those who have room for them in their decisions making. It combines insights that have been generated when scholars apply rigorous analytical methods to big data sets on the performance of movies, games, books, or music with powerful theories. Hence, entertainment science offers a systematic investigation of the knowledge that has been accumulated by scholars in various fields such as marketing and economics regarding the factors that make entertainment products successful – or let them flop.

  Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, Prof. Dr. Mark B. Houston 

  Contact person: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau

  More information on the eponymous book "Entertainment Science", written by Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau and Prof. Dr. Mark B. Houston, can be found here.

• German Research Foundation - How Social Media are Changing Marketing

  Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Spotify or YouTube increasingly influence consumer behaviour. Information is spreading faster and reaching more consumers than ever before. Consumers are more and more influenced by other consumers, which makes new types of communication necessary. Moreover, social media generate new data about social interactions.

  These developments exert a powerful influence on the marketing of products and services. As the scientific community has hitherto accorded scant attention to such phenomena, the GRF research group is now studying the social and economic problems surrounding the marketing of entertainment media products.

  The Chair of Marketing & Media plays an important role in the prestigious GRF research unit which is studying the ways in which marketing is being transformed by the social media. This is one of the first GRF research groups with a special interest in marketing and business administration.

  The research unit, which was set up in October 2014, is made up of several teams led by distinguished scholars working at different universities: Henrik Sattler, Michel Clement, Mark Heitmann, Karen Gedenk (University of Hamburg), Sönke Albers, Christian Barrot (Kühne Logistics University), Franziska Völckner, Detlef Schoder (University of Cologne), Thorsten Hennig-Thurau (University of Münster). The research unit includes international fellows such as Mark Houston, Caroline Wiertz, Koen Pauwels and Tammo Bijmolt.

  The research group examines the various ways in which marketing is being transformed by the social media in general and entertainment media products in particular. The key topics which fall within the purview of our research include consumer behaviour on social media platforms, the management of network structures, and the influence of social networks on sequential distributions.

  Prof. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, Dr. Ann-Kristin Kupfer

  Contact person: Dr. Ann-Kristin Kupfer

  Further information about the GRF research unit and recent developments can be found here.

• Digitalization Think:Lab 

  Social media are an essential part of our daily lives. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, Snapchat and other platforms influence our private and professional communication in a multiplicity of ways. Since the digitalization of our society is progressing apace, we are particularly interested in how social media and other digital technologies influence individuals’ lives as well as the exchange of goods, services, and knowledge.

  Together with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants we have created the Digitalization Think:Lab in order to shed more light on the digitalization in general and social media in particular. The most recent research project which has stemmed from from this cooperation is concerned with the value created for consumers by the social media marketing of firms and other professional players. The Digitalization Think:Lab publishes reports on the use of social media and other digital technologies in Germany and has published an article in a special issue of the Journal of Interactive Marketing. The Think:Lab's activities include publications in economic outlets and student events which centre on the challenges and opportunities of digitalization and social media in our society.

  Prof. Dr. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, Alegra Kaczinski

  Contact person: Alegra Kaczinski

  Further information about on the Digitalization Think:Lab can be found here.

• Guru Talk - What makes Movies successful

  

  Vor nunmehr fast 9 Jahren hat Professor Hennig-Thurau gemeinsam mit Victor Henning, später erfolgreicher Gründer und CEO von Mendeley, ein Buch herausgegeben, das eine Standortbestimmung der deutschen Filmwirtschaft vorgenommen hat. In Vorträgen und Interviews haben einige der wichtigsten deutschen Filmemacher, -produzenten, -finanziers, -analytiker und –kritiker Stellung bezogen zur Frage, was den Erfolg von Filmen ausmacht. Die Sichtweisen sind vielseitig und kontrovers.

  Nachdem das Buch nun ausverkauft ist hat uns Frau Schüren, die Verlegerin, ermöglicht, es in digitaler Form einem breiteren Publikum kostenlos zur Verfügung zu stellen, Was hat sich verändert seit dem Erscheinen des Buches, was ist gleich geblieben? Schon damals haben die Herausgeber alle Verfasser, von denen die allermeisten auch heute noch eine prägende Rolle im deutschen Film einnehmen, nach der Rolle von Daten und Analytik befragt – manche Antworten sind heute, im Zeitalter von „Entertainment Science“, noch spannender und vielsagender als beim Erscheinen von „Guru Talk“. Machen Sie sich selbst ein Bild!

  If you are interested, you can find the book here.