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Professor Echo Wen Wan, Professor of Marketing at HKU Business School, recently became a Marketing Science Institute (MSI) Scholar – a distinguished accolade to recognise top mid-career academics for their high-quality research which demonstrates strong practical relevance to address real-world marketing issues.

“I am honoured to be selected as one of the 35 MSI Scholars in 2020. As I was awarded as a MSI Young Scholar back in 2013, I feel grateful for MSI’s nurturing all along. Their continued recognition motivates me to keep pursuing my research interests and establishing more academic-industry partnerships. I would also like to thank HKU Business School for providing me such an inspiring environment. The encouragement and support I have received from my wonderful colleagues have helped me get to where I am today,” said Professor Wan.

Professor Wan’s research focuses on anthropomorphism of marketing with a sharp focus on how various types of anthropomorphism features on AI devices and service robot (e.g. physical morphology and voice) may affect consumers’ motivational, cognitive, affective and behavioural responses and the implications for marketers. Anthropomorphism refers to the use of personification in branding and communication. The M&M chocolate bean characters and Michelin man are classic examples. This line of research offers insights for marketers and industries on when they will benefit versus suffer from using brand or product anthropomorphism and how they can use anthropomorphism wisely in their marketing strategies.

At HKU, Professor Wan is also the Associate Director of the Contemporary Marketing Centre. She received her PhD degree in Marketing from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

MSI is a non-profit research organisation dedicated to bridging the gap between academic marketing theory and business practice. Professor Echo Wan and Dr. Jayson Jia were named as MSI Young Scholars in 2013 and 2019 respectively. Professor David Tse, Chair Professor of International Marketing, served as a MSI Academic Trustee in 2008 to advise and support MSI’s research efforts and represent MSI’s worldwide community of marketing scholars.