Lehigh's College of Business is launching the Center for Digital Marketing Strategy and Analytics to analyze and implement revolutionary approaches to big data, AI, cloud computing and the Internet of Things.
The new Center for Digital Marketing Strategy and Analytics will be a hub for research and applied knowledge; provide a platform to encourage dialogue and exchange among academics and the business community; and involve all disciplines represented by Lehigh Business. Digital marketing analytics is the translation of customer activities into actionable data that can be used to create strategies that can influence the decisions customers make.
“By leveraging Lehigh’s faculty and alumni,” said Georgette Phillips, the Kevin L. and Lisa A. Clayton Dean of the College of Business, “the Center will bring the latest developments in research and practice together to stimulate discussion and generate new ideas for education and industry.”
The director of the Center is Eric Fang, professor of marketing, who joined Lehigh Business as the new Iacocca Chair last fall after 12 years at the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“This is a unique opportunity to lift up all the communities that Lehigh serves,” said Fang. “Whether you’re selling widgets, soliciting donations or spreading ideals, you need to understand marketing strategies in this digital and data-rich environment to be successful. Our plan is to help organizations apply new theoretical insights generated by the Center’s research output.
The Center for Digital Marketing Strategy and Analytics has already gotten support from Coca-Cola, P&G, JD, and UnionPay with regard to data-sharing to be used for academic research. Faculty workshops and academic conferences, along with programs at the graduate level and for executive education in data analytics and marketing research, are being developed.
“Overall, we want to provide insights that can lead to effective business strategies and decisions within an organization,” said Fang, “not just in the marketing department, but across teams.”
Learn more about Eric Fang and the new Center on the ilLUminate podcast.
The Center for Digital Marketing Strategy and Analytics is the seventh at the College of Business. The others are the: Center for Financial Services, Center for Supply Chain Research at Lehigh, Murray H Goodman Center for Real Estate, Martindale Center for the Study of Private Enterprise, Philip Rauch Center for Business Communication and Small Business Development Center.
Story by Rob Gerth
