Using smartphone location data, UVA Darden Professor Young Hou discovered something unexpected about the famous Popeyes-Chick-fil-A rivalry: the viral sandwich launch lifted all boats, boosting competitors' foot traffic rather than stealing customers.
Topic
Marketing & Sales
Ideas for understanding customers, building markets, and communicating value. This topic examines consumer behavior, brand strategy, sales effectiveness, pricing, segmentation, and digital channels, helping leaders connect insight to action and create relationships that support growth across changing audiences and competitive environments.
The chief marketing officer is often blamed for poor growth performance. But new research from UVA Darden’s Kimberly A. Whitler suggests that the fault could lie in the design of the CMO role.
From tough conversations to tech trends, today’s Darden students push the boundaries of business education with evolving interests in more relational expertise and cutting-edge topics.
Darden professors Anthony Palomba and Luca Cian, experts in the business of media and consumer behavior respectively, share insights on why the hit TV show “Love Island” caught fire this summer and what we can learn from its success.
A landmark study of 60,000+ people across 63 countries reveals how specific messages — from emotional appeals to future-focused thinking — impact climate beliefs, policy support and real action. The key? Tailored strategies, not one-size-fits-all campaigns.
Darden professor Kim Whitler explains why Super Bowl advertising is such a big deal and breaks down recent advertising trends and how they perform with viewers.
Instead of airing on a traditional network, the Super Bowl could one day be only accessed via a streaming platform, says Darden professor Anthony Palomba.
Themed advertisements have long been a staple of the holiday season, with roots in the 1930s and Coca-Cola’s use of Santa Claus sporting the company’s main color in the Saturday Evening Post. With the rise of television in the mid-20th century, holiday broadcast ads gained popularity and left lasting impressions. When USA Today published its list of memorable Christmas commercials in December 2023, it included spots from five different decades.
Writing for The Conversation, Ray Charles “Chuck” Howard, associate professor of business administration at UVA Darden, joins colleague Marcel Lukas of University of St Andrews to explore why we avoid checking our bank accounts when we fear bad news and the financial implications of this behavior.
Ever wondered why your budget always seems to fall short? Or why that freelance consulting gig didn't pay off as much as you expected? Research from UVA Darden's associate professor Ray Charles “Chuck” Howard sheds light on the psychological pitfalls we face when it comes to money.
