King’s College London: King’s Business School hosts international forum on reimagining marketing strategy to address the world’s grand challenges

King’s Business School hosted a gathering of marketing thought leaders to discuss how marketing strategy could be re-imagined to make a meaningful contribution to a better world. The JAMS Thought Leadership Forum was attended by leading international scholars and a panel of industry practitioners and was designed to stimulate new ideas and discussion ahead of a special edition of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS).

The two-day forum featured presentations of more than 20 papers proposing a range of ideas that can help marketers to address big issues, from improving the representation of disabled people in advertising, neutralising the role played by FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) in risky financial behaviour, and developing alternatives to the current dominant sharing economy model.

Many marketers are inspired by their potential to have a positive impact on the world around them through their work, but sometimes the result is superficial initiatives resulting in accusations of ‘greenwashing’ rather than real change. The JAMS Thought Leadership Forum and the associated special issue in JAMS are designed to help address that through peer-reviewed research that builds our understanding of how we actually behave when faced with choices as consumers, rather than how we would like to behave.
– Kirk Plangger, Matteo Montecchi and Ko de Ruyter, JAMS Thought Leadership Forum organising committee, co-guest editors & members of the King’s Business School Marketing subject group.
Warwick Hunt, Managing Partner of PwC and King’s Business School Advisory Board Chair shared his insight on the changing expectations of businesses and the event also included a panel of industry practitioners discussing what transparency means to their organisations.

The industry panel included Ella Chalfon, Managing Director, Sustainable Finance, Nomura International; Rupert Pearce and Hannah Cool, ESG Technology leaders at Rewired.Earth, the new sustainability disclosure and dialogue platform and Peter Doveren, Partnerships Specialist at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).