Research results should be available as quickly as possible. Therefore, we have decided to launch the working paper series B*lab Reports. Issue 1 will publish the best papers of master students of the course “Advanced Brand Management” from the summer semester 2019. The spectrum ranges from the handmade effect to influencer marketing and brand co-creation in the streaming world to start-up branding. You can find the first issue as a download here.
100 days ago, Prof. Baumgarth opened the Instagram channel “Bridge Building Brand – Science Meets Brand”. In the meantime, 25 episodes have been produced and published. The channel is currently followed by about 520 people (and cats) and the episodes reach an average of about 300 users on Instagram and about 1300 views on LinkedIn. We have summarized our experiences in a field report. We are now approaching the next 100 days highly motivated and reactive and try to further improve the transfer of knowledge from science to practice. Because we are convinced that there is nothing more valuable for brand practice than (good) brand science.
Digital teaching is compulsory due to the current pandemic. Even though this teaching and learning format has many disadvantages, there is also a big advantage. It is easier for us to integrate great and exciting practical impulses into the courses. This winter semester, we are looking forward to seven B*talks, ranging from start-up brands to sustainability, luxury and sports brands and the use of AI in brand communication. Thank you very much to the interview partners who are supporting us so great. We are looking forward to the brands Crafty, veganz, NAKT, Vfl Wolfsburg, Burmester, Du bist hier der Chef and AX Sematnics.
A new recruit joined Prof. Baumgarth’s team yesterday – the humanoid robot, “Pepper”. Through the acquisition of extensive funds from the Institute for Applied Research (IFAF), our B*lab at the HWR can be significantly expanded once again. The humanoid robot Pepper of the Japanese company Softbank represents a flexibly applicable humanoid robot in the field of social robotics. The robot, which weighs around 30 kilos and is 1.30 m tall, can communicate and interact with consumers through its visual and tactile sensors, its facial expression and emotion recognition as well as its voice output and display. Over the next few months, we will familiarize ourselves with the robot and the software solution provided by the German company Entrance. Starting in early 2021, we also plan to use Pepper in research projects on humanoid brand-touchpoints.
