Reading in Marketing
Students should read within the marketing discipline of choice. For example, if they are going into advertising they should be reading “Advertising Age” to keep up with the ever-changing trends. They should keep up with the current news.
Overall the customer consumption pattern and taste changes rapidly, therefore it is recommended that students are current on marketing, social, cultural, political, economic and technological trends. For instance, if the economy were to experience a downturn in customer spending, such as during the great Recession, marketers need to change their marketing strategy to ensure they are meeting customers’ needs. Further, the millennials unlike the baby boomers and generation X, are mostly in favor of sharing and not ownership; having access to products to rent/borrow/share rather than own. As a consequence, we see success stories in the sharing economy with Uber, Airbnb and Spotify. Students are encouraged to read the daily newspaper, watch ads (ads have a lot of subliminal messaging we can learn from, for example, our society has changed as it relates to LGBT, minorities and mixed marriages as we have seen represented in TV ads). Students are also encouraged to watch newsmagazines such as 20/20, 60 minutes and so on. If they are interested in going into academia, there are a myriad of journals available both internationally and domestic. Some of the international journals are available on the following website: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/action/showPublications?&category=10.1555/category.40057137