Personalisation in marketing communications - call for submissions

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Price: free

Personalisation can be summarised as the capacity of the modern marketer to use increasingly sophisticated technological devices to bring specially crafted messages and offers directly to individual consumers. This can be achieved by analysing individual behaviour made available through sources such as on-line cookies and social media activity, or through group characterisation ie based on the behaviour of similar people. Personalisation can take place on all elements of the marketing mix such as the product itself, packaging, the price and the communication. Within marketing communications; websites, advertising, emails and newsletters can all be personalised. Studies suggest that the majority of people, particularly younger people, are prepared to give away their personal data if they get something useful in exchange. However, there is a thin line between personalisation and privacy and the debate is where this line should be drawn, as it is important that brands don't become too intrusive. The importance of privacy is becoming increasingly recognised and has lead to an increase in the use of ad blocking devices and contributes to a negative perception of advertising generally in terms of manipulation.

Against this backdrop, the conference organizers invite abstracts that advance our empirical, theoretical and conceptual understanding of personalisation in marketing communications. The following is an illustrative, but not exhaustive list of themes that contributors may consider:

• The impact of personalisation on brand engagement and interaction.
• The use of personalisation in corporate, brand and internal communications.
• Personalisation from the consumer perspective: when does it change from useful to intrusive, and an invasion of privacy.
• Personalisation and its appropriateness with different target audiences.
• The use and perception of personalisation from an international perspective.
• The self-regulation system for controlling the extent to which personalisation is used.
• The legislation on personalisation and whether such protection is effective.
• Personalisation and its contribution to Integrated Marketing Communication.
• The use of personalisation on various communication channels including; social media, POE media and traditional media.
• Case studies of the use of personalisation across a selection of different industries
• The impact of advertising avoidance and ad-blocking on the advertising industry

Submission and programme details

Date: Thursday 7 September 2017  

Venue: Kingston Business School, Kingston Hill campus, Kingston University.

Time: 9.30am - 4.00pm

Fee: £55 for non AM members, £45 for AM members and £25 for doctoral students; includes lunch and refreshments provided.

Conference chairs: Associate professor Helen Robinson and associate professor Kathleen Mortimer.

Guest speaker: Chris Combemale, Group CEO of Direct Marketing Association

Sessions: Round table discussion sessions will be themed around the research interests of those attending. Delegates are asked to submit an extended abstract in advance (maximum 750 words, not including references; no appendices) aligned to the conference theme. At least one author per submission must register to attend the conference by 1 August 2017. Submissions with no registered authors after this date will be withdrawn.

Accepted abstracts will be scheduled for presentation in 'round table' format, and audio/visual equipment will not be provided. You are advised to take copies of your abstract and any additional handouts to distribute to your audience for use on the day. Abstracts will have 15-20 minutes allocated.  In all cases it is intended that presenters and the chair/discussant for each session will have read each others' papers in advance (access to papers will be online to those registered to attend, approximately one month prior to the event).

The final upload of accepted abstracts will be included in the conference proceedings if an author is in attendance to present it. Proceedings containing the submitted abstracts will be made available.

Submission details and key dates

Please follow the guidelines provided below to submit your extended abstracts no later than 15 May 2017 to associate professor Helen Robinson: h.r.robinson@kingston.ac.uk.

Please note: Notification of acceptance will be confirmed by email by 26 June 2017.

• Online registration opens on 5 June 2017
• Latest online registration by 1 August 2017
• Abstracts will be posted online by 7 August 2017

Abstract submission guidelines:

• original
• a maximum of 750 words, excluding appendices and references. (Papers may contain tables and figures)
• References must begin on a new page, but be uploaded as part of the paper
• Microsoft Word documents
• A4-page formatted
• 2.5cm margins on all sides
• Single spaced throughout
• 12-point Times Roman font (except for the title, which must be 14-point Times Roman)
• Title page to include author(s)' names and affiliation, contact details and email address.
• Page 2 - Heading of paper title, without the name of the abstract's author or indication of their institution.

For further information about this event:

Contact: Helen Robinson
Email: h.r.robinson@kingston.ac.uk