Work with thought leaders and academic experts in social media

I am a marketing professor who specializes in augmented/extended realities, metaverse marketing, brand storytelling, and influencer marketing. I am a public speaker and consultant who helps your brand thrive in today's and tomorrow's new realities. <br> \~ ⨏ \~ <br> MY PASSION is to explore augmented reality’s strategic potential for marketing: I published the first-ever conceptual article on AR marketing, which won Article of the Year award and is one of the most-cited publications about this topic. I have taught AR since 2015 as part of my social media and digital marketing courses at Cal Poly. At Brock University, I developed and teach the world’s first dedicated Augmented Reality Marketing courses for undergraduate as well as MBA students. <br> \~ ⚬ \~ <br> MY RESEARCH combines ethnographic methods with socio-cultural frameworks to cut through the complexities of marketing and consumption: I explore how augmented reality can deepen consumer/brand relationships, how it helps customers feel more competent and autonomous, how Pokémon GO players co-create and transport into hybrid-realities, how managers can deploy AR initiatives, and how various types of augmented realities offer different strategic opportunities for brands. My social media research explores how marketers can build their brands in today’s polarized and tribal societies by fighting back against online critics. <br> \~ × \~ <br> I LOVE building bridges between academia and the broader business community: I'm a member of Adweek's Academic Council and serve on the advisory board of Schulich’s Future of Marketing Institute. I regularly publish research-driven insights in Adweek, MKTGsquad, and other AR-specific publications. I provide expertise for marketing agencies and consult wine, CPG and technology companies in the US and Canada on branding and augmented reality marketing. I decipher the babel and help people see the big picture. <br> \~ 🦊 \~

Cory Young is a professor and chair of the communications department at Ithaca College. She received his PhD in intercultural communication from Bowling Green State University in 2001 and his MS in cultural studies from the University of Birmingham in 1996.

Melinda Haughey is a PhD student in Human Computer Interaction at the University of Washington. She is also the co-founder and CEO of Proxi, a startup that is developing a new way to interact with technology using proximity sensors. Prior to her work in HCI, she was a chemical engineer, and she holds a BS from Texas A&M University.

María Elena Placencia is Professor of Linguistics and Spanish.  She joined Birkbeck in 1995 and teaches in the areas of (Spanish) Pragmatics,  (Digital) Discourse Analysis as well as Spanish as a foreign language. She has performed different administrative roles, including that of Head of Department/Assistant Dean, and is currently Programme Director of various undergraduate programmes within the Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics. Her current research is in the areas of variational pragmatics, with a focus on e-service encounters, and digital discourse analysis, with a focus on social media interaction. Her latest project examines the language of exclusion on Twitter in the context of interethnic interaction. Past projects have looked at a range of topics including, among others, complimenting behaviour in social media, the discourse of bargaining in e-commerce, rapport management and small talk in service encounters, (im)politeness in familial contexts, addressing behaviour and discursive racism. María Elena has published extensively on these topics.

Public Speaking/Presentation Training, Communication (Organizational & Interpersonal), Social Media Discourse

STRATEGY REVIEW | THOUGHT LEADERSHIP | JOURNALISM | EDUCATOR | MEDIA LAW | SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNICATION |PARTNERSHIP BUILDING | INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS | TEAM DEVELOPMENT