News from the Applied Marketing Research Group (AMRG)

Venue partner for Building Brands conference, September 2024

The Applied Marketing Research Group (AMRG) co-sponsored and hosted the Building Brands annual conference at Bristol Business School on 3 September 2024. Over 200 marketing professionals from the South West attended the all-day event which consisted of workshops and keynote speeches from industry experts on the latest developments in marketing.

KTP with Lynne Fernandes Optometrists rated ‘Very Good’, August 2024

The two-year KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) between UWE Bristol and Lynne Fernandes Optometrists, which concluded in May 2024, was recently rated, based on its outcomes and achievements, as ‘Very Good’ by Innovate UK. The academic team consisted of Michelle Jackson and Professor Mario Vafeas from the Applied Marketing Research Group, with input from Dr Mary-Ann Sherratt of UWE Bristol’s School of Health and Social Wellbeing.

Bristol Business Breakfast, July 2023

Dr Tom Bowden-Green, together with Chloe Foy from McCann Synergy, welcomed academics and the business community to the last Bristol Business Breakfast for the 2022/23 academic year. The topic of the presentation and subsequent discussion was ‘How your business can benefit from behavioural science’.

Festival sustainability, June 2023

Clare Mackay and Dr Ed Little presented findings from their research on environmentally responsible behaviour at Boomtown music festival at the Festival Sustainability Symposium, Edinburgh Napier University. 

Welsh Government - driver behaviour change, April 2023

Professor Alan Tapp is currently consulting on a driver behaviour change project for the Welsh Government.

Digital Marketing Skills Bootcamps, September 2022

Dr Tom Bowden-Green led a successful collaborative bid to design and deliver digital marketing skills bootcamps to employees of local firms and to those looking to start a career in digital marketing. The bootcamps, funded by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), will cover topics such as search engine optimisation (SEO), social media marketing, pay per click (PPC), and analytics.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership award, February 2022

Dr Mario Vafeas led a successful interdisciplinary bid for knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) funding from Innovate UK. This is a two-year project with the Gloucestershire-based company Paperback Shop, a virtual book wholesaler. This adds to previous KTP funding successes, led by the Applied Marketing Research Group, with Lynne Fernandes Optometrists, Bristol (awarded June 2021) and Sysmax, compliance and competency software developer, Guildford (awarded April 2021).

Dorset Public Health: Behaviour change during the COVID-19 pandemic, January to December 2021

Professor Alan Tapp is currently working on a behaviour change project with Dorset Public Health and South Gloucestershire Council to encourage the public to follow social distancing rules in response to COVID-19 and to engage in voluntary regular testing.

Sharing research with Bristol's Marketing Meetup, 18 February 2020

Dr Mario Vafeas presented his research on maximising value from client-agency relationships at Tuesday evening’s Marketing Meetup event in Bristol. Marketing Meetup is a community created for marketers with the purpose of providing opportunities to learn and to network. The Bristol branch of the nationwide organisation is run by Kim Mahoney. Mario opened the event by highlighting the key expectations of both relationship partners. Lauren Conen, Account Manager from Zone Digital (and ex-UWE Bristol), gave the agency perspective based on her personal experiences. This was followed by a lively question and answer session. Over 40 marketing and agency managers attended the event.

Strategic Marketing Masterclass in the Highlands and Islands, 4-5 November 2019

Dr Mario Vafeas, Tracy Hunt-Fraisse, and Dr Tom Bowden-Green delivered a second strategic marketing masterclass in Inverness on 4 and 5 November as part of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise Entrepreneurship Programme. Over 30 delegates attended the two-day masterclass from a range of industries including food, drink, hospitality, energy, and engineering. The feedback from delegates was very positive, with all delegates saying they were very likely or quite likely to recommend the masterclass to other businesses.

Viper Innovations KTP rated as “Outstanding”, October 2019

Professor Tim Hughes, Tracy Hunt-Fraisse and Kim Mahoney worked on the Viper Innovations Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), funded by Innovate UK. The project took a co-creative approach to user-led innovation by working with new partners in establishing how the company’s new CableGuardian™ technology could create value in different sectors and markets. The KTP involved working within Network Rail’s supply chain in establishing Viper Innovation’s brand and technology in the UK rail sector. The project continues to be strategically critical to Viper Innovation’s future ability to enter new markets with millions of pounds' worth of potential. Innovate UK rated the KTP as “Outstanding”, the highest rating available.

Academia meets Industry: Engaging for impact, 5 June 2019

The Applied Marketing Research Group, in association with the DMA and BAM, hosted an event at Bristol Business School to address the extent to which there is a gap between academia and practice and how to bridge it.

The event, attended by more than 40 delegates, began with presentations from Tracy Hunt-Fraisse and Dr Ed Little (Associate Heads of Department, UWE Bristol), Graham Edwards (Marketing Director of Element Materials Technology), Ian Bates (Creative Director of Firehaus), Ian Atkinson (Marketing Director of SunLife), and three recent graduates from UWE Bristol (Samuel Johnstone, Yasmin Orchard, and Jack Blake).

The second half consisted of a discussion about the nature and extent of the gap and ways in which academia and industry could collaborate more closely in the future to ensure marketing graduates are equipped with the skills employers need. 

Presentation to Professional Marketers' Forum, 30 April 2019

Dr Mario Vafeas and Professor Tim Hughes were invited to present their latest research findings to the South-West Branch of the Professional Marketers’ Forum on 30 April at the BDO in Bristol.

The audience was a mix of senior marketers from professional service firms and agency client services personnel. After the presentation, Tim and Mario, together with a panel (Paul Seymour, Marketing Director, Bishop Fleming; Hannah Lee, Account Director, Mytton Williams; Dan Hodges, Account Director, Conscious Solutions), answered questions from the audience on ‘best practice’ in client-agency relationship management.

Professor Tim Hughes and Dr Mario Vafeas interviewed by Jake Shaw (Nudge Digital), September 2017

The video below was produced and provided courtesy of Nudge Digital.