6 June 2014. The recently established Swiss Academy of Marketing Science celebrated its launch during a “Branding Night” gala at the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich. Headed by Prof. Torsten Tomczak, director of the Research Institute for Customer Insight at the University of St.Gallen (FCI-HSG), and Prof. Harley Krohmer, director of the Institute for Marketing and Management at the University of Bern, the academy awarded two prizes. The “Swiss Academy of Marketing Science Award” honors a marketing professional who has rendered outstanding service to university studies and research through his or her work, and the “Rigour & Relevance Research Award” honors excellence in research that is widely lauded in business. The winners were chosen by experts from the worlds of academia and business.

Marketing professional and lecturer

Dr. Dominique von Matt received the “Swiss Academy of Marketing Science Award 2014” for his outstanding support for academic marketing studies and research at Swiss universities and his work spreading the idea of marketing among the general public. The chairman of the board of directors and majority owner of communications agency Jung von Matt/Limmat is one of Switzerland’s best-known experts in branding, advertising and digital communication. Von Matt, who has been a lecturer at the University of St.Gallen since 2008, teaches marketing communications in the Marketing, Services and Communication Management master’s program. His lectures always receive top ratings from students at HSG.

Research with practical relevance

To counter the image that excellent academic marketing research pays too little attention to current and relevant issues in marketing practice, a 10-member jury of leading lights in marketing, including Thomas Amstutz, CEO of Feldschlösschen; Nadine Borter, managing director of Contexta AG; Dr. Kjell Gruner, vice president marketing of Porsche AG; and Emanuel Probst, CEO of JURA, evaluated the practical relevance of academic papers. The “Rigour & Relevance Research Award” went to Prof. Reto Hofstetter for his article “Social ties and user-generated content: Evidence from an online social network”, published in 2013 in the renowned academic periodical Management Science. The Bern native, who earned his habilitation at the University of St.Gallen, is now professor of marketing at the Institute of Marketing and Communication Management at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI).