Interview with Peter Neijens
“Accelerate team-based advertising research – with a role for ICORIA!”
Last summer during ICORIA 2024 in Thessaloniki, Steffen Prior (research associate and PhD student, Chair of Marketing, University of Wuppertal) had the opportunity to interview Peter Neijens about the challenges and developments in advertising research. As part of the interview series focused on the future of advertising research. All winners of EAA’s Flemming Hansen Award will be interviewed by PhD students, with the interviews being published in the EAA newsletter.
Peter Neijens (right) and Steffen Prior (left) in the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, June 28th, 2024 (source: Charlotte Lamerz).
Steffen: Thank you very much for taking time for this interview. It’s about the future of advertising research and particularly for aspiring researchers like me and my fellow PhD students. To begin with, how did you develop your passion for advertising research?
Peter: That’s a strange story. I studied political science because I wanted to become a journalist. But during my studies, I became interested in research methodology. I was then asked to become an assistant professor in research methods—survey methods, experiments, and statistical analysis. Later, I joined the Department of Communication of the University of Amsterdam, with left-oriented colleagues who were mainly interested in political communication. However, the students wanted courses in advertising research. Since my colleagues didn’t want to teach it due to its association with capitalism and commerce, it was the 80s (laughs), I thought, ‘Why not study advertising effects, not because we love it, but because it’s an interesting phenomenon to study.’ But later I became more interested in the field, of course. And we did many, many studies because our group was growing and growing. My PhD students and I explored topics such as people’s use of advertising, media context effects in advertising, brand websites, cross platform advertising, product placement, embedded forms of advertising, sponsorship disclosures, eWOM, and augmented reality. So, my interest in studying advertising was not a deliberative choice, it was how things developed.
S: Did you maintain your passion for social and political sciences alongside advertising research?
P: It’s always been a mix. I’m still interested in public opinion. I would say my field is media and persuasion, whether in advertising or public opinion. I was even editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Public Opinion Research while simultaneously leading our advertising group. So, my interests have always been divided between these two areas.
“The gap between academia and practitioners”
S: One of the aspects often discussed in advertising research is the academic-practitioner divide. For us as young scholars aiming to bridge this gap, what major challenges do you foresee in advertising research over the next decade?
P: I think there is a huge gap between practical and academic research. Well, that’s not only my opinion, it is common knowledge of course. Academic research focuses on theoretical questions, with success measured by publications. We conduct 2×2, one-shot experiments with students as subjects. On the other hand, practitioners aim to satisfy clients through case studies with large-scale data and immediate insights. This difference in priorities creates a huge gap. One way to address this is through more collaboration. For example, in Amsterdam, we have a foundation called SWOCC (Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Commerciële Communicatie – Foundation for Fundamental Research on Brand Communication). The foundation is sponsored by companies that finance independent academic studies based on research questions suggested by the sponsors. This creates a general pool of insights for the entire industry, fostering interaction between academics and practitioners. What else can help here? I would say that an idea could be to create more internships so that students in bachelor and master programs can, part of their time, work in practice or with practitioners.
S: What about accessing company data for research? That’s often a challenge, right?
P: Indeed, companies like Meta or TikTok rarely share data, even though there are legal obligations under European law. Researchers could pursue legal avenues to obtain such data, but it’s a slow and challenging process. Building trust and demonstrating the mutual benefits of collaboration could help.
“Adapting the field of advertising research”
S: How can the field of advertising research adapt to address these challenges and close the gap between academia and practice?
P: One major issue is the university system’s focus on publications as the primary success criterion. Changing these criteria to include impactful contributions to society or industry would be a step forward. As long as we have publications as the number one success criterion, it is very difficult for an individual, maybe not at my age, but for younger colleagues, to say, ‘oh, no, we want to do practical relevant research, so we skip publications in international journals, but we do other impactful things for society’. And another aspect is, if you look at ICORIA for example, there are only academics. In public opinion conferences that I attended (AAPOR, WAPOR, ESOMAR), there were also practitioners: research companies, public opinion companies and marketing research companies. It was more integrated. So, as ICORIA we could do more to attract practitioners to our conferences So that’s the number two, try to involve practitioners to attend our conferences. And maybe it is not that difficult because who are the practitioners? These are our former students. They attended ICORIA until they graduated and then they are at the other end of the gap, so to speak. But maybe we can interest them to come back and continue their participation in our conferences.
S: I like your idea. I mean, I would be also interested in hearing presentations of people from the industry. And maybe also like the methods they use in practice. Because we are always using experimental designs, with a 2×2 design. And I sometimes wonder if it’s the same way they do it in the industry as we do it in academic research.
P: Probably you would be surprised how sophisticated their methods are. For example, data analytics. That’s very important at least in media agencies that work for advertising. I think they have something to tell us. It’s not just that we want to hear what their problems are but also how they contribute.
S: Earlier, you mentioned internships and collaboration as ways to bridge the gap. Could these work for PhD students as well?
P: Absolutely. PhD students should consider incorporating studies with practitioners or using company data as part of their research. In Amsterdam, PhD students conduct several empirical studies for their PhD, and one could involve collaboration with industry. This provides practical insights while maintaining academic freedom. Additionally, inviting former PhD students now working in industry to share their experiences can inspire current students.
“We should not just blame academics for the gap”
S: So far, we talked a lot about critique on the field. Did you recently notice any positive developments, developments like the field moving closer to close the gap? Closer to industry relevance? Are there any changes that are steering academia better on track?
P: I think it is not just that we have to blame academics for the gap. We should also blame the practitioners. Think of physicians, accountants or lawyers, for example, they have to keep up with the latest insights provided by academic research. But for advertising and corporate practitioners, it seems that it is not important to know what we have found out at universities. Maybe they should take an exam every two years for their certificate as a marketer (laughs) showing that they have taken courses and that their knowledge is up-to-date.
“Preparing for a data-driven future”
S: With the increasing importance of data analytics, what skills should students develop to prepare for data-driven industries?
P: Students should learn to capture and analyze digital traces through web scraping, data donation, and advanced statistical methods like machine learning. Analyzing visual data is also becoming increasingly important.
S: So, you think we also need to teach the skills to create and use applications for data scraping from the internet?
P: Sure. Why experimental or survey methods and not these methods? These skills should be part of the toolbox of today’s scholars.
S: What about the use of AI in advertising research?
P: AI is here to stay, and researchers should focus on how to use it effectively rather than resist it. Transparency in using generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Grammarly is important. While AI speeds up processes, ethical guidelines and proper labeling of AI usage in research are still evolving. It’s a fast-paced development, but we must adapt.
“Advice for young researchers”
S: What is the best advice you have ever received for your own career?
P: That’s stick to your topic.
S: Stick to your topic?
P: Yes. Well, that was what I’ve been told and I believe in it. Very often we do one study and then we are sick and tired of the topic and we do another study on a completely different topic. That’s not good for the development of a person’s expertise and brand profile, and also not good for our discipline. If you truly want a solution to a pressing issue you have to sit together and say we really want to solve this. And as a team, develop a series of research questions, divide tasks, use the same operationalization, measurement of concepts, and constructs, etc.. There should be accumulation of findings. The disadvantage, of course, is that you give up some of your freedom. But sometimes I miss a sense of urgency, it seems so noncommittal. ‘Ah interesting, nice issue, let’s do a 2×2 study, and we have a publication. And then we move on to a next study on the next popular topic.’ Unthinkable in, for example, cancer research or AI development.
Also ICORIA could contribute more to this. What is ICORIA? It is a very nice conference of course (laughs). I’ve attended all ICORIAs from the very first one until now. It is a great conference, but the format is: a presentation, and one or two questions. And then there is the next presentation. And then there is the next year… Fine, but I would say that it would be an interesting addition to the conference design as a group of scholars interested in a specific topic sit down and discuss what should be done in the coming three to five years to develop our knowledge in that specific area and discuss progress at each year’s conference.’ In political science, for example, there is the European Consortium for Political Research. At the conference of this organization, sub groups of researchers discuss papers on their specific topic for one week. Each paper is discussed for about two or three hours. Again, ICORIA in its current form is a super conference, nice and interesting, but we could think of at least some changes in this direction as a supplement to the current format.
S: What advice would you give to young researchers starting their careers in advertising research?
P: For academia, focus on becoming an expert in a specific field. Stick to your topic and build cumulative knowledge—don’t jump from one area to another. Lastly, embrace good measurement and standardization in research. These are key to advancing the field.
John Lennon? Peter! Neijens! – Pictures from Peters Blues and Rock ’n’ Roll days (source: peterneijens.nl).
“A career fallback: Rock ’n’ roll dreams”
S: The final question for this interview: What would you have become if you hadn’t become a professor of advertising research?
P: My dream was to become a bass guitar player in a successful rock ’n’ roll band. When I was younger, I played in a band, rock ‘n’ roll and blues. I was the bass player. I liked it very much, but unfortunately, I had a great lack of talent (both laughing). When we started a song together, I finished the song earlier than the other ones (both laughing). But my band mates tolerated me. Long hair was sufficient back then. But it never became a success. And now they say that Peter wanted to become a bass guitarist, but that due to a lack of talent he ended up just becoming a full professor.
S: Thank you so much for this fascinating and inspiring conversation, Peter. Your insights and stories will surely guide young researchers navigating their careers.
P: My pleasure. Best of luck to all aspiring researchers. Don’t forget to enjoy, we have a great profession!
About Peter Neijens: He is Professor Emeritus of Media and Persuasion at the University of Amsterdam and published extensively in national and international journals and books. For his outstanding contributions to advertising research, he was honored with the Flemming Hansen Award. His research interests include media effects in advertising and public opinion.
About Steffen Prior: He is a research associate and PhD student at the Chair of Marketing of Tobias Langner at the University of Wuppertal. He is currently in the second year of his PhD program. His research focuses on performance measurement and optimization of influencer content on social media platforms as well as the application of AI technologies in advertising.
