Conferences
MSI 2025 Summit: Marketing in the Age of AI
Save the date for the annual Marketing Science Institute Summit, held at the UCLA Luskin Center, 425 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA from February 12-13.
In both the workplace and everyday life, adoption of generative AI has been much faster than for PCs or the Internet, in part because it builds on and extends these earlier technologies. Some predict that GenAI will soon drive greatly increased productivity, but others caution that it took years to realize the potential of previous technologies. As we pivot from hype to hope, it’s time to look at where GenAI (and AI in general) is paying off and what barriers remain.
Join us for MSI’s 2025 Summit to discuss what we have learned, and what we can learn from successful use cases for both businesses and consumers.
- How are companies using AI in sales and service interactions—and how are consumers responding?
- What skill sets do analysts and marketers need to thrive—and how can managers engage and motivate them—in the transition to AI-assisted decision making?
- Will GenAI replace—or complement—other forms of marketing research and analytics?
- What is the role of human input in AI creativity and innovation, and how do consumers judge the results?
- How will AI-driven virtual and augmented reality affect the role of influencers, product reviews and other uses of social media?
- How will the “democratization” of content development and placement affect the structure of the advertising industry and the roles of different agencies?
- What are the privacy and ethical considerations of using AI to “nudge” individuals toward better decisions about their finances, health and wellness or other consumption behavior?
- Will AI help overcome—or merely reinforce—the kind of “technology gaps” among different populations that resulted from uneven adoption of previous innovations?
Why Attend the Summit
- The 2 day event is designed to include highest-value activities — networking, research feedback, and presentations – in one highly engaging event.
- As an attendee, you will be joining an exclusive gathering of top brands, marketers, and academic experts. Our speakers and attendees are among the best of the best across industry and academia.
- Like all MSI live events, the Summit is a “sales-free” intimate environment where marketing leaders can share challenges and questions with trusted counterparts across industries.
- Presentation topics have been curated by you – our member companies – to ensure that we are focusing on your most important issues and questions.
- Your input will influence the outcome of new research and solve real business challenges.
- Your team will benefit too – we’ll provide summary content and resources for your team following the Summit.
Who Can Join
The Marketing Science Institute (MSI) bridges leaders in industry and academia to create a unique community that advances the scientific practice of marketing. This pivotal, member-only event brings together the world’s best academic minds to set the agenda and work towards solutions to your biggest marketing challenges. If you’re interested in MSI membership or attending this exclusive event, contact msi@msi.org to reserve your spot today.
MSI Member Companies: Login to Your Account to Register!
MSI, with the team at UCLA, is keeping a close watch on the Los Angeles wildfires and we anticipate to hold the Summit in-person February 12-13 as expected. Our thoughts are with everyone affected.
February 12, 2025
8:00 – 8:45am Registration & Breakfast
8:45 – 9:00 am Opening Remarks
Tulin Erdem, MSI Executive Director
9:00 – 9:30am Marketing Analytics in the Age of AI
Jean-Pierre Dubé – James M. Kilts Distinguished Service Professor of Marketing, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
What are the misconceptions about AI, its literal meaning, and plausible expectations for how it will impact marketing in the near term? Learn from two real-world case studies to demonstrate how the AI toolkit can help companies make better data-based marketing decisions.
9:30 – 10:00am In Conversation with Analytic Partners’ Nancy Smith
Nancy Smith – President & CEO, Analytic Partners; K. Sudhir – James Frank Professor of Marketing, Private Enterprise, and Management, Yale School of Management
In a crowded field of analytic solution providers, Analytic Partners has continued to thrive and grow. In the past year, both Gartner and Forrester rated it at the head of the pack for both technical competency and ability to execute, even while Analytic Partners has grown organically and through multiple acquisitions. In this “fireside chat” conversation with Founder & CEO Nancy Smith, we will get her view of major trends in the industry. Where does she see growth opportunities? Where are Predictive and Generative AI propelling the biggest advances in marketing, and what areas are lagging? What challenges lie ahead for data-driven companies?
10:00 – 10:30am Synergizing Past Experiments for Intervention Personalization
Eva Ascarza – Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration, Marketing Unit, Harvard Business School, Harvard University
This research presents Incrementality Representation Learning (IRL), an advanced machine learning framework designed to help businesses harness past marketing experiments to predict the impact of new interventions, eliminating the need for costly and extensive testing. By integrating customer data with intervention design features, IRL enhances targeting and personalization, empowering firms to craft tailored marketing strategies that drive both profitability and customer engagement. Validated through large-scale CPG campaigns, IRL significantly outperforms traditional methods in predicting treatment effects and optimizing interventions, delivering superior results for new customer segments and untested promotional offers.
10:30 – 10:50 am Morning Break
10:50 – 11:00 am Morning Break
10:50 – 11:00am Research Priority Workshop Framework
Keith Smith, Ph.D. – MSI Research Director
MSI’s Research Priorities provide a framework for future academic research and industry-focused programming. In this session, we will quickly review our current priorities and outline the work of the Research Priority breakouts.
11:00am – 1:10pm Research Priority Workshop
The power of MSI is that our members set academic research priorities to guide the funding of new research and programming. The session will commence with a review of the existing MSI Research Priorities and a discussion about changes to the priority-setting process. Subsequently, participants will engage in breakout sessions facilitated by MSI Academic Fellows to identify and address our members’ most pressing priorities and issues.
1:10 – 2:10pm Lunch
2:10 – 2:40pm AI-Powered Insights for a Cookie-Free Marketing Future: Modeling Multi-Touch Consumer Journeys
Alice Li – Associate Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing & Logistics, The Ohio State University
Firms face growing uncertainty as cookies phase out, prompting various hypotheses and contingency plans. My co-authors and I are developing models to simulate firm responses to this shift and explore effective transition strategies. Additionally, we leverage aggregate time-series data for forecasting and bridge multi-touch attribution with marketing mix models. These methods provide actionable, data-driven solutions to help firms navigate a cookie-free future.
2:40 – 3:10pm AI Panel
Moderator: Wendy Moe – Dean’s Professor of Marketing, University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business
Panelists: Lea Hinderling – Head of Data, Measurement & Analytics, Telecom, Google; Bryce Peake – Vice President, Data Science, Domino’s; Greg Pharo – Global Sr. Director, Holistic Communications & Marketing Effectiveness, The Coca-Cola Company
This panel will explore AI’s transformative role in marketing, with insights from industry leaders and academics on innovations like predictive analytics and ethical challenges. The discussion will bridge cutting-edge research with real-world applications.
3:10 – 3:40pm Afternoon Break
3:40 – 4:40pm AI Workshop
Members will participate in small breakout discussions to share how they are working with AI and the challenges they face. The group will then reconvene to collaborate on identifying priorities for MSI’s upcoming AI Initiative.
4:40 – 5:10pm The Transparency Dilemma: How AI Disclosure Erodes Customer Trust and What Firms Can Do About It
Martin Reimann – McClelland Associate Professor of Marketing, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona
As generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT are becoming an integral part of an increasing number of business processes, marketing executives face important decisions about whether to proactively disclose their use of AI to marketplace stakeholders. Does disclosing AI usage undermine trust in the actor using it? Hear about vital insights for marketing leaders navigating the balance between transparency and trust in AI-powered marketing practices. While transparency is usually viewed as a virtue, disclosing AI usage carries unintended consequences.
5:10 – 5:20pm Presentation of Alden G Clayton Awards
Tulin Erdem, MSI Executive Director
Keith Smith, Ph.D. – MSI Research Director
5:20 – 7:00pm Evening Reception & Poster Session
This welcome reception will be a chance to meet the other corporate and academic attendees. AGC recipients will present cutting-edge research through poster sessions.
February 13, 2025
8:00 – 8:45am Registration & Breakfast
8:45 – 9:00am Opening Remarks
9:00 – 9:30am Consumers’ Perception of AI-Generated Marketing
Fabian Buder – Head of Future & Trends Research, Nuremburg Institute for Market Decisions
This presentation explores global consumer attitudes toward AI-generated marketing content, revealing widespread skepticism and a preference for human-created alternatives. Drawing on a series of experiments and representative cross-cultural survey data, it highlights key barriers and will discuss steps for businesses to enhance acceptance and trust in marketing and advertising.
9:30 – 10:00am Visual Drivers of Emotions: A Model for Extracting Emotional Loading of Marketing Images
Natalie Mizik – Professor of Marketing and J. Gary Shansby Endowed Chair in Marketing Strategy, University of Washington Foster School of Business
We use computer vision and deep learning to extract predictors of emotion elicited by marketing images. We consider: (1) elements of design (low-level visual features) such as color, texture, shape, lines, curves, corners, edges, and orientation, (2) high-level objects (e.g., adventure, action, leisure, danger, etc.), (3) human facial expressions, and (4) text embedded in the image and train XGboost models to predict image Sentiment and Arousal.
10:00 – 10:20am Morning Break
10:20 – 10:50am Summary Session
Following the Day 1 Research Priority session, breakout groups will share their identified top priorities. Drawing from these insights, as well as considering the evolving market dynamics and member feedback, we will refine and enhance our priorities for 2024.
10:50 – 11:20am Microsoft Presentation
Kate Weymer – Director Data Science, Microsoft
11:20 – 11:50am Theory-Aligned Knowledge Distillation with LLMs: Applications to Content Marketing and Customer Service
K. Sudhir – James Frank Professor of Marketing, Private Enterprise, and Management, Yale School of Management
Learn about two applications of large language models (LLMs) in content marketing and customer service, focusing on how the knowledge embedded in LLMs can be leveraged to optimize performance in each context with interpretable theory-based guidance. The content marketing example demonstrates how LLMs can integrate A/B test results to generate and validate theories for optimizing headlines, while the customer service application shows how knowledge distillation from advanced LLMs can enhance the performance of low-cost, open-source models.
11:50 – 12:00pm Closing Remarks
Scott McDonald, Ph.D. – ARF CEO & President
UCLA Luskin Conference Center
MSI has secured a block of rooms at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center at a discounted rate of $285 per night for a Deluxe King room. To secure a room at the group rate please use this link to book.
Availability and the discount for rooms can only be guaranteed until January 13, so please make sure to book ASAP.
UCLA Luskin Conference Center
425 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles 90095
