The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science
The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science is a marketing research institute within the School of Marketing at the University of South Australia in Adelaide, Australia. It is an independent, not-for-profit institute. Previously named the Marketing Science Centre, it was elevated to institute status in 2005 after recognition of over a decade of achievements. It is the first university institute devoted to marketing science. To signal the Institute's research philosophy it was renamed after two marketing academics, Professor Andrew Ehrenberg and Professor Frank Bass. Both Ehrenberg and Bass have championed the development of simple generalised laws that can be described mathematically and can be widely applied. The Institute aims to uncover law-like patterns and relationships and build empirically grounded theory to explain and predict buyer behaviour and brand performance. The Institute Director is Professor Byron Sharp and it is governed by three Advisory Boards that meet annually to discuss research directions and key priorities. These are held in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Services provided
Corporate sponsorship
The Institute's research into marketing is sponsored by corporations such as The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Turner Broadcasting through the Corporate Sponsorship Program. This R&D program has been established to research some of the fundamental issues of marketing and buyer behaviour. Empirical Generalisations have been established through this R&D program. The Institute's corporate sponsors receive discoveries in reports and in-house briefings.
Contract research
Contract research is tailored to the client's specific needs and can be both qualitative and quantitative. The Institute interprets raw data and draws implications for marketing strategy. Most aspects of market research can be undertaken at the Institute as there is an in-house computer-assisted telephone survey facility. The Institute also runs focus groups, in-depth interviews, on-line surveys and undertakes mystery shopping research. There are experts in the areas of branding, advertising, media, buyer behaviour, pricing, sustainable marketing, wine marketing and service quality.
Community Panel
The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute in conjunction with six South Australian councils established the Community Panel. The joint-initiative with The City of Tea Tree Gully, City of Burnside, City of Unley, City of Holdfast Bay, City of Campbelltown and City of West Torrens has been set up to allow the local community to participate in the council's decision making process. The Institute establishes online surveys which are emailed to registered residents allowing them to participate. The response rate is around 90%. It provides a new opportunity for residents to express their thoughts, ideas and concerns.
The Institute has established an online wine resource titled the International Wine Marketing & Wine Tourism Database. It is a bibliographic database that indexes and abstracts articles from published material on all aspects of the global wine industry. Documents include journal articles, books, government publications, research reports, statistical documents and conference papers.
The Institute Director Professor Byron Sharp, co-hosted an advertising conference with Professor Yoram Wind from The Wharton School in the US in December 2008. The conference explored the digital revolution within advertising and how advertising may work in the future. The event was attended by over 100 senior advertising professionals. The conference lead to a special edition of the Journal of Advertising Research which was released in June 2009. The Institute is collaborating with The Wharton School's 'Future of Advertising' project and the Advertising Research Foundation in 2012 for a follow-up to the 2008 conference which will feature research on multi-media orchestrated advertising.
