Michael R Solomon
- Authority on Consumer Behavior and Lifestyle Marketing
Travels From
Pennsylvania
Michael R Solomon Speaker Biography
Michael R. Solomon “wrote the book” on understanding consumers. Literally. Hundreds of thousands of business students have learned about Marketing from his books including Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being -- the most widely used book on the subject in the world.
Michael’s mantra: We don’t buy products because of what they do. We buy them because of what they mean. He advises global clients in leading industries such as apparel and footwear (Calvin Klein, Levi Strauss, Under Armour, Timberland), financial services and e-commerce (eBay, Progressive), CPG (Procter & Gamble, Campbell’s), retailing (H&M), sports (Philadelphia Eagles), manufacturing (DuPont, PP&G) and transportation (BMW, United Airlines) on marketing strategies to make them more consumer-centric. He regularly appears on television shows including The Today Show, Good Morning America, and CNN to comment on consumer issues, and he is frequently quoted in major media outlets such as The New York Times, USA Today, Adweek and Time.
As a Professor of Marketing (in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia) and an industry consultant, Michael combines cutting-edge academic theory with actionable real-world strategies. He helps managers get inside the heads of their customers so they can anticipate and satisfy their deepest and most pressing needs – today and tomorrow. An executive at Subaru said it best: “The man is a scholar who is current and street-wise.”
Michael is passionate about the extraordinary world of the ordinary consumer. He brings humor and arresting visuals to his keynotes to show how everyday behaviors are much more meaningful than you thought – and an essential pathway to grabbing the attention and loyalty of your customers. The marketing guru Philip Kotler summed it up when he stated, “Solomon has the mind of a scientist and the writing flair of a journalist.”
Profit from Disruption: Tear Down Marketing’s Old Walls to See the Future of Your Business
Fundamental categories that form the bedrock of marketing strategy and customer insights simply no longer exist. You need to understand the new landscape of consumer behavior so you don’t get left in the dust.
In this fast-moving 45-minute program you will learn:
- How you can reach today’s consumers, who plug into a “hive mind” that tells them what to buy.
- Why the debate about “offline versus online” marketing strategies is useless.
- How to market with rather than market to your customers.
- Why your customers rely upon your brands to tell them who they are.
- How to develop new killer products and services by demolishing your industry’s walls
NEW KEYNOTE!!!!
The Many Faces of AI: What (Or Whom) Will Consumers Trust – and Obey?
Everyone is buzzing about Artificial Intelligence these days, as well as they should. Machines that “think” for us already are transforming how we work, play – and shop. McKinsey tells us that some 29 million U.S. homes used some form of smart technology last year, and that number grows by over 30 percent a year.
Many organizations now deploy robots, avatars and chatbots to perform tasks we used to ask flesh-and-blood people to do. This suddenly makes the age-old question of what makes us human much less theoretical. Self-driving cars threaten to replace truck drivers. IBM’s Watson beats chess masters and veteran Jeopardy game show contestants. Movies and TV shows like Blade Runner, Westworld, and Humans that focus on the civil rights of synths, replicants and androids are center stage in popular culture. Alexa and Siri are our new guardian angels.
Where does the person stop and the machine start?
Marketers need to grapple with this question, and soon. As customers increasingly interact with machines instead of people, there are huge ramifications for the way we think about sales interactions, communications strategies, product design, and marketing channels.
Will consumers more readily accept a product recommendation from an AI agent if an attractive avatar delivers the message? Will customers become loyal to an intelligent agent, much as some do with their favorite salespeople now? Will shoppers prefer to see computer-generated models in advertising rather than real people?
Very soon, the rise of the machines will become the race of the machines. Don’t be left at the starting line. In this thought-provoking presentation we will ask:
- How does the physical appearance of a robot or avatar sales advisor affect the likelihood that customers will trust and follow its’ recommendations about what to buy?
- How will chatbots and affective computing (where software detects a consumer’s emotional state) impact sales interactions?
- As advertisers use machine learning to generate artificial images for their messages, how will AI influence ideals of beauty and the fashion industry?
- What will be the impact of dating apps, sexbots and other smart devices on interpersonal relationships?
- How will facial recognition and wearable computer technologies meld with AI to create “markets of one?”
A Moving Target
Consumer behavior is a moving target, but understanding how “deep meanings” influence customers worldwide will improve your aim.
The Young and the Restless: Capture the Hearts, Minds, and Wallets of Millennials
U.S. Millennials spend $600 billion per year, but their choices change faster than Lady Gaga changes her outfits. How can you adapt to connect with these “always on” but always changing shoppers?
We Really ARE What We Wear: How The Psychology of Fashion Influences Consumer Behavior
Customers literally choose from thousands of options. Fashion marketers need to dig deeper if they want to sync their offerings with what their customers seek.
