Spring 2008 issue of Terry Magazine - (Page 14)

aDvanCeS from The Terry College of BuSineSS art affects consumer taste buds sumer emotions. Patrick views art as, “An hat happens when a marketing professor with a background in biochemistry and emotion-evoking stimulus that elicits a range microbiology teams up with a Ph.D. student who is an acclaimed visual artist? of emotions simply as a result of the manner Strange as it may seem, the answer involves waiting tables at the Athens eatery in which the content is depicted.” The Norwegian-born Hagtvedt spent his Mama’s Boy, where assistant professor Vanessa Patrick and Ph.D. student Henrik Hagtvedt briefly posed as waiters to investigate the phenomenon of art infusion; they were there to col- youth in Libya, Malaysia, and Norway. To lect data for groundbreaking research that will appear this June in the Journal of Marketing his surprise, an early interest in painting and sculpting bloomed into a successful career. Research. “We actually didn’t wait tables,” Patrick in a box with a photo of the actual setting He has had exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and the U.S., and the Italian art community nicklaughs, downplaying the restaurant experi- at night. Over the past few years Patrick and named him “The Northern Light.” ence as merely one unique study in a series Hagtvedt sees no conflict between art and of more traditionally controlled environ- Hagtvedt have been focusing their efforts ments to test how visual art influences how on answering fundamental questions about academic research. Both, he says, are based consumers view a product. “I certainly don’t art, such as what art really is, what differenti- on turning fundamental curiosity into prowant to give the impression that academic ates it from other human activities, and how ductive creativity. “Research is an opportunity to gain research conducted by professors here entails viewing and experiencing art influences us. “I wouldn’t be doing this research if I answers to questions I’m curious about,” running around in restaurants dressed as says Hagtvedt, who still occawaiters!” sionally exhibits his paintings, The Patrick-Hagtvedt but now aspires to be a business research article describes art professor. “It’s a creative process. infusion as a phenomenon The research that we do is, for where “the presence of visual me, a unique combination of art has a favorable influence intellect and creativity. In a sense, on the evaluation of consumit’s the best of both worlds. And er products.” And advertising then I’ve been extremely foragencies have taken this intuitunate in that I’ve met Vanessa tive approach to the markethere and that’s a great benefit to place. Well-known examples the work as well.” include Whistler’s Mother Srinivas Reddy, director of coveting a Mercedes and Terry’s Coca-Cola Center for Andy Warhol’s portrait of an Marketing Studies, believes Absolut bottle. that Patrick and Hagtvedt have Patrick and Hagtvedt assert lowered the barriers to publish through a series of studies that people respond more favor- The Jan Vermeer painting, “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” (right) and the poster featuring work like this in the field. “We ably to a product when there actress Scarlett Johansson in the film with the same title (left) are examples of images needed a breakthrough with this that the Patrick-Hagtvedt research team used to test the phenomenon of art infusion. journal,” says Patrick. “This is is visual art used in the design, packaging, and advertising — because they hadn’t met Henrik,” says Patrick, a native the number-one journal in marketing, and associate the same luxurious characteristics of Bombay who earned her undergraduate no one has published anything on art.” So what’s next for Hagtvedt and Patrick? with the product as they do with the visual degree in microbiology and biochemistry before realizing that her true calling was They are currently immersed in a number of art. research projects in the area of art and aesFor one of the series of tests, including marketing. The two researchers have very diverse thetics and are employing methods ranging the real-world example at Mama’s Boy, they asked consumers to rate the same silverware backgrounds and bring different strengths to from lab experiments to neuropsychological product each packaged in black boxes — their collaborative work. Patrick has a back- techniques such as functional magnetic resobut designed with different sets of images. ground in advertising and marketing commu- nance imaging (fMRI). “We’re expanding Customers routinely associated the box with nications and has worked in agencies such as our efforts,” says Patrick. “Fortunately, our Van Gogh’s “Café de Nuit” as having more Ogilvy and Mather and J. Walter Thomson. backgrounds and interests give us synergy as luxurious qualities than the same silverware The majority of her research focuses on con- researchers.” ■ By Matt Waldman (AB ’96) W 14 • Spring 2008 Terry College of BuSineSS

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Terry School of Business - Spring 2008

Terry School of Business - Spring 2008 Contents Quick Bites Research & Innovation Gatherings Best CEO in America An Unlikely Rock Star Fire & Flavor Beyond the Bench Terry Memo Economic Scorekeeper Class Notes

Terry School of Business - Spring 2008

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