Best 40-Under-40 Professor Markus Giesler

Before making the move to B-school academia, Giesler spent a decade in the music industry, where he founded music firm G-Productions and discovered a disconnect between conventional marketing wisdom and success: “I learned that the things you find in traditional marketing and marketing text books are not so applicable to what successful companies in music and entertainment are doing … So I did my PhD on that.” Giesler completed his doctoral studies in marketing at Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. According to him, successful marketing strategies don’t revolve around the consumer; rather, they take into account vast networks of actors, such as researchers, journalists, and advocacy groups. His research has appeared in the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Consumer Research; it has also won him the attention of companies such as Apple, BMW, and Google.

Giesler brings his research to bear on the classroom. “I want to expose students to as much uncertainty as possible; I want to radically pull the rug from underneath their feet so that they understand the constructiveness of this business school and marketing language game,” he explains. “I take this job seriously. A lecture where I don’t come out and feel either extremely excited or extremely frustrated wasn’t a good lecture. I think that’s a guarantee that I can give to every student: we all come out with a completely new perspective on things, and that’s the goal.”

Markus Giesler is among “The World’s 40 Best B-School Profs Under the Age of 40“