Effective Marketing Science Applications: Insights from the ISMS-MSI Practice Prize Finalist Papers and Projects

Abstract

From 2003 to 2012, the ISMS-MSI Practice Prize/Award competition has documented 25 impactful projects, with associated papers appearing in Marketing Science. This article reviews these papers and projects, examines their influence on the relevant organizations, and provides a perspective on the diffusion and impact of marketing science models within the organizations. We base our analysis on three sources of data—the articles, authors' responses to a survey, and in-depth interviews with the authors. We draw some conclusions about how marketing science models can create more impact without losing academic rigor while maintaining strong relevance to practice. We find that the application and diffusion of marketing science models are not restricted to the well-known choice models, conjoint analysis, mapping, and promotional analysis—there are very effective applications across a wide range of managerial problems using an array of marketing science techniques. There is no one successful approach, and although some factors are correlated with impactful marketing science models, there are a number of pathways by which a project can add value to its client organization. Simpler, easier-to-use models that offer robust and improved results can have a stronger impact than academically sophisticated models can. Organizational buy-in is critical and can be achieved through recognizing high-level champions, holding in-house presentations and dialogues, doing pilot assignments, involving multidepartment personnel, and speaking the same language as the influential executives. And we find that intermediaries often, but not always, play a key role in the transportability and diffusion of models across organizations. Although these applications are impressive and reflect profitable academic–practitioner partnerships, changes in the knowledge base and reward systems for academics, intermediaries, and practitioners are required for marketing science approaches to realize their potential impact on a much larger scale than the highly selective sample that we have been able to analyze.