Dr Niall Caldwell

Dr Caldwell’s main interests are in the area of branding of celebrities and cultural institutions (museums, universities, cities and countries). He also has interests in marketing epistemologies and the philosophy of marketing.

niall.caldwell@aru.ac.uk
Niall's profile on Google Scholar

Background

Niall worked for a Saatchi & Saatchi owned advertising agency in Chicago as an account executive responsible for handling the Point-of-Sale needs of S.C.Johnson & Son, M&M Mars Inc., and Quaker Oats. The MBA from the Business School at the University of Chicago gave him the business tools to leave Saatchi and set up his own company. Niall began his career of research and teaching in the university sector when he returned to England in 1996. He joined Anglia Ruskin University in 2012.

Research interests

• Brand image and equity of cultural institutions, including museums, universities, cities and countries
• Celebrity power
• Marketing epistemologies (analytic/positivist, phenomenological and critical theory approaches)
• Social marketing
• The philosophy of marketing

Niall's research interests are centred on the power of brands in contemporary markets. Branding stabilizes the competitive economic environment by consolidating demand for specific products. Previously he has examined the branding strategies of cultural institutions, but currently he's interested in how celebrities function in the symbolic order as a kind of fetish, and in the economic order as a type of brand. The stars themselves come and go, but the system of celebrity is maintained by the media through “technologies of intimacy” (Thrift 2008). Empirical data about theatre audience perceptions of celebrity forms the basis of this current research.

Areas of research supervision

• Celebrity Marketing
• Brand Marketing
• International Marketing
• Brand Management
• Contemporary Issues in Marketing         

Supervisor of completed PhDs

• Dr Dianna Luck: 'E-CRM (Electronic-Customer Relationship Management) in segments of the UK Hotel industry'  (completed 2008)     
• Dr Joao Freire: 'Branding the ‘Algarve’’ (completed 2009)

Teaching

Marketing Communications and International Marketing at the Undergraduate level and Marketing Strategy and Brand Management at the Postgraduate level.

In his teaching Niall has used interactive technologies (lecture capture and simulation games) to further student engagement. Niall was promoted to Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2014 in recognition of the development of teaching technologies.

Qualifications

• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 2014
• MBA Finance and Marketing, University of Chicago, Specialized study of Brand Equity
• PhD Philosophy, Stony Brook University, New York
• BA Philosophy (First Class Honours) University of Manchester, England

Memberships, editorial boards

• Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy
• Member, Chartered Institute of Marketing
• Member, British Academy of Management
• Member, University of Chicago Booth Business School UK Alumni  Association
• Member, American Philosophical Association (1986-2006)

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Advisor to Re:source (The Council for Museums Archives and Galleries), for museums questionnaire design
• Whipple Museum of the History of Science, University of Cambridge, consultant on audience research and focus groups ( ongoing since 2010)
• Institute of Sales Promotion, Diploma Committee
• S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., USA, advisor on point-of-purchase marketing of consumer goods 

Selected recent publications

Caldwell, N., and Nicholson, K., (2014). Star Quality: Celebrity Casting in London West End Theatres. Arts Marketing, an International Journal, 4, Issue1/2, 136-155. Special double issue on “Branding in the Arts.”  http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/AM-10-2013-0022

Caldwell, N. (2006).  The Whipple ‘Clocking-in’ experiment: measuring visitor’s time and increasing comments. Museum Practice, 33: 42-44        

Caldwell, N., and Freire, J., (2004). The differences between branding a country, a region and a city: Applying the Brand Box Model.  Journal of Brand Management, 12, 1: 50-61.

Caldwell, N., and Coshall, J., (2003). Tourists preference structures for London’s Tate Modern Gallery: the implications for strategic marketing.  Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 14, 2: 23-45.

Caldwell, N., (2002) (Rethinking) the measurement of service quality in museums and galleries. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 7, 2, 161-171.

Caldwell, N., and Coshall, J., (2002).  Measuring brand associations for museums and galleries using repertory grid analysis.  Management Decisions, 40, 4 (2002): 383-392.

Caldwell, N., (2000).  The emergence of museums as brands.  The International Journal of Arts Management, 2, 3, 28-34.

Caldwell, N., (1997).  Museum franchising and brand equity. Museums Journal, October, 33-4.

Recent presentations and conferences

‘Star Quality: the Effect of Celebrity Casting on the Brand Equity of Theatre’, International Arts Management Conference (AIMAC) University of the Andes, Bogota, Columbia, July 2013

‘Celebrity Brand Management’ Faculty research seminar LAIBS, Cambridge, Feb 2014

‘Emotional vs. rational theories of branding’, Stenden University, Netherlands, Oct 2010

‘Cultural Communication: the hidden rules of English behaviour’, Technische  Hochschule, Munich Oct 2009

Media experience

Niall's work on celebrity power has been featured in National and local media outlets. See the following articles and press releases:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11308855/Caroline-Flack-will-not-triumph-in-the-West-End-despite-Strictly-win-says-study.html