Marketing

An Adidas ad for its new line of sports bras, featuring a photo grid of topless women, made a splash online recently, prompting a mix of praise and criticism. But it may not be so black-and-white. Northeastern experts in body image and marketing weigh the pros and cons.

Rebrands are rare, says Paul Fombelle, who worked at one of the world's biggest advertising agencies before teaching marketing at Northeastern. For the franchise most recently known as the Washington Football Team, a new name and logo won't matter as much as the play on the field, he says.

Father Isaac Keeley, a 71-year-old Trappist monk who lives in a monastery in central Massachusetts, didn't know the first thing about using social media to take his beer business national. Then he received a call from the Digital, Analytics, Technology and Automation (DATA) Initiative team at Northeastern.

Despite rising inflation, supply-chain disruptions and pandemic lockdowns, business is booming for well-known luxury behemoths like Louis Vuitton, Cartier, BMW, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Economic and marketing experts at Northeastern explain what's behind the sudden surge in spending on some of the finer things in life.

A lot of clever features have made Wordle popular, say two Northeastern experts.

Hopes for the digital media industry were elevated when co-founder and chief executive officer Jonah Peretti celebrated BuzzFeed's Listing Day at Nasdaq in New York City last month. Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images

Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

Better not, say two Northeastern scholars of law and marketing. While consumers may benefit from the convenience of touch-free checkout, it's not always clear what a company will do with consumers' biometric information once it has it.