Francesca Sotgiu

Marketing research, close to practice.

I am a Full Professor of Omnichannel Marketing at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at King’s College London. My research sits at the intersection of marketing strategy and omnichannel analytics. I study how social media, online reviews, retail dynamics and digital advertising shape consumer behavior and firm performance across channels.

I am Associate Editor at the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Interactive Marketing and Journal of Retailing, and sit on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Business Research and Journal of Advertising Research. I am a Research Fellow at the Tinbergen Institute and ABRI, and a member of AMA, EMAC and INFORMS.

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Full Professor, Omnichannel MarketingVrije Universiteit Amsterdam · 2020 to present
Distinguished Visiting ScholarKing’s College London · 2025 to present
Director of Graduate StudiesTinbergen Institute, Research Master in Business Data Science · 2018 to August 2026
Director of Graduate StudiesTinbergen Institute, Research Master in Economics · 2025 to August 2026
Assistant ProfessorHEC Paris · 2008 to 2015

Six areas. One question: how brands and consumers meet across channels.

Large-scale data, meta-analytic methods and field experiments, applied to digital and physical environments.

Omnichannel Retailing

How consumers navigate physical and digital touchpoints. Pricing, channel strategy and retail innovation.

Social Media and Brands

Owned social media effectiveness, influencer marketing and brand ecosystem positioning.

Online Reviews and eWOM

How electronic word of mouth is created, seen and evaluated, and what it does to sales.

Marketing with Purpose

Inclusive marketing, front-of-package labeling and sustainability in brand strategy.

Marketing Analytics

Meta-analysis, empirical modeling and field experiments on marketing questions.

Branding and Brand Safety

Brand positioning, reputational risk online and the financial side of brand safety.

Selected work.

2025

Navigating Toxic Playgrounds: Managing Reputational and Financial Brand Safety in Multiplayer Video Games

Bernritter, S., Danatzis, I., Möller-Herm, J., and Sotgiu, F.

International Journal of Research in Marketing, forthcoming

2025

One Size Does Not Fit All: Optimizing Size-Inclusive Model Photography Mitigates Fit Risk in Online Fashion Retailing

Zhang, Y., Ikonen, I., Eelen, J., and Sotgiu, F.

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1–30

2023

Brands on Social Media: A Meta-Synthesis on the Effectiveness of Owned Social Media

Liadeli, G., Sotgiu, F., and Verlegh, P.

Journal of Marketing, 87(3), 406–427

ABRI Best Paper Award 2023 · Don Lehmann Award runner-up 2024 · Top 5% Altmetric

2021

“Don’t Worry, We Are Here for You”: Brands as External Source of Control During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bernritter, S., Verlegh, P., Schartman, N., Gruber, V., and Sotgiu, F.

Journal of Advertising, 50(3), 262–270

2021

Behaviorally Targeted Location-Based Mobile Marketing

Bernritter, S., Sotgiu, F., and Ketelaar, P.

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science

2020

Conceptualizing the Electronic Word-of-Mouth Process: What We Know and Need to Know About eWOM Creation, Exposure, and Evaluation

Babić Rosario, A., De Valck, K., and Sotgiu, F.

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(3), 422–448

2020

Consumer Effects of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labeling: An Interdisciplinary Meta-Analysis

Ikonen, I., Sotgiu, F., Aydinli, A., and Verlegh, P.W.J.

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(3), 360–383

Finalist, AMS Sheth Foundation Best Paper Award 2021 · Winner, AMA Marketing and Public Policy Conference 2019

2016

The Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth on Sales: A Meta-Analytic Review of Platform, Product, and Metric Factors

Babić Rosario, A., Sotgiu, F., De Valck, K., and Bijmolt, T.

Journal of Marketing Research, June, 296–318

Lead article · Top 5% Altmetric · Finalist, Weitz-Winer-O’Dell Award 2021

2015

Suppliers Caught in Supermarket Price Wars: Victims or Victors?

Sotgiu, F. and Gielens, K.

Journal of Marketing Research, December, 784–800

ABRI Best Paper Award 2016

2015

The Evolution of Marketing Channel Research Domains and Methodologies: An Integrative Review and Future Directions

Krafft, M., Goetz, O., Mantrala, M., Sotgiu, F., and Tillmanns, S.

Journal of Retailing, 91(4), 569–585

William Davidson Honorable Mention 2017

Working papers topics

R&R

Brand Ecosystem Positioning Strategies

Liadeli, G., Sotgiu, F., Rapezzi, M., and Verlegh, P.W.J.

Revise and resubmit at Journal of Marketing Research · MSI Working Paper No. 24-143

Review

A Meta-Analysis on Brand Social Media Activities

Liadeli, G., Sotgiu, F., Verlegh, P., and Lombardo, S.

Best Paper in Track Award, Winter AMA 2020

Paper

Rethinking Electronic Word of Mouth in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Sotgiu, F., Babić Rosario, A., Fossen, B.L., and Ludwig, S.

Abstract

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has long been theorized as a fundamentally peer-driven process, an arena of human-to-human communication in which consumers generate, interpret, and transmit marketplace meaning. That foundation is now shifting. Artificial intelligence (AI) is learning from vast corpora of reviews, algorithmically filtering and summarizing them, and generating evaluative content that can substitute for direct peer exchange. Drawing on text analysis of Reddit discussions and in-depth interviews with 14 academic and industry experts, we reconceptualize eWOM as a hybrid influence infrastructure in which human and algorithmic actors jointly shape marketplace persuasion. We introduce a disruption gradient that captures escalating degrees of AI involvement, from AI as eWOM learner, to curator, to creator, and advance 31 research questions for understanding eWOM in the age of AI.

Prep

Marketer-Appropriated Electronic Word of Mouth: Investigating the Effect of Online Reviews Displayed in Marketer-Generated Messages

Babić Rosario, A., Sotgiu, F., and Besharat, A.

Prep

Long-Term Effectiveness of Nutri-Score in the Online Grocery Shopping Environment

Amaral, C., Ikonen, I., Olk, D., and Sotgiu, F.

Abstract

Do front-of-package nutrition labels change what people buy over the long run? Using a difference-in-differences model on five million purchases from 4,000 consumers across two major retailers, we track the effect of Nutri-Score implementation in online grocery environments from 2019 to 2023. Preliminary results show consumers purchased less healthy products after the label’s introduction (+14 kcal per item, p = .004), raising questions for policymakers and retailers about the real-world impact of nutritional nudges.

Honors and awards.

2025JAMS Best Associate Editor AwardJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science

2024Finalist, Don Lehmann AwardAMA

2023Winner, Stanley C. Hollander AwardAMA

2023ABRI Best Paper AwardABRI

2023Invited Faculty, AMA Sheth Doctoral ConsortiumAMA

2023MSI and JPP&M Research GrantMSI

2021Finalist, Weitz-Winer-O’Dell AwardAMA

2021Finalist, AMS Sheth Foundation Best Paper AwardAMS

2020Best Paper in Track AwardWinter AMA

2019Best Paper, AMA Marketing and Public Policy ConferenceAMA

2017MSI Research Accelerator AwardMSI

2015HEC Paris Foundation Research Grant, €98,000HEC Paris, ECODEC Labex

Courses and programs.

Tinbergen Institute

Marketing Science
Presenting in Academia
Course catalogue

VU Amsterdam

Marketing / Marketing Management
Practice: case slides, quizzes and the Marketing Decision StudioStrategic Marketing
Digital Marketing and Metrics

LUISS and HEC Paris

Marketing (Master, LUISS)
Data-Driven Marketing (LUISS 2022–2023)
Marketing Science (PhD, HEC 2008–2012)
Marketing Models for Decision Making (HEC 2008-2015)

Meta-Analysis for Marketing Scholars Forthcoming

PhD level. Companion website for the meta-analysis session of the Marketing Science course.

Agile Social Media for Strategic Decisions

Executive format, on request.

From Frame to Findings Forthcoming

Companion website to Montecchi and Sotgiu (2026) on video analysis in marketing research, with code, decision trees and a reviewer checklist.

Keynotes, seminars and executive workshops.

Available for conferences, company sessions and academic seminars. Talks are tailored to the audience, from boardrooms to doctoral consortia.

Digital marketing strategy

Social media and brands

eWOM and online reviews

eWOM in the age of AI

Retail innovation

Pricing strategy

Marketing analytics

Inclusive marketing

Brand safety

2026San Diego · Bilkent University · University of Liverpool

2025Keynote, Società Italiana Marketing

2025BI Norway · King’s College London · NEOMA Business School

2024Keynote, Sales Network Summit

2024Bilkent University · University of Cologne · Tilburg University

2022LUISS · EMLyon · Lille · King’s College London

2019Keynote, Migros-KUMPEM Retail Conference, Türkiye

Talks and workshops for Bosch · Carrefour · Danone · GfK · KPN · Patagonia · P&G · Rabobank · Roland Berger · Unilever · VODW

Request a talk