Advertising, through mass and targeted media, plays a major role in the marketing of today’s brands. This should not come as a surprise, as advertising is an important interface through which a brand can communicate with large groups of current and potential customers. The considerable role of advertising within marketing has led many academics and practitioners alike to study the effects of advertising on consumer attitudes and behaviour. However, some issues have received little attention, e.g. the synergy within advertising campaigns using different media channels. Furthermore, many of the existing findings are getting harder to apply to today’s advertising and media landscape, with new developments like paid as well as earned media, and proliferation of new media channels. In addition, new data sources (here: provided by DVJ Insights) and analysis methods have become available which allows assessing more complex questions, like to what extent the short- and long-term effects of advertising depend on the creative quality of an advertisement and the effect metric used.

This PhD position is sponsored by DVJ Insights. This offers major advantages for you in terms of access to existing databases, opportunities to collect high-quality data, additional funds for travelling, and close interactions and discussions enhancing the quality and relevancy of the research projects. The project will be supervised by Prof. dr. Tammo H.A. Bijmolt and Dr. Maarten Gijsenberg and will be embedded in SOM’s research programme in Marketing.

We are looking for applicants with a Master of Science degree. Students with a quantitative-oriented background, e.g with an MSc in statistics, econometrics, data science, or marketing intelligence are invited to apply especially.

Fixed-term contract: 48 months.

We offer in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

- a salary starting from €2,325 which increases yearly to a maximum of €2,972 gross per month for a full-time working week
- a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income in May
- an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance in December
- a full-time temporary appointment for a period of in principle four years, under the condition of a positive assessment at the end of the first year.

Starting date: 1 September 2019.

An assessment may be part of the procedure, consisting of psychological tests and an interview.

How to apply
If you are interested, we invite you to apply until 26 May 11.59pm / before 27 May 2019 Dutch local time (CEST). Please click on the "Apply" button below.
The application package consists of the following separate documents:

1. your cv (CV attachment)
2. a motivation letter (1 A4 max) and a short study proposal for the PhD project (2 A4 max) (letter of motivation attachment)
3. a scan of your diploma including transcripts (extra attachment)
4. proof of English proficiency (extra attachment 2)
5. other relevant documents (extra attachment 3).

The documents 1-4 are compulsory and please note that incomplete application packages will not be taken into account.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our University. We are committed to building a diverse faculty so you are encouraged to apply. Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP), https://nvp-plaza.nl/download/?id=7714 and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers, https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Faculty of Economics and Business

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative centre of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Belonging to the best research universities of Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

Faculty of Economics and Business
The Faculty of Economics and Business offers an inspiring study and working environment for students and employees. International accreditation enables the Faculty to assess performance against the highest international standards. It also creates an exciting environment of continuous improvement. FEB's programmes, academic staff and research do well on various excellence ranking lists.

SOM, the graduate school and research institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business has available:

PhD position in the field of Effectiveness of advertising within the new media context