Dr Nicolas Pontes

Nicolas Pontes is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the UQ Business School and he holds a PhD and a MSc in Marketing, both with a focus in Branding. His industry experience include roles such as marketing research coordinator, marketing manager, and marketing consultant. He has more than 10 years experience in teaching and research at leading universities in Australia where had has had the role of Program Coordinator for Advertising and IMC majors of both Undergraduate and Post-Graduate levels. Dr Pontes is also the Founder and Academic Advisor at Newish Communications Inc., the first student-run communications agency in Australia. His research interests are in the area of consumer decision making and information processing with a particular interest in online consumer behaviour, social media engagement, price and promotion advertising, and branding. His research has been published in the European Journal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Journal of Product & Brand Management, and Journal of Brand Management. His work has also been presented at international advertising and marketing conferences such as Association for Consumer Research [North America], American Marketing Association, and American Academic of Advertising.

Research context and relevance

The media landscape is changing as technology increases the speed of communication. In the age of information overload, where consumers can easily access large amounts of information, consumers' attention span and willingness to process information thoroughly have decreased. Advertising messages that used to engage consumers in a standard 30 sec TV ad are now being designed to capture consumers' attention in 5 seconds, trying to avoid a "Skip" button click (YouTube) or a "Story" swipe (Instagram). Consequently, the manner in which brands communicate with consumers also has changed. As a result, research needs to focus on how individuals use heuristics to make consumption decisions. In line with this trend, the overall goal of my research program is to provide managers with information and tools that will enable them to better communicate with consumers, facilitate consumer decision making process, and improve consumer experiences with products and services.