In the process of preparing for my MKTG7050 postgrad class, I went looking for something I couldn’t find (easily) - a solo authored published ANZMAC paper which was written in a staid, sombre style (found one - Temporal innovativeness in 2005).

Instead, I took a brief trip through some of the times I’ve gotten away with lines in ANZMAC papers that really should not be there - that said, they are there now, and the precedent has been set to have a lot of fun with the research.

Dann, S (2007) The Life and Death of Marketing, Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of Otago, Dec 3-5

“This paper finds that marketing is indeed dead, insofar as dead means alive and alive means we have a discipline and a day job come Monday…If the discipline is dead, it’s doing a bang up job of living large and making money for publishers, academics, conference organizers and the private sector. If must continue declaring marketing dead, it’s time to call the discipline Bernie and head out for the weekend.13

13 If you don’t get that reference, you were watching better movies that I was in the late 1980s.

In 2006, I took to making statements like “The author says”

Dann, S. (2006) “Best Journals versus Best Fit Journals: A Strategic Orientation to Research Tiers”, Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, QUT, Dec 4-6.

The author freely admits that the suggestion of research agendas determined by organisational goals is the equivalent of looking for a gas leak in a petrol station with a lit match.

And that’s one of the less aggressive papers. Admittedly, the added on-post reviewer comment was actively aggressive:

It should also be acknowledge that the mere existence of a list of target journals should be a controversial issue worthy of debate. Unfortunately, the horse had bolted, and a sausage factory has been constructed where the stable once stood.

Still, at least it was a very serious topic area that copped a hiding from the conclusions.

Dann, S. (2005) “TruFan: Role of Fandom as an influence on attitude” Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, University of Western Australia, 5th to 7th December 2005

What is the relationship between fandom and advertising preference? Cousins. Definitely cousins. In conclusion - cousins. Fandom has a statistically demonstrable interaction with attitude to products, existing movies, and optimist appraisals of forthcoming products…. However, none of this proves anything beyond the existence of an asterisk in the SPSS output file because causation is not proved by correlation. So really, we’ve not gained anything from the endeavour, but I hope you’ve enjoyed the paper anyway.

Indicates a slightly level of frustration with the quant jocks at work at the time.

Then there’s the grandparental unit of them all…my first solo ANZMAC paper…

Dann, S. (2000) “Green Eggs and Market Plans: Learning Marketing from Dr Seuss” Australia New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Griffith University, Gold Coast, November 28- December 1

This paper sets out to uncover the Seuss, the whole Seuss and nothing but the Seuss (so help
me Kotler)

That was the stage setter for my ANZMAC career - aggressive, cocky and irreverent.  I think it’s served me well so far…

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Note: The longer I’m in ANZMAC, the more I realise that I am privileged by rank, age, gender, race and reputation.  As a young white male PhD, I have been permitted by editors, track chairs and reviewers to act in a manner that may not have been accorded to peers of differing race and gender.  That said, I have also opened a line of entry for papers which people believe are mine, and now give those authors more leeway in their performance based on what I have done.  Sometimes, the system work in our favour.  Not always, and you’ve got to still question the privilege that comes with being whitewashed as an acceptable paper because you’ve been attributed to me.

Still, one of the aspects to the 2005 papers which gave the world TruFan and Temporal Innovativeness was to showcase that I had my own style, and I could mix it up with the standard issue papers.  To this day, I write what I believe should be written, work the style I think makes the paper happen, and take the risks to publish work that realises the academic freedom I’ve got the privilege to enjoy.