I am a consumer researcher and Professor of Marketing at the Schulich School of Business (York University, land acknowledgement). My research examines how markets shape human behavior — and how we can shape better markets in return. 

My work has been published in top-tier academic journals such as the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing and received extensive coverage in media outlets such as The New York Times, Wired, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Time Magazine.  

I am an Associate Editor at the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, an ERB member at the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, Consumption, Markets and Culture, and Marketing Letters, and previously an Associate Editor at the Journal of Marketing and an Editor at the Journal of Consumer Research (2021-2024).

I have been named “one of the best recognized experts studying high-technology consumer behavior” by Wired, a "40 under 40" professor by Poets & Quants, a “young business-school professor on the rise” by Fortune, and an MSI Scholar by the Marketing Science Institute. I also created the Sidney J. Levy Award.

At the Schulich School, I teach marketing topics including a popular MBA course called Customer Experience Design. At Columbia Business School, I am faculty co-director for the Designing Customer Experiences program.

I engage in executive advisory and offer strategic guidance to companies. I have been a visiting scholar at Stockholm University and the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University).

Email me at mgiesler@yorku.ca

01. An Experiential Perspective

Our Journal of Marketing study with Stefano Puntoni, Rebecca Walker Reczek, and Simona Botti.

02. Designing Non-Creepy AI

Some of the deep anxieties that consumers experience around AI and how firms can assuage them.

03. Internet of Things Mythology

A discussion on how mythology shapes consumer perceptions of the Internet of Things.

More AI insights

Edelblum, Andrew and Markus Giesler (2025), “Consumer Activism in the Metaverse: A Framework for Virtualized Protest as Playful Resistance,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, forthcoming.

Giesler, Markus (2024), “Midrange, Differential, Meaningful, and Multidisciplinary: Reflections on JCR’s Epistemic Culture,” Journal of Consumer Research, 51 (1): 204–209. (editorial)

Schmitt, Bernd, June Cotte, Markus Giesler, Andrew T. Stephen, and Stacy Wood (2024), “Will We Be the Last Human Editors of JCR?,” Journal of Consumer Research, 51 (3): 451–454. (editorial)

Fischer, Eileen and Markus Giesler (2023), “A Rhizomatic Reflection on Market Systems Dynamics Research,” AMS Review, 13: 196–199.

Puntoni, Stefano, Rebecca Reczek Walker, Markus Giesler, and Simona Botti (2022), “Consumer Experiences with Marketing Technology: Solving the Tensions Between Benefits and Costs,” NIM Marketing Intelligence Review, 14 (2), 25–29.

Schmitt, Bernd H., June Cotte, Markus Giesler, Andrew T. Stephen, and Stacey Wood (2022),“Relevance—Reloaded and Recoded,” Journal of Consumer Research 48 (5): 753–55. (editorial)

Schmitt, Bernd H., June Cotte, Markus Giesler, Andrew T. Stephen, and Stacey Wood (2021), “Our Journal, Our Intellectual Home,” Journal of Consumer Research, 47: 633-635. (editorial)

Puntoni, Stefano, Rebecca Reczek Walker, Markus Giesler, and Simona Botti (2021), “Consumers and Artificial Intelligence: An Experiential Perspective,” Journal of Marketing, 85 (1), 131–51.

Wertenbroch Klaus, Rom Schrift, Joe Alba, Alixandra Barasch, Amit Bhattacharjee, Markus Giesler, Zwebner Y., Sandra Matz, Donald Lehmann, Gideon Nave, Stefano Puntoni, Jeffrey Parker, Yan Zheng, Joshua Knobe (2020), “Autonomy in Consumer Choice,” Marketing Letters, 31, 429–439.

Giesler, Markus and Eileen Fischer (2018), “IoT Stories: The Good, the Bad and the Freaky,” GfK Marketing Intelligence Review, 10 (2), 25-30.

Veresiu, Ela and Markus Giesler (2018), “Beyond Acculturation: Multiculturalism and The Institutional Shaping of an Ethnic Consumer Subject,” Journal of Consumer Research, 45 (October), 553-570.

Brunk, Katja H., Markus Giesler, and Benjamin J. Hartmann (2018), “Creating a Consumable Past: How Memory Making Shapes Marketization,” Journal of Consumer Research, 44 (April), 1325-1342.

Giesler, Markus and Craig J. Thompson (2016), “Process Theorization in Consumer Culture Research,” Journal of Consumer Research, 43 (December), 497-508.

Giesler, Markus and Eileen Fischer (2016), “Market System Dynamics,” Marketing Theory, 17(1) 3–8. (editorial)

Giesler, Markus and Ela Veresiu (2014), “Creating the Responsible Consumer: Moralistic Governance Regimes and Consumer Subjectivity,” Journal of Consumer Research, 41 (October), 840-857.

Thompson, Craig J., Eric J. Arnould, and Markus Giesler (2013), “Discursivity, Difference, and Disruption: Genealogical Reflections on the CCT Heteroglossia,” Marketing Theory, 13 (June), 149-174.

Giesler, Markus (2012), “How Doppelgänger Brand Images Influence the Market Creation Process: Longitudinal Insights from the Rise of Botox Cosmetic,” Journal of Marketing, 76 (November), 55-68.

Luedicke, Marius K., Craig J. Thompson and Markus Giesler (2010), "Consumer Identity Work as Moral Protagonism: How Myth and Ideology Animate a Brand-Mediated Moral Conflict," Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (April), 1016-1032.

Giesler, Markus (2008), “Conflict and Compromise: Drama in Marketplace Evolution,” Journal of Consumer Research, 34 (April), 739-753.

Giesler, Markus (2006), “Consumer Gift Systems,” Journal of Consumer Research, 33 (September), 283-290.

Top 10 Innovation Keynote Speakers (Lavin)

Connecting to Today's Consumers (Lavin)

Topics

I regularly speak about marketing and consumers, consumer culture, brands, innovation, and artificial intelligence.

Client voices

“Markus was a guest and speaker at the Fireside Conference two years ago and was both incredible and inspiring.”

Speaking inquiries

If you are interested in having me speak at your event, please visit my profile at The Lavin Agency or email Charles Yao.

How media buyers are reacting to Facebook’s drama: ‘spread your risks and ad dollars’

How CMOs Can Lead the Way on ChatGPT

Meta’s News Block Causes Chaos as Canada Burns

Does Adobe make subscriptions too hard to cancel?

Customer Experience Design

I have created a popular Schulich MBA course that explores the key elements of effective customer experience design.

Designing Customer Experiences

I co-direct a program for business executives on customer experience design at Columbia Business School.

Marketing Strategy

I teach a Schulich PhD course on designing consumer-oriented research contributions to marketing strategy.