Marina Puzakova

Marina's research interests are in branding strategies, brand anthropomorphism, and negative brand performance. Specifically, she examines consumers' attributions and brand inferences, consumer-brand relationships, and the impact of of different brand positioning strategies on performance and consumer responses to marketing communications. Marina has published in journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Advertising, and Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. Her dissertation was selected as a Runner-Up for the Mary Kay Dissertation Competition sponsored by the Academy of Marketing Science. She is an Editorial Board Member at Journal of Advertising and International Journal of Advertising. In 2017, Marina received the Lehigh University Early Career Reward for Distinguished Teaching and in 2018 she was named the recipient of the Robert & Christine Staub Faculty Excellence Award in Business & Economics.

Education

• Voronezh State Technical University, Russia, B.S.
• Drexel University, Ph.D.

Research Interests

• Branding positioning strategies; brand inference; anthropomorphization
• Negative brand performance
• International and cross-cultural branding

• Puzakova, Marina and Pankaj Aggarwal (2019), “Brands As Rivals: The Role of Brand Anthropomorphism and Consumer Pursuit of Distinctiveness,” Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming.
• Zhang, Yuli , Haeyoung Jeong, Hyokjin Kwak, and Marina Puzakova (2018), “Facing the “Right” Side? The Effect of Product Facing Direction”, Journal of Advertising, forthcoming.
• Puzakova, Marina and Hyokjin Kwak (2017), “Should Anthropomorphized Brands Engage Customers? The Impact of Social Crowding on Brand Preferences”, Journal of Marketing, 81 (6), 99-115.
• Bell, Monique and Marina Puzakova (2017), “¿Y Usted?: Social Influence’s Effects on Consumers’ Service Language Preferences”, Journal of Business Research, 72 (March), 168-177.
• Kwak, Hyokjin, Marina Puzakova, and Joseph F. Rocereto (2017), “When Brand Anthropomorphism Alters Perceptions of Justice: The Moderating Role of Self-Construal,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34 (4), 851-871.
• Puzakova, Marina, Hyokjin Kwak, Suresh Ramanathan, and Joseph F. Rocereto (2016), “Painting Your Point:  The Role of Color in Firms’ Strategic Responses to Product Failures,” Journal of Advertising, 45(4), 365-376.
• Kwak, Hyokjin, Marina Puzakova, and Joseph F. Rocereto (2015), “Better Not Smile at the Price: The Differential Role of Brand Anthropomorphization on Price Fairness,” Journal of Marketing, 79 (4), 56-76.
• Puzakova, Marina, Hyokjin Kwak, and Monique Bell (2015), “Beyond Seeing McDonald’s Fiesta Menu: The Role of Accent in Brand Sincerity of Ethnic Products and Brands,” Journal of Advertising, 44 (3), 219-231.
• Puzakova, Marina, Hyokjin Kwak, and Joseph F. Rocereto (2013), “When Humanizing Brands Goes Wrong: The Detrimental Role of Brand Anthropomorphization Amid Product Wrongdoings,” Journal of Marketing, 77 (3), 81-100.
• Puzakova, Marina, Hyokjin Kwak, and Charles R. Taylor (2013), " The Role of Geography of Self in “Filling In” Brand Personality Traits: Consumer Inference of Unobservable Attributes," Journal of Advertising, 42 (1), 16-29.