The Asper School of Business recently hosted the 11th annual Empirical and Theoretical Symposium for Canadian Marketing Strategy.
For the first time in its history, a prestigious Canadian marketing conference found itself in the Prairies.
The 11th annual Empirical and Theoretical Symposium for Canadian Marketing Strategy (ETSYM) was hosted by the Asper School of Business on May 22-23.
Sandeep Arora, Marketing Department Head and F. Ross Johnson Professor of Marketing, said: "ETSYM is the premier conference for marketing quantitative and strategy scholars in Canada. It provides a platform for researchers to showcase cutting-edge work and build meaningful connections with peers from across the country.”
Over 60 marketing faculty and PhD candidates from universities across Canada came together to share their research and connect over discussions, presentations…and for some of Winnipeg’s best ice cream.
The conference kicked off with a panel discussion connecting industry with the research community at the Manitoba Club,
The panel, titled “Customer Well-Being in the Digital Era” was enlivened by three distinguished Asper School alumni speakers: Lisa Cefali, Principal & CEO of Lisa Cefali, Inc.; Paul Provost, Founder and President of 6P Marketing; and Amanda Hildahl, Director of Customer Experience Strategy, Planning and Execution at Manitoba Public Insurance.
It’s now more possible than ever for companies to exploit customers through hyper-personalized advertising, addictive algorithms, and AI tools. In the wide-ranging discussion, the industry panelists shared their insights into how marketers can go forward while treating their customers ethically and humanely.
The next morning, Conference attendees were welcomed to the Asper School of Business, where there were two rooms of concurrent research presentations all day.
The research, presented by faculty members from leading research-intensive business schools across Canada, was often cross-disciplinary. Though marketing was always the base ingredient, these presentations also investigated the supply chain, social media influencers, and even the box-office impacts of R-rated vs. PG-13 films.
Following the research presentations were poster presentations. 13 posters were on display, with their researchers—a mix of professors and PhD students—standing next to them, answering questions and connecting with attendees.
Notably, everyone did so while holding a jar of Chaeban ice cream, a local gourmet hard ice cream shop. However, the mind does require lots of energy, and attendees’ dinner was not spoiled before the awards dinner that followed at Cibo Waterfront Café in downtown Winnipeg.
The ETSYM conference didn’t just introduce marketing scholars to incredible local cuisine, but also to the powerhouse research culture of the Asper School of Business.
The marketing faculty at the Asper School of Business was recently ranked as one of the top marketing departments in Canada, according to Marketing BIG 15, generating impactful research with practical implications that has drawn attention from many the world’s biggest research journals.
Sandeep Arora adds, “The Asper School of Business was proud to host the eleventh edition of the symposium—the first to be held in the Prairies. In addition to the research presentations, the event featured contributions from local business leaders and highlighted the city of Winnipeg and its vibrant business community.”
The Asper School of Business aims to expand the creation of global knowledge and engage in intellectual exploration to advance sustainability research and practice. Our researchers’ scholarly work is regularly published in the world’s most renowned outlets in the field.
Be part of this flourishing research culture and learn more about research programs in management (MSc and PhD) at the Stu Clark Graduate School.
Pictures from ETSYM 2026 can be found on Flickr
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