Laura Oswald, Ph.D. is director of Marketing Semiotics, Inc. Dr. Oswald is an expert in the areas of brand strategy, consumer research, and semiotics - a social science discipline that examines brands and advertising in the framework of cultural signs and meanings. She conducts consumer studies in a variety of formats, including focus groups, in-depth interviews and on-site ethnographies in North America, Europe, Singapore, and the People's Republic of China. Her research and consulting practice encompass a variety of application areas, including automotive, cosmetics, food, entertainment, electronics, retailing, health care, corporate culture and financial services.

Before starting her own business, Dr. Oswald taught film criticism, popular culture and semiotics at Northwestern University, and brings the depth and breadth of social science theory to strategic brand management, consumer research, and advertising strategy. In addition to her consulting practice, Laura currently teaches Advertising and Consumer Behavior at the University of Illinois and writes and speaks on current issues in advertising, consumer research and strategy at meetings of the Association for Consumer Research, the American Marketing Association, the Qualitative Research Consultants Association, and the American Sociological Association.

Education
Dr. Oswald holds a bachelors degree from Northwestern University, a Masters Degree in Cinema Studies from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and a Ph.D. from New York University, majoring in cultural anthropology, semiotics, and language. She holds a Masters Degree in Integrated Marketing Communication at the Loyola University Graduate School of Business in Chicago. Association Memberships

Dr. Oswald is a member of the Association for Consumer Research, the Semiotic Society of America, the Qualitative Research Consultants Association, and the American Marketing Association, and the American Sociological Association. She speaks on semiotics, consumer research and advertising at annual conferences.

Awards, Honors
Dr. Oswald is a member of Beta Gamma Delta Honor Society for Business and recipient of the Senior Research Fellowship in marketing at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She was awarded a New York University Teaching Fellowship, the French Government Scholarship for study in France, and a Summer Research Fellowship at Harvard University from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Representative Client List
American Express, Barilla America, Blue Cross Blue Shield of California, Brown Raisman Attorneys, Burger King, Coca Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, Eastman Kodak Company, The Garfield Park Conservatory, General Mills. Gramercy Films, J. Walter Thompson Advertising, Kraft Foods, Leo Burnett Advertising, Lever Ponds, LG Electronics (Korea), Lincoln Mercury, Nokia Cellular, Ogilvy and Mather Advertising, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, RSCG Tatham Advertising, UniLever, WellPoint Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

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