Masterclass | Understanding Customer Product Reviews and Ratings: A Case at Amazon | Has the Explosion of Social Media made Brands Irrelevant?

Location: Bridge+, Science Park
Date: 24 September 2019
Time: 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Institution: Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS)

WHAT IS BROWN BAG MASTERCLASS SERIES?

The Brown Bag Series is a lunch and learn series by HeadHunt, which aims to inspire working professionals to learn new skills and gain competencies to level up their careers . In the 4th run of the Brown Bag Series, HeadHunt will be holding 6 Brown Bag sessions across 3 locations: Science Park (Bridge+), Alexandra Technopark as well as one-north (The Meeting Point).

In this Brown Bag @ Science Park Series, Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) will be rounding up the 2-part lunch and learn event in Science Park on 24th September 2019, Tuesday, where Dr. Jiang Zhiying will be sharing on the topic of Understanding Customer Product Reviews and Ratings: A Case at Amazon, followed by Dr. Lau Kong Cheen on Has the Explosion of Social Media made Brands Irrelevant?.

Session 1 – Understanding Customer Product Reviews and Ratings: A Case at Amazon

Speaker:
Dr. Jiang Zhiying
Head (Graduate Certificate & Diploma in Digital Marketing Programmes)
School of Business, SUSS

Synopsis:
Brands need to leverage the enormous volumes of feedback that consumers leave on social media. Existing methods for understanding free-text based consumer feedback data (e.g. online reviews) are predominantly qualitative (e.g. sentiment analysis). Qualitative approaches, however, cannot provide quantitative predictions of a potential rating increase following a product improvement. This talk will discuss a novel method that converts reviews and ratings into statistical data that can be used to forecast rating performance. This is achieved by assigning quantitative values of importance to the various features of a given product based on each feature’s percentage contribution to the product rating. With such information, marketing and innovation teams can optimise their investment decisions to address consumer needs accurately and therefore maximise return on investment.

Session 2 – Has the Explosion of Social Media made Brands Irrelevant?

Speaker:
Dr. Lau Kong Cheen
Senior Lecturer (Marketing Programme)
School of Business, SUSS

Synopsis:
The social media and m-commerce have given access to everyone that is connected to the digital space. Today, people can be easily influenced by friends, key opinion leaders(KOL) and the variety of posts that they come across on social media. A wide array of products can be easily accessed at competitive prices on popular e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Lazada, Shopee, etc. Brands can no longer influence customers as they did before using broadcast, print and OOH media. They are constrained to assert control on consumer experience via the channels that they used to control. As such, the influence of what to buy and where to buy has shifted away from brand owners. Are brands losing control of their influence over their target audience? Is branding being made significantly less relevant in the digital era? Come and listen to what Dr.Lau, our expert in digital branding has to say about this.

Speaker Profile:
Dr. Lau Kong Cheen is a Senior Lecturer with the Marketing Programme at Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS). His key areas of expertise and research interest is are in brand management, digital marketing, business strategy and consumer behaviour. Prior to joining SUSS, Dr.Lau has spent more than 10 years in the consulting business where he held senior director positions with award winning consulting agencies. Through engagement with clients that spans across the private and public sectors in the region, Dr.Lau has had immense exposure in consulting, market research in consumer insights, business development and client servicing. Some of the clients that he had consulted for include Cerebos, Kesawan Bank, Skechers, Resorts World, Toyota, Bonia, Bata, Bio-Essence, Parkway Cancer Centre, 4Fingers, Marina Bay Sands, Marina Link Mall, Changi Airport Group, SPRING Singapore, Singapore Turf Club, Singapore Technologies and IE Singapore.