Louvins Pierre
- Ph.D., University of Connecticut (Communication)
- M.A., University of Connecticut (Communication)
- B.A., Tuskegee University (Communication)
- A.A., The Honors College at Miami Dade College (Mass Communication)
- Assistant Professor of Advertising
- Faculty, Institute of Communications Research
Consumer Insights
Louvins earned his graduate degrees from the University of Connecticut, after first receiving his bachelor's and associate's from Tuskegee University and Miami Dade College, respectively. His dissertation employed multiple experiments to explore the consumer individual differences and advertising design factors that influenced evaluations of corporate sociopolitical activism. So far his research has appeared in Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, Journal of Marketing Communications, Journal of Promotion Management, and The Journal of Social Media in Society. Louvins is also a frequent ad hoc reviewer for the International Journal of Advertising. As an educator, he has taught courses broadly on consumer insights, advertising fundamentals, principles of public relations, public relations writing, communication theory, media literacy, intercultural communication, and public speaking.
Louvins’ scholarship focuses on advancing theory and providing implications for practitioners. His research explores how brands through advertising influence consumer perceptions and decision-making. He applies advertising, marketing, and consumer psychology theories to understand consumer behavior and inform marketing strategies, particularly in multicultural marketing and corporate sociopolitical activism.
Overall, Louvins’ areas of expertise are 1) how aspects of consumers’ identity and identification with brands or advertising spokespersons factor into their brand and advertising evaluations, and 2) how consumers' general knowledge of persuasion tactics influences their processing of advertising information and brand perceptions.
Theoretically, Louvins’ studies are often, although not exclusively, informed by social identity theory, persuasion knowledge model, dual processing models, and narrative transportation theory. Methodologically, he is most familiar with experiments, surveys, and corresponding quantitative data analysis techniques.
So far, his published work has explored the general topics of racial diversity in advertising; consumer knowledge and attitudinal perceptions of native advertising; and how recognition of covert advertising relates to consumer attitudes. Meanwhile, some ongoing projects examine brand activism; consumer-brand relationships on social media; and website effectiveness via eye-tracking technology.
Louvins’ future research projects will broadly investigate how the evolving nature of digital media and emerging technology (e.g., artificial intelligence) can be leveraged to help organizations better resonate with consumers’ sense of identity and the issues that are important to them to produce favorable consumer attitudinal perceptions and decision-making.