Demetrios Vakratsas

Title: 
Professor, Marketing
Academic title(s): 

Bensadoun School of Retail Management Faculty Scholar

Demetrios Vakratsas
Contact Information
Phone: 
514-398-2052
Email address: 
demetrios.vakratsas [at] mcgill.ca
Alternate email address: 
darlene.fowler [at] mcgill.ca
Address: 

Bronfman Building, [Map]
1001 rue Sherbrooke Ouest
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
H3A 1G5

Degree(s): 

PhD, Marketing, University of Texas, Dallas, USA
MSc, Statistics, University of Texas, Dallas, USA
BSc, Mathematics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Area(s): 
Marketing
Office: 
481
Biography: 

Demetrios Vakratsas received many awards for both his research and teaching accomplishments including the American Marketing Association’s award for the best paper in Marketing Communications and the Quebec Teaching Excellence Chair. His research focuses on advertising effectiveness, customer analytics, diffusion of innovations, and pharmaceutical marketing. His work has appeared in Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Production and Operations Management (POM), Journal of Retailing, Journal of Applied Econometrics, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and Research Policy among others. He has taught courses and given seminars in Canada, US, France, Spain, Greece, China, and Japan and consulted extensively for firms in the advertising, media, telecom, and pharmaceutical industries. He has served as Associate Dean for Masters programs, and Vice-Dean Programs at the Desautels Faculty of Marketing where he oversaw the curriculum design and development of the new Master of Management in Analytics (MMA).

 

Specialization: 

Advertising

Innovation

Health Care

Courses: 

MGCR 652 Value Creation 4 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer

MGCR 653 Markets and Globalization 4 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer

MRKT 654 Course not available

MRKT 701 Models in Consumer Research 3 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer

Areas of expertise: 

Advertising

Marketing Models

Media

Creativity

Diffusion of Innovations

Pharmaceutical Marketing

Curriculum vitae: 
Group: 
Faculty
Tenured & Tenure Track
Research areas: 
Advertising
Creativity
Health Care
Innovations
Marketing/Consumer Analytics
Selected publications: 

Papers in Peer-Reviewed Journals

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Wei-Lin Wang (2023), “Scientific Evidence Production and Specialty Drug Diffusion,” forthcoming, Journal of Marketing (Special Issue on Marketing in the Healthcare Sector).

Filippo Dall’Olio and Demetrios Vakratsas (2023), “The Impact of Advertising Creative Strategy on Advertising Elasticity,” Journal of Marketing, 87(1), 26-44.

Wang, Wei-Lin and Demetrios Vakratsas (2021), “The Dual Impact of Product Line Length on Consumer Choice,” Production and Operations Management, 30(9).

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Xin (Shane) Wang (2021), “Artificial Intelligence in Advertising Creativity,” Journal of Advertising, 50(1).

Vakratsas, Demetrios, Aneel Keswani, and David Stolin (2021), “Advertising Persuasion in Dual Markets,” Managerial and Decision Economics, 42(1).

Kolsarici, Ceren, Demetrios Vakratsas, and Prasad Naik (2020), “The Anatomy of the Advertising Budget Decision: How Analytics and Heuristics Drive Sales Performance,” Journal of Marketing Research, 57 (3).

Qiu, Martin Chun, Demetrios Vakratsas, and Filippo Dall’Olio (2019), “Advertising Originality Decisions in Competition,” Customer Needs and Solutions, 6(1).

Lee, June Soo and Demetrios Vakratsas (2019), “Dynamic Asymmetric Effects of Cross-media Exposures,” Journal of Advertising Research, 59(4).

Mishra, Saurabh, Demetrios Vakratsas and Alexander V. Krasnikov (2018), “Protecting Positioning Innovations: The Emergence of Non-traditional Trademark Registrations,” Marketing Letters, 29(3).

Kolsarici, Ceren and Demetrios Vakratsas (2018), “Synergistic, Antagonistic, and Asymmetric Media Interactions,” Journal of Advertising, 47(3).

Kolsarici, Ceren and Demetrios Vakratsas (2015), “Correcting for Misspecification in Parameter Dynamics to Improve Forecasting Accuracy with Adaptively Estimated Models,” Management Science, 61(10).

Krishnan, Trichy, P.B. Seetharaman and Demetrios Vakratsas (2012), “The Multiple Roles of Interpersonal Communication in New Product Growth,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(3).

Kolsarici, Ceren and Demetrios Vakratsas (2010), “Category- Versus Brand-Level Advertising Messages in a Highly Regulated Environment,” Journal of Marketing Research, XLVII (December).

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Zhenfeng Ma (2009), “Firm Adaptiveness and Performance Heterogeneity: The Case of Sales-Advertising Dynamics in an Evolving Product Market,” Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 19(1).

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Ceren Kolsarici (2008), “A Dual-Market Diffusion Model for a New Prescription Pharmaceutical,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 25(4).

Vakratsas, Demetrios (2008), “The Effects of Advertising, Prices and Distribution on Market Share Volatility,” European Journal of Operational Research, 187 (1).

Theoharakis, Vasilis, Demetrios Vakratsas and Veronica Wong (2007), “The Role of Information in the Diffusion of Competing Technological Standards,” Research Policy 36(5).

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Zhenfeng Ma (2005), “A Look at the Long-run Effectiveness of Multi Media Advertising and its Implications for Budget Allocation Decisions,” Journal of Advertising Research, 45(2).

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Zhenfeng Ma (2005), “The Long-Run Effects of Leadtime and Competitive Rivalry on Brand Performance: The Case of the SUV Market,” in Finanza, Marketing e Produzione (publication of Bocconi University, Italy), 23(3).

Vakratsas, Demetrios (2005), “Advertising Response Models with Managerial Impact: An Agenda for the Future,” (with rejoinder) Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry, 21(4-5) (special issue on bridging the gap between practitioners and academics).

Vakratsas, Demetrios, Fred M. Feinberg, Frank M. Bass and Gurumurthy Kalyanaram (2004), “The Shape of Advertising Response Functions Revisited: A Model of Dynamic Probabilistic Thresholds,” Marketing Science, 23(1).

Theoharakis, Vasilis, Demetrios Vakratsas and Veronica Wong (2004) “The Relationship Between Market Share and Information in a High-Tech Industry,” Review of Marketing Science, 2(1).

Vakratsas, Demetrios, Ram C. Rao and Gurumurthy Kalyanaram (2003), “An Empirical Analysis of Follower Entry Timing Decisions,” Marketing Letters, 14 (3).

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Frank M. Bass (2002), “The Relationship Between Purchase Regularity and Propensity to Accelerate,” Journal of Retailing, 78 (2).

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Frank M. Bass (2002), “A Segment-Level Hazard Approach to Studying Household Purchase Timing Decisions,” Journal of Applied Econometrics, 17 (1).

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Tim Ambler (1999), “How Advertising Works: What Do We Really Know?” Journal of Marketing, 63 (1). 2004 AMA Marketing Communications SIG Best Paper Award for an article published five years ago in an AMA Journal

Vakratsas, Demetrios (1998), “Consumer Heterogeneity and the Shape of Purchase Rate Functions,” Applied Stochastic Models and Data Analysis, 14 (1).

Vakratsas, Demetrios (1998), “Household Costs Effects on Purchase Timing Decisions: Do Demographics Matter?” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 15 (1).

Ambler, Tim and Demetrios Vakratsas (1996), “The Pursuit of Advertising Theory,” Business Strategy Review, 7 (1).

Books and Edited Volumes

 

Chapters in Books

Vakratsas, Demetrios and Prasad Naik (2007), “Essentials of Planning Media Schedules,” in Handbook of Advertising, Tim Ambler and Gerard Tellis, eds., Sage Publications.

Awards, honours, and fellowships: 

Awards

2009: Quebec Excellence in Teaching Chair

2006-2007: Nominated for Principal’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching by the Faculty of Management (Associate Professor Level).

2005-2006: McGill Management Undergraduate Society, Professor of the Year Award for excellence in teaching and contribution to student life.

2004-2005: Nominated for Principal’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching by the Faculty of Management (Assistant Professor Level).

2004: AMA Marketing Communications SIG Best Paper Award

1986, 1988-1989: National Scholar, Greek Scholarship Fund (“IKY”).

Fellowships

1995-1996 EU Marie Curie Fellow, London Business School

Grants

2012-2017 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Grant (sole investigator), “The impact of advertising creativity on consumer demand: A comprehensive investigation.” 

2011-2014 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Grant (co- investigator with Ceren Kolsarici) “Dynamic Allocation of Multi-Media Advertising Budgets.”

2008-2011 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Grant (sole investigator) “New market entry decisions incorporating dynamic firm expectations of demand growth.” (grant proposal ranked 3rd overall)

2008-2011 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Grant (co- investigator with Saurabh Mishra)

2003-2007 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Grant (sole investigator). “Investigating Statistical Learning Methods for Market Response Analysis.” (grant proposal ranked 6th overall)

2001-2004 FCAR (now FQRSC) grant (co-investigator) “Engineering pleasurable consumer experiences: Moving from the real to the virtual environment.”

MSI grant (co-investigators: Emine Sarigollu and Myung-Soo Jo) for the study of online first mover advantages. 

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