UW-Whitewater marketing professors present the keynote address at Google Happiness Measurement Summit

June 14, 2021

Jimmy Peltier, department chair and professor of marketing, and Andrew Dahl '17, assistant professor of marketing, pictured above, recently addressed more than 500 Google employees at the virtual Google User Happiness Measurement Summit held on May 18-20. Their presentation titled, State of User Satisfaction Research: What’s Driving Happiness, provided an overview of user experience and an updated look at satisfaction research — including factors likely to impact satisfaction in today’s digitally-driven world.

The Happiness Measurement Summit brought together product managers, engineers, and researchers from across Google’s global footprint to discuss how to measure user happiness and satisfaction across Google and Alphabet products.

“As consumer expectations and behavior continue to shift, organizations are modifying their marketing strategies to align with digital transformation,” said Dahl. “Customer or user experience is becoming a focal area for many organizations. Understanding what is influencing user satisfaction, or happiness, can give organizations insights that lead to more positive performance outcomes.”

Dahl and Peltier co-published research in 2015 providing an overview of the consumer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and complaining behavior literature. Their journal article captured the attention of marketing professionals — including Google employees — and contributed to their invitation to present the keynote address.

Dahl is one of six academic members of the Google Academic Panel. As a three-time UW-Whitewater alum, he earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, Master of Business Administration in Marketing, and Doctorate of Business Administration in Marketing. Dahl is completing a term as President of the American Marketing Association Collegiate Chapters Council, overseeing the programming of more than 400 AMA chapters. He also serves as a faculty advisor for the UW-Whitewater AMA chapter and its market research and consulting division, Creative Marketing Unlimited.

“I have close ties to UW-Whitewater as a former student, and now as a faculty member of the marketing department, I am thrilled to teach new generations of marketing students,” Dahl said.

“UW-Whitewater has an outstanding reputation for providing real-life learning opportunities. The marketing faculty have extensive experience they bring into the classroom. Further, through avenues like UW-Whitewater AMA and Creative Marketing Unlimited, students gain experience that can’t be duplicated in a classroom setting. It’s been an honor to mentor students through CMU and AMA and to carry on the tremendous legacy of Dr. Peltier.”

These examples of strong industry contacts and ties to real-world practice help UW-Whitewater’s marketing department faculty anchor their programs and curriculum with relevant, cutting-edge material. They also lead to the development of degrees, emphases and certificates that provide the skills and knowledge in high demand today.