Dr. Aaron Ahuvia is a Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and holds an appointment in the College of Engineering’s program on Human Centered Design as well as at the UM-Ann Arbor’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design. He completed his Ph.D. in Marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he worked with Professor Philip Kotler (‘the father of modern marketing’). After graduation, he started as an Assistant Professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor before moving to the university’s Dearborn campus. An independent Stanford University study ranks him in the top 2% of all the world’s scientists across all disciplines.
Dr. Ahuvia is the world’s leading scientific expert on brand love. He published the first major scientific study on brand love, popularized the term brand love, authored all three of the most widely cited and read papers on brand love, published 14 major studies on brand love, and has written an award-winning popular book on the psychology of brand love. He was the first recipient of the Stetik Group Brand Relationship Award, 2019, which is a lifetime achievement award for research impact on marketing practice. He is also a leading expert on the psychology of happiness and how our happiness is impacted by our income and by our consumer choices.
Aaron’s fun and engaging style makes him among the highest-rated teachers at the University of Michigan. Some recent anonymous student comments include: “Ahuvia is a joy to watch lecture.” “Extremely knowledgeable and keeps everyone captivated.” “Entertaining and interesting.” “The lectures are entertaining, and he makes the course materials easy to digest.” “His lectures and knowledge make it extremely easy to remember everything – everything was relevant, and there was no filler.” “One thing I loved about Professor Ahuvia was that his lectures are not boring.” “I enjoy this class so much!” “Prof Ahuvia knows how to make a lecture worth showing up to. In the past, I’ve dreaded going to classes, but this one I thoroughly enjoyed and looked forward to attending. It was upsetting when it had to be cut short due to the pandemic, but the online lectures still managed to give me my fix.” “Incredibly interesting” “Fascinating. It made me see marketing through a new lens.” “Awesome!” “Favorite professor.” And “Inspiring.”
Most recently, he is the author of a popular book explaining the psychology of brand love titled The Things We Love: How Our Passions Connect Us and Make Us Who We Are, published by Little, Brown, which Amazon has named by Amazon as one of the best 20 business books for 2022. He has been featured in major media, including Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Der Spiegel, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan’s Wall Street Journal), National Public Radio’s Marketplace, and the Oprah Winfrey Show. He has presented research or consulted for Google, L’Oréal S.A., Samsung, Maybelline New York, Procter & Gamble, Audi, General Motors, Microsoft, Ford, Chrysler, GfK Market Research, Herman Miller; and via the Altagamma consortium, Gucci, Versace, Zegna, Valentino, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Bellavista wines, among others.
