Marina Cooley
Assistant Professor in the Practice of Marketing | Emory University, Goizueta Business School
ATLANTA, GA, UNITED STATES
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Biography
Marina Cooley joined Goizueta Business School in 2021. A storyteller at heart, Cooley is passionate bringing her love of modern marketing to the next generation of students. She developed a course called, Content Marketing, with a curriculum unlike that of any other school. In Content Marketing, students learn science of sticky ideas and put their learnings to the test.
Most recently, the class started a TikTok account and amassed 10M views and 1.8M likes in 30 days! To truly understand the social media platforms, you’ll often find Cooley dabbling as a content creator on LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram.
Cooley also co-developed the Advanced Marketing Strategy course which exposes student to real life scenarios like Stages & Gates, Media Flighting and Brief writing.
In addition to her love for modern marketing, Cooley is a huge supporter of equipping students with a resilience and reflection tool kit. She has brought her love for deep work & single tasking to modules including: "Personal Development" and "Life Design for the Modern MBA“.
Prior to joining Emory, Cooley spent 15+ years in strategic marketing roles such as brand management at Coca-Cola, CMO at Lavva, and management consulting at IBM. While at Coca-Cola, she was part of the meteoric growth of two unicorn brands, Gold Peak and Honest Tea.
Outside of work, Cooley adores spending time with her family, playing mediocre tennis and having a slow first coffee.
Education (2)
Emory University's Goizueta Business School: MBA, Marketing 2014
New York University's Stern School of Business: BS, Marketing & Information Systems 2006
Areas of Expertise (5)
Brand Management
Social Media
Content Marketing
Virality
TikTok
In the News (8)
Inside McDonald's Subculture Marketing
Ad Age online
2024-03-19
“McDonald’s has an interesting challenge,” said Marina Cooley, associate professor of marketing at Emory’s Goizueta Business School. “At one point, nine out of 10 Americans had eaten at McDonald’s at least once a year. It’s not necessarily an issue of finding new customers, it's having them come back again and again.” But Emory’s Cooley noted that being “cool” is also a way to make McDonald’s more approachable and combat the negative connotations consumers can have of a giant, global corporation.
What Happens When TikTok is your Marketing Department
New York Times online
2024-02-11
“The goal should be loyalty, not virality,” said Marina Cooley, a professor in the practice of marketing at Emory University. “Virality is dangerous because it’s fleeting, there’s no stickiness to it. People are excited by the first interaction and then look for the next viral thing.”
2023 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Marina Cooley, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School
Poets & Quants online
2023-06-05
Marina Cooley, 39, is an assistant professor in the practice of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.
Going Viral on TikTok Can Get Students an A
New York Times online
2023-04-04
Ms. Cooley said her marketing course had become known as “the TikTok class” on campus. This week, students will register for the upcoming semester. The school is doubling the class size.
A TikTok Ban Could Hurt Small Businesses More Than Big Brands
Market Watch online
2023-04-04
The TikTok accounts of millions of U.S. businesses hang in the balance as the U.S. government wrestles with a possible ban of the app.
Go Viral, Get An ‘A’: Content Marketing Course Puts Gen Z’s TikTok Skills To The Test
Poets & Quants
2023-01-31
Cooley says the TikTok experiment was a way to present the age-old ideas of storytelling, narrative arcs, and sticky ideas – concepts used for generations to capture attention and spread ideas – and apply them to a modern platform. “TikTok will come and TikTok will go,” Cooley says. “But the things that appeal to us as humans don’t fundamentally change. The platform is just the delivery mechanism.”
In a Noisy World, How Do Cult Brands Succeed with Viral Videos?
Emory Business
2023-01-06
In her Content Marketing course, Cooley delivers powerful lessons on social media platforms (now and future), the science behind sticky ideas, storytelling techniques, and how to manage cult brands. More than that, she teaches students how to translate these skills to create content that goes viral.
‘Z Suite’ Gives Industry Leaders Insight Into The Priorities & Plans Of Gen Z
Poets & Quants
2022-10-24
Marina Cooley, Goizueta marketing professor, says that the importance of action aligning with values is because Gen Z cares — deeply — about the impact brands have on people. This generation expects influencers to be inclusive and take a stand on social issues. “They can’t just hit the mute button,” she says. “Influencers have to stand up for the issues we’re facing today.”
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