Aidan J Kelly

Dr Aidan J Kelly

Senior Lecturer In Marketing

Senior Lecturer

Advertising theory, consumer research and brand management

Department of Business Entrepreneurship & Finance , Royal Docks School of Business and Law

Aidan is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. He is the current course leader of the MSc Marketing and leads modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Integrated Marketing Communications, Consumers, Markets and Cultures, Research Methods for Business and Applied Business Project. His current research interests are in the areas of advertising theory, consumer research and cultural branding.

  • I won the Vice Chancellor & President Award (VC&P) for Student Experience in 2023.
  • I have been nominated for the UEL Student-Led Teaching Awards in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
  • I was awarded the "Best Postgraduate Teacher" prize in 2012.

Areas Of Interest

Advertising theory, consumer research and brand management.

Aidan J Kelly

OVERVIEW

Aidan joined the University of East London on July 20, 2009. He is the current Course Leader of the MSc Marketing course, which began its first cohort in September 2022.

He teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the areas of Integrated Marketing Communications, Consumer Research, Business Research Methods and Applied Business Project. His research interests are presently in the consumption of vinyl record collections and polysemic interpretations of online advertising campaigns, his current methodological focus is on the application of grounded theory to marketing and consumption-related phenomena.

External roles

I serve on the Editorial Advisory Panel for the bestselling textbook "Business Research Methods" (Fifth Edition), authored by Emma Bell, Alan Bryman and Bill Harley (2019, Oxford University Press).

I have served as an external panel member for programme validations at Northumbria University and University of Greenwich, and I was External Examiner for the M.B.A. programme at Henley Business School, University of Reading from 2012 - 2016.

I have also validated academic programmes externally for the University of East London, with collaborative international partners in Greece (AKMI Metropolitan College) and Egypt (Ain Shams University).

CURRENT RESEARCH

My research interests are in the areas of consumer research, branding and advertising theory. My most recent project explores the meaning and significance of vinyl record collections (with Dr Henrik Linden of the Institute of Hospitality and Tourism, University of East London).

I am also researching projects in the areas of advertising polysemy and online interpretive communities with Dr Hyunsun Yoon (University of Greenwich).

Peer-reviewed journal publications

  • Yoon, Hyunsun and Kelly, Aidan J. (2023) 'Brand blunders and race in advertising: Issues, implications and potential actions from a macromarketing perspective', Journal of Macromarketing, 43 (3), pp.403-417.
  • Heller, Michael and Kelly, Aidan (2015) 'Throwaway history: Brand ephemera and consumer culture', Journal of Macromarketing, 35 (3), pp. 397–406.
  • Kelly, Aidan, Lawlor, Katrina and O'Donohoe, Stephanie (2008) 'A fateful triangle? Tales of art, commerce and science in the Irish advertising field', Advertising & Society Review, 9 (3), pp. 1-48.
  • Kelly, Aidan, Lawlor, Katrina and O'Donohoe, Stephanie (2005) 'Encoding advertisements: The creative perspective', Journal of Marketing Management, 21(5/6), pp. 505-528.

Book chapters

  • Kelly, Aidan (2019) 'Brands, branding and brand culture' in Gbadamosi, A. (ed.) Contemporary Issues in Marketing. London: Sage Publications, pp. 155-184.
  • Kelly, Aidan (2014) 'Advertising' in Smith Maguire, J. and Matthews, J. (eds.) The Cultural Intermediaries Reader. London: Sage Publications, pp. 67–76.
  • Kelly, Aidan, Lawlor, Katrina and O'Donohoe, Stephanie (2009) 'Encoding advertisements: The creative perspective' in Turow, J. and McAllister, M.P. (eds.) The Advertising and Consumer Culture Reader. New York: Routledge, pp. 133-149.

Book reviews

  • Kelly, Aidan (2022) 'Book Review: Rethinking Advertising as Paratextual Communication' by Hackley, Chris and Hackley, Rungpaka Amy, Consumption Markets & Culture, 25 (5), pp. 498-500.
  • Kelly, Aidan (2013) 'Book Review: Ernest Dichter and motivation research: New perspectives on the making of post-war consumer culture’ by Schwarzkopf, Stefan and Gries, Rainer, (eds.)', Journal of Euromarketing, 22(1-4), pp. 86-89.
  • Kelly, Aidan (2010) 'Book Review: Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications approach (Second edition)', by Hackley, Chris. International Journal of Advertising, 29(4), pp. 501-504.

Selected conference proceedings

  • Kelly, Aidan J. and Yoon, Hyunsun (2023) 'Corporate brand activism: An exploration of advertising polysemy and online interpretive communities', in proceedings of the 51st  European Marketing Academy Conference (EMAC) Annual Conference, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark, May 23 – May 26.
  • Kelly, Aidan and Linden, Henrik (2020) 'Using grounded theory for consumption research: Controversies, challenges and conceptualisation', paper presented at the Research is Open: University of East London Research Conference, July 31, 2020.
  • Bakeberg, Bastian and Kelly, Aidan (2012) 'Value creation practices of brand communities in computer mediated environments: lessons for non-profit organisations', in proceedings of the 11th International Colloquium on Non-profit, Social, Arts and Heritage Marketing, London Metropolitan University, September 19 2012, pp. 5-7.
  • Magan, Tanvi, Kelly, Aidan and Wheeler, Margaret. (2011) 'Brandscapes as theatre: Extraordinary consumer experience and the Abercrombie & Fitch retail store', in proceedings of the 39th European Marketing Academy Conference (EMAC) Annual Conference, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, May 24 - May 27.
  • Kelly, Aidan (2011) 'Sociocultural branding research (SBR): An evolutionary paradigm for brand management theory' in Bradshaw, A., Hackley, C. and Maclaran, P. (eds.) European Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 9, pp. 439-440.
  • Kelly, Aidan and Lawlor, Katrina (2010) 'Sociocultural branding research (SBR) A paradigmatic review', in proceedings of the 40th European Marketing Academy (EMAC) Annual Conference, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 1 - June 4.
  • Kelly, Aidan, Lawlor, Katrina and O'Donohoe, Stephanie (2007) 'Aesthetic advertisements and scientific evaluations: Divergent philosophies in advertising production' in Fitzsimmons, G. and Moritz, V. (eds.) Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 34, pp. 81-82.
  • Kelly, Aidan, Lawlor, Katrina and O'Donohoe, Stephanie (2005) 'Encoding advertisements: The creative perspective', in O'Driscoll, A., McDonagh, P., Lawlor, M.A. (eds.), Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Annual Conference, Dublin Institute of Technology, Aungier Street, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland, July 5 - July 7.
  • Kelly, Aidan, Lawlor, Katrina. and O'Donohoe, Stephanie (2005) 'Advertising ideology and the encoding of advertising meaning: An ethnographic and discursive approach', in Menon, G. and Rao, A. (eds.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 32, pp. 645-646.
  • Kelly, Aidan and Lawlor, Katrina (2003) 'Advertising ideology and the encoding of advertising meaning: Toward a methodological framework for the study of the social construction of advertising' in Wilson, Jerry (ed.), "Marketing in a Dynamic Global Environment", Proceedings of the Atlantic Marketing Association Nineteenth Annual Conference, Portland, Maine, USA, October 1 - October 4, pp. 247-254.
  • Kelly, Aidan. (2002) 'The ideology of the advertising process: An exploration of the generation and creation of advertising meanings and values', in Tynan, A.C., Ennew, C.T., Winklhofer, H, O'Malley, L, McKechnie, S, Mitussis, D, Patterson, M and Liao, M-N (eds.), Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Annual Conference, Nottingham University Business School, United Kingdom, July 2- July 5.

TEACHING

  • BSc (Hons) Marketing

    Explore this marketing degree from UEL. Prepare for exciting marketing careers with our industry-aligned curriculum. Discover more about our marketing courses and start your journey today.

  • MSc Marketing

    Our MSc Marketing course focuses on the development of an understanding of core marketing theories and an evaluation of how they apply to the role of professional marketing.

MODULES

  • MK5021 - Integrated Marketing Communications 
  • MK7014 – Consumers, Markets and Culture
  • MK7016 – Research Methods for Business
  • SG7002 – Applied Business Project

I supervise academic projects at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. If you have a student query related to the MSc Marketing, please contact me at: a.j.kelly@uel.ac.uk.

Publications

Browse past publications by year.

Full publications list

Visit the research repository to view a full list of publications

Research repository