Smith Researcher Co Develops AdGazer, a Breakthrough for Predicting Attention to Digital Ads
AdGazer, co-developed by Michel Wedel at the University of Maryland’s Smith School, uses AI and eye-tracking data to predict ad attention. It outperforms leading vision models by analyzing ads and context to optimize placement and increase brand engagement.
Smith Among Early Movers Bringing Vibe Coding into the MBA Experience
AI-powered “vibe coding” is reshaping business education, enabling app development through natural language prompts. At the University of Maryland’s Smith School, marketing professor Wendy Moe taught MBA students to use AI tools to build near-launch-ready applications in fall 2025.
Smith’s P.K. Kannan Announced as 2026 AMA Fellow Inductee
P.K. Kannan, dean’s chair in marketing science at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, will be inducted into the 2026 American Marketing Association Fellows cohort, honoring his influential research, teaching and service at conference in Madrid.
The GenAI Future of Consumer Research
We develop a novel generative AI (GenAI) trajectory, “democratization-average trap-model collapse,” to identify data and model challenges posed by GenAI, from which we project the GenAI future of consumer research. This trajectory consists of three key phenomena: democratization broadens consumer participation, the average trap produces generic responses, and model collapses occurs when GenAI outputs lose human sensibilities.
Tracking-Based Advertising After Apple's App Tracking Transparency: Firm-Level Evidence and Policy Implications
We discuss the impact of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency's (“ATT”) on targeted, online advertising. We overview the empirical results of Aridor, Che, Hollenbeck, Kaiser & McCarthy (2025) that measured the impact of ATT on e-commerce firms. The results point to a large reduction in the efficacy of targeted advertising and subsequently large revenue losses, borne primarily by smaller firms.
AdGazer: Improving Contextual Advertising with Theory-Informed Machine Learning
Contextual advertising involves matching features of ads to features of the media context where they appear. We propose AdGazer, a new machine learning procedure to support contextual advertising. It comprises a theoretical framework organizing high and low-level features of ads and contexts, feature engineering models grounded in this framework, an XGBoost model predicting ad and brand attention, and an algorithm optimally assigning ads to contexts. AdGazer includes a Multimodal Large Language Model to extract high-level topics predicting the ad-context match.
The First Smith IBM Day Exposes Students to Consulting, Branding and Opportunity
The inaugural IBM Day at UMD’s Smith School of Business featured class takeovers, coffee chats, and networking. Alumni shared insights on AI, consulting, and martech careers. IBM highlighted SkillsBuild and partnerships, connecting coursework with real-world business and technology applications.
21 Smith School Professors Named Among Top 2% Scholars Worldwide
Twenty-one Smith School professors were named among the top 2% most cited researchers globally, according to Elsevier’s 2025 study across 22 fields. Representing both current and emeritus faculty, their impactful research advances business knowledge and global academic excellence.
Smith’s Rebecca Ratner Addresses Social Connection in ACR 2025 Leadership Role
Led by President Rebecca Ratner, the Association for Consumer Research held its 2025 conference in Washington, D.C., exploring “Buying and Beyond.” Ratner emphasized social connection in her address, highlighting research on loneliness, consumer behavior, and marketing’s role in fostering connection.
Pioneering Digital Marketing and Strategic Initiatives at Smith
P.K. Kannan, Dean’s Chair in Marketing Science at the Smith School, revolutionized digital marketing research and education. His award-winning work bridges technology and marketing, solving real business problems and shaping innovative programs like the Interdisciplinary Business Honors and Smith Business Leadership Fellows.