Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Enterprise

Staff Profile

Professor Natalia Yannopoulou

Professor of Marketing

Background

Natalia Yannopoulou is Professor of Marketing at Newcastle University Business School. She has previously served at Nottingham University Business School, and was affiliated with the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies at the University of Warwick, Hellenic Open University and University of Roehampton.

She holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from Warwick Business School, U.K., an MBA from George Washington University, U.S.A. with specialization in Marketing, and a BSc. in Business Administration from Athens University of Economics & Business, Greece.

Natalia’s research interests are mainly in the areas of consumer behaviour, marketing communications and branding. Her work appears in journals such as Business History, Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing and International Journal of Advertising, and has been presented in conferences such as Advances in Consumer Research (ACR), European Marketing Academy (EMAC) and International Conference on Research in Advertising (ICORIA). She regularly reviews papers for a range of marketing related journals and conferences, and serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising and International Journal of Services, Economics and Management.

Natalia also has extensive international consulting experience in services marketing and communication roles in companies such as The Webb Partnership in the UK, Deloitte & Touche Consulting in Ecuador, Citibank N.A., Global Consumer Banking in Greece, and Sofitel member of Accor’s hotels & resorts in the USA.

Natalia's language skills include English (excellent), French (excellent), Spanish (fluent), Chinese (introductory) and Greek (native).

Research

Natalia’s Yannopoulou research examines how consumers understand and interpret market offerings, while focusing on the communication activities between companies and audiences. Natalia’s research interests are mainly in the areas of consumer behaviour, marketing communications and branding. More specifically and within branding, she is interested in concepts such as brand trust, brand crises and perceptions of authenticity of mainly food and fashion brands within emerging markets such as China, Vietnam and the Middle East. Within Marketing Communications, she is particularly interested in the symbolic meaning of communication and the role of social media.

Natalia has been appointed member of the Global Challenges Research Fund peer review group (GCRF), in order to assist with the review of applications to ESRC Global Challenges Research Fund calls based on a new five-year £1.5 billion funding stream. She serves on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Services, Economics and Management. She regularly reviews papers for a range of marketing related journals and conferences, while she has been assigned Book Reviewer for Routledge publishing on numerous books on Marketing Communications.


Natalia is welcoming PhD applications particularly on research areas related to fake news, misinformation, disinformation, greenwashing, cultural consumption, advertising.


Natalia has been able to secure both internal and external funding for her research through various grant schemes. The most recent ones include:   

  • Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) - Innovate UK (2022-2024) on curating contemporary art in heritage with Vindolanda Trust -Interdisciplinary project between NUBS & School of Arts & Cultures. 
  • Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) - Innovate U.K. (2018-2021) on developing a B2B co-branding and digital marketing strategy based on data analytics. Interdisciplinary project between NUBS & School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics.
  • Arrow - European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - (2019) on brand storytelling with Powder Butterfly company.
  • Arrow - European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) - (2019) on exploring perceptions of authenticity in the virtual reality context with WeLoveMedia company.
  • Newton Fund British Council Project (2015-2017) that looks into adding value to the Vietnamese agri-food sector. https://research.ncl.ac.uk/bcvietnamproject/. Interdisciplinary project with colleagues from School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.


Teaching

Natalia Yannopoulou teaches in the following modules in both the U/G and P/G level:

-       Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotions - MKT3006 

-       International Marketing Communications Management - NBS8510  

-       Strategic Global Marketing - NBS8124 (MBA)

-       Contemporary Trends in Marketing - NBS8562         

Natalia has extensive teaching experience in marketing in various universities in the UK and abroad. During this time, she taught and developed modules for face to face, online and distance learning classrooms. In many occasions she had to coordinate modules offered in national, as well as, international campuses.  

Her teaching is informed by her research, and often features guest speakers and real life projects. Natalia is continuously identifying real life projects involving strategic challenges faced by both local inspirational businesses and internationally well-established brands. Willow Burn Wood, and Always Wear Red are some of the local SMEs that she initiated collaboration with by developing, in partnership with their Executive teams, real life case studies on topical questions faced by the companies, and turning them into student group projects with immediate relevance and applicability. As a result, students were given the chance to apply theories learned, develop their skills and tailor their marketing suggestions against societal challenges such as ageing, sustainability and the digital economy. Natalia has also organised panel talks on Future of Marketing, and co-launched the MSc Marketing Debate between Newcastle University Business School & Durham University Business School.

Her teaching experience has been further enriched through the role of External Examiner in institutions such as Nottingham University Business School, Kent Business School, Birmingham Business School, Strathclyde Business School, Lancaster University, and Hull University Business School. 

Publications