Jax State Showcases Research, Wins Top Honors at Atlantic Marketing Association Conference

10/03/2025

Jacksonville State University made a strong showing at the 50th Atlantic Marketing Association Conference in Portland, Maine, where faculty, staff, and students presented their research to an international audience of scholars and industry leaders. The group was joined at the conference by Dr. Brent Cunningham, Dean of the College of Business and Industry. 

From geomarketing and consumer behavior to tourism and entrepreneurship, Jax State presenters shared innovative work across multiple sessions. Dr. Mark Sciuchetti, Senior Director of the Honors College, chaired the Geomarketing and Case Studies session, where he and Dr. Jianping “Coco” Huang, Associate Professor of Marketing and Management, presented “Crime, Consumers, and Clustering: A GeoMarketing Analysis of Retail Behavior Across Urban Markets.” Courtney Craven, Research Analyst and Operations Coordinator in the Center for Economic Development and Business Research, also contributed with “Geofencing in Action.” 

In the Consumer Behavior: Trust, Entitlement, and Incivility session, Dr. Huang and Dr. Sciuchetti presented their joint research, “Emotion is Dead, but Can Persuasion Survive? The Effect of AI-Generated Reviews in Digital Marketing on Consumer Trust.” Their work went on to receive the conference’s Best Paper Award in the Consumer Behavior Track. 

Students also took the stage. Aubrey Whiddon, a Jax State marketing student, presented “Geofencing in Tourism & Recreation: A Revolution in How Marketing-Centric Data is Collected & Employed?” in the Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Marketing session chaired by Dr. Huang. 

Beyond presenting, Jax State faculty played key leadership roles in the conference. Dr. Sciuchetti served as the Geomarketing and Case Study Track Chair, while Dr. Huang chaired the Advertising/Direct Marketing/Promotion Track and was named incoming Program Chair for the 2026 Atlantic Marketing Association Conference. 

The recognition of Huang and Sciuchetti’s award-winning research highlights Jax State’s growing national presence in marketing and business scholarship. Their study examined how AI-generated reviews compare to human-written reviews in building consumer trust and influencing purchasing decisions, using both neuroscience lab experiments and survey methods.