Kathy LaTour

Kathy LaTour is a professor in the Integrated Marketing Communications Department at Medill.

LaTour’s research takes a consumer psychological perspective toward how marketers should approach branding, experience design, communications and loyalty programs. She uses both experimental designs and in-depth interview techniques to better understand consumer behavior. Her major research focus has been on the complexity of human memory. Her current research focus is on the development of knowledge with highly ambiguous perceptual experiences like wine; how cross sensory learning methods can be employed to enhance consumer learning; sensory aspects of branding and brand knowledge representation; and what strategies experts (i.e. Masters) use to assess their own experiences.

LaTour has been involved with many industry-related projects. At the Mind of the Market Lab she was involved with consulting projects with Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Disney and the World Bank. She has also worked with industry on research projects such as with Astrazeneca and their messaging around Crestor; with Yum! the design of Pizza Hut restaurants in the UK; and with the Las Vegas Sands the Dorchester Collection regarding experience design issues.