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Szu-chi Huang, Michal Maimaran, and Daniella Kupor have been selected to receive the 2024 Paul E. Green/Vithala R. Rao Award for their article, “Using Price Promotions to Drive Children’s Healthy Choices in a Developing Economy,” which appeared in the December 2024 issue (Volume 61, Issue 6) of Journal of Marketing Research.
The Paul E. Green/Vithala R. Rao Award recognizes the Journal of Marketing Research article published in the previous full calendar year that shows or demonstrates the most potential to contribute significantly to the practice of marketing research and research in marketing. All Journal of Marketing Research articles published in the the previous calendar year are eligible for the award. This year’s selection committee included Karen Page Winterich (Pennsylvania State University), Pradeep Chintagunta (University of Chicago), and Michel Wedel (University of Maryland). The committee noted:
In their paper, “Using Price Promotions to Drive Children’s Healthy Choices in a Developing Economy,” Szu-chi Huang, Michal Maimaran, and Daniella Kupor demonstrate the conditions under which price promotions effectively drive children in developing countries to choose healthier foods. They work with the nonprofit organization, UNICEF, to conduct a series of field experiments in Panama that test the effectiveness of price promotions on children’s food choices. Though price promotions have been studied extensively in the marketing literature and are frequently used in marketing practice, this research studies their effectiveness among a vulnerable population in a developing country. Moreover, the research moves beyond the effectiveness of price promotions on one-time sales to understand when they are effective both during the promotional period as well as post promotion.
This article was selected for the 2024 Paul E. Green/Vithala R. Rao Award because it demonstrates the nuanced effectiveness of price promotions in an important context, investigated in collaboration with an international organization. The field experiments examined food choices over time and revealed the surprising finding that price promotions for moderately priced healthy options lead to a sustained increase in product demand after the promotion period ends, which is not the case when higher-priced items are discounted. Additionally, the research found that derived discount messages, which require more cognitive effort to determine the final discounted price, are more effective than direct discount messages but only for older children (age 8–11) and not younger children (age 6–7). Repeated price promotions lose their effectiveness, except for derived discount messages for younger children. Notably, UNICEF shared that the research helped their strategic framework for engaging with children to make healthier choices not just in Panama but also in Argentina, Mexico, Columbia, India, South Africa, and the Philippines. Thus, the paper will have long-term impact on marketing practice, in this case the marketing of healthy food options for children.
Three other excellent articles were named finalists for the 2024 Paul E. Green/Vithala R. Rao Award:
- “Words Meet Photos: When and Why Photos Increase Review Helpfulness,” by Gizem Ceylan, Kristin Diehl, and and Davide Proserpio
- “Detecting Routines: Applications to Ridesharing Customer Relationship Management,” by Ryan Dew, Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer, and Nachum Sicherman
- “Debunking Misinformation About Consumer Products: Effects on Beliefs and Purchase Behavior,” by Jessica Fong, Tong Guo, and Anita Rao
The authors will be honored at the AMA Summer Academic Conference in Chicago, IL (August 22–24, 2025).
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