Dave Blumberg

The Marketing Communication Research (MCR) concentration taught me how to create actionable business insights by using statistics to understand (and communicate) data. The program has been extremely instrumental to my current career path and has opened many doors for me. Professor Michael Elasmar mentored and trained me on a number of research disciplines – survey writing, data analysis in SPSS, focus group moderation, storytelling – that were essential to the research positions I’ve held over the course of my career. After graduating from the program, I accepted a position as a Senior Analyst of Advertiser Insights at ESPN, where I executed cross-platform advertising campaign effectiveness research to prove the value that sponsors and advertisers receive when they align with the ESPN brand. To achieve these ends, I utilized traditional methodologies (learned in MCR), which included surveys and focus groups, as well as more scientific approaches, like Biometrics, Eye Gaze technology and Facial Coding. After five years, I transitioned to the Brand & Consumer Insights team at Comedy Central, wherein I currently support various cross-functional teams – Marketing, Talent, Development, Creative, Social – by tracking the health of the Comedy Central brand, identifying consumer trends, and testing promotional content and new show concepts.