Bonnie Knutson
Professor
Bonnie Knutson often consults with business leaders who want to understand and take advantage of changing consumer demands.
Get in touchBiography
Bonnie J. Knutson is a professor in The School of Hospitality Business in the Broad College of Business. Widely known as an authority on emerging lifestyle trends and creative marketing strategies, she often consults with business leaders who want to understand and take advantage of changing consumer demands. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and on CNN. She has also had articles appear in numerous business publications, and is editor of The Journal
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of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing.
With her wit and entertaining style, Bonnie is a frequent speaker at business and association meetings. She has been a featured presenter for the National Restaurant Association, the American Hotel & Motel Association, Meeting Professionals International, Club Managers Association of America, National Automated Merchandising Association, as well as financial, health care, automotive, and education organizations throughout the United States and abroad.
Knutson has been named a MSU Distinguished Faculty. She has also been honored with the MSU Distinguished Alumni Award and the Hospitality Business Alumni Association Lifetime Academic Achievement Award. She was given the esteemed Withrow Award for teaching and research in the Broad College of Business and has won the prestigious Golden Key Teaching Excellence Award for outstanding instruction and dedication to students. The Advertising Education Foundation named Dr. Knutson a National Scholar.
Knutson is on the Advisory Boards of the Food Industry Institute, the Travel, Tourism and Recreation Resource Center, and the Advisory Council for the MSU Wharton Center. She is a member of the American Marketing Association and the American Marketing Research Association.
Education
Michigan State University: Ph.D., | 1982
Michigan State University: M.A., | 1979
Michigan State University: B.A., | 1978
Selected Press
Marketing Moments | Does Your Business Need A Hero?
Michigan Business Networks | 2023-02-27
Not long ago, I had the opportunity to talk with a Manager. He humanized, for me, the issues that he, like many of you, have been facing – staffing, supply shortages, cancellations, rising costs for virtually everything…ad infinitum. As we said goodbye, we “bumped elbows.” He then smiled and said, We will get through this because my employees are heroes.
Marketing Moments | Is Dr. Kano Right?
Michigan Business Networks | 2023-02-01
A while ago, I conducted some focus groups with frequent travelers. At one point, we were discussing hotel amenities and the conversation went something like this:
Marketing Moments | Get Yourself A Milk Stool
Michigan Business Networks | 2022-07-18
My grandparents’ house was on a corner lot that had just enough room for Nonno to build a little shoe shop a few steps from their home. We lived a block away. A block away in the other direction was my elementary school. So every day walking home, I would stop by Nonno’s shoe shop for a loving smile, a big hug, and a mia bella nipotina (my beautiful granddaughter). And, of course, there was always a little treat – a biscotti, an amaretti, or a canestrelli – that my mother believed would spoil my dinner, but never did.
Marketing Moments | I Miss The Old Alka Seltzer Tubes
Michigan Business Networks | 2022-07-12
My husband and I were married when we were 19 and still in college. Like many young couples of our era, managing school, two jobs, and family didn’t leave a lot of discretionary time nor money. But we were good savers, even if it was only a quarter here or a dollar there. This brings me to the old Alka Seltzer containers. Some of you may remember them. They looked like little glass tubes and contained the round tablets that fizzed when dropped in water. (These classic containers are now categorized as “vintage” collectables on eBay.)
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