Valentine’s Day: Experts available to comment on COVID-19’s impact on the holiday for restaurants, tourism

For Valentine’s Day, couples traditionally plan a romantic getaway or spend their evening at a nice restaurant, but with cases of COVID-19 soaring, celebrations of love may look a bit different this year.

The pandemic has hit restaurants, retail businesses and the tourism industry particularly hard, forcing them to find creative ways to adapt. How much do these industries rely on Valentine’s Day? What will businesses do to accommodate consumers who want to celebrate while staying healthy and safe? What are some alternate ways couples can celebrate the holiday?

The following experts from IUPUI and Indiana University Bloomington are available to comment on these topics. For more information, contact Kevin Fryling at [email protected] or 812-856-2988.

Ann Bastianelli

• Expertise: Advertising and branding strategy, consumer insights, consumer behavior, marketing communications management, maximizing personal performance.
• Bio: Ann Bastianelli is senior lecturer in marketing at the IU Kelley School of Business. Her career spans more than 30 years in advertising agencies and corporate environments.
  • Contact: 812-855-1288 or [email protected]

Evan Jordan

• Expertise: Travel, tourism, leisure, AirBnB, vacation rentals, vacations, overtourism, tourism development, sustainability, planning, development, psychology
• Bio: Evan Jordan is an assistant professor in the School of Public Health-Bloomington’s Department of Health & Wellness Design. His research focuses on the psychological impacts of tourism, sustainable tourism, and tourism planning and policy. He is particularly interested in tourism’s impact on stress, emotions, and quality of life and their implications for public health.
  • Contact: 269-830-8302 or [email protected]

Keith Niedermeier

• Expertise: Consumer decision-making, branding, retail, investor philosophy, marketing in China.
• Bio: Keith E. Niedermeier is a clinical professor of marketing in the Kelley School of Business whose research focuses on consumer decision-making. His specific interests include branding, retail, investor psychology and marketing in China. He is also a recurring visiting professor at the Peking University, Beijing, International MBA program.
  • Contact: 215-605-6562 or [email protected]

Kim Saxton

• Expertise: Data-driven marketing, customer segmentation and advertising strategies to segments, branding and corporate reputation, content marketing, digital marketing, marketing automation, database marketing, competitive intelligence systems, market research techniques, marketing strategy, marketing for new ventures, entrepreneurial marketing and women as entrepreneurs.
• Bio: Kim Saxton is a marketing strategy professor who believes marketers should make data-driven decisions to improve their effectiveness. She earned a B.S. in marketing from MIT, reinforced by an MBA and Ph.D. in marketing from Indiana University.
  • Contact: 317-274-0167 or [email protected]

John Talbott

• Expertise: Retailing, relating marketing activities to financial outcomes, new media communication.
• Bio: John Talbott is director of the Center for Education and Research in Retail and a senior lecturer at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Before coming to IU, he was a chief executive with extensive turnaround experience in retail, including top-to-bottom assembly of a store and back office management while defining store brands, developing product and designing an in-store experience to improve customer perceptions.
  • Contact: 214-215-2690 or [email protected]

Amy Vaughan

• Expertise: Tourism; tourism marketing; Indiana tourism; downtown Indianapolis tourism; Central Indiana tourism; destination development; community development; internships; careers in tourism, events and sports management; helping students transition from college to careers; high-impact practices; collaborations with tourism industry partners; service learning.
• Bio: Amy Vaughan is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Tourism, Event Management and Sport Management at IUPUI. She has more than 20 years of experience in the tourism industry: She served as director of the Hamilton County Convention and Visitors Bureau for more than 14 years and as director of the Indiana Office of Tourism Development for more than seven years.
  • Contact: 317-366-9372 or [email protected]