Professor Heath McDonald
Details
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College: College of Business and Law
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Department: College of Business and Law
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Campus: City Campus Australia
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heath.mcdonald@rmit.edu.au
Open to
- Media enquiries
- Masters Research or PhD student supervision
About
A marketing academic with over 20 years in management roles, Prof Heath McDonald is currently the Dean of Economics, Finance & Marketing at RMIT University.
Industry experience:
Heath has worked in the hospitality, wine and leisure sectors and have consulted to more than 50 elite sporting organisations worldwide.
Award:
2015 North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) Research Fellow
Research fields
- 3506 Marketing
- 350405 Sport and leisure management
Degrees
- Doctorate Research, Business and Management
- Monash University
- Australia
- 2003
- Masters Degree by Research, Business and Management
- University of South Australia
- Australia
- 1995
- Bachelor Degree (Pass) Level, Sales and Marketing
- University of South Australia
- Australia
- 1991
Supervisor projects
- UNLEASHING FANDOM AND VALUE CREATION: INVESTIGATING DIMENSIONS OF SPORTS FAN ENGAGEMENT IN TECH-MEDIATED ENVIRONMENT
- 16 Feb 2024
- Selfie or Self-Acceptance - Does Matching of Brand Communication Content to Consumer Goals Enhance Consumer Evaluations?
- 11 Jun 2020
Teaching interests
Currently teaches into MKTG1089 Sport Marketing and supervisies PhD students.
Supervisor interest areas:
Subscription markets (e.g., Netflix, Gyms, Insurance) and how they differ
Best practice marketing for Member-based organisations (e.g., sport clubs, DAOs)
Research interests
Heath's research work focuses on the field of customer acquisition and retention, particularly in subscription markets (e.g., season tickets, memberships). Informed by a marketing science perspective, this work often involves repeated modelling employing large datasets. Major sporting leagues and teams have used this research to drive growth in fan and member numbers, to inform pricing decisions and evaluate stadium design and development.
He has recently worked with the Australian Football League (AFL) on its club membership strategy during and post COVID19 and Zoos Victoria on its membership structure and pricing. His work has attracted over $2.5 million in external research funding, including three prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grants. He recently published the second edition of "Sports Consumer Behavior: Marketing Strategies" (Routledge).
Heath has recently acted as Associate Editor of the Journal of Sport Management and Sport Marketing Quarterly, is a Research Fellow of NASSM and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He currently serves as Predident of The Sport Management Asscoaition of Australia and New Zealand.
Research keywords
Subscription, Marketing, Fans, Customer Retention, Members, Satisfaction
