Diego Rinallo, Swarovski Professor for Two Days

Diego Rinallo (Department of Marketing) is one of the few international Swarovski Guest Professors, i.e. "eminent scholars who carry inspiring insights from fields such as biology, religion or management to Innsbruck and discuss their potential implications for branding with students, professors, and practitioners", at Universitaet Innsbruck's Brand Research Laboratory, sponsored by Swarovski.

He held a lecture on "Branding as Magic" on Thursday, January 12, 2012, and a workshop on "Making Magic with Brands" on Friday, January 13, 2012.

Rinallo's research interests have recently touched upon the spiritual aspects of consumer culture and he is the editor of a forthcoming book on Consumption and Spirituality for Routledge. Asked for unconventional and thought-provoking presentations, Rinallo brought to extreme consequences the magico-religious metaphors used by some scholars to understand branding in order to provide original insights on how to strengthen brands.