Patti Williams

Patti Williams
  • Ira A. Lipman Associate Professor of Marketing
  • Vice Dean, Wharton Executive Education

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    762 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
    3730 Walnut Street
    University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: emotion regulation, emotional and attitudinal ambivalence, emotions and social identity, the persuasive effects of emotion, brand purpose

Overview

Patti Williams is the Ira A. Lipman Associate Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Vice Dean of Wharton Executive Education.

Professor Williams examines ways consumers’ emotional responses influence consumption and persuasion. Her current research projects focus on how emotions influence consumer decisions and processes of persuasion; consumer responses to emotional and attitudinal ambivalence; and emotion regulation.

Her research has been published in top-tier academic journals including the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. She serves on the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Marketing Research and is an Associate Editor at the Journal of Consumer Psychology. She previously served as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Consumer Research and as President of the Society for Consumer Psychology.

She teaches a course on Strategic Brand Management to undergraduate and MBA students; previously she has taught the MBA core courses and classes on Advertising Management. Professor Williams earned her PhD and MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her BA from Stanford University.

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Research

Teaching

Current Courses (Spring 2025)

  • MKTG7780 - Strategic Brand Mgmt

    Which brands make you happy? Apple? Amazon? Starbucks? Everlane? Soulcycle? Sweetgreen? What draws you into these brands? How do companies create compelling brand experiences? How could you cultivate a well-loved brand? This course explores such questions with the goal of identifying the ingredients for building an inspired brand. The course is created for students interested in building a brand and/or immersing themselves in the enhancement of an existing brand, and it is comprised of lectures, cases, guest speakers, discussions, in and out of class exercises, and a final project. Broadly, the course will be divided into four parts: 1) Understanding Brand, 2) Crafting Brand, 3) Measuring Brand, and 4) Managing Brand. The course will provide students with an appreciation of the role of branding and (taking a consumer-centric approach) will augment students' ability to think creatively and critically about the strategies and tactics involved in building, leveraging, defending, and sustaining inspired brands.

    MKTG7780001 ( Syllabus )

Awards and Honors

  • President-Elect, Society for Consumer Psychology, 2019-2020
  • President, Society for Consumer Psychology, 2020-2021
  • Outstanding Reviewer, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2018
  • Outstanding Reviewer, Journal of Consumer Research, 2016
  • Wharton WEMBA Class of 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award, 2016
  • MBA Core Curriculum Award, “Goes Above and Beyond the Call of Duty”, 2014
  • MBA Core Curriculum Award “Goes Above And Beyond The Call of Duty”, 2012
  • MBA Core Curriculum Excellence in Teaching Award, 2011
  • Wharton Excellence in Teaching Award, 2010
  • MBA Core Curriculum Award “Goes Above And Beyond The Call of Duty”, 2008
  • Wharton Excellence In Teaching Award, 2007
  • Fellow, Wharton Risk Center, 2007
  • Wharton Excellence in Teaching Award, 2006
  • 2001 Marketing Science Institute Young Scholars Conference, 2001
  • 2000-2006 James G. Campbell Jr. Memorial Term Assistant Professor, 2000
  • 1999 Marketing Science Institute Research Grant (with Aimee Drolet), 1999
  • 1997 Procter & Gamble Market Innovation Research Fund Recipient, 1997
  • 1997 Center for International Business (CIBER), Internationalization Marketing Consortium Fellow, 1997
  • 1997 American Marketing Association Doctoral Consortium Fellow, 1997
  • 1997 UCLA Graduate Division Merit Fellowship, 1997
  • 1996 CIBER International Research Grant (with Jennifer Aaker), 1996
  • 1992-1993 Los Angeles Women in Business MBA Fellowship Recipient, 1992
  • 1991-1993 Dean’s List, UCLA, MBA Program, 1991
  • President, Society for Consumer Psychology, 2020-2021
  • Past-President, Society for Consumer Psychology, 2020-2021

In the News

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Latest Research

Patti Williams, Jennifer Edson Escalas, Andrew Morningstar (2022), Conceptualizing brand purpose and considering its implications for consumer eudaimonic well-being, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 32 (), pp. 699-723. 10.1002/jcpy.1324
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In the News

Focus on the Future: An Interview with PagerDuty’s Jennifer Tejada

Wharton’s Patti Williams talks with Jennifer Tejada, CEO of digital operations management firm PagerDuty, about the importance of adapting to change.…Read More

Knowledge at Wharton - 3/21/2025
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Wharton Magazine

20 Years of Knowledge@Wharton

In the two decades since its launch, Knowledge@Wharton has become an invaluable resource for lifelong learning online, on the radio, and on podcasts. Meet its visionary founder and the team that’s spreading insights and education to a global audience.

Wharton Magazine - 04/19/2019

Wharton Stories

A person being filmed, visible on a camera monitor. The scene includes professional filming equipment, representing video production or an interview setup.Growing Wharton Online

How many people does it take to service over three million online learners worldwide? For Wharton Online, the answer is 10. The team is about the size of a typical startup in the education technology (or “edtech”) space. And according to former Vice Dean Jagmohan S. Raju of Wharton Executive…

Wharton Stories - 04/27/2022
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