Marie Haikel-Elsabeh: “Think Differently to Distinguish Yourself from Other Digital Marketers”

Marie Haikel-Elsabeh is a professor of digital marketing at business school EMLV. She is also in charge of a research project in IT and e-commerce. An alumna of the American University of Paris and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, she also holds a PhD in Management from University Paris Nanterre and Telecom Business School.

Since 2014, Marie Haikel-Elsabeh has handed down her knowledge and experience of digital to her EMLV students, whether in the classroom or as head of programmes.

A focus on digital

I am a professor in digital marketing, I teach classes in digital marketing and digital advertising. My areas of research focus on digital marketing, social networks, virtual communities, big data, data analytics, recommendation systems.

I recently published two articles on responsible food consumers that are active on social networks and how to classify their profiles. I also published an article on the motivations to share information on brands on social networks.

Furthermore, I work on connected/smart objects and the ambivalence of consumers regarding them. More recently Ii started to work on recommendation systems.

Since my arrival at EMLV, I created two Master’s degrees, the MBA and the Master in Digital Marketing and Data Analytics with IIM, Pôle Léonard de Vinci’s digital school.

Since 2017 I took on a new mission when I became manager of the PCU project, supported by the French Interministerial Fund. I am passionate about computer science and data analytics, taking part in this Unified Knowledge Platform was for me the opportunity to create a real computer programme with a team and to innovate with regards to my research interests.

This project serves many objectives, including the simplification of big data technology implementation for e-commerce optimisation. Together with Sami Chaoued, who did his internship on the subject and with my team, we worked on the creation of a recommendation system.

The road to becoming a researcher

I was struggling to find a job after a position as head of communication in the ministry of agriculture. I went to a conference on social networks in 2010. At the time, Christine Balagué was doing a speech on Facebook, following the publication of her famous book “Facebook, Twitter et les autres…”

I was fascinated with the topic of social networks and decided to ask her if she could co-tutor my PhD with Christophe Bénavent who was officially my thesis director.

She recruited me in the first research Chair on Social Networks at Telecom Business School. For four years I worked on my PhD while doing high level research in collaboration with major companies like La Poste, Solocal, Danone, Seb…

I was recruited at EMLV in 2014 just after finishing my PhD. There, I pursued my research interests and publications on social networks, big data, data analytics, IoT.

Life outside of campus

I do rock climbing when I have time, outdoors and indoors. I also practice fitness. I enjoy watching movies, reading, writing poetry and singing jazz with my group.

Digital marketing is a great subject, but you need to think from a sociological, psychological, and even philosophical perspective to distinguish yourself from other digital marketers, basically to make a difference.

So reading about other subjects is essential. As a matter of fact, my motto is “Think different and always try to be a step ahead”.

Find Marie Haikel-Elsabeh’s contact info here and learn more about Parisian business school EMLV’s Master Programme.