Americus Reed, II is the Whitney M. Young Jr., Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he has served on faculty since 2000. An avid fitness enthusiast, part time drummer and tireless educator, Americus’ primary research and consulting areas are in brand equity and Identity Loyalty – the study of creating and fostering “brand communities” that transcend the utilitarian aspects of products to actualize iconic levels of symbolic identity and self-expression; connect to deep levels of emotional and social affiliation, and cultivate lifelong relationships with intermediate customers and end consumers. In 2005, his academic work in this area received honorable mention for the prestigious Robert Ferber Award for academic impact in the Journal of Consumer Research (JCR) and in 2009 he received JCR’s Best Paper Award. And he is a recipient of the Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP) 2023 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. His article “Identity-Based Consumer Behavior” was the recipient of the 2023 Steenkamp Long-Term Impact award in the International Journal of Research in Marketing (IJRM).

Americus describes the power of branding in this TEDx conversation. He has authored more than 50 articles, book chapters and cases on the topic. He has been featured on CNN, CNBC, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, New York Times, NPR, TIME, the Hidden Brain Podcast and Knowledge at Wharton. He hosts a Podcast called Marketing Matters which airs live on Wednesdays on Wharton’s Sirius XM Channel 132 Business Radio. He teaches customer analysis, branding and consumer psychology to undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and executive students.