Dr Brendan Keegan

    School of Business

    Lecturer/Assistant Professor

    349
    (01) 474 7530

    Biography

    Brendan is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Marketing at Maynooth University, specialising in digital media marketing analytics, artificial intelligence application and digital placemaking.

    He has taught at third level for over 13 years across a range of modules, more recently drawing upon his research expertise to deliver modules in the areas of digital marketing.

    Brendan is the Principal Investigator for the ongoing digital placemaking research within the GoGreenRoutes Project which involves collaboration with up to 80 academics and Doctoral students across 40 different institutions.

    Research Interests

    My research comprises of three interrelated strands, bound together through the role of digital analytics in decision making, namely: 
    1. the role of digital analytics in marketing decision-making;
    2. application of artificial intelligence in marketing, and
    3. the interlink between digital placemaking and health and wellbeing. 
    My PhD research examined the influence of social media analytics upon marketing agency-client relationships.

    My ongoing research has examined how analytics techniques play a role in the development of business intelligence, such as: big data analytics, social media monitoring, quantitative sentiment analysis, tie-strength analysis, semiotic analysis, semantic content analysis, text- based data mining, Twitter trend extrapolation and meme mapping. 

    Research Projects

    Title Role Description Start date End date Amount
    GoGreenRoutes Principal Investigator for the role of Digital Placemaking in Nature Based Solutions GOGREEN ROUTES is a four-year, €10.48 million project which aims to improve the health and well-being of people living in cities across Europe. The project will involve 40 partners across 18 European countries and will explore the roles of nature-based solutions, urban design and digital placemaking techniques in encouraging more people in cities to engage with outdoor spaces. 01/09/2020 31/08/2024 219000
    GoGreenRoutes MMU Transfer PI 21/07/2021 31/08/2024 157241.3
    Digital Blue Health Principal Investigator To examine the health and wellbeing impacts of community swimming groups in rural, isolated communities in Ireland. 01/09/2021 31/08/2022 5000
    AI-B2B Project Principal Investigator Investigating the challenges of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in B2B marketing. This application was made in support of data collection and transcription to investigate the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications in B2B marketing. 06/05/2018 31/07/2019 5000
    Pinecone Ltd. Innovation Voucher PI To develop a digital marketing footprint for a local business 05/07/2010 17/12/2010 5000
    Get In Nature Principal Investigator GETinNature will advance our understanding and application of nature-based therapy (NBT) by innovating a more accessible, inclusive and sustainable model of practice. GETinNature builds upon the reciprocal benefits for mental health and environmental health, applying transdisciplinary science allied with multidimensional health measures, while supporting quality assurance in delivery, to ensure wider utilization across society overcoming societal challenges exacerbated during the COVID19 global pandemic. An evidence-based approach, supported by digital and technological nature (i.e. while nature in the physical world is preferable it may not always be accessible), will evaluate NBT as a pathway for the prevention and treatment of mental health issues, by identifying best practices, determining modes of interaction, quantifying risk and mediators, to ensure more effective application. Nature-based therapies have a long cultural past but a short scientific history, and GETinNature will bridge both practitioner and scientific perspectives. GETinNature will advance our understanding of nature based therapies using an international and trans-disciplinary approach. This will include expertise from areas such as Psychology, Environmental Science, Neuroscience, Biological Sciences, Humanities and Technology. Expanding out from this GETinNature will bridge the gap between service and scientific expertise through co-creation processes. The experience of both service providers and service users will help shape our knowledge of the benefits to both humans and nature in cost-effect nature based therapies. An evidence based multi-level framework for nature based therapy and both a preventative measure and treatment will be introduced which will be supported by digital and technological natures (i.e. while nature in the physical world is preferable but not always accessible). Impact at community, healthcare, nature protection, economic, societal, and global level is discussed. 01/09/2023 6552473
    LookDown Co-Investigator (Unsuccessful) The project aims to develop a more robust and user-friendly tool to quantify the impact of mobility measures on air quality to better engage citizens in actions and facilitate the construction of a coherent urban policy. By further exploiting existing mobility-related data, measurements from air quality sensors in combination with data from CAMS products, impact information will become mainly observation-based and thus more robust. 01/09/2022 260000
    Drammen's "river parks" Principal Investigator (Unsuccessful) With an ageing population, alongside the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and ill mental health, there is an increasing need to find sustainable and cost-effective preventative and health-promoting solutions to tackle such major societal challenges. As urban population is growing worldwide, cities development is seen as key. In particular, SDG#11 calls for “a future in which cities provide opportunities for all”, while SDG#3 states that “Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all at all ages is essential to sustainable development”. Drammen saw an extensive city development, which included the re-purposing of industrial buildings and revitalization of several city areas. This included, among others, the creation of public parks and walking trails that extent for over 14 km along Drammen river, connecting central locations such as the city centre, the train station, and the University Campus. These infrastructures are an excellent example of nature-based infrastructures (NBS) to promote mobility, health, and satisfaction among the citizens. Drammen Municipality was awarded with the “Norway’s best outdoor space” award in 2008 and the “Green park of the year” award in 2014. The planned main project will aim at integrating digital placemaking solutions within Drammen’s “river parks”, a social marketing strategy that capitalises on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential, with the intention of creating public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and wellbeing by using location-specific digital technology to create more meaningful destinations. To implement effective digital placemaking solutions, there is a need to gather foundational knowledge that will allow the creation of meaningful solutions specific for the context of Drammen. However, there is virtually no scientific or systematic knowledge on the impact of Drammen’s regeneration on the community’s wellbeing. 04/04/2022 15000
    Green Travel and Exercise Showcase Principal Investigator (Unsuccessful) The project aims to submit an application to run a Green Travel and Exercise Showcase for UK Towns. This funding pot provides ‘pump-prime’ support for innovative knowledge exchange projects which address genuine industrial or public service requirements, or new products and services. It is envisaged that the event will showcase the innovations from the GoGreenRoutes project for a UK audience. 02/09/2019 15000

    Peer Reviewed Journal

    Year Publication
    2023 Ana Isabel Canhoto;Brendan James Keegan;Maria Ryzhikh; (2023) 'Snakes and Ladders: Unpacking the Personalisation-Privacy Paradox in the Context of AI-Enabled Personalisation in the Physical Retail Environment'. Information Systems Frontiers, . [DOI]
    2023 Maria J. Fernandez de Osso Fuentes;Brendan James Keegan;Marc V. Jones;Tadhg MacIntyre; (2023) 'Digital placemaking, health and wellbeing and nature-based solutions: A systematic review and practice model'. Urban Forestry &Amp; Urban Greening, . [DOI]
    2022 Keegan B.J.;Dennehy D.;Naudé P. (2022) 'Implementing Artificial Intelligence in Traditional B2B Marketing Practices: An Activity Theory Perspective'. Information Systems Frontiers, . [DOI]
    2022 Mc Carthy, J; Rowley, J; Keegan BJ (2022) 'Social media marketing strategy in English football clubs'. Soccer and Society, . [DOI]
    2022 Calogiuri G.;Keegan B.J.;Birkheim S.L.;Rydgren T.L.;Flaten O.E.;Fröhlich F.;Litleskare S. (2022) 'A mixed-methods exploration of virtual reality as a tool to promote green exercise'. Scientific Reports, 12 (1). [DOI]
    2022 Keegan B.J.;Canhoto A.I.;Yen D.A.W. (2022) 'Power negotiation on the tango dancefloor: The adoption of AI in B2B marketing'. Industrial Marketing Management, 100 :36-48. [DOI]
    2021 Keegan, Brendan James (2021) 'Shedding the pounds by quitting the cookies'. Applied Marketing Analytics, 7 (1):4-5. [Link]
    2021 Alex Fenton;Brendan James Keegan;Keith D. Parry; (2021) 'Understanding Sporting Social Media Brand Communities, Place and Social Capital: A Netnography of Football Fans'. Communication & Sport, . [DOI]
    2021 Hanna, S; Rowley, J ;Keegan, BJ (2021) 'Place and Destination Branding: A Review and Conceptual Mapping of the Domain'. European Management Review, 18 (2). [DOI]
    2020 Jennifer Rowley;Brendan James Keegan; (2020) 'An overview of systematic literature reviews in social media marketing'. Journal of Information Science, . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2019 Rachel Stringfellow;Brendan James Keegan;Jennifer Rowley; (2019) 'The use of Facebook in the recruitment of foster carers: A dialogic analysis'. Journal of Public Affairs, . [DOI]
    2019 Brendan James Keegan, James Taylor (2019) 'Are You Local (SEO)? Understanding The Challenges Of Local SEO Strategies'. Journal Of Digital And Social Media Marketing, .
    2017 Brendan James Keegan; Jennifer Rowley; Jane Tonge (2017) 'Marketing Agency-Client Relationships: Towards A Research Agenda'. European Journal of Marketing, . [DOI]
    2017 Brendan James Keegan; Jennifer Rowley (2017) 'Evaluation and decision making in social media marketing'. Management Decision, . [DOI] [Full-Text]
    2012 Robin Johnson, David Edmundson-Bird, Brendan James Keegan (2012) 'Making digital literacy a success in taught marketing courses'. Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences, . https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.11120/elss.2012.04020002 [Full-Text]

    Book Chapter

    Year Publication
    2022 Keegan, B. J. and Schifanella, R. (2022) 'Social Media Data in Digital Placemaking' In: The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Marketing. London : SAGE Publications Ltd.
    2021 Brendan James Keegan (2021) 'Keeping Pace with the Digital Transformation of Place' In: A Research Agenda for Place Branding. London : Elgar. [DOI]
    2020 Brendan James Keegan; Lee Smorthit (2020) 'Ethics and New Media, A Double-Edged Sword: A Case Study of Digital Marketing Adoption in the Charity Sector' In: The SAGE Handbook of Marketing Ethics. UK : SAGE.

    Conference Publication

    Year Publication
    2022 Brendan James Keegan, Sophie Iredale, Peter Naudé (2022) 38th Annual IMP Conference AI in the Realm of AI [Link]
    2022 Brendan James Keegan; Sheila Malone (2022) Academy of Marketing Digital Blue Health: Examining the role of digital placemaking in community well-being amongst Blue Health (open water swimming) groups
    2019 Jeff McCarthy; Jennifer Rowley; Brendan James Keegan (2019) Football Collective 2019 Football club social media strategies in a tribal and polarised climate
    2018 Jennifer Rowley; Brendan James Keegan (2018) Academy of Marketing Looking back, Going forward: the role and nature of systematic literature reviews in digital marketing: a meta-analysis
    2018 Brendan James Keegan; Jayne Rodgers (2018) Academy of Marketing Slave To The Algorithm: Are Keywords Killing The Creativity Of SMEs?
    2017 Brendan James Keegan (2017) Association for Learning Technology Annual Conference Education 2.1? Continuing The Search for Digital Platforms Supporting Learning Technology
    2017 Brendan James Keegan (2017) International Marketing Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Symposium, University of Notre Dame The Ethical Implications of Social Media in Marketing
    2016 Dee Goldstraw; Brendan James Keegan (2016) 29th Bled eConference Instagrams #fitspiration Trend and Its Effect on Young Womens Self-Esteem
    2016 Brendan James Keegan; David Edmundson-Bird; Robin Johnson (2016) Use of Twitter Data for Research. National University of Ireland Galway The Use of Twitter in Taught Digital Marketing Modules
    2016 Dee Goldstraw; Brendan James Keegan (2016) EUPRERA Congress Social Media As A Media Relations Tool?
    2016 Cathy Parker, Simon Quin, Nikos Ntounis, Steve Millington, Dominic Medway, Cathy Urquhart, Ed Dargan, Brendan James Keegan (2016) AR and VR Conference: Perspectives on Business Realities of AR and VR, Dublin Institute of Technology Improving the customer experience in retail locations: The Game of Towns
    2016 Brendan James Keegan (2016) Academy of Marketing The evaluation of social media use: A longitudinal study
    2014 Brendan James Keegan (2014) Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science Co-creation in Social Media Marketing Strategy: Re-evaluating the Agency-Client Relationship, An Extended Abstract [DOI]
    2014 Brendan James Keegan; David Edmundson-Bird; Rachel McLean (2014) Academy of Marketing e-Marketing SIG Conference The Red Thread: An exploration of The Silo Effect in Digital Marketing
    2011 Keegan, Brendan James; (2011) Academy of Marketing, Southampton Exploring The Impact of Agency Client Relationships in Digital Marketing
    2011 Keegan, Brendan James; (2011) Doctoral Symposium Counting Comments: A critical appraisal of the evaluation of social media campaigns by UK digital marketing practitioners

    Conference Contribution

    Year Publication
    2022 Giovanna Calogiuri; Brendan James Keegan; Sigbjørn Litleskare; Siv Lena Birkheim; Tore Litlere Rydgren; Ole Einar Flaten; Fred Fröhlich (2022) 17th European Congress of Psychology Virtual nature to promote visitation of actual natural environments – An exploratory mixed-methods study Ljubljana, Slovenia, 05/07/2022-07/07/2022.
    2022 Magda Marchowska-Raza, Jennifer Rowley & Brendan James Keegan (2022) CBR 2022 (7th International Consumer Brand Relationship Conference) Consumer and brand value creation and co-creation in cosmetics social media brand communities Florida, .
    2022 Maria Fernandez de Osso Fuentes, Brendan James Keegan, Marc Jones, Tadhg MacIntyre (2022) The Nature of Cities Can digital placemaking improve mental health through nature? Online, .

    Published Report

    Year Publication
    2022 Brendan James Keegan (2022) GoGreenRoutes: Terms of reference for urban well-being labs and associated local task forces in each of the Cultivating Cities. Horizon 2020 European Commission, . [Link]

    Magazine Article

    Year Publication
    2021 Brendan James Keegan (2021) Are You Social Media Savvy?. Retail News: MA

    Magazine Article

    Year Publication
    2013 Brendan James Keegan (2013) Disgruntled customers waging a social media war. The Conversation: MGZN [Link]
    2013 Brendan James Keegan (2013) Twitter app stops you Breaking Bad news to good people. The Conversation: MGZN [Link]
    2013 Brendan James Keegan (2013) Twitter data puts music moguls back in the game. The Conversation: MGZN [Link]
    Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2023) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

    Professional Associations

    Description Function From / To
    Academy of Marketing (UK) Academic Member 01/06/2010 -
    Digital Analytics Association Full Member 01/01/2014 -
    Manchester Digital Development Association Academic Member 01/08/2008 -
    Higher Education Academy (UK) Fellow 01/01/2017 -
    Greater Manchester AI Foundry Advisory Board Member 04/01/2021 -
    Academy of Marketing Science Academic Member 01/06/2015 -

    Employment

    Employer Position From / To
    Manchester Metropolitan University Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing 04/09/2007 - 30/06/2021
    w00tmedia Digital Marketing Executive 04/06/2007 - 04/01/2008

    Education

    Start date Institution Qualification Subject
    Manchester Metropolitan University Master of Science in Digital Marketing Communications Digital Marketing Communications
    Manchester Metropolitan University Business School PhD Social Media Analytics and the Agency-Client Relationship
    NUI Galway BSc in Marine Science Marine Biology
    Griffith College Dublin PG Diploma in Journalism and Media Communications Journalism and Media Communications

    Languages

    Language Reading Writing Speaking
    French Basic Basic Basic
    Irish-Gaeilge Functional Basic Functional

    Other Activities

    Description
    Examiner of PhD Thesis for Oxford Brookes
    Examiner of PhD Thesis for Technical University Dublin
    Examiner of DBA Thesis for University of Liverpool
    External Examiner of M.Phil Thesis for University of Manchester Business School
    External Examiner for D.BA Viva at University of Liverpool
    External Examiner at Ulster University for their BA in Marketing Management
    External Advisor at University of Middlesex. External advisor for validation event (BA in Digital Marketing MSc in Digital Marketing)
    External Examiner for Technical University Dublin - MSc Digital Marketing and Analytics
    External Examiner for Salford University - Business Information Technology Department (Undergraduate and Postgraduate)

    Consultancy

    Client Description
    Pinecone Ltd. (Innovation Voucher) Innovation Voucher (Short-term Knowledge Transfer Partnership) to develop a digital marketing strategy in the promotion of an online system for managing school tours.

    Editorial / Academic Reviews

    Journal Role From / To
    Journal Of Digital And Social Media Marketing Member of the Editorial Board -
    Management Decision Reviewer -
    Applied Marketing Analytics Member of the Editorial Board -
    European Journal of Marketing Reviewer -
    Journal of Place Management and Development Member of the Editorial Board -

    Outreach Activities

    Description
    I serve as a judge for a number of digital industry awards in the UK. The most recent awards which I have served as a judge for are as follows: European Agency Awards 2022 UK Agency Awards 2021 Northern Digital Awards 2021 Global Business Tech Awards 2021 Global Agency Awards 2021 - European Content Awards 2021 European Agency Awards 2021 Canadian Search Awards 2021

    Teaching Interests

    I have been an educator of marketing at third level for over thirteen years. Due to my specialism in digital marketing analytics, it requires me to use strong communication skills to conveying complex technical subject matter and analytical techniques into digestible course material. Given the fast pace and dynamic nature of the digital marketing environment, I am highly motivated to continually develop and adapt module content to ensure it is contemporary and aligns with industry trends.

    My teaching philosophy is research informed, an approach that provides a clear link between theory and practice. In doing so, I strive to underpin my teaching with both marketing theory and with up to date industry skillsets, which contribute greatly to graduate employability. 

    Internal Collaborators

    Name Company Role Country
    María José Fernández De Ossó Fuentes PhD Student
    Tadhg Macintyre Co-investigator Ireland