Opus College of Business Home
Favorites ()
Apply

Clinton Lanier

Associate Professor

  • Education
  • B.A., Philosophy & Sociology, Loyola University 
    M.A., Philosophy, Texas A & M University 
    M.B.A., Marketing, Texas A & M University 
    Ph.D., Marketing, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
  • Research Interests
  • Experiential marketing and symbolic consumption

Clinton Lanier, PhD, teaches a variety of undergraduate courses such as Introduction to Marketing, Marketing Research and Marketing Strategy. He has also co-taught the Christian Faith and Management course with professors in the Department of Theology. He enjoys teaching and actively seeks to stimulate innovative thought and critical thinking in his students. He especially likes to stimulate a holistic view of marketing by teaching students how all of the parts fit together and inform each other.

Dr. Lanier is an active researcher with a deep interest in marketing theory and consumer behavior. His research focuses on various aspects of experiential marketing and symbolic consumption, including the nature of consumption experiences, the engagement of consumer imagination, and the motivation behind the consumption and production of popular culture. Dr. Lanier has researched various marketing products, practices, and contexts such as amusement park rides, renaissance festivals, musical instruments, and fan fiction. He has published numerous articles and book chapters in a variety of academic journals and edited volumes including Consumption Markets & Culture, Journal of Marketing Management, Marketing Theory, Brand Mascots, and Memorable Customer Experiences.

In addition to his current academic pursuits, Dr. Lanier has more than 15 years of business experience at both the retail and wholesale levels. He worked as a department manager in his family’s retail building materials business and a retail consultant for major department stores in the southeast United States.

Dr. Lanier is passionate about exploring the boundaries of marketing thought in both his research and teaching. With degrees in both business and philosophy, he enjoys examining the assumptions behind marketing practice in order to help his students think deeply about both how and why we consume as well as how businesses can more effectively satisfy consumers’ needs, wants and desires.



  • Lanier, Jr, C. D. (2023). An experiential primer on sex and violence. Journal of Customer Behaviour, (22)(1-2), pp. 31-42.  https://doi.org/10.1362/147539223X16838127399142
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., Rader, C. S. (2021). Synthesizers: An exploration into the iconicity of marketplace icons. Consumption Markets and Culture, 24(6), 596-610.   https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2020.1713113 
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., Rader, C. S. (2019). The irresistible and uncontrollable urge: Sex, experience, and consumption. Consumption Markets and Culture, 22(1), 17-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2018.1431222
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., & Rader, C. D. (2018). Tone quest: Exploring the (ir)resolvable paradoxes and infinite (im)possibilities of "epic tone" in (rock 'n' roll) musical consumption constellations. Consumption Markets and Culture, (21)(3), pp. 255-274.   https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2018.1447465
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., & Rader, C. S. (2017). Deconstructing symbolic consumption: Exploring the anti-synthetic space between meaning and meaninglessness. Consumption Markets and Culture, (20)(3), pp. 215-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2016.1217198
  • Richmond, W., Rader, C. S., & Lanier, Jr, C. D. (2017). The 'digital divide' for rural small businesses. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, (19)(2), pp. 94-104
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., & Rader, S. (2015). Consumption experience: An expanded view. Marketing Theory, (15)(4), pp. 487-508. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470593115581721
  • Rader, S., Subhan, Z., Lanier, Jr, C. D., Brooksbank, R., Yanhah, S., & Spears, K. (2014). CyberRx: Emerging social media marketing strategy for pharmaceuticals. International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, (8)(2), pp. 193-225
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., Rader, S., & Fowler III, A. R. (2013). Anthropomorphism, marketing relationships, and consumption worth in the toy story trilogy. Journal of Marketing Management, (29)(1-2), pp. 26-47
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., & Saini, A. (2008). Understanding consumer privacy: A review and new directions. Academy of Marketing Science Review, (12)(2), pp. 1-48
Books and Chapters
  • Lanier, Jr., Clinton D., C. Scott Rader, Aubrey R. Fowler, III (2023), Digital Fandom: Exploring the Role of the Hypermediated Fan as Trickster. in The Routledge Handbook of Digital Consumption, 2nd Edition, Russell W. Belk and Rosa Llamas (eds.), London: Routledge, 384-398.
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., Rader, S., & Fowler, III, A. R. (2015). Ambiguity and fandom: The (meaningless) consumption and production of popular culture. In Anastasia E. Thyroff, Jeff B. Murray, and Russell W. Belk (Ed.), Consumer Culture Theory, (17), pp. 275-293. London: Emerald Group Publishing
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., Fowler, III, A. R., & Rader, S. (2014). What are you looking at, ya hockey puck?!: Anthropomorphizing brand relationships in the Toy Story Trilogy. In Stephen Brown and Sharon Ponsonby-McCabe (Ed.), Brand Mascots and Other Marketing Animals: New Directions in Anthropomorphic Marketing. London: Routledge.  ISBN: 9781134053902
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., & Fowler III, A. R. (2013). Digital fandom: Mediation, remediation, and demediation of fan practices. In Russell W. Belk and Rosa Llamas (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Digital Consumer, (pp. 284-295). London: Routledge
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., & Hampton, R. (2009). Experiential marketing: Understanding the logic of memorable customer experiences. In Adam Lindgreen, Joelle Vanhamme & Michael B. Beverland (Ed.), Memorable Customer Experiences: A Research Anthology,  (pp. 9-23). Surrey, England: Aldershot: Gower
  • Lanier, Jr, C. D., Jensen Schau, H. (2007). Culture and co-creation: Exploring consumers' inspirations and aspirations for writing and posting on-line fan fiction. In Russell W. Belk and John F. Sherry (Ed.), Research in Consumer Behavior: Consumer Culture Theory (11), pp. 321-342. Elsevier: Oxford.
  • Best Paper Award: Public Policy and Ethical Issues Track, American Marketing Association, 2005
  • Excellence in Research by a Graduate Student, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Marketing Dept, 2007
  • Graduate Research Award, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, College of Business Administration, 2008
  • Academy of Marketing Science (AMS)
  • Allied Academies (AA)
  • American Marketing Association (AMA)
  • Association for Consumer Research (ACR)
  • Consumer Culture Theory Consortium (CCTC)
  • Society for Marketing Advances (SMA)
  • ACR - Association for Consumer Research Conference, Reviewer
  • Consumer Culture Theory Conference, Reviewer
  • International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, Reviewer
  • Journal of Consumer Behavior, Reviewer
  • Journal of Marketing Management, Reviewer
  • Marketing Theory, Reviewer
  • Society for Marketing Advances, Reviewer
  • Associate Professor, University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul / Minneapolis (2015 - present)
  • Assistant Professor, University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul / Minneapolis (2008 - 2015)
  • Research Assistant, University of Nebraska, Lincoln (2003 - 2007)
  • Retail Consultant, DAVACO,Inc, Dallas (2002 - 2003)
  • Graduate Assistant, Texas A & M University, College Station (2001 - 2002)
  • Territory Sales Manager, MSI/POZZI, Ridgeland (1998 - 2000)
  • Millwork Manager, Abita Lumber Company, Abita Springs (1995 - 1998)
  • Graduate Assistant, Texas A & M University, College Station (1991 - 1993)
  • Teaching Assistant, Loyola University, New Orleans (1989 - 1989)