Biography

Marina Cooley joined Goizueta Business School in 2021. A storyteller at heart, Cooley is passionate bringing her love of modern marketing to the next generation of students. She developed a course called, Content Marketing, with a curriculum unlike that of any other school. In Content Marketing, students learn science of sticky ideas and put their learnings to the test.

Most recently, the class started a TikTok account and amassed 10M views and 1.8M likes in 30 days! To truly understand the social media platforms, you’ll often find Cooley dabbling as a content creator on LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram.

Cooley also co-developed the Advanced Marketing Strategy course which exposes student to real life scenarios like Stages & Gates, Media Flighting and Brief writing.

In addition to her love for modern marketing, Cooley is a huge supporter of equipping students with a resilience and reflection tool kit. She has brought her love for deep work & single tasking to modules including: "Personal Development" and "Life Design for the Modern MBA“.
Prior to joining Emory, Cooley spent 15+ years in strategic marketing roles such as brand management at Coca-Cola, CMO at Lavva, and management consulting at IBM. While at Coca-Cola, she was part of the meteoric growth of two unicorn brands, Gold Peak and Honest Tea.

Outside of work, Cooley adores spending time with her family, playing mediocre tennis and having a slow first coffee.

Education

  • MBA in Marketing
    Emory University's Goizueta Business School
  • BS in Marketing & Information Systems
    New York University's Stern School of Business

Inside McDonald's Subculture Marketing

Ad Age
March 19, 2024
“McDonald’s has an interesting challenge,” said Marina Cooley, associate professor of marketing at Emory’s Goizueta Business School. “At one point, nine out of 10 Americans had eaten at McDonald’s at least once a year. It’s not necessarily an issue of finding new customers, it's having them come back again and again.” But Emory’s Cooley noted that being “cool” is also a way to make McDonald’s more approachable and combat the negative connotations consumers can have of a giant, global corporation.

What Happens When TikTok is your Marketing Department

New York Times
February 11, 2024
“The goal should be loyalty, not virality,” said Marina Cooley, a professor in the practice of marketing at Emory University. “Virality is dangerous because it’s fleeting, there’s no stickiness to it. People are excited by the first interaction and then look for the next viral thing.”

Going Viral on TikTok Can Get Students an A

New York Times
April 4, 2023
Ms. Cooley said her marketing course had become known as “the TikTok class” on campus. This week, students will register for the upcoming semester. The school is doubling the class size.

Go Viral, Get An ‘A’: Content Marketing Course Puts Gen Z’s TikTok Skills To The Test

Poets & Quants
January 31, 2023
Cooley says the TikTok experiment was a way to present the age-old ideas of storytelling, narrative arcs, and sticky ideas – concepts used for generations to capture attention and spread ideas – and apply them to a modern platform. “TikTok will come and TikTok will go,” Cooley says. “But the things that appeal to us as humans don’t fundamentally change. The platform is just the delivery mechanism.”

In a Noisy World, How Do Cult Brands Succeed with Viral Videos?

Emory Business
January 6, 2023
In her Content Marketing course, Cooley delivers powerful lessons on social media platforms (now and future), the science behind sticky ideas, storytelling techniques, and how to manage cult brands. More than that, she teaches students how to translate these skills to create content that goes viral.

‘Z Suite’ Gives Industry Leaders Insight Into The Priorities & Plans Of Gen Z

Poets & Quants
October 24, 2022
Marina Cooley, Goizueta marketing professor, says that the importance of action aligning with values is because Gen Z cares — deeply — about the impact brands have on people. This generation expects influencers to be inclusive and take a stand on social issues. “They can’t just hit the mute button,” she says. “Influencers have to stand up for the issues we’re facing today.”