Dr Gillian Brooks is an Associate Professor in Marketing at King’s Business School, where she also serves as Associate Dean of Executive Education and Director of the Executive MBA programme. She is a leading expert on influencer marketing, social media and digital marketing strategy, with a distinctive track record of shaping both scholarly debate and executive practice.

Trained as a sociologist, Gillian’s research explores consumer behaviour, digital culture, and strategic marketing. Her work has been published in leading academic and global media outlets, including the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the Journal of Advertising, The Economist, the BBC, Forbes, The Guardian, Newsweek, The Telegraph, The Times, and The Washington Post, positioning her as a trusted expert at the intersection of marketing, culture, and society.

In her senior leadership roles, Gillian leads the design and delivery of executive education programmes for global organisations and senior leaders, specialising in persuasion, influence, and impact. Her work translates cutting-edge research into high-impact executive learning, spanning leadership communication, personal branding, strategic influence, and social media strategy.

Gillian has taught extensively across undergraduate, postgraduate, and executive audiences. Prior to joining King’s, she held academic appointments at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Georgetown University. Her teaching excellence has been recognised through multiple awards and nominations, including the University of Oxford Social Sciences Teaching Excellence Award, finalist status for the Oxford University Student Union’s 'Most Acclaimed Lecturer' Award, and King’s College London’s Teaching Award for Inclusive Education.

Gillian is the recipient of the American Marketing Association Marketing Research SIG Don Lehmann Award and a Marketing Science Institute research grant. She has secured multiple competitive research grants totalling over £1.1 million, including major funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), reflecting the scale, quality, and societal significance of her work.

She was part of a high-profile interdisciplinary research collaboration with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, investigating youth mental health through social media influencer marketing. In addition, Gillian is a recipient of a One King’s Impact Grant, awarded in partnership with the Department of Nutrition at King’s College London, examining how “root-to-tip” dining, social media, and co-production with students can be leveraged to increase fibre intake and promote sustainable, health-enhancing food practices. Collectively, this body of funded research demonstrates her ability to lead and contribute to large-scale, cross-disciplinary projects with measurable public and policy impact.

An in-demand speaker, Gillian has delivered invited academic and industry talks across Canada, Europe, India, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Marketing at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge. She earned an MA in Communication and Technology (summa cum laude) from Georgetown University and a BA (Honours) in Communications from McMaster University.

Before entering academia, Gillian worked as a publicist at a global media relations firm in Toronto, an experience that continues to inform her applied, impact-driven approach to marketing, influence, and leadership.

Dr Brooks is currently accepting new PhD students.

Selected Publications

Hughes, C., Swaminathan, V., & Brooks, G. (2019). Driving brand engagement through online social influencers: An empirical investigation of sponsored blogging campaigns. Journal of Marketing, 83(5), 78-96. 

Rust, R. T., Rand, W., Huang, M. H., Stephen, A. T., Brooks, G., & Chabuk, T. (2021). Real-time brand reputation tracking using social media. Journal of Marketing, 85(4), 21-43.

Brooks, G., Drenten, J., & Piskorski, M. J. (2021). Influencer celebrification: How social media influencers acquire celebrity capital. Journal of advertising, 50(5), 528-547.