Charles L. Martin spent his youth in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia where he developed a love of tenpin bowling and began his business career in the bowling business before venturing to college as a collegiate bowler at Vincennes University (community college in Vincennes, Indiana) and then to West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M, Canyon) where he earned a BBA in Marketing (1981) and an MBA (1982). He went on to earn a Ph.D. in Marketing at Texas A&M University (College Station).

In 1985, Dr. Martin joined the faculty at Wichita State University (WSU) in south central Kansas, near the geographic center of the United States.  At WSU, he’s taught a variety of both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses.  Today, Dr. Martin is the PIR Full Professor of Marketing in WSU’s W. Frank Barton School of Business.

Dr. Martin also has served as the Marketing Editor of the world’s leading trade and consumer publication for tenpin bowling, Bowlers Journal International (1990-2000), and as the Editor of an academic journal that focuses on the marketing-related challenges faced in the service sector, The Journal of Services Marketing (1990-2014).   Also, as a consultant, he’s worked with numerous organizations such as the National Bowling Council, Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America, American Bowling Congress, and several bowling-related companies.

Outside of the U.S., Dr. Martin has gained valuable international experience as a visiting scholar and/or visiting editor at several universities throughout the world, including Comenius University (Bratislava, Slovakia), Sogang University (Seoul, Korea), University of Westminster (U.K.), University of Liverpool (U.K.), Manchester Business School (U.K.), Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australia), and Bond and Griffith Universities (Gold Coast, Australia), in addition to his participation as a keynote speaker at international conferences in recent years, e.g., Lahore (Pakistan), Macau (China), Hong Kong (China), Kyrenia (Cyprus), Manchester (U.K.), and Calgary (Canada).

In addition to teaching, consulting, editing journals and visiting faraway lands, Dr. Martin is an active researcher and business writer as well. He’s had more than 300 sole- or co-authored manuscripts published including dozens of professional journal articles and several books.   His publications address a wide variety of topics pertaining to marketing management, services, consumer behavior, retailing and sports marketing, among others.

Most recently, Professor Martin has pioneered research in the role that calendars play in shaping marketing practices and influencing buyer behavior – what he has dubbed as “calendar-led marketing” and “calendar-led buyer behavior.” This research has contributed greatly to the development of the Marketing FAME book series and to several published and forthcoming journal articles regarding the interplay of calendars, marketing, and buyer behavior.  If you’d like to learn more about these topics – including opportunities for future research – see the discussion and the links to reader-friendly articles and videos on the “Calendar-Led Marketing…” page.

“The Marketing FAME book series is my answer to the question of what can be done with hundreds of books, emails and interviews, 17,000 Google searches, and 40,000 sticky notes.  That’s a lot of marbles!” — Charles L. Martin

Dr. Martin expects to continue the FAME series with new editions published periodically.  Each edition’s content will differ from that of previous editions, so you’ll never be bored reading FAME books.  In the spirit of improving future editions, please relay your questions and comments to Dr. Martin through this website (see “Contact” page), or you can communicate with him directly at WSU:  Charles.Martin@wichita.edu Use the opportunity to vote for your most or least favorite stories or to suggest new stories for future editions.