Nicolas Pontes

Associate Professor Nicolas Pontes is an award-winning academic in the School of Business within the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Queensland. Bringing prior industry experience as a marketing research coordinator, marketing manager, and marketing consultant, he integrates practical insights into his academic roles. Pontes has served as Program Coordinator for Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications majors at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In 2019, he founded Newish Communications, Australia's first student-run communications agency, for which he acts as Academic Advisor. This initiative has earned recognition, including joint winner in the Employability category at the 2025 Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards and Awards for Programs that Enhance Learning at the University of Queensland in 2024.

Pontes' research centers on consumer decision-making and information processing, with a focus on online consumer behaviour, social media engagement, price and promotion advertising, and branding. Specific interests encompass framing of product benefits and advertising claims for skeptical consumers, colour display effects, influencer engagement and consumer-influencer relationships, loyalty programs, preferential treatment, consumer emotions, attachment, and AI and service robots in service encounters. He has published in prestigious journals including European Journal of Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Appetite, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, and Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. Key publications include 'Chatbots in frontline services and customer experience: An anthropomorphism perspective' (Nguyen et al., 2023, Psychology & Marketing, cited 122 times), 'Influencer marketing effectiveness: giving competence, receiving credibility' (Leite, Pontes & Schivinski, 2024, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing), 'The role of conventional meat unnaturalness in cultured meat acceptance: a test of holistic mindset' (Arango, Septianto & Pontes, 2024, Appetite), 'Framing brand concept of vertical line extensions: the moderating role of believability' (Pontes, Leite & Goyeneche, 2024, Journal of Consumer Behaviour), and 'Unsustainable burgers? Deploying carbon footprint labels to enhance sustainability perceptions of animal-based food products' (Ang, Pontes & France, 2024, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services). His scholarship has amassed over 1,000 citations. Current projects include Consumer Protection in Digital Competition Regimes (2025-2026, funded by Australian Communications Consumer Action Network Limited), building on prior work like Understanding consumer perceptions of superfood products (2021).

Professional Email: n.pontes@uq.edu.au