Professor Alonso Coto thinks the future of marketing –and especially advertising- can be nothing else but digital: ‘once you realize e-marketing industry has been doubling its size each year for the last three ones, you may no longer conceive marketing without technology’. And he counts on a solid knowledge base to make this statement; Manuel Alonso’s path to consultancy and teaching in the fields of marketing and advertising is first paved by technology management. Earlier after completing his Bachelor in Industry Engineering with a focus on Electronics and IT Systems, he started leading IT projects and lecturing Operations Management and Business Administration classes in Oviedo University’s technical degrees, while working as Chief Engineer for a technology manufacturer company.

Once in Madrid, after completing a Master in Foreign Trade by EOI Business School, he gained a scholarship offered by the US Department of State to obtain the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer degree in New York, which allowed him to work for the American Government, where he ended by becoming the Systems Manager of the American Embassy in Spain. But it was when taking his Executive MBA at IE Business School that he discovered his utmost interest in Marketing. After graduating with Honours, he combined this new vocation with his old passion for technology in order to join the Business School occupying the position of Internet Marketing Head for the new e-learning unit that was being launched by then. It did not take him long to become the new e-Marketing Manager for the whole IE Business School, by the time he started his Doctoral Studies which would take him to obtain a Postgrade in Economics with a focus on Marketing.

He has continued his education by taking Top Management courses, thus obtaining the AMP (Advanced Management Program) degree by IE Business School and he is now the Marketing Manager for IE’s Executive Education division.

After lecturing for years about all kind of digital topics and taking advantage of the research for his Doctoral Thesis regarding e-marketing in Spain (which he has just finished), he has started giving Digital Marketing classes, both at IE Business School and UNED university, online and face-to-face, in English and in Spanish. He takes part in several Open and In-company Executive Education programs, conducts the e-Marketing elective courses in our Executive Masters and besides he is the Academic Co-Director of the new Master in Digital Advertising & Communication as well as Associate Director of UNED University’s Master in Business Administration and Marketing.
Pearson published his first book (From Second Life to 3D Marketing) in 2008 about the future of marketing in virtual 3D environments and he has also written more than 30 articles about technological marketing, apart from multiple cases and technical notes. He additionally works as a freelance consultant specializing in strategic and international marketing and collaborates specifically with numerous advertising agencies. Always eager for new challenges, these collaborations have allowed him to specialize in the field of the psychological fundamentals of advertising thus obtaining a new Postgrade in Psychology with a focus on Advertising. So, therefore Advertising becomes his second area of expertise from an academic standpoint, together with Digital Marketing, about which he has just released his second book (The Digital Marketing Plan: Blended Marketing) explaining the tools most commonly used by e-marketers.

Education
• PhD Candidate in Marketing (about to lecture his Doctoral Thesis about e-marketing in Spain), UNED University.
• Postgrade in Economic Science (with a focus on Marketing), UNED University
• Postgrade in Psychology (with a focus on Advertising), UNED University
• Advanced Management Program (AMP), IE Business School.
• Executive MBA, IE Business School
• Master in Foreign Trade, EOI Business School
• Bachelor in Industry Engineering by the University of Oviedo (ETSII Gijón)
• Graduate in e-Commerce, AECE (Spanish Association for e-Commerce Development)
• Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, US DoS Training Center, New York

Academic Background
• Academic Co-Director, Master in Digital Advertising & Communication, IE Business School.
• Associate Academic Director, Master in Business Administration & Marketing, UNED University.
• Technology Trainer, US Department of State.
• Visiting Professor, University of Oviedo.

Corporate Background
• Marketing Manager – Executive Education, IE Business School
• Member of the External Relations Executive Board, UNICON (University Consortium)
• e-Marketing Manager, IE Business School
• Portal & Operations Manager, IE.net
• IT/ IS Manager, American Embassy Madrid
• IT Administrator, American Embassy Madrid
• Chief Engineer, AGRAPISA, Oviedo