Viktor Smith

Om

View research profile and publications

E-mail

vs.msc@cbs.dk

Telefon

Office: +4538153267

Departments

Institut for Ledelse, Samfund og Kommunikation

Room: DH.V.2.06

View research profile and publications

Emner

Co-creation Forbrugeradfærd Kommunikation Sprog Grøn omstilling Europa

Primary research areas

Multimodal Persuasive Communication

Naming & Framing

Product innovation for green transition, responsible product-to-consumer communication, fair product labelling

Sustainable tourism development in peripheral areas

Low- versus high-budget route place branding

Cognitive Language Theory, Psycholinguistics, Decision-Making Theory

The Law-Language Interface

My focus is the power of words and multimodal communication - and how to handle it responsibly to the benefit of business and society

I investigate the communicative and psychological mechanisms through which human language combined with other communicative tools (pictures, colours, sound, shapes, flavours) not only reflect but shape the world around us and the way we see and deal with it.

Over the years, I have pursued this research interests in cross-disciplinary theoretical work and in goal-driven endeavours ranging from the clash and convergence of legal cultures to fair marketing and presentation of innovative products (particularly food and drink), and sustainable tourism development.

Unlike more media-strategy and management-oriented approaches to communication, my focus covers communicative interaction observed in real time, for example, during physical/online shopping or when visiting a tourist sight. To this end, I draw on both qualitative and quantitative methods, including experimental work supported by psychophysiological metrics, particularly eye-tracking, using MSC’s cognitive experimental facility Cog Lab.Theoretically, I focus on further developing an integrated four-layered model for better understanding and handling goal-driven naming and framing processes.

Recent research projects

SECreTour: Sustainable, engaging and creative tourism (Horizon Europe)

The project aims at empowering heritage communities in peripheral and rural areas across Europe through tourism development based on innovative business models and participatory identity-building.

My contributions include the development of new tools for supporting the naming and multimodal framing of heritage communities and attractions through immediate cues in surrounding physical and digital semiotic landscapes, taking a low-budget route of place-brand development.

INCULTUM. Visiting the Margins: Innovative Cultural Tourism in European Peripheries

The Horizon 2020 project INCULTUM (2021-2024) war a three-year EU-funded innovation action to explore and unlock the potential of underrated destinations in European peripheries. Key aspects of this work are currently carried forward in the Horizon Europe project SECreTour (2024–2027), with further pilot cases added and an enhanced focus on on-site practical implementation.

Projects in Pipeline

A major research initiative is presently in preparation with the working title “REALLY NEW – User-Involving Naming and Framing of Tomorrow's Plant-Based Foods”. The aim is to support the green transition in Danish society by strengthening the research basis for naming and framing plant-based alternatives to traditionally meat-based food products in a way that goes beyond presenting them as sheer “meat substitutes”, e.g. Chili-sin-Carne and Beyond Burger. We see that as a precondition for achieving a long-lasting and sustainable impact on the habitual consumption patterns of the rising generations.

Previous Projects

I have been the leader of and/or a participant in several larger and smaller collaborative projects. That includes the strategic research alliance ‘Spin or Fair Speak – When Foods Talk’ funded by the Danish Council for Strategic Research (now merged with Innovation Fund Denmark) and three follow-up projects (2007-2016). The aim was to create hands-on tools for assessing the fairness and potential misleadingness of concrete food labelling solutions on empirical grounds. The work was led by the FairSpeak Group at CBS and carried out in collaboration with CBS, DTU, KU, and Lund University as well as a group of business and NGO partners and the Danish food authorities (the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration). Read more about the FairSpeak Group's continued work and recently published new results here.