Author’s Acknowledgements

Completing this book has been a journey, and I couldn’t have done it alone—though there were moments I considered running away to a beach instead! I owe a heartfelt thanks to my husband, Dr. Peter Tsigaris, for his honest (and occasionally too brutally honest) feedback, which kept me grounded and always striving for better. A special thank you also goes to my colleague, Dr. Yaou Hu, for her thoughtful insights and feedback on the early draft—it was invaluable and deeply appreciated.

I would also like to express my appreciation to my ever-patient and surprisingly insightful AI research assistants: Perplexity.ai and ChatGPT, for brainstorming, research, organization, and fact-checking at every step of the way. My gratitude also goes to Napkin.ai and Canva for helping transform my ideas into visuals that are both beautiful and effective. It turns out, even in writing a book, a bit of AI magic goes a long way!

A heartfelt thank you to my incredible editing team. To publishing manager Dani Collins, for her invaluable advice and guidance throughout this process, to Jessica Obando Almache in production, and to the amazing copy editor Kaitlyn Meyers, whose super speedy and meticulous work kept everything on track. This project also led me to new learning adventures, including mastering Pressbooks and navigating the world of Creative Commons licenses—skills I never imagined I would acquire but am now oddly proud of!

Lastly, I look forward to the feedback I will receive from my students when I test drive this book in the Winter 2025 semester. Their insights and perspectives will undoubtedly help refine and improve this work for future learners!

Lian Dumouchel
December, 2024

Additional Acknowledgements (April 2025)

Since the initial acknowledgements written in December 2024, The Marketing Map has been actively tested and refined. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the students of TMGT 1150 at Thompson Rivers University, who used this open textbook in its pilot semester (Winter 2025). Your engagement, feedback, and thoughtful reflections have been invaluable in shaping this resource into a more effective and learner-centered tool.

I am especially grateful to Dr. Michael Conlin of Okanagan College for your eagle eyes and careful review, and to my TRU colleague, Dr. Kimberly Thomas-Francois, for your thoughtful recommendation to strengthen Chapter 1. Your insights and generosity have helped improve both the clarity and impact of this work.

Many thanks also to the colleagues across Canada who explored the early release of the book, shared comments, and offered support. Your encouragement affirmed the importance of collaboration in open educational publishing.

Finally, I would like to share the following unsolicited message from Maya Goecke, a student in TMGT 1150, whose kind words capture the intent behind this resource:

Hi Lian,

I didn’t do your survey yet, but I wanted to let you know that I think your book is fantastic. It met all my needs this semester. Usually, I avoid course books because they can be very time consuming, and the language is often too formal or complex. I liked that the language was accessible, especially for international students like me and easy to follow. It aligns well with how you speak in your classes, and this makes it easy to connect content from classes with self-study time at home.

The best thing about it is the exercise/test your knowledge section. For the exams to turn out well it takes a lot of memorizing, and the multiple-choice section was brilliant for that. I used it as well as a tool right before the exam to give me reassurance and confidence.

Thank you for making this more interactive than other course books!

– Maya Goecke, April 12, 2025

This formal launch in April 2025 marks an important milestone made possible by your contributions. Thank you for helping bring The Marketing Map to life.

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