Publications

October 2019 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Gupta Media: Performance Marketing in the Digital Age

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Courtney Han

Gupta Media is a Digital Marketing firm started in 2005 that places advertisements and marketing promotions for its clients in digital media, mainly social media such as Facebook and Google. Over the years it had built its expertise in promoting music labels, artists... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Digital Marketing; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Social Media; Advertising Industry

07 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

When Celebrity ‘Crypto-Influencers’ Rake in Cash, Investors Lose Big

allegations Because social media posts can affect short-term demand for specific coins or tokens, securing promotion by influencers is big business that has ensnared some big names. In February 2021, Lindsay Lohan tweeted to her more than... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

08 Feb 2022
Cold Call Podcast

What’s Next for Nigerian Production Studio EbonyLife Media?

Keywords: Re: Andy Wu; Media & Broadcasting

June 2022
Teaching Note

Katie Couric Media: Landing the First Client

By: N. Louis Shipley, William R. Kerr and Paige Boehmcke

Developed for teaching Entrepreneurial Sales, the Katie Couric Media case supports class discussion on client selection, sales strategy, and scaling a startup media firm. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Marketing; Mergers And Acquisitions; Start-up; Entrepreneurship; Sales; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Media and Broadcasting Industry

19 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

charge of public discussions about the brands they use. And while marketers have tried to take part, they've had to face the fact that social media platforms are primarily meant for conversations among consumers, not for one-way brand... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

22 May 2024
HBS Case

Banned or Not, TikTok Is a Force Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore

Businesses that dismiss TikTok as merely a platform for teenagers looking to create and consume cat and dance videos do so at their own peril. That’s the message of a Harvard Business School case study tracing the video-sharing app’s explosive rise to the world's... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

18 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Commuter Hell? You Can Still Be Productive

media on the train, may actually interfere with people’s ability to transition into work mode smoothly—which makes them feel gloomier about their jobs and more likely to quit. “I was surprised with this finding myself,” Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Background Note

Where to Get Your News and Information: The Digital Disruption

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

What is the response by traditional news and information deliverers (newspapers and television networks) to declining audiences as media consumption moves to the digital medium? Provides a view of the news industry in mid-2006 and discusses the impact of an... View Details

Keywords: News; Media; Emerging Markets; Internet and the Web; Disruption; Perspective; Advertising; Journalism and News Industry

Find at Harvard

January 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.: The "Talk to Chuck" Advertising Campaign

By: John A. Quelch

Schwab management is evaluating the success of the recently launched "Talk to Chuck" advertising campaign. This campaign aims to differentiate Schwab in the cluttered financial services marketplace. Test market results facilitate discussion of advertising objectives,... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Communication Strategy; Brands and Branding; Media; Performance Evaluation; Financial Services Industry

01 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Benefits of Oversharing

On Facebook and a myriad of other social media platforms, you can find out who your friends are dating, see pictures of their last vacation, and even know what they had for lunch yesterday. It is now becoming more unusual when someone... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Article

What Makes a Critic Tick? Connected Authors and the Determinants of Book Reviews

By: Loretti I. Dobrescu, Michael Luca and Alberto Motta

This paper investigates the determinants of expert reviews in the book industry. Reviews are determined not only by the quality of the product, but also by the incentives of the media outlet providing the review. For example, a media outlet may have the incentive to... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Media; Relationships; Marketing Reference Programs; Books; Publishing Industry

Find at Harvard

Read Now

09 Nov 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services: An Economic Analysis

Keywords: by Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis & Alvin J. Silk; Advertising

June 2011
Background Note

It's a Social World

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

Social media had fashioned the lives of individuals and communities by 2010, providing an opportunity and a challenge for companies of all sizes. This note provides background on various social media (e.g. social networks, forums, games and communication services) and... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Media; Service Operations; Sales; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Web

December 2018 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Brand Activism: Nike and Colin Kaepernick

By: Jill Avery and Koen Pauwels

Nike's selection of politically polarizing Colin Kaepernick as the spokesperson for the 30th anniversary of its iconic "Just Do It" campaign catapulted the brand into the media spotlight and made it a political flashpoint for consumers across America. Would the choice... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Entertainment; Politics; Activism; Brand Equity; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Sports; Advertising; Social Media; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America

January 2015
Case

The Blonde Salad

By: Anat Keinan, Kristina Maslauskaite, Sandrine Crener and Vincent Dessain

In 2014, Chiara Ferragni, a globe-trotting founder of the world's most popular fashion blog The Blonde Salad, and Riccardo Pozzoli, her co-founder and business partner, had to decide how to best monetize her blog as well as her shoe line called the "Chiara Ferragni... View Details

September 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Facebook Fake News in the Post-Truth World

By: John R. Wells, Carole A. Winkler and Benjamin Weinstock

In August 2019, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The first major storm of protest followed the surprise election of Donald Trump as President of the United States on November 8, 2016; many put the blame at the door of fake... View Details

September 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Pepsi-Lipton Brisk

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Alison Caverly

This case showcases key decisions in promoting the re-launch of Brisk, a ready-to-drink iced tea by Pepsi-Lipton. The decisions are: creative, media and metrics selection. It also deals with budget allocation to traditional (Super Bowl, television) and new (viral ads... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Advertising Campaigns; Decision Making; Media; Product Launch; Resource Allocation; Performance Effectiveness; Budgets and Budgeting; Food and Beverage Industry

2019
Working Paper

The Comprehensive Effects of a Digital Paywall Sales Strategy

By: Doug J. Chung, Ho Kim and Reo Song

This paper explores the multiple and comprehensive effects of a digital paywall sales strategy, an increasingly common means of go-to-market for media firms. Specifically, we examine the effects of a digital paywall on a media firm’s two sources of income—subscription... View Details

Keywords: Digital Paywall; Demand Substitution; Spillover Effect; Synthetic Control; Sales; Strategy; Media; Newspapers; Publishing Industry