Publications

Educators

May 1986 (Revised January 1989)
Case

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (A), The Creative Problem

Presents the first of two cases describing the struggle to solve creative problems on the Dry Idea antiperspirant brand introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. and its advertising agency (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne). Provides company and industry background plus... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Advertising; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Educators

October 2015
Teaching Plan

The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation

By: Thales Teixeira

This Teaching Plan is to be used with the Video Case "The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation" (HBS No. 815-714) View Details

June 2015
Case

The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

In 2013, the Coca-Cola Company was awarded Creative Marketer of the Year by the Cannes Lions Festival (known as the "Oscar of Advertising") for the first time ever in history and nearly 50 years after the Festival's inception. Just one year before that, Jonathan... View Details

Keywords: Attention Economics; Creating Connections; Digital Marketing; Marketing Innovations; Social Networks; Advertising Content; Networked Brand; Beverage Industry; Coca-Cola; Digital Innovation; Digital Transition; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Innovation Strategy; Social and Collaborative Networks; Advertising; Creativity; Consumer Products Industry

Educators

January 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

De Passe Entertainment and Creative Partners

By: Linda A. Hill

After 24 years at Motown Industries, Hollywood executive Suzanne de Passe has decided to go out on her own to start two new businesses. The case describes de Passe's career from her beginning as Berry Gordy's assistant at Motown Records to her presidency of Gordy/de... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Partners and Partnerships; Business or Company Management; Entertainment; Personal Development and Career; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Music Industry; California

26 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Can AI Match Human Ingenuity in Creative Problem-Solving?

When ChatGPT and other large language models began entering the mainstream two years ago, it quickly became apparent the technology could excel at certain business functions, yet it was less clear how well artificial intelligence could handle more View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information Technology; Information; Technology

22 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting to Eureka!: How Companies Can Promote Creativity

We tend to think of the moment of insight and creativity in sudden and shocking terms: the bathtub overflowing (Archimedes), the apple beaning off the head (Newton), the bolt of lightning shivering the key at the end of a kite (Franklin).... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Jan 2012
News

Apple and Google as Creative Archetypes

Teaching Interest

Leading Product Innovation

By: Stefan H. Thomke

For several years, Apple has ranked as the most innovative business in the world. How does this winning company continue to achieve success in its quest to develop—in the words of Steve Jobs—insanely great products? This program takes a deep dive into the latest... View Details

June 2024
Article

The Diversity Heuristic: How Team Demographic Composition Influences Judgments of Team Creativity

By: Devon Proudfoot, Zachariah Berry, Edward H. Chang and Min B. Kay

Despite mixed evidence for the relationship between demographic diversity and creativity, we propose that observers hold a lay belief that demographic diversity increases creativity and apply this lay belief in judgments about teams and their creative work. Across... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Race; Gender; Groups and Teams; Perception; Creativity

2019
Chapter

The Art of (Creative) Thought: Graham Wallas on the Creative Process

By: Teresa M. Amabile

BOOK ABSTRACT: The Creativity Reader is a necessary companion for anyone interested in the historical roots of contemporary ideas about creativity, innovation, and imagination. It brings together a prestigious group of international experts who were tasked with... View Details

Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Creativity

23 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Minding the Muse: The Impact of Downsizing on Corporate Creativity

Not long ago, the senior management of a leading high-tech company was surprised to learn that research showed their R&D groups' creative performance to be in a prolonged slump following a corporate downsizing. The company's... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

December 2022
Article

Competition, Contracts, and Creativity: Evidence from Novel Writing in a Platform Market

By: Yanhui Wu and Feng Zhu

A growing number of people today are participating in the gig economy, working as independent contractors on short-term projects. We study the effects of competition on gig workers' effort and creativity on a Chinese novel-writing platform. Authors produce and sell... View Details

Keywords: Gig Workers; Platform-based Markets; Novel Writing; Creative Production; Platform Bias; Employment; Digital Platforms; Creativity; Books; Competition; Contracts