Publications

February 2002 (Revised October 2005)
Case

BMWFilms

By: Youngme E. Moon and Kerry Herman

Jim McDowell, VP of marketing at BMW North America, is debating how to follow up the success of his latest marketing campaign, "BMWFilms." This campaign features five short films for the Internet, directed by some of the hottest young directors in Hollywood. By all... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Film Entertainment; Innovation and Invention; Auto Industry; North and Central America

October 2020
Case

John Branca: Negotiating the Beatles' Northern Songs Catalog (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Alex Green

In 1985, pop music superstar Michael Jackson instructed his attorney, John Branca, to make a bid for the Northern Songs music catalog, which contained the songs of the Beatles. In a challenging negotiation with Australian media baron Robert Holmes à Court, Branca... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Entertainment; Music Entertainment; Strategy; Music Industry; Music Industry; United States; United Kingdom

04 Oct 2022
What Do You Think?

Have Managers Underestimated the Need for Face-to-Face Contact?

(iStockphoto/SolStock) The COVID-19 pandemic changed the ways we worked, the ways we shopped, and the ways we interacted with others. It fostered some businesses—online selling, meeting services, and home... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 Sep 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Branding Yoga

larger audience," Deshpandé says. Creating Value "Branding Yoga" is one of five branding cases Deshpandé uses in his classes to explore how companies create brands that are differentiated and worthy of a price premium. In... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

13 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 13

analyses of data covering 69 two-digit SIC industries at two points in time, 1991 and 1999. In both years, approximately half of advertisers of all sizes operated an in-house agency. Across industries, we... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Feb 2019
Book

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

from their point of view: where they live, what they eat, what they wear, how they move, how they heal themselves, how they educate themselves, and how they entertain themselves. When consumers change their... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Beauty & Cosmetics; Insurance; Service; Retail

March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Out of Hand Theater: Monetizing Creativity

By: Christina Wallace, Henry McGee, Rohit Deshpandé and Max Hancock

Ariel Fristoe co-founded the Out of Hand Theater ensemble (OOH) in Atlanta in 2001. OOH began as a traditional theater nonprofit, which Ariel and her colleagues ran on a shoestring budget. But over the years, the group transformed: First, around 2010, OOH pivoted to... View Details

Keywords: Business Transformation; Theatre-company; Arts Marketing; Transformation; Theater Entertainment; Social Marketing; Business Model; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Atlanta

March 2002 (Revised July 2002)
Case

TiVo in 2002: Consumer Behavior

Brodie Keast is anxious to understand the sharp contrast between the inertia of prospects and the deep emotional response shown by converted users of TiVo. After an overview of the company's situation and problems, the case focuses on different kinds of data (sales... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Television Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

October 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Swizz Beatz

By: Boris Groysberg, Annelena Lobb and Sarah Mehta

This case explores the life and career of rapper and music producer Swizz Beatz. Set in 2019, it covers the evolution of Swizz’s musical career and his new venture into the commercial art market. View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

13 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

7 Lessons for Navigating the Storm

take the global economic crisis, or any other crisis, and turn it into an opportunity to transform your markets and your company? Here are 7 steps to keep your organization focused on winning the depth of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

04 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 4

the right way to proceed? Designed to help students understand the decisions that helped propel Lady Gaga into one of the entertainment world's biggest names. Written from the perspective of her manager, the case provides rich insights... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Activision: The 'Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer' Project

By: Alan D. MacCormack, Enrico D"Angelo and Kerry Herman

Mike Ward, the producer in charge of developing the Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer game for Activision, must decide whether to launch the game in time for the 2002 Christmas season. Complicating his decision are the lukewarm response from consumers to TV test spots of the... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Product Development; Customer Satisfaction; Projects; Business or Company Management; Product Launch; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Industry Structures; Innovation Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

August 1998 (Revised October 1998)
Case

Disney's "The Lion King" (B): The Synergy Group

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

In the late 1980s, Disney CEO Michael Eisner introduced a synergy group to the company's organizational structure. The synergy group was responsible for keeping all of Disney's divisions informed and updated on company projects and marketing strategies. View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Creativity; Value; Organizational Structure; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

great-grandfather, the business editor and analyst Henry Varnum Poor, to 2 recent volumes, published while he was in his 80s: Inventing the Electronic Century: The Epic Story of the Consumer Electronics and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2008 (Revised September 2008)
Case

FREEJ

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Firas Alkhatib

Mohammed Harib placed his phone on the desk in front of him. As he sat back in his chair and looked out the window, he began to take stock of how his life had taken such a dramatic path over the last few years. Life was good for the founder and CEO of Lammtara... View Details

Keywords: Animation Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Opportunities; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Arabian Peninsula; United Arab Emirates

May 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Performance Indicator

Performance Indicator is a start-up that holds patents on the use of color-change technology to indicate when golf balls have been damaged by exposure to water. Because golfers put two to five used golf balls into play for every one new ball they buy, the used golf... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Patents; Entrepreneurship; Sports; Sports Industry; Sports Industry

February 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Michael Brown: Negotiating Slots at Foxwoods (B)

By: James K. Sebenius

The approach taken by Michael Brown and Governor Lowell Weicker and the means by which the agreement's sustainability was enhanced in the face of attacks by other gaming operators are detailed. View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Agreements and Arrangements; Government and Politics; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Connecticut

May 2017
Case

Street League Skateboarding

By: Robert F. Higgins and Christine Snively

In 2013, Street League Skateboarding, a professional skateboarding league founded in 2010, just concluded its annual Street League World Tour. The growing action-sports property had purchased time on ESPN2 to air its events, and though ESPN was the most-watched sports... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Television Entertainment; Sports; Product Launch; Sports Industry; Sports Industry; United States