Publications

June 2010
Article

The Pathologies of Online Display Advertising Marketplaces

By: Benjamin Edelman

Display advertising marketplaces place "banner" ads on all manner of popular sites. While these services are widely used, they suffer significant challenges, including weak user response and low accountability for both advertisers and web site publishers. I survey a... View Details

Keywords: Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Cost; Corporate Accountability; Information Publishing; Consumer Behavior; Relationships; Web Sites

Find at Harvard

Read Now

October 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Kroll Bond Rating Agency

The established credit raters were criticized for inflating the mortgage credit bubble that imploded in 2008. A new rating agency, KBRA, is considering how to capitalize on the opportunity this presents and how to enter the industry. A small group of managers have to... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Financial Management; Financial Services Industry

24 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Reducing Risk with Online Advertising

fraud. But the people who decide how to proceed often lack legal experience. They are marketers and advertisers, not legal professionals. There are also serious agency problems within many companies. Often View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Web Services; Web Services

May 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Quigley-Simpson & Heppelwhite: The Ad Agency Model in the Age of AI

By: David C. Edelman and James Barnett

In October 2022, Quigley-Simpson & Heppelwhite CEO Carl Fremont considers how the advertising agency will integrate artificial intelligence tools into the business. View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Strategy; Advertising Industry; United States

September 2014
Case

Havas: Change Faster

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Michael L. Tushman

As of 2013, Havas was the 6th largest global advertising, digital, and communications group in the world. Headquartered in Paris, France, the group was highly decentralized, with semi-independent agencies in more than 100 countries offering a variety of services. The... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Agency; Open Innovation; Commercials; Digital Media; Digital Transition; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Advertising Campaigns; Acquisition; Change Management; Disruption; Transformation; Advertising Industry; Advertising Industry

02 Apr 2012
News

R.I., US agencies split $500m in Google revenues

May 1986 (Revised February 1989)
Case

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (B), The Bake-Off

Presents the second of two cases describing the struggle to find "the right advertising" for the Dry Idea antiperspirant brand introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. and its advertising agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne (BBDO). The case begins with Gillette's... View Details

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

Ever felt the "taxes" on air travel are unduly high? In other travel contexts (most notably, rental cars), genuine government-imposed taxes often approach or even exceed the amount payable to service providers. But when airlines quote fares, they sometimes include... View Details

15 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Solving the Search vs. Display Advertising Quandary

The dirty little secret of advertising agencies is that much of their work is pure guesswork. Companies spread out their advertising budgets across channels—a little bit of TV,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

01 Apr 2002
News

Charting the Luminary Leadership in Professional Service Firms

Charting the Luminary Leadership in Professional Service Firms In their new book Aligning the Stars: How to Succeed When Professionals Drive Results (Harvard Business School Press), HBS professor Jay W. Lorsch and former Bain & Company... View Details

Keywords: professional service firms; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

03 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

The Tricky Business of Managing Web Advertising Affiliates

better to manage these programs in-house or to use outside experts. . Power Of The Network Affiliate networks slash the cost of buying ads for sellers through the use of advertising marketplaces. In essence, sellers are able to place... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Advertising; Advertising

Research Summary

The New Social Contract: Contractors, Firms, and Agencies

The emergence of a 'new social contract' linking employees and organizations - perhaps most notable for the absence of a promise of lifelong job security - has been widely remarked. A related trend, less noted but potentially important, has been the emergence of a... View Details

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

Fast Answer

Advertising expenditures & budgets

sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" /> Provides data on over 300 industries' and top 1000 companies' ad budgets in tables. Redbooks. View Details

U.S. Digital Service

Mikey Dickerson and Haley Van Dyck found themselves far from home and far from certain about where to take the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) next. In the summer of 2015, they had landed in London to meet with Mike Bracken, director of the United Kingdom’s... View Details

16 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting the Message: How the Internet is Changing Advertising

expert who has studied advertising for forty years, believes the future of Internet advertising depends on improvements in technology. "We won't really understand the full potential of Internet View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

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

September 2003 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Eyeblaster: Enabling the Next Generation of Online Advertising

By: Elie Ofek

Eyeblaster management has to decide on the best course of action to sustain its momentum from enabling online rich media advertising. Pressure from competitors is forcing the company to re-evaluate its previous marketing strategy that focused primarily on getting... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Performance Evaluation; Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy

December 2009
Article

Who Owns Metrics?: Building a Bill of Rights for Online Advertisers

By: Benjamin Edelman

I offer five rights to protect advertisers from increasingly powerful ad networks-avoiding fraudulent charges for services not rendered, guaranteeing data portability so advertisers get the best possible value, and assuring price transparency so advertisers know what... View Details

Keywords: Online Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Price; Measurement and Metrics; Technology Networks; Value; Advertising Industry