Publications

June 2017
Case

Harmonie Water: Refreshing the World Naturally

By: John A. Quelch and John L. Teopaco

The marketing director of Harmonie Mineral Water—the second-best selling bottled water in the world—is using findings from two project studies to assess how to establish a global brand identity for Harmonie via television advertising. He must decide what product... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Advertising; Marketing Communications; Global Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

This study jointly examines the effects of television advertising and field operations in U.S. presidential elections, with the former referred to as the “air war” and the latter as the “ground game.” Specifically, the study focuses on how different campaign... View Details

June 2014
Case

Going Social: Durex in China

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Aaron Smith

When Reckitt Benckiser (RB), a leading consumer goods company, first entered China, it encountered significant challenges. RB's strategy relied on selling high margin products supported by cost-effective advertising and distribution, but the highly competitive Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Multinational Firms and Management; Internet and the Web; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; China

November 2000 (Revised October 2005)
Case

TiVo

TiVo is a digital video recorder that allows viewers to watch what they want, when they want to watch it. Fourteen months into the launch, sales are very disappointing. Brodie Keast, VP of marketing and sales, wants to combine a catchy communications campaign, product... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communications; Product Launch; Television Entertainment; Innovation and Invention; Electronics Industry

May 2012
Article

To Zap or Not to Zap: How to Insert the Brand in TV Commercials to Minimize Avoidance

By: Thales S. Teixeira, Michel Wedel and Rik Pieters

Huge amounts of money are spent on TV advertising. In an environment of rising per-viewer rates for advertisers and increased skipping past ads by consumers, it is necessary for advertising managers to understand the determinants of commercial avoidance. In order to... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Television Entertainment; Advertising; Decisions

January 2005
Supplement

Intel Commercials

By: Youngme E. Moon and Christina L. Darwall

Presents 14 Intel television commercials. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Computer Industry

06 Aug 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Super Bowl Ads Sell Products, but Do They Sell Brands?

sick to work the day after the Super Bowl, and there are some HR executives that are lobbying to actually have the day after the Super Bowl be a holiday. Kenny: Yes, I'm in favor of that. Kenny: How many minutes of advertising in a... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising; Advertising; Advertising

May 1982 (Revised April 1984)
Case

Consolidated Foods Corp. (A)

Top management at Consolidated Foods was concerned about consumer complaints and threatened boycotts, some relating to television and print ad content and others relating to sponsorship of television programs thought to portray excessive sex or violence. Describes the... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Marketing Communications; Crisis Management; Advertising

June 2007 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Comcast Corporation

By: Anita Elberse and Jason Schreiber

In October 2006, Comcast executives had entered negotiations with broadcast networks to broaden the selection of free network content distributed via its video-on-demand (VOD) service. The major broadcast networks, however, were unsure of the effect it would have on... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Strategy; Technology Adoption; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

11 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Why South Korea's Samsung Built the Only Outdoor Skating Rink in Texas

advertisers. They were especially likely to spend in areas where trials are decided by juries, rather than bench trials (i.e., decided by judges), where advertising increases were statistically zero. “You are not buying billboards to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Legal Services

23 Aug 2011
First Look

First Look: August 23

unobserved program attributes. Our focus is on the network television industry, in which the products are television shows. We estimate a model that allows us to distinguish between the direct effect of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Moment-to-moment Optimal Branding in TV Commercials: Preventing Avoidance by Pulsing

By: Thales S. Teixeira, Michel Wedel and Rik Pieters

We develop a conceptual framework for understanding the impact that branding activity (the audio-visual representation of brands) and consumers' dispersion of attention have on their moment-to-moment avoidance decisions during television advertising. It formalizes this... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Decision Choices and Conditions; Television Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Mathematical Methods

Read Now

29 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Super Bowl Ads for Multitaskers

Are you sure you have everything you need to watch the Super Bowl this weekend? Beer? Check. Nachos? Check. Friends? Check. What about your smartphone, tablet, or laptop? When most people sit down to watch the "big game" this Sunday, the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising; Advertising

22 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Advertising: It’s Not ‘Mad Men’ Anymore

Fans of the television show Mad Men are well acquainted with the mystique of the advertising business, circa 1960s, where relationships were consummated over martinis and campaigns fashioned through the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

19 Nov 2014
HBS Seminar

Duane Varan, MediaScience and Murdoch University

05 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 5, 2008

Prior to 1992, college football teams were matched for post-season play up to several weeks before the end of the regular season. Since 1992, the market has reorganized to postpone this matching. We show that the matching of teams affects efficiency as measured by the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

31 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Marketing’s Conventional Wisdom

position in the market. Q: Do you have a favorite case? A: One of the cases I wrote is about BMW Films' award-winning marketing campaign. These were eight beautiful short films by famous directors, each less than ten minutes long, stuck on a corner of the Internet.... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Service

July 2002
Case

Introducing ... The XFL!

By: Susan M. Fournier, Stephen A. Greyser and Seth Schulman

When the XFL professional football league debuted on February 3, 2001, it generated a Nielsen rating of 10.1, higher than any nationally televised program in a Saturday evening time slot. The next week, ratings plummeted, and by week nine the XFL game earned the title... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Positioning; Consumer Behavior; Product Development; Culture; Commercialization

June 1999
Case

Major League Baseball--1999

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Elizabeth (Lisa) Smyth

Major League Baseball (MLB) has experienced a very positive 1998 season and must assess its situation and consider new initiatives for 1999. The latter include building, a fan base, television coverage, etc. View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Situation or Environment