Publications

May 2007 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Maria Sharapova: Marketing a Champion (A)

By: Anita Elberse and Margarita Golod

In July 2004, a then 17-year-old Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon, arguably the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. Max Eisenbud, Sharapova's agent at International Management Group (IMG), knew the championship would lead to a flood of new opportunities. What... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Advertising; Gender; Product Marketing; Sports Industry

12 Mar 2021
News

My Favorite Case

lifelong lessons about personal priorities and career ambitions, humility, and confidence—and the incomparable kinship (and long memories) of sectionmates. “Suzuki Samurai” Suzuki and advertising agency executives are debating the product... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

April 2020
Case

Promoting Land and Nature Jerky

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine B. Hartman

Kathy Ayers, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Land and Nature (L&N) Jerky Company, needs to make a recommendation about L&N's 2020 promotional spending. L&N's CEO, Tim Ryan, wants her to calculate different scenarios using historical data to determine... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Spending; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Food and Beverage Industry

06 Nov 2008
Op-Ed

Selling Out The American Dream

for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." Marketers as well as politicians have doubtless helped to distort the meaning of the Dream. A barrage of commercial advertising encourages people to... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

Web

The 20th Century Zeitgeist - Leadership

Reconstruction Finance Corp. created to combat bank and business failures Introduction of Federal Deposit Insurance SEC established Federal regulations prohibit false advertising Influence: Low 40 1940 s 19 Military spending explodes... View Details

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

slaughter the animals some of whose parts ended up in Unilever's pies and sausages. Unilever made its own packaging, and transported its products on its own trucks and barges. It owned the distribution chain that delivered its frozen products to retailers. It ran its... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

24 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

The Yelp Factor: Are Consumer Reviews Good for Business?

part to big-budget advertising behind the chains. But review sites are leveling the playing field by allowing consumers to learn as much about independent restaurants as they know about the chains. "This is one reason why consumer... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

05 Jun 2019
Blog Post

Exploring the Beauty Industry through an Independent Project

In seeking information on beauty products prior to purchase over the last year, 67% of respondents consulted social media influencers and 59% consulted third-party product reviews. However, company advertisements and public... View Details

Web

The Intersection of Public Relations and Photography | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

co-founder of the ad agency Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, secured the U.S. Steel advertising account in 1935. Barton recognized that executives of U.S. Steel subsidiaries, sometimes skeptical of public relations and its drain on... View Details

August 2020 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Digital Marketing at HBS Online

By: Sunil Gupta and Rajiv Lal

In July 2020, the management team of Harvard Business School Online (HBS Online) had to decide how to allocate its marketing budget for fiscal year 2021 between various digital channels and its portfolio of courses. Since its launch in 2014, HBS Online had grown to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Marketing Channels; Brands and Branding; Business Education; Education Industry; United States; Boston

25 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Is Baseball Ready to Compete for the Next Generation of Fans?

New York Yankee slugger Aaron Judge, would surpass the $10.7 billion it reported in 2019—the last full season before pandemic interruptions. The league also signed new TV contracts with ESPN and TBS before this season, and next year will allow teams to display View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Media & Broadcasting; Sports

05 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting with Consumers Using Deep Metaphors

Think of famous brands you know: Hallmark cards and Coca-Cola soft drinks, for example. What do these products have in common for consumers? An emotional meaning that taps into thoughts and feelings related to the positive aspects of transformation, according to Gerald... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products

October 2021 (Revised June 2022)
Case

PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion

By: Ayelet Israeli

PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details

October 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

UnDosTres: Building the Paytm of Mexico

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Max Hancock and Amy Klopfenstein

Arpit Gupta, Naveen Sharma, and Vikram Deswal co-founded the mobile payment app UnDosTres in Mexico City in 2015. In the past, Gupta had worked at Paytm, an India-based payment app valued at over $1 billion. In Mexico, the co-founders hoped to recreate Paytm’s success.... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Advertising; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Adaptation; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; Mexico; India

June 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Global Brand Management of Anheuser Busch InBev's Budweiser

By: Jill Avery

Brian Perkins, chief architect of the $6 billion Budweiser brand, was excited about 2018, in which the company would launch Budweiser into several new markets in Africa and Latin America. He was feeling the pressure to finalize a global brand strategy that would define... View Details

September 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

The Pokémon Company: Evolving into an Everlasting Brand

By: Tomomichi Amano and Masaki Nomura

Super Bowl 50, the fiftieth annual championship game of the American National Football League played in February 2016, featured 52 commercials, and brands spent more than six million dollars each for a 30-second commercial slot. Surprisingly, the commercial that... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Growth and Development Strategy; Video Game Industry; Japan

February 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

The Ford Fiesta

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Executives at Ford wondered if social media could be the marketing solution for the launch of the youth-oriented 2010 Fiesta. But with social media came a ceding of control. Some at the company believed that if Ford was going to move beyond its conservative brand image... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Digital Marketing; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Standards; Auto Industry