Publications

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17 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

If Marketing Experts Ran Elections

issues. In addition, the winner-takes-all system often leads candidates to desperate tactics such as negative advertising to tear down their opponents rather than promoting their own virtues. Citizens can be forgiven for being cynical. A... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

01 Mar 2010
Op-Ed

A Golden Opportunity for Ford and GM

and marketing. He also put himself on the firing line, publicly taking ownership for GM's turnaround and appearing in a series of advertisements challenging consumers to compare GM autos with its competitors. Glimmers of Ford's and GM's... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto

21 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Solving the Marketing Resources Allocation Puzzle

U.S. companies spent a staggering $285 billion on advertising in 2006, according to Advertising Age. That's a lot of dollars and expectations being handed to advertising... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 2024
Case

Adventures Inc: 21st Century Brand Building

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Founded in 2020, Adventures worked with celebrities in Brazil to create and launch digitally native brands. The idea was to match the celebrity’s skill in creating content and entertaining fans with Adventures’ skill in consumer packaged goods marketing and operations.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Brand; Influencer Marketing; Growth And Scaling; Capital Constraints; Brand Portfolio Strategy; CPG; Start-up; Celebrity Endorsement; Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Social Media; Business Startups; Joint Ventures; Brands and Branding; Brazil

November – December 2008
Article

Holding a Mirror up to Marketing

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine Jocz

The Dove campaign addressed a common concern that crossed cultural boundaries. Confronted by standard visual stereotypes of beauty in the global media, many young women develop self-image and self-esteem problems. The Dove Real Beauty campaign rejected these narrow... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Advertising Campaigns; Welfare; Diversity; Emotions; Government and Politics

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June 2020
Case

In-housing Digital Marketing at Sprint Corp.

By: David E. Bell, Rajiv Lal and Olivia Hull

In the fall of 2019, Sprint’s Chief Digital Officer Rob Roy reflected on the telecom’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of its digital marketing campaigns. Digital media buying had long been handled by an outside agency, but in 2017, Sprint brought those functions... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Digital Marketing; Transformation; Talent and Talent Management; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Telecommunications Industry; Electronics Industry; Web Services Industry; United States

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Global Brands: Connecting With Consumers Across Boundaries

products filling world markets, truly unique selling propositions—the staple of advertisers for decades—are now few and far between, according to Ingo Krauss. "The venerable USP [unique selling proposition] has become the unique... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner

15 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 15, 2007

of its key staff, and whose misleading, but lawful, advertising of interest rates is drawing customers away from HDFC. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=301093 HDFC (B) Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 24, 2009

which the instruments of accountability are at least as likely to reproduce relationships of inequality as they are to overturn them. Deterring Online Advertising Fraud Through Optimal Payment in Arrears Author:Benjamin Edelman... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

12 Aug 2014
First Look

First Look: August 12

2014 Journal of Advertising Research Pitfalls and Fraud in Online Advertising Metrics: What Makes Advertisers Vulnerable to Cheaters, and How They Can Protect Themselves By:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2013
Case

Groupon for Local Businesses

By: Thales Teixeira and Leora Kornfeld

Local businesses' experiences with using Groupon to promote themselves ran the gamut of roaring success to absolute failure. Why is there such a large range in outcomes for firms that used daily deal sites such as Groupon? This case examines the effectiveness of online... View Details

Keywords: Online Business; Online Marketing; Digital Marketing; Marketing; Advertising Industry; North and Central America

March 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Blogging at BzzAgent

BzzAgent is a word-of-mouth marketing firm. The founder, Dave Balter, sees blogs as an important way to communicate BzzAgent's unique positioning: transparency. He sees the firm's blog--the BeeLog--as a way for the firm to participate in conversations with clients,... View Details

Keywords: Blogs; Marketing Communications; Social and Collaborative Networks; Advertising Industry

January 2008 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Microsoft adCenter

By: Peter Coles and Benjamin Edelman

Microsoft considers alternatives to expand its presence in online advertising, especially text-based pay-per-click advertising. Google dominates, and it is unclear how Microsoft can grow, despite considerable technical and financial resources. Microsoft considers a set... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Competition; Advertising Industry

21 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Will American Brands Be a Casualty of War?

In a recent op-ed piece for the Sunday London Times, Harvard Business School professor John Quelch warned that popular U.S. brands could be in for a rough ride overseas should anti-American sentiment grow over President Bush's handling of Iraq. In this e-mail... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

19 Dec 2006
First Look

First Look: December 19, 2006

advertising subject to constraints on customer growth. By relaxing constraints on growth by one customer, we can then impute their lifetime value to the firm. We apply our model to data from an auction house. Our results show that there... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 30, 2019
Article

Twitter Is Showing More Ads Instead of Better Ideas

By: Scott Duke Kominers

A social media company that doesn’t know much about its users needs to work harder on its business model. View Details

Keywords: Twitter; Business Model; Advertising; Strategy; Social Media

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03 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

Making Money Making Movies

the lion's share of admissions. In that respect, audience tastes in U.S. and international markets are actually fairly similar. Q: What opportunities do you see for entertainment marketers who want to ensure a film's success overseas? How important is View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Entertainment & Recreation; Motion Pictures & Video

May 2022
Supplement

Maestro Pizza (B): The Competition Awakens

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details