Publications

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

April 2011
Teaching Note

Neck & Neck: Leveraging the Club Neck Information (TN)

Teaching Note for 111112. View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Profit; Planning; Advertising Campaigns; Mathematical Methods; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

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

December 2009 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Phreesia: The Patient Intake Company

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Sunaina Yarlagadda and Brian L. Walker

How should the co-founders of an organization that provides patient sign-in and billing services scale their company after five years of successfully targeting small private physician practices? Phreesia had deployed a direct mail and sales force strategy that resulted... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Social Entrepreneurship; Revenue; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

May 2010
Article

Optimal Auction Design and Equilibrium Selection in Sponsored Search Auctions

By: Benjamin Edelman and Michael Schwarz

We characterize the optimal (revenue maximizing) auction for sponsored search advertising. We show that a search engine's optimal reserve price is independent of the number of bidders and independent of the rate at which click-through rate declines over positions. We... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Revenue; Advertising; Search Technology; Price; Bids and Bidding

Read Now

September 1989 (Revised January 1991)
Case

Massachusetts Lottery

By: John A. Quelch

Describes the role of state lotteries, lottery marketing, and the operation of the Massachusetts State Lottery, including reference to Massachusetts lottery advertising. Highlights the success of state lotteries while also noting growing criticism, particularly of... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Marketing; Advertising; Government and Politics; Public Administration Industry; Massachusetts

April 2009 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Barack Obama: Organizing for America 2.0

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Laura Winig and Aaron Smith

Less than a week before Barack Obama was due to be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, Obama for America (OFA), the president-elect's official campaign organization, announced the formation of a post-election organization, Organizing for America. The... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Political Elections; Marketing Communications; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet

April 2000 (Revised June 2001)
Case

DoubleClick Buys Abacus (A)

By: John A. Deighton

By acquiring Abacus, DoubleClick won the power to serve ads with unprecedented precision, because it brought together Web surfers' online and offline identities. Several competitors had developed advanced systems for serving ads on the web, but DoubleClick had the... View Details

Keywords: Information; Rights; Internet and the Web; Ethics; Competitive Advantage; Social Issues; Customer Focus and Relationships; Digital Marketing; Advertising Industry

November 1987 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Actmedia, Inc.

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Keywords: Marketing; Sales; Management; Advertising Industry

April 1987 (Revised March 1989)
Case

Saatchi & Saatchi Co. PLC

By: David J. Collis

Keywords: Advertising Industry

October 2003 (Revised August 2005)
Case

American Legacy: Beyond the Truth Campaign

By: Youngme E. Moon and Kerry Herman

The hard-hitting "Truth" campaign has been one of the most successful antismoking initiatives in history. The focus of the "Truth" campaign is to dissuade teenagers from smoking. The sponsor of the campaign, the American Legacy Foundation, is now trying to decide... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Communication Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Brands and Branding; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

11 Oct 2016
First Look

October 11, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=45842 Effectiveness of Paid Search Advertising: Experimental Evidence By: Dai, Weijia (Daisy), and Michael Luca Abstract—Paid search has become an increasingly common form of advertising, comprising about half of all... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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

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

March 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Pepsi Blue

By: John A. Quelch

Executives at Pepsico are considering a possible redesign of the Pepsi carbonated beverage packages worldwide to give the brand a modern, up-to-date image and "ownership" of the color blue against Coca-Cola's "ownership" of the color red. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Advertising; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; United States