Publications

20 Jun 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover: Lessons in Strategic Change

Keywords: Re: Andy Wu; Technology

28 Aug 2020
Video

Peter Vundla

Peter Vundla, who co-founded the first Black-owned advertising agency HerdBuoys in South Africa in 1991, was prominent in building post-apartheid South Afrca, including working on for developing the South African flag, the first democratic ballot paper, and the logo... View Details

July 2012
Case

Droga5: Launching Jay-Z's Decoded

By: Anita Elberse and Kwame Owusu-Kesse

In 2010, David Droga and Andrew Essex, co-founders of advertising agency Droga5, hope to convince both John Meneilly, manager of hip-hop star Shawn Carter—better known as Jay-Z—and a partner in Carter's company Roc Nation and Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Entertainment; Advertising Industry; Advertising Industry

July 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Bradley Marquez: Reduction in Force (A)

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

The Bradley Marquez advertising agency had created a successful niche delivering ethnic markets to their clients, corporate giants like Compaq, Sprint, Texaco, and British Airways. The company was operating in aggressive growth mode when, in 2000, the stock market... View Details

Keywords: Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Financial Crisis; Price Bubble; Human Resources; Employees; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Advertising Industry

23 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 23, 2015

assuming that these options are mutually exclusive. A review of advertising industry history reveals why internal agencies have long operated in the shadows of their external counterparts and how the former... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Arnold Communications

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Jeremiah Weinstock

The new owner and CEO of Arnold Advertising, a relatively small regional agency, aims to build it into Arnold Communications--a much larger, stronger firm competing successfully for national accounts. As part of this growth strategy, the agency develops a process for... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Creativity; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Business Processes; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Advertising Industry

06 Aug 2019
Cold Call Podcast

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

it was an advertising bro fest, but also a reflection of the cultural norms of the time. After all, the 1960s was the dawn of the golden age of advertising when agencies were... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising; Advertising; Advertising

10 Mar 2009
News

Why CMOs Are Gaining Ground in the Recession

May 2022
Supplement

Thinking Outside the Wine Box (C): Mekanism and the Franz for Life Campaign

By: Tomomichi Amano, Elie Ofek, Mengjie Cheng and Amy Klopfenstein

This case reveals the events that took place after the conclusion of the cases “Thinking Outside the Wine Box (A-B): Mekanism and the Franz for Life Campaign.” After selecting a creative direction for the Franz for Life 2.0 campaign, independent advertising agency... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Social Marketing; Marketing Communications; Product Positioning; Advertising; Communication Strategy; Advertising Campaigns; Social Media; Advertising Industry; Advertising Industry; United States

March 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Amperity: First-Party Data at a Crossroads

By: Elie Ofek, Hema Yoganarasimhan and Alexis Lefort

In the summer of 2023, Amperity management was facing a critical decision on its future direction. Given the dramatic changes occurring within the digital advertising ecosystem, as concerns over consumer privacy placed limits on the ability to engage in third-party... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Business Strategy; Digital Marketing; Price; Product; Business or Company Management; Advertising Industry

07 Mar 2008
News

Art of retaining professionals

22 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Advertising: It’s Not ‘Mad Men’ Anymore

with his latest brilliant inspiration. For decades, advertising agencies have thrived on, and in some ways fostered, the idea of advertising as a creative black box. “I think... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

13 Dec 2016
News

Eye Appeal Is Buy Appeal: Business Creates the Color of Foods

10 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID-19 Lessons: Social Media Can Nudge More People to Get Vaccinated

Public health officials who took to social media to push people to get the COVID-19 vaccine may have wondered if they were screaming into a void. Over the course of the pandemic, health agencies around the world—ranging from the World... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Health; Technology

28 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

A Dedication to Creation: India's Ad Man Ranjan Kapur

One day in 1966 while Ranjan Kapur was walking in midtown Manhattan, a black limo pulled up alongside. A man he instantly recognized as advertising icon David Ogilvy, founder of the agency where Kapur had... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Advertising

February 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Big Spaceship: Ready to Go Big?

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind

Big Spaceship, a digital marketing agency, faced a rather big challenge: How to scale the distinctive culture that was essential to its competitive strategy? Renowned for the cutting-edge websites that it developed to market major Hollywood movies and leading consumer... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Human Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Groups and Teams; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation

March 2020
Case

Sizmek Chapter 11: Surviving Walled Gardens in Their Ad Tech Empire

By: Ayelet Israeli, Danilo Tauro and Sarah Gulick

This case provides a post-mortem of the advertising technology (adtech) company Sizmek. Sizmek grew via multiple acquisitions, with the vision of becoming an integrated adtech company that could leverage AI to buy digital media, while creating and serving display and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Competition; Marketing; Advertising Industry; Advertising Industry; United States; Europe

Article

Young and No Money? Never Mind: The Material Impact of Social Resources on New Venture Growth

By: Mukti Khaire

Although growth is a desirable outcome for new ventures due to the many advantages of large size, most new firms fail to grow, largely due to their limited resources and adaptability. This paper addresses the question of how new ventures grow despite their limited... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Status and Position; Advertising Industry; Chicago; New York (city, NY)

Find at Harvard

November 2001
Case

Naming the Edsel (Condensed)

Reveals the interesting and unusual story behind Ford's selection of "Edsel" as the new brand name for its ill-fated 1957 new product launch. Noteworthy as perhaps the most extensive, creative, and politically charged naming stories on record. Although both... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Auto Industry