Publications

January 2019
Case

Understanding the Brand Equity of Nestlé Crunch Bar: A Market Research Case

By: Jill Avery and Gerald Zaltman

In early 2018, Nestlé announced the sale of its U.S. candy-making division and a select collection of 20 of its confectionery brands, including the Nestlé Crunch Bar, to Ferrero SpA for $2.8 billion. Under the terms of the Nestlé acquisition, each of the purchased... View Details

Keywords: Brand Equity; Marketing; Market Research; Qualitative Research; Marketing Communication; Customer Satisfaction; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; North America; Italy

January 2014 (Revised February 2015)
Case

YouTube for Brands

By: Thales Teixeira and Leora Kornfeld

This case examines the changes employed by YouTube to make the massively popular site more attractive to brands. Building from its base of amateur, user-generated content, YouTube had turned to experimenting with professionally-made content and organizing its videos... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Internet and the Web; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Marketing; Brands and Branding; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

October 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

AI and Brand Management: Promises and Perils

By: Julian De Freitas and Elie Ofek

As AI gains traction across industries, companies anticipate that AI will revolutionize both backend processes and customer-facing interactions—with brands eager to leverage AI for tailored marketing materials and automated consumer engagements. Yet, despite a dramatic... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Brands and Branding; Reputation; Technology Adoption; Competitive Advantage

02 Jul 2016
News

The Trump Brand

Fall–Winter 2009
Article

Can Brand Obama Rescue Brand America?

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz

Read Now

January 2019
Supplement

Understanding the Brand Equity of Nestlé Crunch Bar (B): Data Analysis

By: Jill Avery and Gerald Zaltman

In early 2018, Nestlé announced the sale of its U.S. candy-making division and a select collection of 20 of its confectionery brands, including the Nestlé Crunch Bar, to Ferrero SpA for $2.8 billion. Luckily, an old consumer research study on the Nestlé Crunch Bar... View Details

May 2020 (Revised August 2022)
Teaching Note

Direct to Consumer Brands

By: Sunil Gupta

In recent years, we have seen a dramatic rise of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. Many of these brands, such as Dollar Shave Club, Harry’s, Glossier, and Allbirds, entered mature markets dominated by established companies, and yet they grew rapidly to attain valuations... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Digital Marketing; Industry Evolution; Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Change; Consumer Behavior

17 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Why Global Brands Work

Nissan, and Honda sold standard products under a single brand umbrella. For decades, Ford adapted its manufacturing platforms, features, and model names from one country to... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Auto

April 2020
Teaching Note

Tailor Brands: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Branding

By: Jill Avery

Using proprietary artificial intelligence technology, startup Tailor Brands set out to democratize branding by allowing small businesses to create their brand identities by automatically generating logos in just minutes at minimal cost with no branding or design skills... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Industry; Technology Industry; United States; North America

10 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

“Blank” Inside: Branding Ingredients

brand-building to add the ingredient brand on the package as well as in advertising? There are 4 conditions: 1. The ingredient is highly differentiated, usually supported by patent protection, and so adds an... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Aerospace; Consumer Products

22 Feb 2022
News

Brand New

World War II, members played a key role in the Normandy invasion. When Sundy left the army for the corporate world, he turned his attention to similarly storied names such as Cheerios, Betty Crocker, KitchenAid, and Maytag in his... View Details

Keywords: April White; manufacturing; life experience; leadership; Black; African American; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing

May 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Brand Storytelling at Shinola

By: Jill Avery, Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael B. Beverland

Detroit, Michigan, aka “The Motor City,” is most known as the birthplace of most of the American classic automotive brands. It is a city filled with the rich history of the industrial age, the pride of American manufacturing, and of the soulful sounds of Motown music.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Luxury; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Detroit; United States; North America

August 2015
Case

Building an e-Commerce Brand at Wayfair

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

Wayfair, Inc. comprised five home goods, furniture, and décor e-commerce brands. Wayfair.com, the main brand, which was responsible for the majority of sales, targeted the mass-middle home-goods market. AllModern, DwellStudio, Joss & Main, and Birch Lane were niche... View Details

30 Apr 2008
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Brand Management

personality? How should I think about brand dilution? Does Branding Work For Business-to-business Marketing? B2B Branding: Does it Work? Does it make sense for B2B companies to take a cue from consumer... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Sports; Publishing; Auto

July 2003 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Branding Citigroup's Consumer Business

By: Rohit Deshpande and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In Spring 1998, Citicorp and Travelers merged to create a financial powerhouse that united the bank with Travelers' consumer finance and brokerage businesses, including Salomon Smith Barney and Primerica. It was the first U.S. financial services company to combine... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Relationship Management; Decisions; Asset Management; Investment Banking; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Relationships; Business and Shareholder Relations; Banking Industry; United States

October 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Dove: Evolution of a Brand

By: John A. Deighton

Examines the evolution of Dove from functional brand to a brand with a point of view after Unilever designated it as a masterbrand, and expanded its portfolio to cover entries into a number of sectors beyond the original bath soap category. The development causes the... View Details

Keywords: History; Expansion; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Digital Marketing; Brands and Branding; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

October 1995 (Revised January 1998)
Case

Heineken N.V.: Global Branding and Advertising

By: John A. Quelch

Heineken managers are evaluating the results of the research projects designed to identify the values of the Heineken brand and to translate these into effective advertising messages. View Details

Keywords: Value; Advertising Campaigns; Globalization; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry

May 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Yum! Brands

By: Jordan Siegel and Christopher Poliquin

Yum!, the owner of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, asks what might be the lessons from its success in China for currently contemplated expansion into India and Africa. Also, the company contemplates whether Taco Bell can succeed abroad as part of a new expansion push.... View Details

Keywords: International Business; International Marketing; Global Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe; Australia; Africa; Asia