Publications

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

July 2000 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Madison Avenue: Digital Media Services (A)

Introduces a "new-economy" company, Madison Avenue, facing challenges of mega-success. In the two years since its founding, the company's revenues have grown from zero to nearly $30 million, head count has swollen from the start-up handful to more than 200, and the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Online Advertising; Advertising Industry

January 2003 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Office Depot, Inc.: Business Transformation (A)

By: James L. Heskett, Dan Maher, Daniel F. OBrien, Thomas Watson and Jeffrey F. Rayport

The company's management is considering the possibility of launching a rebranding campaign around the promises "What you need. What you need to know." The questions are whether and when to launch the campaign in view of the large number of training efforts and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Advertising Campaigns; Brands and Branding; Business Strategy; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Market Timing; Growth and Development; Training; Retail Industry

02 May 2016
Research & Ideas

Why People Don’t Vote--and How a Good Ground Game Helps

argument that if you want to motivate immigrants you need a more targeted campaign—that’s often the way it’s done in the United States for example with Latinos, but in France it’s not possible to do this,” explains Pons. “It would reflect badly on a candidate to say,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Communications; Public Relations

March 1975 (Revised April 1985)
Case

L'eggs Products, Inc. (Condensed)

Describes designing an advertising or promotion program to sustain the momentum on L'eggs successful market entry. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Advertising Campaigns; Consumer Products Industry

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

Read Now

22 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Advertising: It’s Not ‘Mad Men’ Anymore

Fans of the television show Mad Men are well acquainted with the mystique of the advertising business, circa 1960s, where relationships were consummated over martinis and campaigns fashioned through the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

June 2016
Case

Big Spaceship: The Evolving Agency

By: Boris Groysberg and Matthew G. Preble

This case discusses the evolution of Big Spaceship, an advertising and marketing agency, from a product-focused business to a relationship-oriented one as clients seek deeper and more meaningful long-term partnerships. The 15-year-old company had already evolved... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Marketing; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Social Media; Advertising Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

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

December 1978 (Revised March 1992)
Case

Archdiocese of New York

By: Stephen A. Greyser and John A. Quelch

A print media campaign to improve attitudes toward the Catholic priesthood and to indirectly increase vocations is evaluated through a comparison of pretest and post-test data. View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Measurement and Metrics; Media; Public Opinion; Valuation; Media and Broadcasting Industry; New York (state, US)

March 1996 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Dewar's (A): Brand Repositioning in the 1990's

By: Alvin J. Silk and Lisa Klein Pearo

Dewar's, a major brand of Scotch whisky, produced by United Distillers of the U.K., and the U.S. leader in the Scotch category with a 15% market share, faced a declining market among traditional consumers of distilled spirits. Given the growing societal, legal, and... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Customers; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Market Participation; Strategic Planning; Opportunities; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom; United States

February 2023
Case

Roblox: Virtual Commerce in the Metaverse

By: Ayelet Israeli and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2022, Roblox had 58.8 million daily active users, including over half of all children and teens under the age of 16 in the United States. Roblox, a free-to-use “co-experience platform”, allowed users to come together in immersive 3D experiences to socialize, work,... View Details

September 1988 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Suzuki Samurai

By: John A. Quelch

Suzuki and advertising agency executives are debating the product positioning and accompanying copy strategy alternatives for the Suzuki Samurai prior to its U.S. introduction. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Advertising Campaigns; Advertising Industry; Advertising Industry; Japan; United States

August 2008
Supplement

Becky Saeger, CMO, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Interviewed by Professor John Quelch

By: John A. Quelch

Professor John Quelch interviewed Becky Saeger, Chief Marketing Officer of Charles Schwab and Co., Inc., with regard to the background and success of the "Talk to Chuck" advertising campaign. View Details

Keywords: Success; Advertising Campaigns; Financial Services Industry

Article

Vungle Inc. Improves Monetization Using Big-Data Analytics

By: Bert De Reyck, Ioannis Fragkos, Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Casey Lichtendahl, Hammond Guerin and Andrew Kritzer

The advent of big data has created opportunities for firms to customize their products and services to unprecedented levels of granularity. Using big data to personalize an offering in real time, however, remains a major challenge. In the mobile advertising industry,... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Monetization; Data and Data Sets; Advertising; Mobile Technology; Customization and Personalization; Performance Improvement

Find at Harvard

February 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Online Marketing at Big Skinny

By: Benjamin Edelman and Scott Duke Kominers

Describes a wallet maker's application of seven Internet marketing technologies: display ads, algorithmic search, sponsored search, social media, interactive content, online distributors, and A/B testing. Provides concise introductions to the key features of each... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Digital Marketing; Resource Allocation; Marketing Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Internet and the Web; Retail Industry

December 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Cann: High Hopes for Cannabis Infused Beverages

By: Ayelet Israeli and Anne V. Wilson

Founded in 2018 by Jake Bullock and Luke Anderson, Cann sold “social tonics,” or cannabis-infused beverages. By 2022, the company had several notable celebrity investors and talent partners, had sold over 10 million beverages to consumers, was distributing in six... View Details

May 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

United States Army

By: Rajiv Lal and Laura Coleman

After three months of close collaboration, the Leo Burnett USA/Worldwide agency and partner Cartel and Images advertising/creative team were poised to unveil to senior Army officials at the Pentagon their replacement to the "Be All You Can Be" campaign to help increase... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Decisions; Globalization; Recruitment; Management Teams; Marketing Strategy; United States