Publications

2011
Working Paper

Managerial Practices That Promote Voice and Taking Charge among Frontline Workers

By: Julia Adler-Milstein, Sara J. Singer and Michael W. Toffel

Process-improvement ideas often come from frontline workers who speak up by voicing concerns about problems and by taking charge to resolve them. We hypothesize that organization-wide process-improvement campaigns encourage both forms of speaking up, especially voicing... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Employees; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Business Processes; Performance Improvement

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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; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

December 1992
Case

BASF: Corporate Advertising for 1992

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Norman Klein

Describes BASF's corporate advertising program in the United States. In 1992, BASF's U.S. companies extended an existing corporate advertising campaign to continue to build awareness of the German-based multinational's corporate identity. The core theme of the campaign... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Germany

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

January 1983 (Revised July 1985)
Case

Cable News Network

By: John A. Quelch

The vice president of advertising and promotion is reviewing his advertising program for 1982. In particular, he is assessing an agency proposal for a new advertising campaign for cable news network. View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Management Teams; Journalism and News Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

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August 2024
Case

The Political Money Machine and Senator Cruz

By: Robert F. White and Jimena Marquez

This caselet explores campaign finance rules in U.S. elections, as illustrated through a fundraising memo for Senator Ted Cruz. View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Communication; Public Administration Industry; United States

November 1991 (Revised October 1993)
Supplement

British Airways: ""Go for It, America!"" Promotion (B)

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Provides details on the results of the campaign for British Airways (BA) in terms of expenditure by BA, press coverage, effect on bookings, and effect on overall market share. View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Cost Management; Information Publishing; Marketing Strategy; Market Participation; Aerospace Industry

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

August 1978 (Revised October 1979)
Case

Grey Advertising/Canada Dry Account

After taking over Canada Dry's mixers account in 1966, Grey Advertising assembled a successful ad campaign that increased ginger ale sales significantly. But Canada Dry's market share for ginger ale and its other mixer products had remained the same or declined during... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Advertising Campaigns; Advertising Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

04 Dec 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Air War versus The Ground Game: An Analysis of Multi-Channel Marketing in US Presidential Elections

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung & Lingling Zhang

2013
Book

Porte à porte: Reconquérir la démocratie sur le terrain

By: Guillaume Liégey, Arthur Muller and Vincent Pons

From January to May 2012, campaign activists supporting François Hollande knocked at five millions doors, making this door-to-door effort the largest in Europe to date. This project was formed by Guillaume Liégey, Arthur Muller, and Vincent Pons, who had met at the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Political Elections; United States; Europe

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January 1991
Supplement

Volkswagen of America: Audi 5000 (B)

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Six months after the launch in the United States of Audi 5000, Audi marketing executives and their advertising agency must appraise the introductory advertising for the car. Three alternative campaigns to replace the current one are under consideration. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Product Launch; Performance Evaluation; Auto Industry; United States

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13 Aug 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Selling to a Moving Target: Dynamic Marketing Effects in U.S. Presidential Elections

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung & Lingling Zhang

Article

Orienteering for Electioneering

By: Jonah Kallenbach, Robert Kleinberg and Scott Duke Kominers

In this paper, we introduce a combinatorial optimization problem that models the investment decision a political candidate faces when treating his or her opponents’ campaign plans as given. Our formulation accounts for both the time cost of traveling between districts... View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Resource Allocation; Time Management; Analysis

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September 2004 (Revised February 2010)
Case

The Passion of the Christ (A)

By: John A. Quelch, Anita Elberse and Anna Harrington

Bob Berney, president of Newmarket Films, must decide on a distribution and marketing strategy for Mel Gibson's controversial new movie, The Passion of the Christ. Fueled by Gibson's star power as well as an extensive prescreening campaign among Christian leaders and... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Film Entertainment; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Distribution Channels; Religion; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

03 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Forget About Making College Affordable; Make it a Good Investment

The August 2016 cover of Consumer Reports featured a striking quote by a 32-year-old nurse with $152,000 in student loans: “I kind of ruined my life by going to college.” While obviously an extreme case, her plight offered merely the latest example of media coverage... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Education

September 2014
Case

Crescent Pure

By: John A. Quelch and Alisa Zalosh

Executives from Portland Drake Beverages (PDB) are meeting to determine the appropriate product positioning and advertising campaign for the launch of Crescent Pure, a specialty organic beverage. They have 3 options for positioning: should Crescent Pure be positioned... View Details

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

March 2007 (Revised April 2007)
Case

McDonald's Corporation: Managing a Sustainable Supply Chain

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Jessica Droste Yagan

McDonald's seeks to learn from a successful response to Greenpeace's Amazon deforestation campaign in order to make its supply chain more socially and environmentally responsible. View Details

Keywords: Food; Supply Chain Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Management Systems; Food and Beverage Industry