Publications

Portrait Project

Jessica Decklinger

for commanding attention in just about any room. She never apologized for raising three kids on her own, or for becoming a successful advertising executive. She never apologized for teaching us to feel thankful. She never apologized for... View Details

20 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

How Consumers Value Global Brands

In 2002, we carried out a two-stage research project in partnership with the market research company Research International/USA to find out how consumers in different countries value global brands. First, we conducted a qualitative study in forty-one countries to... View Details

Keywords: by Douglas B. Holt, John A. Quelch & Earl L. Taylor

2001
Working Paper

Strategies to Fight Ad-sponsored Rivals

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu

We analyze the optimal strategy of a high-quality incumbent that faces a low-quality ad-sponsored competitor. In addition to competing through adjustments of tactical variables such as price or the number of ads a product carries, we allow the incumbent to consider... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Model; Competition; Competitive Strategy

Read Now

28 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

B2B Branding: Does it Work?

ingredient brand. It makes zero sales to end consumers, yet Intel built a consumer demand pull for its chips that required every PC manufacturer to incorporate them and to advertise Intel Inside on their products and in their ads. Other... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

01 Jun 1997
News

Carla Small

the internal whispers telling her that her real love centered on children and families, however, she moved to Chicago and began a promising career as an advertising executive at Leo Burnett, Inc. "It was a great experience," Small says,... View Details

Keywords: Linda Goodspeed

01 Oct 2002
News

Thinking Outside the Centerfold

Hicks: showcasing cars, marketing "Truth." Photo courtesy Jeff Hicks With a slumping economy and an increasing number of communications outlets competing for diminishing advertising dollars, media companies have had to give ground to... View Details

27 Apr 2020
News

How Brands Unwittingly Fund Disinformation

Keywords: Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

01 Dec 2006
News

One-on-One with Jeff Hicks

HICKS Illustration by Joe Ciardiello Jeff Hicks (MBA ’97) arrived at HBS with ten years of experience as an advertising executive at Leo Burnett in Chicago. Disillusioned with the trend toward “unbundling” agencies into different... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

01 Feb 2000
News

He Begs to Differentiate

operate. As a result, branding becomes more and more important - differentiating what they do and what they sell. That's good for us, because we're in the differentiation business." WPP is one of the world's largest advertising and... View Details

October 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Supplement

PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion

By: Ayelet Israeli and Fabrizio Fantini

PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details

01 Oct 2000
News

Internet Tsunami

system, much more so than in the United States," the New York Times (June 7, 2000) reported. Merchants, ranging from toy stores to fishmongers, pay a monthly fee to access Rakuten's e-commerce software and customer database. Merchants also enjoy low-cost View Details

Keywords: Nonstore Retailers; Retail Trade

01 Dec 2005
News

Style Check

Benetton Brain Trust: After learning at the knee of his father, Luciano, Alessandro is taking the family business forward. Working for his family’s company, whose colorful sportswear and controversial advertising made it a brand of... View Details

Keywords: Formula 1; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

June 1999
Case

Major League Baseball--1999

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Elizabeth (Lisa) Smyth

Major League Baseball (MLB) has experienced a very positive 1998 season and must assess its situation and consider new initiatives for 1999. The latter include building, a fan base, television coverage, etc. View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Situation or Environment

Find at Harvard

01 Dec 2012
News

Tidy Minds

In a wide-ranging Q&A in the "Global Manager" column of the New York Times (September 2, 2012), Sir Martin Sorrell (MBA 1968), chief executive of the WPP Group, the world's largest advertising and marketing firm, had some thoughts on... View Details

Keywords: Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

May 2017
Case

Promontory, Inc.

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amy Handlin

Promontory, Inc. is a small, privately owned firm in the promotional products (specialty advertising) industry. After starting the firm two years ago with the intention of pursuing a high-quality/high-price strategy, the CEO is seeking methods of increasing sales... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Marketing Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Business Model; Sales; Advertising Industry

March 2009
Teaching Note

Publicis Groupe 2009: Toward a Digital Transformation (TN)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

Teaching Note for [309085]. View Details

Keywords: Transition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Problems and Challenges; Globalization; Expansion; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Model; Advertising Industry

March 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Massive Incorporated (B)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Clark Gilbert and Victoria Winston

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Product Launch; Digital Marketing; Business Startups; Advertising Industry

July 2002
Case

Bradley Marquez: Reduction in Force (B)

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Employees; Advertising Industry