Publications

07 Feb 2013
News

The unexpected cost of going public

February 2023 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Twitter Turnaround and Elon Musk

By: Andy Wu and Goran Calic

Late afternoon on Friday, October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk was the center of attention at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. The night before, Musk officially took the company private and became Twitter’s majority shareholder, finally ending a months-long acquisition... View Details

Keywords: Elon Musk; Twitter; Acquisition; Revenue; Advertising; Social Media; Business or Company Management; Public Opinion; Job Cuts and Outsourcing

December 1986 (Revised August 1988)
Case

LifeSpan Inc.: Abbott Northwestern Hospital

Raises the powerful issues of measuring marketing performance in a not-for-profit services setting. Also raises several interesting ethical issues. LifeSpan Inc., a Minneapolis based not-for-profit organization is the parent holding company of three hospitals and... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Ethics; Marketing Communications; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Health Industry; Minneapolis

28 Aug 2020
Video

Peter Vundla

Peter Vundla, who co-founded the first Black-owned advertising agency HerdBuoys in South Africa in 1991, discusses how the business started by exploiting the fact that white-owned companies had no understanding of Black consumers and their languages, and by providing a... View Details

September 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Dove and Real Beauty: Building a Brand with Purpose

By: Mark R. Kramer, Myriam Sidibe and Gunjan Veda

Unilever subsidiary Dove soap became a "brand with a purpose" and created shared value when the company decided to launch a Campaign for Real Beauty to combat the artificial media-driven stereotype of female beauty that causes appearance anxiety in women and girls... View Details

Keywords: Stereotype; Body Image; Female; Self-Esteem; Brands and Branding; Mission and Purpose; Advertising Campaigns; Gender; Resource Allocation

28 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

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

with the opening of the economy in the 1990s. Two things happened. All these global companies came back, which helped the advertising industry. And the economy grew, which meant the middle class grew... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Advertising

September 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

GetConnected.com

By: Rajiv Lal, Nilanjana R. Pal and Jodi L. Prins

Describes the situation faced by GCI.com in April 2000, soon after raising $12 million for their new venture. After hiring an advertising agency, management needs to decide on the nature of the advertising campaign to target the right set of customers with the right... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Business Startups; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Strategy; Web Services Industry

May 1996
Case

China Internet Corporation: http://www.China.Com

Tells the story of the China Internet Corp. (CIC), which was founded to serve both businesses wishing to conduct electronic commerce within China and those intending to trade with companies within China. The company provides access and advertising to companies; it does... View Details

Keywords: Internet; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; China

January 2000 (Revised April 2000)
Case

AsiaMail.com: What's in a Name?

By: Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

Three founders of an international Internet company (e-mail-based marketing) struggle with naming the company. As they prepare to invest more than $10 million of first-round venture funding in advertising and marketing, they search for a name that will have power and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Brands and Branding; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Marketing; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; Asia

Find at Harvard

22 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Advertising: It’s Not ‘Mad Men’ Anymore

the twentieth century, companies relied on a "full-service" agency for most or all of their advertising service needs, including both creative development and media planning and buying. Agencies were... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

29 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Super Bowl Ads for Multitaskers

they are not getting everyone they are paying for." The possibility of consumers tuning out during ads is even worse during the rest of the year—when commercials aren't as hyped as they are during the Super Bowl. But advertisers... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising; Advertising

March 2012 (Revised July 2018)
Case

V-Cola: General Instructions

By: Ian Larkin and Hal Movius

V-Cola is a six-party exercise that simulates a negotiation between a boutique advertising agency and a beverage company that is launching a new product. Each of the six parties has different incentives and information, which leads to a complex, realistic simulation... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Contracts; Information; Motivation and Incentives; Advertising Industry; Advertising Industry

February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Priceline.com: Name Your Own Price

By: Robert J. Dolan

Priceline.com is a new concept shifting the setting of price from sellers to buyers. The company aspires to use its patented process of advertising units of demand at named prices to suppliers in many categories. This case focuses on its initial use in the airline... View Details

Keywords: Price; Internet and the Web; Marketing; Emerging Markets; Consumer Products Industry; Travel Industry; United States

18 Oct 2013
News

Google Climbs to Record High as Mobile Ads Dominate

06 Jan 2011
News

Ego goes solo

March 2009 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Yelp

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, David Chen and Aaron Smith

Yelp was a popular online destination for reviews of local establishments, written by volunteer Internet users and read by 60 million people per month. However, the company was far from profitable. The CEO needs to decide between two options to increase the revenue.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Profit; Revenue; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Internet and the Web; Advertising Industry

23 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 23, 2008

Working PapersSecuring Online Advertising: Rustlers and Sheriffs in the New Wild West Author:Benjamin G. Edelman Abstract Read the news of recent computer security guffaws, and it's striking how many problems stem from online advertising. View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2019
Case

ClearScore, 2018

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In October 2017, Experian, one of the “Big Three” consumer credit reporting agencies in the United Kingdom made an offer to acquire ClearScore for a total consideration of £293 million. Founded by Justin Basini, Dan Cobley, and Nigel Morris in 2014, ClearScore was the... View Details

June 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Exercise

The Pacific Sentinel: Role for Chris Coleman

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Dina R. Pradel

A new publishing company has just purchased the Pacific Sentinel, a fictional West Coast newspaper. The new publisher is willing to invest $1 million in the future success of the paper and has asked the executive editor and advertising manager to develop a joint plan... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Conflict of Interests; Decision Making; Publishing Industry