Advertising Campaigns - Publications - Faculty & Research

March 1996 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Vistakon: 1 Day Acuvue Disposable Contact Lenses

By: Alvin J. Silk, Bruce Issacson and Marie Bell

Vistakon, an independent and entrepreneurial subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, pioneered the production and marketing of disposable contact lenses with the 1987 launch of Acuvue, the first disposable extended-wear lens--a soft contact lens that patients wear for a... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Business Subsidiaries; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Price; Risk Management; Marketing; Product Positioning; Production; Performance Effectiveness; Consumer Products Industry; United States

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October 2011 (Revised May 2015)
Case

The American Repertory Theater

By: Rohit Deshpande, Allen S. Grossman and Ryan Johnson

When Diane Paulus, artistic director and CEO of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) first started in 2008, she attracted media coverage around an aesthetic that aimed to give the audience more ownership over the theater experience, excited theatergoers by... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Arts; Business Model; Leading Change; Media; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Nonprofit Organizations; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; North and Central America

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19 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

Thanks (or no thanks) to social media, brand managers have lost the power to control the perception of their products through carefully orchestrated advertising campaigns. These days, consumers are in command. With an angry tweet, a happy... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

parent company, a white soap, called "Lux Toilet Soap." J. Walter Thompson was hired to develop a marketing and advertising campaign stressing the glamour of the new product, with very successful... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

25 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 25

When, and How Much to Entertain Consumers in Advertisements? A Web-based Facial Tracking Field Study By: Teixeira, Thales, Rosalind Picard, and Rana el Kaliouby Abstract—The presence of positive entertainment (e.g., visual imagery, upbeat music, humor) in TV View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 Jul 2011
First Look

First Look: July 19

common resources, such as advertising or production capacity, across activities. Within the literature on corporate strategy, this tension between focus and breadth is reconciled by the concept of related diversification (i.e., a firm... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

recently, it has allowed companies to reap creative ideas on product improvements directly from their customers (Lay's flavored potato chips). And it has also managed to get brands into trouble (United Breaks Guitars). The smash hit Old Spice View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Advertising

13 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Should Men’s Products Fear a Woman’s Touch?

change the identity meanings associated with their brands in general, especially for a brand that has a long history of narrative and storytelling and suddenly wants to shift that narrative in a way that may not be comfortable to current users." Porsche's Historic... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage; Auto

Research Summary

Clinical Trials as a setting for Health Policy and Management Research

The clinical trial marketplace is in flux. A decade ago, pharmaceutical firms almost exclusively conducted the study of their novel drug compounds within major academic medical centers. But today, industry-sponsored clinical trials are increasingly using community... View Details

18 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Warning: Scary Warning Labels Work!

Marketers can make a bottle of sugar water look like golden elixir. Can health advocates sour the taste for consumers? (SteveDF) San Francisco is in a three-year battle with the American Beverage Industry over whether soda companies can be forced to include consumer... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Advertising

24 Apr 2023
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Build as Much Buzz as Booze? Inside the Epic Challenge of Cannabis-Infused Drinks

legally across states with a dizzying array of manufacturing, retailing, packaging, and advertising regulations. “The level of uncertainty is so high for cannabis entrepreneurs,” says Israeli, who co-wrote the case with Annie Wilson,... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Food & Beverage

04 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

How a Juicy Brand Came Back to Life

the Triarc team used. In most corporations, brand marketing sounds like a form of warfare. Consumers are targeted, campaigns are planned, products are positioned and launched, waves of advertising are... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Food & Beverage

24 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, April 24, 2018

Next Campaign Describes how a former public official became an advocate who started a nonprofit organization after losing her campaign for governor. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID-19 Lessons: Social Media Can Nudge More People to Get Vaccinated

data scientist at Amazon; and Nils Wernerfelt, an economist at Meta, Facebook’s parent company. In one of the largest studies of its kind, Luca and his coauthors analyzed more than 800 public health advertising View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Health; Technology

09 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

6 Lessons from Donald Trump's Winning Marketing Manual

Donald Trump's victory may be a surprise—but not to astute marketers. Here are six important lessons from Trump's brand marketing playbook: Give consumers a job. The best marketing campaigns always call on consumers to do something. For... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

03 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

The Power of Rituals in Life, Death, and Business

food rituals with its 1990s ad campaign for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: "There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's." Nabisco has used similar tactics in advertising Oreo cookies. Click to watch. To see... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

May 2022
Case

Maestro Pizza: Coming in Hot!

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro Pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

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25 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Beauty Entrepreneur Madam Walker

steeped in their church communities. As a black woman, no matter how wealthy she was, she would not have been welcome or even allowed in any respectable hotel. Her church connections also formed the basis of her agent network and helped build word-of-mouth View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Beauty & Cosmetics

05 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting with Consumers Using Deep Metaphors

far more important to understand than the various positions taken on it, although those too are important. Q: What to your mind are a few effective marketing campaigns that have utilized knowledge of deep metaphors? What did they do that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products

August 2020 (Revised September 2020)
Case

Facelift at Olay (A)

By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Olivia Hull

By October 2017, Procter & Gamble’s skincare brand Olay has been struggling with declining sales for several years. The team has tried many remedies, but none has returned the brand to growth. As pressure grows from Olay’s competitors, including hundreds of new... View Details