Publications

May–June 2024
Article

What Makes a Successful Celebrity Brand?

By: Ayelet Israeli, Jill Avery, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Matt Higgins

Celebrities have shifted from endorsing established brands to being influencers for established brands to drawing on their influence to create brands themselves. The authors examine what it takes to make celebrity brands work. View Details

Keywords: Celebrities; Celebrity Endorsement; Celebrity Management; Celebrity; Direct To Consumer Marketing; DTC; Influencer Marketing; Influencers; Influencer Advertising; Influencer; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Power and Influence; Advertising; Social Media; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

Read Now

August 2022
Background Note

Retail Media Networks

By: Eva Ascarza, Ayelet Israeli and Celine Chammas

In 2022, retail media was one of the fastest growing segments in digital advertising. A retail media network (RMN) allows a retailer to use its assets for advertising. Retailers set up an advertising business by allowing marketers to buy advertising space across their... View Details

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

Creamery in 2010, a Brooklyn ice cream parlor that would grow to 16 stores in four states by 2020. Smith’s clever flavors—mixing pecan pie and Sufganiyah jelly donuts in “Thanksgivukkah,” for example—were so enticing that Walt Disney pitched a View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

April 2013
Teaching Note

Bluefin Labs: The Acquisition by Twitter

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

What is the value of Bluefin Labs's social listening data to Twitter? Acquired by Twitter in 2013, Bluefin had built a system that gathered millions of online comments in an effort to develop new metrics for TV programs and brand advertising. With data from Twitter and... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Use and Leverage; Knowledge Acquisition; Marketing; Television Entertainment; Mobile Technology

26 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

community have a tighter, closer relationship,” Zhang says. In fact, engaged followers might actually perceive an influencer who posts sponsored content as more legitimate. “They say: ‘Now brands are... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Technology; Media & Broadcasting

October 2015
Teaching Plan

The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation

By: Thales Teixeira

This Teaching Plan is to be used with the Video Case "The Coca-Cola Company's Case for Creative Transformation" (HBS No. 815-714) View Details

13 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

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

products perceived as feminine—especially in cases where men use a particular brand to communicate their own identities. Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Jill J. Avery calls this phenomenon... View Details

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

14 Oct 2022
News

Baker Library Update: Q+A with Executive Director Ken Peterson

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A)

By: Christopher Marquis, Pooja Mehta Shah, Amanda Elizabeth Tolleson and Bobbi Thomason

At the end of 2009, The Dannon Company was considering pro actively communicating its CSR efforts to consumers. With the strong connection between Dannon's production of health foods and its commitment to health and nutrition-based CSR activities, communicating these... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Nutrition; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Food and Beverage Industry

Profile

Ann S. Moore

Ann S. Moore (MBA 1978), the first female chair and CEO of Time Inc., oversaw nearly 150 magazines and their brand extensions. During her tenure, she launched more magazines than Time founder Henry R. Luce and, as publisher of People,... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media; Entrepreneurship

Stephen A. Greyser

Stephen A. Greyser is Richard P. Chapman Professor (Marketing/Communications) Emeritus, of the Harvard Business School, specializes in brand marketing, advertising, corporate communications, the business of sports, and nonprofit management. A... View Details

Keywords: sports

08 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

Are Paywalls Saving Newspapers?

community newspapers are able to leverage their unique local content to make a digital paywall strategy advantageous, despite lacking the circulation and resources of the major newspaper companies, says Chung. For now, the research... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Journalism & News; Media & Broadcasting

March 2020
Technical Note

Influencer Marketing

By: Jill Avery and Ayelet Israeli

Despite a heavy barrage of advertising, most consumers declare that their purchases are most influenced by the experiences, advice, and recommendations of others, and not by marketers. Interpersonal communication between and among consumers serves as a potent path for... View Details

Keywords: Influencers; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Advertising Industry; Consumer Products Industry

07 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

What Customers Need to Hear from You During the COVID Crisis

the brand logo’s “M” apart to signal social distancing. "Nearly a quarter of brands have gone dark, pausing all of their paid marketing communications for the first and... View Details

Keywords: by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman

December 2014 (Revised July 2016)
Case

HEINEKEN—Brewing a Better World

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, José Alvarez, Tonia Junker and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The Dutch company HEINEKEN, one of the leading global brewers known for its brands like Heineken, Amstel, and Desperados and for its award-winning marketing campaigns, seeks to closely integrate its long-term sustainability "Brewing a Better World" approach into its... View Details

Keywords: Beer/brewing Industry; Sustainability; Local Sourcing; Corporate Strategy; Global Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry

July 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Mary Kay Inc.: Enriching Women's Lives while Embracing Change

By: Elie Ofek, K. Shelette Stewart and Julia Kelley

In December 2020, Mary Kay Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Sheryl Adkins-Green considered several strategic dilemmas. Founded in 1963 by Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay was a direct sales company whose Independent Beauty Consultants purchased its beauty and cosmetics products at... View Details

November 2019
Case

Chief: Role for Carolyn Childers

By: Katherine B. Coffman, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Kathleen L. McGinn, Katherine Chen and Julia Kelley

In 2018, Carolyn Childers is preparing to launch Chief, a New York-based peer network for women executives, and must decide whether to bring on a co-founder. After becoming the senior vice president of operations at her previous company, Childers was inspired to build... View Details

Keywords: Networking; Founders; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Negotiation