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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2014

  Going Social: Durex in China

  Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Aaron Smith

  When Reckitt Benckiser (RB), a leading consumer goods company, first entered China, it encountered significant challenges. RB's strategy relied on selling high margin products supported by cost-effective advertising and distribution, but the highly competitive Chinese market made it hard to sustain high margins, inflated television advertising rates made marketing expensive, and an inefficient distribution system increased costs further. In 2010, RB managed to overcome these constraints for one of its brands, Durex, the best-selling condom brand in the world, by leveraging Chinese social media platforms and investing in offline and online distribution. The new strategy paid off—Durex condom sales increased threefold in China and market share increased by over 10%. RB now wanted to generate the same results for its other brands in the country, and needed to decide how to balance investments in offline distribution, social media campaigns, and e-commerce in order to keep growing not just in China, but in other emerging markets as well.

  Keywords: Distribution; Multinational Firms and Management; Internet; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; China;

  Citation:

  Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Aaron Smith. "Going Social: Durex in China." Harvard Business School Case 714-430, June 2014.  View Details

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• Book | 2014

  A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media

  Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

  Almost no one had heard of social media a decade ago, but today websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have more than 1 billion users and account for almost 25 percent of Internet use. Practically overnight, social media seems indispensable to our lives—from friendship and dating to news and business. What makes social media so different from traditional media? Answering that question is the key to making social media work for any business, argues Mikołaj Piskorski, one of the world's leading experts on the business of social media. In A Social Strategy, he provides the most convincing answer yet, one backed by original research, data, and case studies from companies such as Nike and American Express.

  Keywords: Internet; Web; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing;

  Citation:

  Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan. A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media. Princeton University Press, 2014.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2012 (Revised March 2014)

  Social Strategy at Nike

  Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Ryan Johnson

  Nike, which first started experimenting with social media and networking in 2004, has been consistently reducing its spending on traditional advertising. Yet, Nike has not pulled back on its overall marketing budget, instead opting to focus on "nontraditional" advertising through new mediums. In doing so, the team hoped to build online communities to foster a closer relationship with its consumers. By 2012 Nike had committed to a social strategy that linked product with experience. Soon the company will discover if this strategic jump will be reflected on the bottom line.

  Keywords: Strategy; Advertising Campaigns; Social and Collaborative Networks; Online Advertising; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry;

  Citation:

  Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, and Ryan Johnson. "Social Strategy at Nike." Harvard Business School Case 712-484, April 2012. (Revised March 2014.)  View Details

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