Accor: Strengthening the Brand with Digital Marketing

Jill  Avery; Chekitan S.  Dev; Peter  O'Connor

Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2015 (Revised January 2017)

Accor: Strengthening the Brand with Digital Marketing

by Jill Avery, Chekitan S. Dev and Peter O'Connor

Abstract

Accor, the world's leading hotel operator with a portfolio of fourteen hospitality brands (including Sofitel and Novotel) in 92 countries, prided itself on living up to its motto, "To open new frontiers in hospitality." Accor was indeed contemplating how to do just that—but not by tackling a new frontier of the geographic variety. Rather, the firm was further exploring the digital frontier via a new distribution channel that would allow it to better compete in the online marketing space for travel reservations.

Keywords: marketing; digital; e-commerce; hospitality; branding; brand management; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Accommodations Industry; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry; Europe; France;

Language: English

Format: Print

22 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Avery, Jill, Chekitan S. Dev, and Peter O'Connor. "Accor: Strengthening the Brand with Digital Marketing." Harvard Business School Case 315-138, June 2015. (Revised January 2017.)

As its Series A extension round approaches, the founders of Hubble, a subscription-based, social media fueled, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand of contact lenses, are reflecting on the marketing strategies that have taken them to a valuation of $200 million and debating changes to them that will allow them to grow their Business. Ensuring that their marketing dollars were being spent efficiently was critical to the data-driven management team and proving to be complicated as the company moved spending from digital marketing to offline media, which made attribution modeling more difficult. Decisions pertaining to product extensions, channel expansion beyond DTC e-commerce, and geographic expansion were also on the table to prove that Hubble's customer value proposition and operations could profitably scale.

Brand valuation, the art and science of calculating the economic value accruing to a firm from its use on an intangible brand asset, yields frustratingly inconsistent, discrepant, and therefore, controversial results. While it is widely accepted that brands are long-lived assets that can contribute significant value to firms over time, there is no consensus on how to value them. This note outlines several different methods for valuing brands and exposes readers to the commercial methods most used by firms. It discusses the opportunities associated with valuing brands as well as the challenges.

Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2018 (Revised June 2018)

Christie's and Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi: The Value of a Brand

Jill Avery

A 16th century Renaissance masterpiece, missing for 137 years, believed by many to have been destroyed and then rediscovered less than a decade ago, becomes the most expensive painting ever sold, all the while surrounded by controversy. Did the buyer of Leonardo da Vinci's painting pay too much? Was it real? Did it matter? The sale of Leonardo's painting allows students to reengineer brand equity to understand from what it is derived and how marketing actions influence changes in it. Methods for brand valuation can be discussed and issues related to branding in contemporary times, such as authenticity, legitimacy, authorship, craftsmanship, and storytelling can be used to show how brand value is built and destroyed. Brand partnerships, particularly between and among Leonardo, Christie's auction house, the sellers, the experts who attributed the painting to Leonardo, and the celebrities used to market it, are dissected to understand how brand meaning and value transfer from one partner to another.

Keywords: marketing; Brands; brands and branding; marketing strategy; brand valuation; art collector; arts marketing; value; auction house; auctions; luxury brand; luxury consumers; Luxury Goods; Marketing; Valuation; Marketing Strategy; Arts; Luxury; Value; Brands and Branding; Fine Arts Industry; Italy; United Kingdom; Europe; United States; United Arab Emirates;