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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2020 (Revised July 2020)

  Brand Activism: Nike and Colin Kaepernick

  Jill Avery and Koen Pauwels

  Nike’s selection of politically polarizing Colin Kaepernick as the spokesperson for the thirtieth anniversary of its iconic “Just Do It” campaign catapulted the brand into the media spotlight and made it a political flashpoint for consumers across America. Would the choice of Kaepernick be positively or negatively perceived? And, would it affect Nike's business results or just generate a lot of social media chatter? As Nike’s management team watched some people burn their sneakers in protest on YouTube and others applaud the company’s behavior on Facebook, they wondered whether inserting Nike into the middle of a heated political debate was the right thing to do or the most reckless action Nike’s brand stewards had ever taken, putting Nike’s $30 billion brand asset at risk? After all, on social media, it was easy to say that one would boycott or buycott a brand due to one’s political beliefs, but in the marketplace, other purchase criteria often reigned supreme.

  Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Consumer Products Industry; Sports Industry; United States; North America;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill, and Koen Pauwels. "Brand Activism: Nike and Colin Kaepernick." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 520-104, May 2020. (Revised July 2020.)  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2020

  Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant

  Jill Avery

  On October 7, 2019, the Shiseido Group announced that it would acquire clean skincare brand Drunk Elephant for $845 million, a valuation of 8.5 times sales. Did Shiseido pay too much or too little for this brand asset? How much was the Drunk Elephant brand worth and how could it be valued? Every acquisition had to be measured against the cost of developing and building a look-a-like brand internally. Would Drunk Elephant prove to be an integral part of Shiseido’s future success and what would it take to unlock its full brand value? What kinds of further investments would Shiseido need to make to realize the new brand’s potential? How would the brand fit into the company’s existing brand portfolio of 42 brands?

  Keywords: brand management; brand valuation; Brand equity; Brand Value; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Startup; DTC; brand portfolio strategy; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Japan; Asia; North America;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill. "Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 520-121, June 2020.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | November 2019 (Revised June 2020)

  Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant

  Jill Avery

  On October 7, 2019, the Shiseido Group announced that it would acquire clean skincare brand Drunk Elephant for $845 million, a valuation of 8.5 times sales. Did Shiseido pay too much or too little for this brand asset? How much was the Drunk Elephant brand worth and how could it be valued? Every acquisition had to be measured against the cost of developing and building a look-a-like brand internally. Would Drunk Elephant prove to be an integral part of Shiseido’s future success and what would it take to unlock its full brand value? What kinds of further investments would Shiseido need to make to realize the new brand’s potential? How would the brand fit into the company’s existing brand portfolio of 42 brands?

  Keywords: personal care; Startup; Brand equity; brand valuation; Brand Value; brand storytelling; brand management; Brands and Branding; Valuation; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Japan;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill. "Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant." Harvard Business School Case 520-052, November 2019. (Revised June 2020.)  View Details

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