More from the Author

• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2018 (Revised March 2019)

  Branding and Politics: 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 positively or negatively 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: social media; digital marketing; entertainment; politics; activism; Brand equity; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Sports; Advertising; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill, and Koen Pauwels. "Branding and Politics: Nike and Colin Kaepernick." Harvard Business School Case 519-046, December 2018. (Revised March 2019.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducators

  Related

• Technical Note | HBS Case Collection | January 2019 (Revised March 2019)

  Brand Storytelling

  Jill Avery

  Marketers have long appreciated the value and power of storytelling. Stories fill brands with resonant and relevant meaning and empower brands to serve as critical elements in the lives of consumers. Mastering the art of brand storytelling is an increasingly important part of managing brands in the contemporary brandscape, as today, we live in a world filled with an ever-expanding panoply of physical and virtual media spaces and places within which to create and tell stories with and to our consumers. This technical note outlines how and why consumers respond to brand stories, illuminates the four elements that make up good stories, discusses the use of archetypal plots and characters and other storytelling appeals, and provides guidance and a template for creating resonant, relevant, authentic, and differentiated brand stories.

  Keywords: brand communication; brand management; brand storytelling; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Advertising; Consumer Behavior; Consumer Products Industry;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill. "Brand Storytelling." Harvard Business School Technical Note 519-049, January 2019. (Revised March 2019.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducators

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2017 (Revised March 2019)

  Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent

  Jill Avery, David Fubini, Natasha Dossa and Devon Stewart

  Armarium, a two-sided online platform that offered consumers the opportunity to rent the most coveted, current season high fashion clothing and accessories from the top global luxury brands, had emerged from its first sales season with two distinct customer segments: the High Net Worth (HNW) woman and the High Earner, Not Rich Yet (HENRY) woman. As it began to scale its operations, it had to decide which customer segment was the more desirable target market and how to refine the company's value proposition to maximize value creation for both consumers and the luxury brands that supported the business model. The jury was still out on whether a rental model could attract higher income women who could afford to buy luxury brands and whether it could support the $400 rental price points Armarium would need to charge for its one-of-a-kind pieces with retail values that could reach as high as $15,000. The two founders faced significant scaling challenges, from how to establish guardrails around curation of the collection to go-to-market distribution channel strategy and customer acquisition strategy.

  Keywords: brand management; retailing; sharing economy; luxury brand; ecommerce; e-commerce; Startup; fashion; brand positioning; customer acquisition; internet marketing; social media; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Business Startups; Luxury; Consumer Behavior; Growth and Development Strategy; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; North America;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill, David Fubini, Natasha Dossa, and Devon Stewart. "Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent." Harvard Business School Case 518-047, December 2017. (Revised March 2019.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related