Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap

Ayelet  Israeli; Jill  Avery

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | November 2017

Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap

Abstract

CEO Art Peck was eliminating his creative directors for The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands and promoting a collective creative ecosystem fueled by the input of big data. Rather than relying on artistic vision, Peck wanted the company to use the mining of big data obtained from Google Analytics and the company's own sales and customer databases to select the next season's assortment. Peck was betting that intelligence fueled by big data could outperform a fashion industry creative director at predicting the future fashion trends and tastes of consumers.

Keywords: marketing; marketing strategy; Brands; Brand ＆ product management; big data; ＂marketing analytics＂; consumer behavior; predictive analytics; Forecasting; preferences; Marketing channels; operation management; Distribution Channels; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Forecasting and Prediction; Data and Data Sets; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; North America;

Language: English

Format: Print

35 pages

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Citation:

Israeli, Ayelet, and Jill Avery. "Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 518-053, November 2017.

For decades, American parents were warned to avoid introducing potential allergens to their babies prior to their first birthday. But two influential clinical studies caused the medical establishment to radically reverse its position. Parents were now warned that delaying the introduction of these types of foods increased a baby's risk of food allergies. Adeo Health Science was ready, with patents filed for a baby food that made it simple for parents to introduce allergens. Now, the new company had to turn its product into a brand and map its go-to-market strategy, including creating a compelling value proposition, choosing a path to market that was either direct-to-consumer, through grocery retailers, or via the physician channel, and planning its marketing communications and sales strategy. As a new startup with constrained resources, the company knew its marketing decisions would make or break the new product.

Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2018 (Revised May 2019)

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;

Citation:

Avery, Jill. "Christie's and Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi: The Value of a Brand." Harvard Business School Case 518-066, January 2018. (Revised May 2019.) View Details

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Brian Perkins, chief architect of the $6 billion Budweiser brand, was excited about 2018, in which the company would launch Budweiser into several new markets in Africa and Latin America. He was also feeling the pressure to finalize a global brand strategy that would define Budweiser’s value proposition and guide its development and execution around the world. The problem was that Budweiser actually had two distinct brand realities that differed across geographies and that often interfered with each other. He worried whether the company could keep selling a premium brand proposition abroad as the brand's reputation faced challenges at home in the U.S. and whether he needed to force a monolithic global brand strategy everywhere or allow for local market customization. Could Budweiser simultaneously accommodate two or more brand realities?

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Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap

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