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• Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2020 (Revised August 2020)

  Brand Storytelling at Shinola

  Jill Avery, Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael B. Beverland

  Detroit, Michigan, aka “The Motor City,” is most known as the birthplace of most of the American classic automotive brands. It is a city filled with the rich history of the industrial age, the pride of American manufacturing, and of the soulful sounds of Motown music. It is also a place that more recently has become synonymous worldwide with rustbelt urban decay, characterized by abandoned factories, commercial buildings, and homes, soaring unemployment and homelessness, and a sense of despair since the city’s declaration of bankruptcy in 2013, which led to its other nickname, “America’s Warzone”. It was a surprising place to find the headquarters of a new luxury brand.
  Shinola, a luxury watchmaker and purveyor of stylized, retro-chic, and hipster-cool products, had aggressive goals to grow to 75-100 stores and consumers and store employees, many of whom had never been to Detroit, would need to become familiar with the Shinola brand narrative. Recent expansions of the brand into lower price point timepieces and the hospitality sector would have to be monitored, and future brand extensions and brand partnership opportunities evaluated to support an evolving new luxury lifestyle brand positioning. As they continued to expand the Shinola brand into international markets, the brand’s story, rooted in Detroit’s imagery, history, and lore, might have to be reconsidered to appeal to non-American audiences. Finally, the company found itself the subject of legal and cultural critique. A “RETHINK SHINOLA” artist movement was questioning its commitment to Detroit. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission had recently fined Shinola for unfairly claiming that its products were “made in Detroit,” putting its brand storytelling under the microscope.

  Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Luxury; Consumer Products Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; Detroit; United States; North America;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill, Giana M. Eckhardt, and Michael B. Beverland. "Brand Storytelling at Shinola." Harvard Business School Case 520-102, May 2020. (Revised August 2020.)  View Details

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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

  Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-046. 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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