Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2018)

John  Gourville

Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2018

Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2018)

Abstract

One job of product managers, marketers, strategic planners, and other corporate executives is to predict what the demand will be for a new product. This task is easier for certain classes of new products than for others. For new consumer package goods, for instance, one can look at past product rollouts, one can look at similar products currently in the marketplace, or one can do test markets—selling the product in a small section of the country to assess consumer acceptance. Quite often, for new products that represent incremental variations or improvements over existing products, marketers do a pretty good job of understanding how that product will be adopted in the marketplace. This is not to say that managers always get it right, as has been made evidently clear in the case of New Coke, dry beers, and the Edsel. However, more often than not, managers of incremental new products predict demand within the right order of magnitude.

Keywords: Diffusion Processes; product adoption; Marketing; Forecasting and Prediction; Demand and Consumers; Adoption; Product Launch;

Language: English

Format: Print

9 pages

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Citation:

Gourville, John. "Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2018)." Harvard Business School Case 519-018, August 2018.

It's 2009 and Paul Williamson, Head of Ticketing, must finalize ticket prices for the 2012 London Olympic Games. Yet, there are many criteria to consider. First, given the importance of ticketing to the Games' bottom line, he has a strong incentive to maximize revenues. Second, because the entire world will be watching, he wants to maximize attendance-not just at the Opening Ceremony and swimming finals, which are easy sells, but also at events such as handball and table tennis, which are not. Third, he wants to fill seats with the right people-knowledgeable fans who add to the energy and atmosphere of the event. Finally, tickets have to be accessible not only to the world's elite but also to average Londoners, many of whom live around the corner from the Olympic Park.

Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2017 (Revised September 2017)

Bringing Digital to Wimbledon

John T. Gourville and David Arnold

It was mid-December 2016 as Alexandra (Alex) Willis read with satisfaction that The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) had won yet another award for its use of social media to reach its fan base. As the organizer and host of “The Championships, Wimbledon,” the oldest of tennis's four Grand Slams, the AELTC prided itself on tradition and decorum. Widely regarded as the most prestigious professional tennis tournament in the world and contested each year over two weeks in late June and early July, Wimbledon, in many ways, had changed little over the years. Its showcase venue—the 15,000 seat “Centre Court,” complete with a “Royal Box”—was built in 1926. Slazenger had been the official and only supplier of tennis balls since 1902. A strictly enforced ban on any player clothing other than white dated back to the 1800s. And, whereas other tournaments referred to their Men’s and Women’s Championships, at Wimbledon, these events were referred to as the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ Championships. It was against this “steeped-in-tradition” background that Willis, hired by Wimbledon in 2012 and promoted to Head of Digital and Content in 2015, had to figure out the proper role for digital and social media at Wimbledon. The motivation behind the push into digital was one of communicating and engaging with fans and potential fans around the world, as noted by Richard Lewis, Chief Executive of the AELTC.

Keywords: Wimbledon; London; digital; marketing; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Online Technology;

Citation:

Gourville, John T., and David Arnold. "Bringing Digital to Wimbledon." Harvard Business School Case 517-093, February 2017. (Revised September 2017.) View Details

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Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2018)

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