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This Reading addresses the principles of brand positioning and demonstrates how companies can strategically craft powerful, resonant, and unique...
We explore the effect of having a large dominant competitor and show the conditions under which focusing on a competitive threat, rather than hiding...
- March 2021
- Case
Astralis Group: Determining a Brand Strategy
By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emilie Billaud
After launching a Danish esports company in July 2019, and going public in December 2019 with multiple brands associated with different games, the Astralis leadership team was contemplating a shift to a single, corporate brand. While the original arguments for...
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Keywords:
Brand Strategy;
Esports;
Video Games;
Corporate Scope;
Positioning;
Ecosystem;
Brands and Branding;
Strategy;
Business Ventures;
Business Startups;
Entrepreneurship;
Ethics;
Sports;
Competitive Strategy;
Value Creation;
Diversification;
Games, Gaming, and Gambling;
Sports Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Denmark;
Europe
- February 2021
- Case
White Claw: Defending Market Share as Competition Encroaches
By: Jill Avery
By the end of 2019, two brands accounted for 84% of hard seltzer sales, a segment that had recently taken the U.S. beer market by storm, growing from $3 million in 2015 to over $2.7 billion by the start of the summer of 2020. White Claw was the dominant market leader...
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Keywords:
Brand Management;
Alcoholic Beverages;
Beer/brewing Industry;
Brand Positioning;
Growth;
Competitive Positioning;
Consumer Products;
Beverage Industry;
Value Proposition;
Marketing;
Brands and Branding;
Competition;
Product Positioning;
Competitive Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Consumer Products Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
United States
- 2021
- Working Paper
Harbinger Categories
By: Eric Anderson, Chaoqun Chen, Ayelet Israeli and Duncan Simester
Past spending by a customer is generally a positive signal of future spending at the same retailer. We show that there exist “Harbinger Categories” for which the reverse is true. The more purchases customers make in these categories, the less likely these customers are...
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- December 2020 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
Arcos Dorados: A QSR Recovery Plan
By: Forest Reinhardt, José B. Alvarez, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal
Arcos Dorados—McDonald’s largest independent franchisee, covering Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)—faced a pandemic that was disrupting the entire consumer foodservice business in 2020. With the exclusive right to own, operate, and sub-franchise McDonald’s...
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Keywords:
Agribusiness;
Animal-Based Agribusiness;
Plant-Based Agribusiness;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Income;
Macroeconomics;
Environmental Management;
Environmental Sustainability;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Food;
Health Pandemics;
Crisis Management;
Logistics;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Strategic Planning;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Retail Industry;
Latin America;
Aruba;
Guadeloupe;
Martinique;
Mexico;
Panama;
Costa Rica;
Argentina;
Brazil;
Chile;
Colombia;
Ecuador;
French Guiana;
Peru;
Uruguay;
Venezuela;
Puerto Rico;
Trinidad and Tobago
- September 2020
- Case
Hot Wheels: Launching The Mixed Play Experience
By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller
Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., had developed an entirely new “mixed play” product experience that blended familiar Hot Wheels play in the physical world with breakthrough play in...
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- September 2020
- Article
Customer Supercharging in Experience-Centric Channels
By: David R. Bell, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno
We conjecture that for online retailers, experience-centric offline store formats do not simply expand market coverage, but rather, serve to significantly amplify future positive customer behaviors, both online and offline. We term this phenomenon “supercharging” and...
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- August 2020 (Revised February 2021)
- Case
Luckin Coffee (A): Caffeine-fueled Growth?
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman
This case describes the founding of Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee in 2017 and its path to surpassing Starbucks as the largest coffee chain in China (by number of stores) in 2019. Unlike Starbucks stores, which were designed to be welcoming “third places” for...
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Keywords:
Business Model;
Business Earnings;
Cost;
Cost Management;
Financial Statements;
Financial Condition;
Financial Management;
Stocks;
Profit;
Revenue;
Price;
Food;
Business History;
Employment;
Brands and Branding;
Product Positioning;
Marketing Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Expansion;
Competitive Strategy;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Technology Industry;
Asia;
China
- July 2020 (Revised September 2020)
- Case
Property Finder's Strategy for Online Classifieds in the MENA Region
By: Krishna G. Palepu, Gamze Yucaoglu and Fares Khrais
The case opens in 2020 as Michael Lahyani, founder and CEO of Property Finder, Dubai’s leading online real estate classifieds portal, contemplates the company’s five-year growth strategy.
Since its founding in 2005 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Property... View Details
Since its founding in 2005 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Property... View Details
- July 2020
- Case
Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics
By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills
The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community...
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Keywords:
Brands and Branding;
Competition;
Customers;
Disruption;
Disruptive Innovation;
Distribution Channels;
Entrepreneurship;
Finance;
Macroeconomics;
Marketing;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Communications;
Marketing Strategy;
Mission and Purpose;
Organizational Culture;
Product Design;
Product Development;
Product Positioning;
Sales;
Social Issues;
Social Marketing;
Business Startups;
Strategic Planning;
Strategy;
Supply Chain Management;
Venture Capital;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry;
Advertising Industry;
Public Relations Industry;
Chemical Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
Retail Industry;
North and Central America;
United States;
New York (city, NY);
New York (state, US)
- July 2020 (Revised January 2021)
- Case
Pattern Brands
By: Sunil Gupta, Elie Ofek and Julia Kelley
In March 2020, direct-to-consumer (DTC) company Pattern Brands needed to decide how to allocate resources across its different brands. Pattern Co-Founders Nick Ling and Emmett Shine hoped to avoid the pitfalls faced by some DTC companies—such as inability to scale and...
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Keywords:
Direct-to-consumer;
Brands and Branding;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Strategy;
Product Marketing;
Product Launch;
Product Positioning;
Business Model;
Business Startups;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Demand and Consumers;
Business Strategy;
Diversification;
Competitive Advantage;
Consumer Products Industry;
Retail Industry;
North and Central America;
United States;
New York (city, NY);
New York (state, US)
- June 2020
- Teaching Note
Global Brand Management of Anheuser Busch InBev's Budweiser
By: Jill Avery
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 feeling the pressure to finalize a global brand strategy that would define...
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- June 2020 (Revised October 2020)
- Case
Time Out: The Evolution from Media to Markets
By: Kate Barasz and Eva Ascarza
In February 2020, Time Out’s chief executive officer Julio Bruno is evaluating the strategic direction of the company. Over the span of five decades, Time Out—the global media and entertainment brand—had gone from a self-published counterculture publication in London...
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- May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
- Teaching Note
Brand Activism: Nike and Colin Kaepernick
By: 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...
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- 2020
- Working Paper
No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm
By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo
How do firms pair workers with managers, and which constraints affect the allocation of labor within the firm? We characterize the sorting pattern of managers to workers in a large readymade garment manufacturer in India and then explore potential drivers of the...
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- March 2020
- Teaching Note
onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy
By: Jill Avery and Anat Keinan
onefinestay was a two-sided marketplace that offered high-end home rentals to travelers who sought a more authentic and local experience than a typical upscale hotel might provide. After five years of rapid growth, it was time to do a comprehensive analysis of the...
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Keywords:
Two-sided Marketplace;
Two-sided Market;
Hospitality Industry;
Hotels;
Luxury Brand;
Sharing Economy;
Startup;
Scaling;
Growth;
Customer Segmentation;
Brand Positioning;
Marketing;
Marketing Strategy;
Brands and Branding;
Luxury;
Entrepreneurship;
Business Startups;
Business Model;
Venture Capital;
Customers;
Segmentation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Travel Industry;
Tourism Industry;
Accommodations Industry;
United Kingdom;
London;
Europe
- March 2020
- Case
Thingtesting: Launching a Brand Discovery and Testing Digital Community
By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery
Thingtesting, a brand discovery and testing digital community devoted to uncovering and exploring direct-to-consumer brands, had just received seed funding and was contemplating a second year of growth. The new year brought many challenges, as founder Jenny Gyllander...
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Keywords:
Influencer Marketing;
Monetization;
Female Ceo;
Female Entrepreneur;
Female Protagonist;
Influencers;
Influencer;
Direct-to-consumer;
Marketing;
Brands and Branding;
Marketing Strategy;
Venture Capital;
Entrepreneurship;
Marketing Communications;
Consumer Products Industry;
Financial Services Industry;
Advertising Industry;
London;
United Kingdom;
United States;
Europe;
North America
- February 2020
- Case
Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal
By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney
Jean-Claude Le Grand just stepped into a new role as Executive Vice-President for Human Resources at the global cosmetics company, L’Oréal. He is now responsible for the hiring, development, promotion, and retention of 83,000 employees worldwide. The highly successful...
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Keywords:
Advertising;
Business Headquarters;
Business Divisions;
Business Organization;
Change;
Change Management;
Transformation;
Competency and Skills;
Experience and Expertise;
Talent and Talent Management;
Demographics;
Diversity;
Gender;
Nationality;
Multinational Firms and Management;
Human Resources;
Employees;
Recruitment;
Retention;
Selection and Staffing;
Innovation and Management;
Jobs and Positions;
Employment;
Human Capital;
Leadership;
Leadership Development;
Leadership Style;
Leading Change;
Management Practices and Processes;
Marketing;
Brands and Branding;
Product Marketing;
Organizations;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Organizational Structure;
Personal Development and Career;
Planning;
Strategic Planning;
Problems and Challenges;
Networks;
Social Psychology;
Attitudes;
Power and Influence;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Business Strategy;
Advertising Industry;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
France;
Paris
- 2020
- Working Paper
From Sweetheart to Scapegoat: Brand Selfie-Taking Shapes Consumer Behavior
By: Reto Hofstetter, Gabriela Kunath and Leslie K. John
Increasingly, consumers are taking self-photos and marketers, eager to capitalize on this trend, have been asking consumers to take self-photos with brands (i.e., brand selfies). We suggest that consumer compliance with such requests sparks a self-inferential process...
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- December 2019 (Revised June 2021)
- Case
Mãe Terra and Unilever (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Priscilla Zogbi
The case concerns the sale of Mãe Terra, one of Brazil's leading brands for packaged organic foods, to the consumer goods giant Unilever in 2017. Working with Unilever management, Mãe Terra’s CEO Alexandre Borges must determine whether and how to keep Mãe Terra's B...
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Keywords:
Mergers ＆ Acquisitions;
Brand Management;
Sustainability;
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Mission and Purpose;
Social Enterprise;
Corporate Governance;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Environmental Sustainability;
Organizational Culture;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Brazil;
Latin America
- October 2019 (Revised December 2019)
- Case
La Roche-Posay: Growing L'Oreal's Active Cosmetics Brand
By: Jill Avery, Vincent Dessain and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej
As 2018 neared its end, Laetitia Toupet, international general manager of L’Oréal’s La Roche-Posay brand reflected on the brand’s achievements over the past year. At €1 billion in revenue, La Roche-Posay had recently become the number one dermocosmetics brand in the...
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Keywords:
Branding;
Brand Management;
Consumer Products;
Brand Positioning;
Target Market;
Global Brands;
Global Marketing;
Marketing;
Marketing Strategy;
Brands and Branding;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Consumer Products Industry;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry;
Health Industry;
France;
Europe;
Brazil;
China;
Asia;
South America;
United States;
North America