Marketing

Marketing

Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students

About the Unit

Marketing is critical for organic growth of a business and its central role is in creating, communicating, capturing and sustaining value for an organization. Marketing helps a firm in creating value by better understanding the needs of its customers and providing them with innovative products and services. This value is communicated through a variety of channels as well as through the firm's branding strategy. Effective management of customers and pricing allows the firm to capture part of the value it has created. Finally, by building an effective customer-centric organization a firm attempts to sustain value over time.

Our faculty addresses a broad array of topics in all of these areas. Our work attempts to get a better understanding of how consumers use information and make choices and how these choices affect the firm's strategy for new product development, customer relationship management, branding and other marketing efforts. We examine issues related to branding, business marketing, global marketing, distribution channels, pricing, direct and interactive marketing, sales management and return on marketing investment. Some of our faculty specializes in specific industries such as retailing, agribusiness, social enterprise, media, arts and entertainment.

There are several new developments in marketing that offer opportunities for us to make important contributions in the future. The current economic crisis is changing consumers' current and future purchase and consumption patterns. Search engines have changed the way consumers obtain information and make decisions and they are also dramatically changing the advertising industry. Social networks and user generated content have opened a new way for consumers to engage with each other as well as with brands and companies. There are significant changes in the attitudes of consumers and companies about social issues. Consumer preferences and choice of products are increasingly influenced by social factors. Companies are recognizing that there is a large market at the "bottom of the pyramid" and marketing to these consumers may require a new framework. These and related developments provide great opportunities for the marketing faculty to make a significant impact in the future.

Honoring Professor Emeritus Al Silk, HBS and Family Virtual Gathering (December 10, 2021)

Recent Publications

Companies Should Be Guided by Their Purpose and Values When Deciding Whether or Not to Exit Russia

By: Hubert Joly
  • Article |
  • Fortune
Related

Connecter les rêves

By: Hubert Joly and Mariana Arnaut
  • 2022 |
  • Chapter |
  • Faculty Research
Trouver du sens dans son travail est plus que jamais vécu comme essentiel. L’entreprise, l’une des organisations humaines les plus capables d’innovation, a un rôle central à jouer face aux enjeux sociaux et environnementaux. Reste à déterminer quels principes peuvent guider l’action des dirigeants d’aujourd’hui et des dirigeants de demain. C’est ce que cet ouvrage choral propose de mettre en lumière. Loin d’opposer jeunes idéalistes et hommes d’affaires aguerris, les auteurs offrent un espace de dialogue entre des dirigeants et des étudiants. Les uns se confient sur leur parcours, le sens qu’ils trouvent à leur action ; les autres partagent leurs intuitions de l’entreprise et leurs aspirations. De cet échange inédit émerge des principes communs : la nécessité d’être authentique, solidaire avec les autres, et de s’engager pour une raison d’être, une mission. L’enjeu est considérable et traverse les générations : ce livre sera une source d’inspiration indispensable pour les responsables de demain. [Finding meaning in one's work is more essential than ever. The company, one of the human organizations most capable of innovation, has a central role to play in the face of social and environmental issues. It remains to be determined which principles can guide the action of today’s leaders and tomorrow’s leaders. This is what this choral work proposes to highlight. Far from opposing young idealists and seasoned businessmen, the authors offer a space for dialogue between leaders and students. Some confide in their journey, the meaning they find in their action; the others share their business insights and aspirations. From this unprecedented exchange emerge common principles: the need to be authentic, to show solidarity with others, and to commit to a purpose, a mission. The stakes are considerable and cross the generations: this book will be a an indispensable source of inspiration for the leaders of tomorrow.]
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Banorte Móvil: Data-Driven Mobile Growth

By: Ayelet Israeli and Carla Larangeira
  • April 2022 |
  • Teaching Note |
  • Faculty Research
In mid-2019, Carlos Hank was deliberating over the results for Banorte Móvil—the mobile application for Banorte, Mexico’s most profitable and second-largest financial institution. Hank, who had been appointed as Banorte´s Chairman of the Board in January 2015, had overseen Banorte’s transformation (and multi-million-dollar investment) from a product and client volume-focused bank into a customer-centric, technology and data-driven organization with a radically new focus. Beyond investing in a new technology platform and deploying new digital channels, Banorte also invested in the development of internal capacities to convert data intelligence into profits. Spearheaded by José Antonio Murillo, an economist with a Ph.D. from Rice University, Banorte’s Analytics Business Unit (ABU) kicked off early on 2015, reporting directly to upper management and focused on increasing customer lifetime value. Over the course of its four-year trajectory, through data analytics and experimentation, which involved both experimenting with client incentives and tailored communication strategies through multiple channels, the ABU had successfully achieved higher product placement rates, particularly under Banorte Móvil’s platform. Yet, with 2.25 million active users, Banorte Móvil was still far from reaching its 4-million-user target by 2020. Adoption picked up, but Banorte Móvil was still losing many potential adopters along the mobile customer journey, particularly in its activation phase. Furthermore, 81% of app activity was for account balance or transaction views, with financial operations, such as card or service payments or acquisition of new bank products, accounting for a minority of the activity. If Banorte wanted to remain a top player in Mexico’s financial sector, it was clear to upper management that growth in mobile banking needed to be a priority. How could the bank successfully achieve its target? And, even if Banorte Móvil’s adoption numbers increased, would it be possible to get more value and engagement through this channel? As Banorte Móvil took off, Hank dwelled on the strategic decisions he had to make, especially considering what client segments to focus on for mobile adoption and use and how to effectively reach out to them. Furthermore, Hank knew they could not afford to neglect other banking channels, which still accounted for the bulk of Banorte’s operations.
Keywords: Data Analytics; Customer Lifetime Value; Financial Institutions; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Customers; Technology Adoption; Communication Strategy; Banking Industry; Mexico; Latin America
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Mastercard Labs (B)

By: Linda A. Hill, Sunil Gupta, Emily Tedards and Julia Kelley
  • April 2022 |
  • Supplement |
  • Faculty Research
When Ajaypal (Ajay) Banga became the CEO of Mastercard in 2010, digital technologies were on the rise, and innovation needed to become a strategic imperative at the company. Banga tasked Garry Lyons, who had joined Mastercard through the 2009 acquisition of Orbiscom, with infusing innovation into Mastercard’s culture. With a significant incremental investment, and free reign to spend it as he pleased, Lyons created Mastercard Labs—a global innovation lab network that became a catalytic force for change at the company. In 2018, Ken Moore, a former innovation leader at Citigroup, became Mastercard Labs’ new leader. By then, Mastercard had made significant progress on its journey of cultural and digital transformation, but the company had to continue to think and act differently in order to compete and thrive in the fast-changing digital world. Moore’s task was to evolve Mastercard Labs so that it could continue delivering value to Mastercard.
Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Culture; Transformation; Organizational Culture; Culture Change; Organizational Adaptation; Organizational Effectiveness; Alignment; Leadership; Leadership Development; Innovation; Innovation Ecosystems; Diversity; Collaboration; Co-creation; Learning Organizations; Empowerment; Ecosystem; Agility; Prototype; Experiment; Partnerships; Operating Model; Risk Management; Digital Transformation; Metrics; Payments; Financial Industry; Financial Inclusion; Ambidexterity; Corporate Innovation; Innovation Lab; Accelerator; Start-up; Fintech
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Mastercard: Creating a World Beyond Cash

By: Sunil Gupta, Linda A. Hill, Julia Kelley and Emily Tedards
  • April 2022 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In late 2021, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach and Chairman and former CEO Ajaypal “Ajay” Banga considered how Mastercard could best position itself for continued success in the years to come. Since Mastercard’s initial public offering in 2006, the company had grown and transformed, driven in part by a core strategy of “Grow-Diversify-Build” and vision of a “World Beyond Cash.” During Banga’s recent tenure as CEO, Mastercard had invested in creating a strong culture, recruiting top talent, driving innovation, partnering with would-be competitors, and launching new services. Now, with Miebach at the helm as Mastercard’s CEO, the payments landscape was experiencing increasing democratization of the banking system, the rise of blockchain and cryptocurrency, and increasing nationalism, among other shifts. Miebach and Banga needed to identify the most pressing threats and opportunities in the ever-evolving payments landscape and determine how to take advantage of them. As they looked ahead, they asked themselves: Was Mastercard well positioned for the next 10 years?
Keywords: Technological Innovation; Leadership; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Change; Change Management; Money; Cash; Credit; Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Central Banking; Financial Instruments; Credit Cards; Financial Markets; Globalization; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Leadership Style; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Information Technology; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States; New York (state, US)
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Reputation Burning: Analyzing the Impact of Brand Sponsorship on Social Influencers

By: Magie Cheng and Shunyuan Zhang
  • 2022 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
The growth of the influencer marketing industry warrants an empirical examination of the effect of posting sponsored videos on an influencer’s reputation. We collect a novel dataset of user-generated YouTube videos created by prominent English-speaking influencers in the beauty and style category. We extract a rich set of theory-driven video features and use DiNardo-Fortin-Lemieux reweighting to construct comparable treatment and control groups that are matched at the influencer-video level. A difference-in-differences analysis on the matched sample finds a reputation-burning effect: posting a sponsored video, compared to posting an equivalent organic video, costs the influencer 0.17% of their reputation (operationalized as the number of subscribers). The reputation-burning effect is stronger among influencers with larger audiences; an analysis of audience engagement and comment text reveals a larger gap in the audience’s response to sponsored vs. organic videos among influencers with larger (vs. smaller) audiences. The reputation-burning effect is mitigated when there is high fit between the sponsored content and the influencer’s “usual” content and when the promoted brand is less well-known. Our study empirically tests an assumption of several theoretical works, contributes to the literature on influencer marketing and celebrity endorsements, and provides managerial implications for influencers, brands, and social media platforms.
Keywords: Influencer Marketing; Social Influencers; Brand; Sponsorship; Video Analytics; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Media; Reputation
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Christie's and Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi: The Value of a Brand

By: Jill Avery
  • April 2022 |
  • Teaching Note |
  • Faculty Research
A sixteenth 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 power of the Leonardo brand and Christie’s marketing plan, which featured art world experts, Hollywood celebrities, and retailtainment, fueled a $450 million price for a painting previously sold for $10,000 just twelve years earlier.
Keywords: Brand Management; Brand Valuation; Art; Art Dealer; Auction House; Brand Storytelling; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Fine Arts Industry; United States; Italy
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Mastercard Labs (A)

By: Linda A. Hill, Sunil Gupta, Emily Tedards and Julia Kelley
  • April 2022 (Revised May 2022) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
When Ajaypal (Ajay) Banga became the CEO of Mastercard in 2010, he shifted the company’s competitive focus from card networks to cash itself. Mastercard’s new vision of a “World Beyond Cash” distilled into a three-pronged framework: Grow the core business, Diversify customers and employees, and Build new businesses that reinforce Mastercard’s core capabilities. With digital technologies on the rise, Banga knew that innovation would need to become a strategic imperative. Yet, in a 2010 survey, Mastercard’s 7,000 employees ranked “innovation” as the 26th most important factor for the future of Mastercard in a list of 27. Banga tasked Garry Lyons, who had joined Mastercard through the 2009 acquisition of Orbiscom, with infusing innovation into Mastercard’s culture. With a significant incremental investment, and free reign to spend it as he pleased, Lyons created Mastercard Labs—a global R&D network that became a catalytic force for change at the company. In December 2017, Lyons is stepping down from his role as Chief Innovation Officer and reflecting on the path ahead for Mastercard and its Labs.
Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Culture; Organizational Culture; Culture Change; Organizational Adaptation; Organizational Effectiveness; Alignment; Leadership; Leadership Development; Innovation; Innovation Ecosystems; Ecosystem; Diversity; Collaboration; Co-creation; Learning Organizations; Empowerment; Globalization; Agility; Prototype; Experiment; Partnerships; Operating Model; Risk Management; Digital Transformation; Metrics; Payments; Financial Inclusion; Financial Industry; Ambidexterity; Corporate Innovation; Innovation Lab
Related
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Contact Information

Marketing Unit
Harvard Business School
Morgan Hall
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
Marketing@hbs.edu