In early 2020, the co-founders of DOUGH T.O, an entrepreneurial venture launched in Toronto, Canada, were evaluating several expansion options. Since its founding in 2017, the brand had expanded its edible cookie dough business from its original pop-up model to one that included online sales and a catering business. The co-founders were considering five options: opening a permanent flagship location, offering franchise rights, distributing product through grocery stores, entering into strategic partnerships, or pursuing a unique, creative option by "thinking outside the box." Regardless of the decision they pursued, the co-founders wanted to pave the way for their company to become a sustainable business.

While the practice of eating insects was still in its infancy in North America, Aspire Food Group (Aspire), with its Aketta cricket-protein products, was positioned for success in this emerging market. In 2018, having recently acquired Exo, a maker of cricket-based protein bars, Aspire's co-founders faced an important decision regarding the Aketta brand. While Aspire had experienced some success in marketing cricket powder, whole roasted crickets in popular chip flavours, and granola bites under the Aketta brand, the acquisition of Exo would enable the company to enter the protein bar category and possibly launch other product and brand extensions. As the founders devised a comprehensive marketing plan for the newly acquired brand, they needed to identify which consumer segments would be most receptive to Exo protein bars and most profitable.

In September 2019, a marketing director at Multinational Beverage Inc. faced a dilemma: she needed to determine how to reverse the declining sales and market share of her Florida-based orange juice brand, Fresh Squeeze. While one potential solution was to move production to Brazil to take advantage of lower production costs, the marketing director also had to consider the effect this would have on Fresh Squeeze's brand image. Given industry dynamics, would becoming a low-priced competitor lead to the right positioning for Fresh Squeeze, or were Florida oranges the heart of this business?

Two entrepreneur brothers purchased Trafalgar Ales, Meads and Distillery, a brewery with 19 active individual beer brands, each generating a small amount of sales. The brothers' purchase came at a time when they were transitioning from a contract brewer-a brand that outsources the actual production to another firm-to a production brewer. The challenge for the entrepreneurs was to determine how to manage their stable of brands for the future. Trafalgar Ales, Meads and Distillery seemed to be pursuing a strategy of releasing small batches of unique beers, and managing its portfolio as if it were a constellation of brands. However, the two brothers were wondering if it made more sense to focus on a handful of brands and create a distinctive identity for each brand.

In February 2018, the founder of Toronto-based Mixtape Social was wondering how to grow his business. He had spent the past two years bootstrapping the two-pronged business, which offered services to help professional athletes build their personal brands and creative advertising and social media campaigns for corporations and other entities. With a roster of professional athletes, including Mitch Marner, one of the top players for the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, the business had succeeded. Having gained momentum in the last year, the founder thought about how he should map out the next two years: Where should he focus? What services should he offer? How should he position his value proposition?

In Canada, the Budweiser brand of beer was managed by Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V.'s Labatt Breweries subsidiary in Toronto, Canada. In 2016, a senior manager noticed that fewer younger consumers-those aged 19 to 24-were drinking Budweiser beer. In response, the brand increased its investment in television advertising and initiated price incentives, but the sales volumes did not respond accordingly. The senior manager's brand and research teams were tasked with determining which key messages to emphasize and which advertising vehicles to use to gain market share for this segment of the beer market. They started their work by reviewing consumer research on Budweiser's television advertisements. What could the teams do to increase Budweiser's engagement with this young demographic?

In 2009, Parle Products Pvt. Limited (Parle), a leading Indian biscuit manufacturer, had the distinction of producing the largest selling glucose biscuit brand by volume in the world, the Parle-G. Parle-G biscuits sold for approximately US$1 per kilogram and as very few processed and ready-to-eat foods were available at this price point, Parle-G was strongly associated with offering value for money (VFM). A looming problem in this brand category for Parle was that the input prices of two major raw materials for the Parle-G biscuits (which together accounted for 55 per cent of their input costs) had risen enough in the past 18 months to decrease margins from 15 per cent to less than 10 per cent. Pressure to restore margins led Parle to consider a price increase yet a previous attempt had caused dramatic reduction in sales. Parle subsequently addressed rising input costs by reducing the weight of the package, franchising production, reducing supply chain costs and reducing packaging costs. Parle could not ignore the deeply entrenched perception of VFM when devising both short- and long-term marketing plans to retain Parle-G's success in the marketplace. These plans needed to address segmentation, positioning and changing Indian demographics when considering a potential price increase for Parle-G biscuits.

Apple Inc. is one of the world's most successful and most recognizable companies. Over its 30 year existence, the company had seen a lot of changes in the computer industry. What would the future hold for the computer giant in a rapidly changing world? How should the company allocate resources between its more traditional offerings (computers) and its newer products (iPods, iPhones, Apple TV, etc.) in order to maintain and improve its market position. Also, how should Apple's unique retail strategy be used to support the company's product decisions, and by capitalizing on new and emerging trends thus further maintaining its competitive advantage.

In early 2009, Microsoft began preparing for the launch of its next operating system, Windows 7. Successfully marketing Windows 7 had become essential for the company, which had faced numerous challenges in recent years, including a commercial and public relation failure of its last operating system, Windows Vista. While Windows 7 had received strong pre-release reviews, its success depended on Microsoft's ability to overcome the lingering skepticism and resentment of Windows Vista. The case presents students with the opportunity to perform a rich analysis of the difficulties in launching a new product following the commercial and public relations failure of the predecessor and provides a platform from which to explore the psychology (from both a consumer and managerial perspective) behind new product adoption. The case is structured to promote an analysis of Vista's relations failure using a psychological framework. Based on this analysis, students are challenged to devise a strategy for the launch of Windows 7 and to make decisions related to advertising communications, pricing, product, target market selection and brand image.