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In November 2004, Larry Fish, chairman of Citizens Bank, is wondering about the challenges posed by the latest and largest acquisition in the history of the bank. Fish has always believed that the success of Citizens thus far was facilitated by the credo he introduced in 2002. With an ever-growing organization, and more acquisitions in the future, he needs to know what changes need to be made to continue the effectiveness of the credo and his commitment to customers, employees, and communities.

After three months of close collaboration, the Leo Burnett USA/Worldwide agency and partner Cartel and Images advertising/creative team were poised to unveil to senior Army officials at the Pentagon their replacement to the "Be All You Can Be" campaign to help increase lagging recruitment.

In mid-2003, CEO Chris McCormick felt L.L. Bean was in a good position to begin to grow again. For nearly 90 years, the company sold clothing and gear for outdoor enthusiasts through its catalogs and a single retail store in Freeport, Maine. In the three decades prior to 1996, sales growth averaged nearly 20% per year. In 1995, sales hit $1 billion, but stagnated for the next six years--growing at less than 2% annually. The company responded with a structural reorganization and investment in its Internet sales channel. In 2002 and early 2003, McCormick led an effort to reduce overhead and improve its internal systems, including the elimination of 1,000 jobs--which reduced year-round headcount by nearly 15%. After these initiatives, the company remained profitable and enjoyed a strong balance sheet, but sales growth remained near zero. Most significantly, between 2000 and 2002, L.L. Bean opened three retail stores in shopping malls outside Maine. McCormick viewed these three stores as the first of a chain of stores that would form a new selling channel and enable L.L. Bean to grow. Early results from the three new stores were below expectations; L.L. Bean spent significant time examining its retail store activities in an attempt to learn where it could improve. As the company began to apply those lessons in the stores, performance picked up, fueling McCormick's optimism that L.L. Bean could grow with retail stores.

Three managing directors at Peabody Simpson had just returned from a firm-wide recruiting event at Columbia University, which they had covered together, as all were alumni. They were commiserating about having to submit revised forecasts to their division heads by the end of the week. Alec Hastings, head of Global Institutional Securities, wanted an update on year-to-date expense. They sat at their favorite watering hole and discussed the challenge of cutting $600 million out of the operating budget.

As the financial services industry converges, how should Charles Schwab, widely known as a discount brokerage firm, position its brand? This case presents elements of the company's overall brand strategy--including brand assets, choice of target audience, and media message.

Describes a situation facing Philip Satre, chairman and CEO of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. Satre was reading a May 2000 Wall Street Journal story that discussed the company's marketing success in targeting low rollers, the 100% growth in stock price and profits in the year to December 1999, and the revenue growth of 50%, which significantly outpaced the industry. The exciting articles aroused Satre's desire to know more about the activities of his then COO, Gary Loveman, and his team of "propeller heads" with respect to their database marketing efforts and the Total Reward Program. Satre was interested in two questions: He wanted to know how much these marketing efforts had contributed to Harrah's overall performance and whether these marketing results were a one-shot event or could be achieved year after year, especially as the competition introduced similar programs.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 502-011.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 502026.

Describes Jeff Miller's attempt to implement Geoffrey Moore's crossing the chasm ideas at enterprise software vendor, Documentum.

Internet QuickBooks, a successful product with a strong brand and an 85% share of retail sales, was faced with the challenge of meeting market growth expectations in a mature, slowing market segment. Generating recurring revenues by providing value-added online services that complement the desktop software was viewed as an attractive solution by QuickBook's management. Intuit now had to decide the best way to provide these services--i.e. build them in house or acquire them through partnerships. In doing so, the company had to evaluate ways to capture value in the Intuit QuickBooks brand without damaging it. Teaching purpose: Taught in the first-year marketing course to bring out the issues related to capturing value.

Describes the situation faced by GCI.com in April 2000, soon after raising $12 million for their new venture. After hiring an advertising agency, management needs to decide on the nature of the advertising campaign to target the right set of customers with the right message.

An online resource for independent professionals must create a marketing plan to build brand awareness. Along with the tone and message of the ads, the executives must choose from several different treatments and media, keeping within their budget.

Volkswagen of America introduced the New Beetle at the Detroit auto show in January 1998 to rave reviews from the automobile press and industry gurus. Elisabeth Vanzura, marketing director of Volkswagen American had the challenging task of converting this enthusiasm to sales. Her first set of decisions related to the target market selection and positioning of the New Beetle. Includes color exhibits.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 501-023.

Describes the start-up and first-year difficulties of Freeport Studio, a unit of L.L. Bean, founded in 1998 to sell women's clothing by catalog. First-year sales were far below plan, and projected profits did not materialize. Fran Philip must identify the problems and plan what must be done to make the unit profitable by year two. Includes color exhibits.

Describes the situation faced by Omnitel soon after launching its mobile telecommunication services in Italy in December 1995. Competing against the Italian monopoly, TIM, Omnitel had positioned its services to be better on the quality dimension. However, sales were significantly below expectations. In order to develop a new strategy, Omnitel conducted extensive marketing research. This research identified the varying needs of different customer segments. Omnitel now had to decide whether to attack a new segment with a new service plan, "LIBERO," to improve on past performance.

Describes a situation faced by Mr. Ely Callaway, the 80-year-old founder, chairman, and CEO of Callaway Golf Co., in the fall of 1999. After a decade of stunning success with the marketing concept, Callaway suffered a significant loss and witnessed a steep decline in sales in 1998. Mr. Callaway had built a $800 million business by making a truly more satisfying product for the average golfer, making it pleasingly different from the competition and communicating the benefits to the consumer. The results in 1998 forced Mr. Callaway to reconsider the marketing program that had successfully supported the product until now.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 501-019.

Net.Genesis is planning a strategy for the developing Internet market. In particular, it is creating the category of e-business intelligence and striving to be the brand leader in it.

In spring 1998, Pradeep Jotwani, vice president and general manager of the Consumer Products Business Organization of the Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), was contemplating the increasing success of e-commerce and its implications for his division. The consumer products group had started selling refurbished printers through an Internet outlet center in December 1997, but Jotwani was now considering a move to sell new printers directly to consumers via this new channel. If he were to make such a move, he wondered which products to sell online at what prices, and how to communicate this strategy to the channel partners without damaging the existing distribution structure.