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The hard-hitting "Truth" campaign has been one of the most successful antismoking initiatives in history. The focus of the "Truth" campaign is to dissuade teenagers from smoking. The sponsor of the campaign, the American Legacy Foundation, is now trying to decide whether to readjust its priorities and focus on what it calls "the other side of the equation"--encouraging already-addicted adult smokers to quit smoking. However, the only way to do this is by diverting resources away from the "Truth" campaign, a campaign that they know is working. Includes color exhibits.

In 2003, Rose Marie Bravo, Burberry's CEO, is debating how to maintain the currency and cachet of the brand across its broad customer base, while entering new product categories and expanding distribution. In the past five years, the brand has become one of the hottest luxury brands in the world. But Bravo now faces a number of key decisions, including (1) which new product categories to enter, (2) how to deal with the appropriation of the brand by nontarget customers, and (3) how prominent the company's famed "check" pattern should be in its advertising and clothing. Includes color exhibits.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Since the 1970s, world-renowned architect and designer, Alessandro Mendini, has acted as adviser and counselor to Alessi, the Italian household goods design factory. By discussing Mendini's role as art director, the case introduces the artistic side of Alessi, where design ambitions need to be balanced with business considerations. Includes color exhibits.

Alessio Alessi, head of distribution at family-run Alessi S.p.A., is facing price and brand confusion among customers and is considering reorganizing Alessi's worldwide network of distributors. By describing the challenges facing Alessi, an internationally acclaimed design and manufacturing company of household objects for the table and kitchen, the case examines consumer marketing and distribution in general, as applied in the niche market of highly designed household goods for an Italian design factory. Includes color exhibits.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 504-016.

Starbucks, the dominant specialty-coffee brand in North America, must respond to recent market research indicating that the company is not meeting customer expectations in terms of service. To increase customer satisfaction, the company is debating a plan that would increase the amount of labor in the stores and theoretically increase speed-of-service. However, the impact of the plan (which would cost $40 million annually) on the company's bottom line is unclear.

In-N-Out Burger is a fast-food chain with 171 company-owned locations in three states--California, Nevada, and Arizona. It has an extremely hardcore customer base and the company appears to be in good financial health. The primary issue in this case concerns expansion: how quickly should the company expand and should that growth occur regionally or nationally? A secondary issue involves the question of brand stewardship, namely, who is in the best position to steward the brand as it continues to grow over the next decade?

In August 1998, George Cohon, founder and senior chairman of McDonald's Russia, is facing an economic state of emergency. Russia is in the midst of a severe currency crisis--the ruble has plummeted in value, creating massive inflation and widespread economic disarray. Traffic in the 26 restaurants has plummeted, and Cohon is struggling to figure out how to entice consumers back to McDonald's. Cohon is debating two issues: whether to raise prices and whether to add low-priced items, such as cabbage soup, to the menu.

Electronic Arts (EA), the world's largest independent game publisher, is preparing to launch an online, subscription-based version of the most popular PC game in history: The Sims. The new game is called "The Sims Online" and it differs from the original game in two key respects: the gaming experience and the payment structure. In this context, EA managers must finalize several decisions that they believe are fundamental to the game's success, including target market selection and pricing/payment structure.

In 2002, Great Dakota Bank's retail division is considering how heavily it should be promoting the company's online banking service. A recent promotional campaign appears to have significantly increased enrollments in online banking, but it is unclear whether the bank should continue to trade promotional incentives for online subscriptions. Contains data that force students to consider the impact of adding a new low-cost channel (the Internet) on consumer behavior; this analysis raises questions about whether the new channel does, in fact, lower the cost to serve customers.

Vans is best known for selling footwear and apparel to skateboarders, surfers, and other alternative sports athletes. In April 2002, Gary Schoenfeld, the CEO, is facing a number of challenges. With respect to footwear, he must decide what to do about two product lines that are struggling--the outdoor line of hiking shoes and the women's collection. More broadly, Vans is currently embarking on a number of new ventures, some of with which the company has little experience. For example, Vans is in the process of promoting a full-length movie, creating its own record label, and working with video-game developers to develop games based on its sporting events. Traces the up-and-down history of a niche fashion brand in a market in which consumers are notoriously fickle. In recent years, the CEO appears to have revived the brand; however, it is unclear whether the company is in danger of losing its hardcore customer base as it ventures into the consumer mainstream.

Provides a description of the rise and decline of Napster, the free Internet music-swapping service. Also describes second-generation peer-to-peer services (e.g., Gnutella) as well as paid subscription services (e.g., MusicNet, pressplay).

i-mode is a wireless Internet service offered in Japan by NTT DoCoMo. In just three years, the service has won over 30 million subscribers and achieved a 60% share of Japan's mobile Internet market, making it the most successful mobile data service in the world. It is now early 2002 and Keiichi Enoki, managing director of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service, faces two challenges. On the domestic front, i-mode must fend off two strong competitors while managing the migration of i-mode's existing customer base to DoCoMo's new 3G (third-generation) wireless service. On the international front, the company must figure out a way to bring the i-mode model to U.S. and European markets, where consumers appear reluctant to adopt the mobile Internet.

In early 2002, Pamela Pollace, vice president and director of Intel's worldwide marketing operations, is debating whether the company should extend its "Intel Inside" branding campaign to non-PC product categories, such as cell phones and PDAs. The "Intel Inside" campaign has been one of the most successful branding campaigns in history. However, the campaign is more than ten years old, and growth in the PC market appears to be stagnating. In contrast, sales of portable digital devices--such as PDAs and cell phones--appear to be growing at a healthy rate. Pollace is debating whether the "Intel Inside" campaign will work in these other product categories, even though Intel doesn't dominate these other markets like it does the PC market, and it isn't clear that consumers will associate Intel with these other markets.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 502-083.

Describes the marketing of Prozac and Paxil, two of the best-selling mental health drugs in history. Set in 2001, several months before the expiration of Prozac's patent, Eli Lilly (Prozac's manufacturer) and GlaxoSmithKline (Paxil's manufacturer) must decide how to respond to the introduction of generic Prozac into the market.

Microsoft is preparing for the launch of the Tablet PC, which allows users to use a pen (stylus) to run Windows and Windows applications, annotate documents, and create handwritten documents for later reference or even conversion to text. Microsoft's original equipment manufacturing partners are developing the Tablet PC hardware, while Microsoft develops the software (the Windows XP Tablet Edition). The Microsoft Tablet PC team is grappling with two critical issues related to the final marketing plan. The first concerns the positioning of the Tablet PC. One option is to position the device as a radical breakthrough in computing technology that will dramatically change the role of computers in the workplace and home. A much more conservative option is to position the Tablet PC as merely a high-end laptop with several interesting new features. The second concerns the initial target market for the device. Includes color exhibits.

Spreadsheet supplement to case 502-046.