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In 2015, almost 60 years after being introduced to the market, the Barbie doll was one of the world’s most iconic toys. However, both the industry landscape and consumer preferences were changing, and Barbie was yet again in the spotlight as consumers criticized the toy for providing a narrow and unrealistic vision of how women should look, how they should dress, and the careers they should pursue. Sales and public perception of the doll were both on the downswing. Was there a place for the Barbie doll in 2015, or was this the end of the line for the iconic doll? What could Mattel, the company behind Barbie, do to turn things around?

Fruitzone India Limited is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company was contemplating launching a new flavour of fruit juice and decided to conduct a feasibility study. It hired an external market research agency, India Monitor International (IM) to conduct the market research. This case discusses the exploratory phase of the research conducted by IMI. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses

Fruitzone India Limited is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company is conducting a market research to identify a new flavour of fruit juice that they could launch. The case discusses how Fruitzone India Limited conducts an exploratory research and then prepares to conduct a confirmatory research. The case can be used to discuss different exploratory research techniques, how to interpret the findings of exploratory research and questionnaire construction. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses.

Supplement to case A00053. Fruitzone India Limited (FIL) is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company has conducting a market research to identify a new flavour of fruit juice that they could launch. The case discusses how the data collected in confirmatory research using a primary research is analyzed and interpreted. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses.

Supplement to case A00053. Fruitzone India Limited (FIL) is the Indian subsidiary of the multinational company Gypsy Inc., the global leader in the beverages industry. The company has conducting a market research to identify a new flavour of fruit juice that they could launch. After they had completed the confirmatory research they still had some questions and they have gone for another round of validation through primary research, including simulated test marketing. This case is useful for participants in Business Research Methods, Market research and Qualitative research courses.

This case has been set in June 2015, ten months after Unilever had re-launched Lifebuoy soap in Myanmar. The brand had performed exceedingly well, particularly in the metro and urban areas of Myanmar, and Unilever was on-target to achieve its goal of changing the handwashing behaviour of 20 million people in Myanmar by 2020. Despite the challenges of operating in a country where little or no data was available, the Unilever Myanmar team had put together a number of initiatives to make Lifebuoy the number one brand in its category in Myanmar for the future. But was it enough? Did the Lifebuoy proposition resonate with the population? And were Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan initiatives the right activation strategy?

In March 2015, the founder and chief executive officer of Nyassa Retail Private Limited — a manufacturer of premium natural and luxury bath and body products based in Mumbai — was contemplating how to ensure the company’s future growth. Product acceptance had been phenomenal, allowing the company to build up a reasonable market share, with healthy profit margins. Although Nyassa had experimented with franchising as a quick way to gain a foothold in and cater to new target markets, it had quickly realized that the odds of losing control over the process due to lack of infrastructure were too high and might result in dissatisfaction and poor service. Thus, it had focused on developing its chain of exclusive retail stores, kiosks, and “shops in shops.” As competition from both Indian and international companies increased, the company was exploring online marketing options, return policy, packaging changes, and cross-selling for its new ultra-premium products. Should it penetrate deeper in India, skim the markets that showed high potential, launch the brand in overseas markets, or accept venture capital funding to achieve its goals?

This case illustrates how Chilli Beans became the most popular sunglasses retailer in Brazil and the issues it faced when expanding into the U.S.

In March 2015, the founder and chief executive officer of Nyassa Retail Private Limited - a manufacturer of premium natural and luxury bath and body products based in Mumbai - was contemplating how to ensure the company's future growth. Product acceptance had been phenomenal, allowing the company to build up a reasonable market share, with healthy profit margins. Although Nyassa had experimented with franchising as a quick way to gain a foothold in and cater to new target markets, it had quickly realized that the odds of losing control over the process due to lack of infrastructure were too high and might result in dissatisfaction and poor service. Thus, it had focused on developing its chain of exclusive retail stores, kiosks, and "shops in shops." As competition from both Indian and international companies increased, the company was exploring online marketing options, return policy, packaging changes, and cross-selling for its new ultra-premium products. Should it penetrate deeper in India, skim the markets that showed high potential, launch the brand in overseas markets, or accept venture capital funding to achieve its goals?

While both management and marketing courses detail the importance of having a strategy, there is a dearth of tools available that can help students understand how to create a strategic plan-as well as some of the attributes that make for stronger strategic plans. This technical note describes a tool that can be used to construct a strategic marketing plan. The note helps walk students through the process of constructing a strategic marketing plan and provides examples. This is appropriate for strategy, marketing strategy, brand management, and marketing capstone courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

This technical note is designed to introduce the Creative Brief, a document that plays a crucial role in the process of converting marketing strategy into implementation. Many creatives believe that briefs are generally poorly written, which then leads to poor advertising messages. This note will help strategists better understand the criticality of developing well-crafted, carefully considered, and expertly vetted creative briefs that increase the chance of superior implementation and, ultimately, impact. While this note focuses on a Creative Brief, there are many similar documents (e.g., project briefs and technology briefs) that serve the same bridging purpose. As a result, the insight from the note can be useful in trying to create any document that helps convert strategy into action.

This are Excel spreadsheets of Exhibit 3-6 from the InsightSquared: Developing the Sales and Marketing Plan case #816074.

By July 2015, 20% of Starbucks' payments in the United States came through its mobile app. The company had created a tool to both drive loyalty and grow its customer base. No stranger to innovation, Starbucks was partnering with iTunes as early as 2007, earned its first mobile marketer of the year award by 2010, introduced its mobile app in 2011, and by 2015, 94% of Facebook users were either fans of Starbucks or friends with someone who was. This case explores the company's commitment to mobile and its social media prowess, and considers just what it takes to drive loyalty in a customer base.

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited was the largest manufacturer of farm equipment in India, with a more than 40 per cent market share. It manufactured five different tractor brands in the domestic market, including a brand of mini-tractor, the Yuvraj 215 NXT. This brand was targeted at small farmers with less than two hectares of land, who were primarily dependent on bullocks or power tillers for farming but aspired to own a tractor to increase productivity at an affordable price. Although such farmers formed over 70 per cent of the farming population, the penetration of tractors in this segment was the lowest. While the situation demonstrated high potential, selling tractors in this segment was challenging due to low product awareness, limited access to information, and low financial resources among target customers. With such a product in its portfolio, how should Mahindra & Mahindra Limited promote the Yuvraj 215 NXT among small and marginal farmers?

In June 2013, The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) launched Coke Life, a naturally sweetened but sugar-reduced carbonated soft drink. Coke Life complemented TCCC's established product line consisting of Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero. Coke Life substituted a portion of the sugar component with stevia leaf extract and contained 35 per cent less sugar than Coca-Cola Classic. TCCC claimed that “Coke Life is for adults looking for a great tasting Coke but [one with] fewer kilojoules and [that is] sweetened from natural sources.” Affected by governmental interventions, such as the implementation of special taxes and warning labels, the consumption of soft drinks had slowed down significantly, which had caused leading soft drink manufacturers to introduce “green” product modifications of their traditional beverages. When TCCC launched Coke Life, the market for carbonated soft drinks was highly competitive and was shrinking in part due to concerns over soft drinks contributing to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Was Coke Life likely to be successful? Or was it simply a “greenwashed” product in a highly segmented market?

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case KEL932.

Brands make promises to consumers, but where do these promises come from? How do brand teams decide what promise to make? This is where the brand essence statement (BES) comes in. It is a document, picture, video, or some other communication vehicle that captures, usually in words and visuals, the intrinsic nature and indispensable quality that makes the brand unique, compelling, and meaningful to the target. Importantly, the BES goes far beyond marketing communications to describe the holistic nature of the brand, and it informs company-wide decision-making. Identifying the essence of a brand such that it fits with the target, can fit with the current brand, and is superior to competitors requires artistry and science-artistry to create a BES and science to assess, refine, validate, and perfect it. This note explores the process of developing a superior BES-and then consistently executing against it.

Chinese automobile manufacturer Geely Automotive (Geely) bought the manufacturer of the iconic London taxi cab from its bankrupt British parent company. The manufacturer's sole product, the TX4, was a highly specialized taxi vehicle ideally suited for taxi work. It included many features for disabled passengers such as a power-operated wheelchair ramp and a wide rear passenger door. However, the vehicle cost more than twice as much as its competitors and demand was not enough for successful mass production. On the one hand, increasing awareness of disability rights in most developed nations suggested that Geely would have an opportunity to take the TX4 worldwide with an aggressive promotional campaign, and would benefit from cheap production costs in China. On the other hand, transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft seemed to be pushing the entire taxi industry towards extinction.

Acxiom built the market for personal data, yet sales have been flat for a decade during which marketing's appetite for data has exploded. Will the acquisition of a digital data onboarder, LiveRamp, give marketers what they want from a data broker?