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Although Western economies have not yet transitioned out of crisis, the luxury sector is growing again, especially at the high end. In emerging countries, the luxury sector's expansion has reached double digits. However, as luxury products continue to penetrate global markets, the prestige of brands like Louis Vuitton has not declined at all. This seems at odds with the concept of luxury being tied to rarity and exclusivity. Thus, how can we reconcile these facts with theory? In order to capture mounting demands-not only from extraordinary people, but also from ordinary individuals-luxury brands enact virtual rarity tactics, construct themselves as art, and adopt a fashion business model while deemphasizing exceptional quality and country of origin. Rarity of ingredients or craft has been replaced by qualitative rarity. Further, the cult of the designer is a potent tool in building emotional connections with a vast number of clients. Today, brands in the luxury sector are actually selling symbolic and magic power to the masses. There exists a culture gap between Asia and the West; namely Asian consumers feel safer buying prestigious Western brands with which individuals around them are familiar. The insights offered herein provide clues for entrepreneurs attempting to launch luxury brands.

Given the great potential of developing marketing campaigns delivered via mobile devices and the evolution of near-field communication technologies, this study examines factors influencing consumers' acceptance of untethered, or mobile, marketing across three influential markets: the United States, China, and Europe. We examine the extent to which the usefulness of mobile information/programs and individual characteristics-namely innovativeness, personal attachment, and risk avoidance-jointly influence attitudes toward mobile marketing, and how the latter influences consumers' mobile marketing activity across three large and influential markets. We found perceived usefulness, consumer innovativeness, and personal attachment to directly influence attitudes toward mobile marketing in all three markets. In China and Europe, risk avoidance also negatively influences attitudes toward mobile marketing. Marketers seeking to build and maintain customer relationships via mobile platforms should view these individual characteristics as levers brands can push to amplify consumers' acceptance of mobile marketing.

While Facebook usage has seen explosive growth, scant research has explored returns on advertising dollars marketers invest in this emerging medium. Our two-stage study of eighteen-to-twenty-five-year-old college students suggests that many of the advertising dollars consumer goods firms spend on Facebook are likely wasted. This study highlights that, in addition to staying in touch with friends and relatives, Facebook users are primarily motivated by three desires: (1) to voyeuristically peer into others' lives, (2) to create a distinctive identity for themselves, and (3) to act on their inner narcissistic tendencies. These motivations also make them poor prospects for advertisers, as users seem disinterested in Facebook ads and disengaged from marketers' attempts to build brands. Herein, we discuss challenges for marketers, as well as opportunities for building brands and driving sales via Facebook.

In the spring of 2008, the marketing manager of Wheaties was getting ready for a meeting to discuss ideas about how to reinvigorate one of the most iconic and well-known cereal brands in America, which over the preceding few years had experienced a steady decline in market share. The only limitation the manager would impose was that any new product could not replace the original Wheaties. Otherwise, she was open to any opportunity to differentiate Wheaties from the orange box and yet fully embody the brand equity.

The marketing manager and the Wheaties brand team launched a line extension they believed would bolster the legendary brand. Wheaties Fuel, a ready-to-eat cereal targeted specifically toward men and designed to help users "Prepare to Win" was introduced to consumers in September 2009, with a 360º campaign utilizing television, print, online, and in-store promotions to build awareness. By gaining buy-in early on from Peyton Manning, Kevin Garnett, and Dr. John Ivy, a world-renowned expert on the role of nutrition and exercise performance, the Wheaties team was able to not only create a cereal that was made by champions for champions but also to create prelaunch buzz with a unique method of creating the cereal.

The results were not promising following the initial campaign and launch of Wheaties Fuel as sales dipped five months after it had been put on store shelves. Still there was a 96% incremental gain in sales of the original Wheaties, and many of its new consumers were younger than usual. Based on the initial feedback, the team began using a lighter tone in its messaging, and continued to monitor, learn, and optimize the product and the campaign.

A senior product manager for a telecommunications company has been asked to propose ideas for generating new revenue from video gamers who use his company's Internet services. The manager has commissioned the development of "experience maps" for three subsegments within the gamer segment. The experience maps, which are reproduced in the case, provide students with an opportunity to generate customer insights based on real qualitative data.

The case is set in early 2009, at a time when Vietnam is rocked by the global recession. It opens with the discovery by Ly Ngoc Minh, CEO of the porcelain manufacturing company, Minh Long I, that Metro, a chain of seven department stores across Vietnam, has discounted the selling price of its products and has no intention of bringing the price of its porcelain pieces back to the level that was agreed on in their sales and distribution agreement. The backdrop for this decision comes in the midst of a turbulent economy characterised by high inflation and 20%-plus interest rates. Minh Long I management, seeks to preserve their position as a premium brand in the market and must decide whether to terminate the agreement with Metro, and potentially other distributors, or allow distributors to set their own prices. Should Minh decide to change the company's distribution strategy in light of this new economic reality or continue with a high-price high-touch emphasis?

Centuryply operates in the building materials space - specifically, in interior decoration with plywood, laminates and decorative veneers - alongside other categories like cement, shipping, and logistics. In India, this market is dominated by unorganized players, and plywood has always been treated as a commodity by marketers. Given the boom in real estate across residences and offices, as well as the current rapid lifestyle changes in India, the company expects sustainable and continuous growth and wants to achieve greater success in the wood furnishings category. Centuryply views investment in brand-building as a way to beat commoditization.The focus of the case is to explain innovative branding strategies that may be adopted by marketers to create a brand in the commodity market. In addition, it touches on the difficulties faced by a company to maintain a sustainable brand proposition amid competition. The key question is how to maintain brand-building momentum and take it to the next level.

Smart grid companies such as Viridity Energy are finding profitable opportunities to help their customers cut energy bills and simultaneously get credit for greater environmental responsibility. But will consuming fewer dirty watts from fuel sources such as coal and natural gas be a sufficient objective for customers in the future? What will rising societal expectations, tougher environment regulations, and new distributed clean energy technologies mean for the ability of smart grid companies to engage new customers and differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded field?

Olympic Group (OG) was an Egyptian white goods giant that made products such as water heaters, fans, and cookers. In 1997, OG decided to buy IDEAL, a large state-owned white goods firm. Being a monopoly in its markets, IDEAL had a strong brand name and market share, which made it very attractive for OG. Also, the products that IDEAL produced — refrigerators and washing machines — complemented OG’s products. A year after the acquisition, OG had to deal with several issues such as integrating the employees of the two companies, boosting employees’ productivity, changing IDEAL’s brand image, and improving IDEAL’s products. Accordingly, within the next month, the CEO had to decide whether to start by changing IDEAL’s brand image or integrating the employees of the two companies. He also had to consider how and when to integrate the employees of the two companies without affecting overall performance. What methods should he use to boost the employees’ productivity, especially at IDEAL? What areas needed to be worked on in order to improve the IDEAL brand image without affecting its market share? What changes in IDEAL’s products were required to sustain its competitiveness and market share?

A senior account manager at Boise Automation Canada Ltd. was disappointed with the news that he had just lost the $1.2 million order with Northern Paper Inc. (Northern), a paper mill. The opportunity was to design, supply, and install an automated control system for Northern’s wood-chip handling system. He had over 20 years’ experience selling automation systems in heavy industry, and had he won the order it would have easily put him over his target quota for 2011 and significantly boosted his incentive payout. Now, with less than three months before the end of the year, he was unlikely to meet his target for the year. The senior account manager wanted to understand what had gone wrong, and to learn from the experience in order to avoid repeating it. What should he have done differently? See supplement 9B15A029.

The case describes the phenomenal growth of Facebook, a social networking site launched in 2004, which had reached approximately 1 billion members by 2012. The case provides an overarching picture of the company's growth over the last eight years, from its founding to present day global expansion, covering the competitive landscape, the challenges it has faced along the way (including controversy over its privacy policy), its growth strategy and product development, marketing, and organizational challenges.

The authors' research on which types of businesses are most likely to manipulate reviews showed that small, independent hotels are more apt to praise their own properties and trash competitors'. There's not much that managers can do about competitors' suspicious positive reviews, but they can address negative reviews of their own establishment by rebutting suspicious claims.

Companies introducing a brand in China face special naming challenges because of the complexity of Chinese characters and pronunciations. The authors show four different approaches companies can take, favoring sound or meaning similarities, and describe the pros and cons of each.

To identify what influences the attitudes and behavior of customers, most companies rely on surveys, focus groups, and ethnographic research. The trouble is, surveys and focus groups tap customers' memories, which are unreliable, and the presence of observers can cause customers to alter their behavior. The authors, three academics, believe they have found a new research tool without those flaws: real-time experience tracking. Conducted over mobile phones, RET allows companies to inexpensively collect instant, unbiased feedback from customers 24 hours a day. In RET, participants supply the answers to a four-question survey every time they encounter a brand, be it through a direct interaction, such as a purchase or ad, or an indirect one, such as a conversation with another customer. The process is incredibly simple: They need only text a four-character message. One major benefit is that RET allows firms to track campaigns as they unfold and readjust them toward the most effective tactics. This article describes how a growing number of companies, such as Schweppes, Energizer, and Fox, are using RET to inform their marketing decisions, increase sales, and help customers improve their own experiences.

Natalia Georgio is the executive director of a growing dance troupe. She has a mandate from her board to expand the company by going international and pursuing TV and film opportunities. To realize these plans for growth, she recently hired a new marketing director, who wants to launch a customer research initiative. The company's founder, however, believes that innovation comes from employees, not customers. Natalia needs to decide whether to bring her new marketing director's customer research plan to the board or follow the founder's lead and cultivate creativity from within. Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan present this fictionalized case study with expert commentary provided by Mario D'Amico and Jens Martin Skibsted.

Natalia Georgio is the executive director of a growing dance troupe. She has a mandate from her board to expand the company by going international and pursuing TV and film opportunities. To realize these plans for growth, she recently hired a new marketing director, who wants to launch a customer research initiative. The company's founder, however, believes that innovation comes from employees, not customers. Natalia needs to decide whether to bring her new marketing director's customer research plan to the board or follow the founder's lead and cultivate creativity from within. Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan present this fictionalized case study.

Natalia Georgio is the executive director of a growing dance troupe. She has a mandate from her board to expand the company by going international and pursuing TV and film opportunities. To realize these plans for growth, she recently hired a new marketing director, who wants to launch a customer research initiative. The company's founder, however, believes that innovation comes from employees, not customers. Natalia needs to decide whether to bring her new marketing director's customer research plan to the board or follow the founder's lead and cultivate creativity from within. Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan present this fictionalized case study with expert commentary provided by Mario D'Amico and Jens Martin Skibsted.

In an era of ever-changing technology, the challenge for a social entrepreneur is to cope with the fast pace of change. With a concern for the environment and energy conservation, the entrepreneur in this case became an entrepreneur with the development of a new product - a mechanical charger. His company, ideaForge, manufactured and sold two types of products: mechanical chargers and other conventional chargers such as bike chargers. The mechanical charger, an innovation of ideaForge, was a product that could produce electricity through mechanical operation. The sales of other conventional chargers were increasing, while the sales of mechanical chargers were decreasing. The company faced two major challenges while running the business: how to market this innovative product to customers used to traditional mobile phone chargers, and whether the company should increase the product range or concentrate on existing products. The decision that had to be made was whether to sell only through distribution channels or through a sales force, or both. The young entrepreneur, along with his two cofounders, also had to make decisions on how to position and price their products in the market. With a changing market scenario, several initiatives and calculated risks would have to be taken if they wanted to develop new product offerings, such as laptop chargers and bicycle chargers, both of which would mean diversifying the business.