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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.<br><br><br><br>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.

Starting in 2007 Milwaukee leaders from different areas (large established companies, civic organizations, public sector, academia, and entrepreneurs) negotiated a path for converting the region into a global water hub to address economic and environmental concerns. The leaders with various stakes in the change managed to work together to re-arrange and support existing pieces to maximize the collective potential. Their actions exemplified "advanced leadership" in a complex social system such as a community or region. There was no central leader; instead there was a collection of coalitions and collaborative activities that contributed to the end result.

This note identifies the main issues involved in the effective management of the marketing communications process. It first defines the purpose of communication. Then it classifies the tools available to communicate with consumers. In the sequel, it elaborates on how consumers respond to communication attempts. Finally, it lays out a framework for marketers to manage the entire communication process.

The president of I-Star America, Inc. and vice-president of I-Star Corporation reflected on the success of I-Star in the Chinese and Japanese IT markets and the challenges of increasing market share in North America, one of the largest markets in the world. I-Star was expected to grow about 30 per cent in the next few years, and the president considered whether the strategy used in Japan could be applied to North America.<br><br><br><br>Many Chinese firms that experienced success in China were less successful in international (western) markets for a host of reasons, including failure to adapt business processes and products to the new market and the perception that Chinese goods and services might be of lower quality.<br><br> <br><br>The president believed that I-Star’s past and future success relied on the company’s ability to innovate in creating value for its customers. He believed that with the right strategy I-Star could generate revenues of US$50-100 million and build up a cadre of more than 200 employees in the software and services division in North America. How could I-Star increase its brand awareness and presence in North America to best achieve these goals?

American Apparel, a popular clothing manufacturer, has socially progressive labour policies and uses significant environmental advances in its manufacturing process. In addition, it has a well-established philanthropic arm. Set against these socially responsible policies is the highly sexualized nature of the company’s advertising. This element of the marketing mix seems, at least to some consumers, very much at odds with the other aims and policies of the company. The question facing students is whether this disconnect can be maintained or whether the brand’s advertising should change.

Northern Drilling Inc., an exploration diamond-drilling contractor, has been asked to tender a bid for a lucrative, highly complex contract with Mond Nickel. Northern has no drills or crew currently available to work on the contract, which requires experienced drillers. Compounding the issue is a shortage of skilled labour in the industry. At the same time, Northern's biggest client, Noranda Nickel, is seeing poor geological results on a job in the same area. Northern's management needs to decide whether to incur additional costs and leave a capacity cushion in an effort to maintain its excellent relationship with its current client, or whether it should instead utilize the drills on the new job. The primary issue facing Northern's management is whether Northern can handle the new contract, both financially and technically, without compromising the current job.

American Apparel, a popular clothing manufacturer, has socially progressive labour policies and uses significant environmental advances in its manufacturing process. In addition, it has a well-established philanthropic arm. Set against these socially responsible policies is the highly sexualized nature of the company's advertising. This element of the marketing mix seems, at least to some consumers, very much at odds with the other aims and policies of the company. The question facing students is whether this disconnect can be maintained or whether the brand's advertising should change.

Northern Drilling Inc., an exploration diamond-drilling contractor, has been asked to tender a bid for a lucrative, highly complex contract with Mond Nickel. Northern has no drills or crew currently available to work on the contract, which requires experienced drillers. Compounding the issue is a shortage of skilled labour in the industry. At the same time, Northern's biggest client, Noranda Nickel, is seeing poor geological results on a job in the same area. Northern's management needs to decide whether to incur additional costs and leave a capacity cushion in an effort to maintain its excellent relationship with its current client, or whether it should instead utilize the drills on the new job. The primary issue facing Northern's management is whether Northern can handle the new contract, both financially and technically, without compromising the current job.

The owner and operator of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gym Gracie Barra London (GBL) in London, Ontario, sets out to develop a comprehensive marketing plan to increase membership enrolment by 40 per cent. GBL currently has100 members, and the owner hopes to leverage the recent explosion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and mixed martial arts to continue to grow his business. After operating GBL for six years on a part-time basis, he is ready to operate the gym full time. He has personal savings of $3,000 and a private investment secured for a potential gym expansion. Now he must decide which direction he wants to take his business and how best to market GBL.

The chief executive officer of Royal Bhutan Airlines (Drukair) is concerned about growth and the seasonality of demand for Bhutan's national airline. The Kingdom of Bhutan, with a population of approximately 700,000, is located east of Nepal between India and China (Tibet). It has recently embarked on a program of modernization, including a move to democracy and promotion of tourism. The tourism initiative is described as "high value, low volume," meaning that tourists must contract with a local tourist operator and pay minimum daily tariffs. Drukair has witnessed a steady growth in passengers, which is correlated closely with tourist visits, mostly from the West and Japan. Tourist tickets are booked by in-country tour operators; there are no Internet bookings at the time of the case.The CEO is wondering what can be done to improve overall business. He is considering interlining, the practice of joining with other airlines, in order to give passengers the opportunity to book tickets from their home countries. Marketing for growth is also a concern, and as Drukair is the only carrier in Bhutan, the CEO wonders if he should be promoting tourism in the country as part of his marketing plan.

Datavast Inc., a product designer and manufacturer based in China, had just launched its new private cloud storage product, the Data Security Box. The general manager of Datavast was faced with the dilemma of who to sell this product to. He determined that segmenting by size was the most effective method, as customers in different industries and regions did not have very different needs or buying characteristics. However, SMEs (companies with 200-500 computers) and large companies (companies with 1,000+ computers) exhibited vastly different needs and purchasing behaviour. The general manager had limited resources, so he faced the decision of focusing on either SMEs or large companies. Although Datavast did not have any direct competitors at the time, its decision was complicated by the company’s current state and capabilities, as well as the data storage industry in China. Also, the general manager was hoping to retire within five years and was unwilling to make additional capital investments in the company. Datavast was operating at a loss and his goal was to bring the company into profitability within the next year. A net loss also meant that the company could not afford to be burdened with large additional expenses. Lastly, private cloud storage was a new technology in China and the market needed to be familiarized with the concept.

The owner and director of a residential summer camp for children recognizes the need to make some changes to achieve his primary objective of increasing the number of campers. Specifically, marketing initiatives are needed to bolster the August sessions, a month when the camp experiences declining enrolment. He has some key decisions to make, including which group to target, how to promote the camp sessions, and what to charge for any new product offerings.

This case chronicles the origins and growth of Sorbet, a chain of beauty salons targeting upper income women in South African metropolitan areas. Owner Ian Fuhr identified an opportunity to redefine the beauty salon experience in South Africa by offering customers a service unlike anything in the industry. He carefully managed human resources to motivate employees and grow the client base. To complement this, the company started an external beauty therapy school to improve staff and train potential employees. In addition, Fuhr stressed the importance of growing brand awareness and carefully adjusted the company's sales mix to maximize all potential profit margins, all while developing a customer-centric culture. The case concludes by informing the reader of two new businesses that had recently been launched under the Sorbet brand and discusses the possible options of expansion and diversification that were open to the company.

India has been an emerging market that is witnessing radical changes in the lifestyles and the spending patterns of customers. There has been a significant change (post-liberalization) in terms of the manner in which consumers look at their self-concept. Exposure to western ways and lifestyles through mass media, availability of discretionary income and the impact of reference group appeals are some of the important aspects that have created interest towards products and services associated with beauty care among consumers. Customers have become used to branded creams and lotions, and several of these offerings are being advertised with strong symbolic appeals associated with enhanced self-concepts. Kaya was a brand in the beauty care category. However, the brand's offerings dealt with medically anchored services intended to enhance the looks of the customers. The brand opened up a new facet of beauty care services that was associated more with up-market and state-of-the-art hospitals, where customers opted for these services under the supervision of doctors who had specialized in cosmetic surgeries/interventions. Would the differentiation between the first-time users of a beauty parlor and the loyal customers of a parlor offer insights that Kaya would find useful? Issues related to services management as well as customer value and customer loyalty were relevant to Kaya's competitive strategies. Although the customers of a beauty parlor could be demographically different from Kaya's customers, the commonality of the benefits related to the beauty services offered were the same. The case is about how a brand that had created a category would find it useful to draw insights on brand loyalty from a related category that does not compete with it directly. Such a dimension of competitive learning is perhaps unique to an emerging market such as India.

The market for security solutions is highly fragmented with no dominant players in the market. Yash finds himself in a situation in which the Indian banking industry is just about waking up to the emerging threats of cyber security. In order to communicate the value that his products create, he will need to identify the value drivers in the banking space, calibrate this value, and come up with a pricing plan that can effectively capture this value. He will also need to make a plan to roll out his product, part of which involves identifying partners who will help make the commercialization a success.

This case is intended to be part of a first-year MBA marketing course, or a second-year elective in advertising, integrated marketing communications, market research, or marketing analytics. The case provides students with examples of two real advertising experiments and the challenges involved in executing the experiments. It allows for a discussion of the need for advertising experiments, and also, at a more general level, the need to measure the return on marketing. Biases surrounding the field experiments allow for a discussion of the problems with establishing a causal relationship between advertising and sales.

Ohio Art is shifting its advertising and distribution strategy for a new line of construction toys aimed at adults called nanoblock. Distribution is focused on toy and hobby outlets, avoiding mass merchandisers, but Amazon.com also stocking and selling the nanoblock line. Digital marketing strategies are being developed for both promotion through Amazon.com and social media. In the midst of its efforts to shift marketing to new media, management is distracted by the media storm over an aide to presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who commented that Romney's platform is "almost like an Etch a Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again." The case describes a number of digital marketing strategies, including temporary price reductions implemented through Amazon's "Gold Box" deals. The case is a sequel to the A case, which describes more traditional advertising experiments for toys distributed through mass merchandisers.

A financial analyst is asked to appraise the value of Netflix stock at a time of unprecedented turmoil for the company. This case introduces customer lifetime value (CLV) as a useful metric for subscription-based businesses.