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This case looks at an important business task: forecasting a new product. The case can be used to teach finance, marketing (new product introduction), and healthcare strategy. The product is one of Amgen's most important new products: denosumab. On the surface, the case is fairly easy: students simply have to do some simple mathematical calculations. However, the challenges of forecasting quickly become apparent: every forecast depends on some critical assumptions, and the answer can vary dramatically.

Unlike traditional marketers who must wait days, if not weeks, to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns, online marketers are confronted with an abundance of data that can be tracked and measured almost in real-time. Despite the volume of data and powerful tools available to online marketers (for free or at low cost, making analytics as affordable for startups as Fortune 500 firms), online metrics are widely misunderstood and misapplied, and are often misused to say much more than they should. Understanding how online metrics work, what they measure, and which of them are most relevant based on specific marketing functions and campaign goals is a valuable skill for every marketer. <br><br>This note frames online metrics in the context of campaign goals (from search marketing to back-end analytics) while discussing the various marketing functions (from display advertising to brand management) that benefit as a result of access to specific metrics. Throughout the note, each metric is placed along a return on investment continuum designed to give insight into the role of each metric over time as it relates to a firm’s bottom line.

Julie Bornstein, senior vice president of Sephora Direct, is seeking to double her budget for social media and other digital marketing initiatives for 2011. A number of digital efforts implemented in the past two years seem to be bearing fruit, and there is a desire to intensify Sephora's social media, online video, and mobile presence. Bornstein must justify the need for the additional funding, determine how best to allocate the money across the various platforms, and establish effective ways to measure return on investment (ROI) for digital marketing spending . She must also take into account that the funding requested will likely come at the expense of Sephora's traditional marketing programs. Importantly, Bornstein needs to begin thinking about a cohesive long-term strategy that clearly identifies the role digital platforms play and how they help Sephora maintain its leadership position in the prestige beauty care space. The constant emergence of new players, such as Groupon and Shop Socially, the growing power of social media platforms such as Facebook, and the way consumer behavior and user generated content are rapidly evolving in a digital era, make her task all the more challenging.

Established in 2006, OSSCube was an open source software development company based in North Carolina, United States, which had its India office in Noida and its development centres in Delhi, Bangalore, and Noida. OSSCube started as a software training provider and gradually emerged as an open source software development and consulting company. The marketing of OSSCube’s offerings was primarily executed by search engine optimization (SEO) initiatives. Later, OSSCube created a social media presence on a variety of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo. The primary objective of creating a presence on these social media platforms was to augment the company’s SEO initiatives. Although this strategy helped OSSCube in gaining business leads, the community manager of the firm realized that the strategy was not building the brand identity of OSSCube. Also, the prospect of having a wide presence on social media platforms to augment SEO activities created confusion in consumers’ minds regarding OSSCube’s expertise. Hence, in 2010, the manager was reviewing the social media approach with some definite objectives such as branding employees, branding OSSCube, and promoting open source software. He faced the challenge of forming an appropriate social media strategy that would address these objectives.

Established in 2006, OSSCube was an open source software development company based in North Carolina, United States, which had its India office in Noida and its development centres in Delhi, Bangalore and Noida. OSSCube started as a software training provider and gradually emerged as an open source software development and consulting company. The marketing of OSSCube's offerings was primarily executed by search engine optimization (SEO) initiatives. Later on, OSSCube created a social media presence on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Vimeo, YouTube, Blip.TV, Blog and Friendfeed. The primary objective of creating a presence on these social media platforms was to augment the company's SEO initiatives. This strategy did help OSSCube in gaining business leads; however, Kinshuk, the community manager of the firm, realized that this strategy was not building the brand identity of OSSCube. Also, the thought of having a wide presence on social media platforms to augment SEO activities created some sort of confusion in consumers' minds regarding OSSCube's expertise. Hence, in 2010, Kinshuk was reviewing the social media approach with some definite objectives such as branding employees, branding OSSCube and promoting open source software. He faced the challenge of forming an appropriate social media strategy that would address these objectives.

AMD management needs to make a critical decision on the launch sequence of its next-generation technology called Fusion. The Fusion processor concept merges the central and graphics processing units (CPU and GPU) onto one chip-- yielding advantages in performance (particularly graphics related), power consumption, and suitability for new computer form factors (tablets, all-in-one machines, etc.). AMD planned to launch Fusion at the beginning of 2011 with a high-end processor, code-named Llano, to impress the industry and consumers with the best the technology could offer (suited for high-end desktops and notebooks), and subsequently to launch low-powered versions, code-named Brazos (suited for small notebooks and netbooks). However, the development of Llano suffered delays while that of Brazos was ahead of schedule. AMD's executive committee raised the possibility of reversing the launch sequence and going with a "Brazos First" strategy. The case describes the microprocessor industry, its main competitors (AMD and Intel), and the evolving world of PC selling and buying. The case further provides a host of market research that AMD conducted to better understand the market. Students need to address the advisability of a reverse launch vs. waiting to launch all versions together and whether AMD can advance its competitive position relative to Intel with Fusion. Students need to outline their marketing approach (sales effort, pricing, consumer marketing, etc.) in the event that a reverse launch strategy is pursued.

The case describes a unique insurance scheme called Krupa Arogya Suraksha, promoted by the Shree Krishna Arogya Trust (Trust). The product was designed with the aim of extending basic health coverage to the "base-of-the-pyramid" (BoP) population at an affordable premium. The services were provided by Shree Krishna Hospital, of which the Trust was an associate. The Trust was looking at a win-win situation: in providing modern health services to a larger, lower-income group, the facilities and infrastructure of the hospital would be better utilized. In the five years since its creation, membership in the scheme had increased threefold to 43,000. These members/consumers accounted for 13 per cent of patients treated by the hospital. Thus, the twin objectives of extending affordable healthcare to the lower-income segment and increased utilization of the facilities at the hospital were achieved to some extent. However, the Trust was not able to meet the cost of the health care offered under the scheme from the premiums collected and was dependent on donors to absorb the shortfall. The Trust's management was concerned about the sustainability of such an arrangement and was looking for ways to make the scheme pay for itself.

An executive must estimate the demand for Kodak Express outlets in various developing countries based on socioeconomic and demographic data about the countries. The case requires students to think about how to transform data on a national scale (GDP per capita, population, income distribution) into a form that is meaningful for a managerial decision — here, the number of outlets that could be supported by a country’s market demographics. In this instance, doing so can be accomplished effectively through modeling on a spreadsheet.

The case explores the use and importance of corporate sponsorships — in this case, how these relationships are formed with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The associate director of National Corporate Programs at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation needs to determine the Foundation’s direction regarding its corporate sponsorship program. Due to the slowdown in the economic environment, a major sponsor of the Foundation, who has contributed more than $1 million to the charity over the past five years, has decided to pull two products from the shelf. The associate director needs to find a way to replace that support. Fortunately, the Foundation has been approached by three corporations who are interested in becoming corporate sponsors. The associate director and her team now need to evaluate the three corporate sponsorship proposals to determine whether they fit with the Foundation’s values and goals.

A new line of chilled ready meals has been developed after significant technological breakthroughs in food processing by Maple Leaf Consumer Foods. The chilled ready meals category in Canada is expected to exceed $200 million by 2011, and plans call for Maple Leaf to own more than half the category by that time. In the (A) case in this four-part series, the vice president of innovation and brand development is convening a group meeting to finalize ambitious launch plans for Maple Leaf Simply Fresh.

In this supplement to Maple Leaf Simply Fresh (A), the launch team is preparing for questions that senior management is expected to ask (before giving the final go-ahead) about how the team plans to mitigate risks during the launch.

In this supplement to Maple Leaf Simply Fresh (A), the results of the first year after the launch and the next challenges the team faces are discussed.

In this supplement to Maple Leaf Simply Fresh (A), the Simply Fresh team is preparing a formal debrief of the program thus far.

Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue growth. She is concerned about increased competition from dollar stores and limited-assortment stores offering very low, appealing price points. Reed's market research shows that as a result of the economic downturn, customer loyalty is dwindling and consumers are willing to go to multiple stores to get the best deals. Collins must decide whether to change the current marketing and positioning plan in an effort to increase market share to meet challenging corporate targets. Her options include retreating from price competition and focusing on quality or embracing more private-label brands and competing more aggressively on price. She can also maintain the current positioning and appeal to customers looking for a quality shopping experience. The case contains an implicit quantitative assignment that instructors can emphasize to the degree they choose.

Spreadsheet Supplement for 4296.

Unlike traditional marketers who must wait days if not weeks to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns, online marketers are confronted with an ocean of data which can be tracked and measured in near real-time. Despite the volume of data and powerful tools available to online marketers (at free to low cost, making analytics as affordable for startups to fortune 500) online metrics are widely misunderstood, misapplied and often misused to say much more that they should. Understanding how online metrics work, what they measure and which of them are most relevant based on specific marketing functions and campaign goals is a valuable skill for every marketer. This note frames online metrics in the context of campaign goals (from search marketing to back-end analytics) while discussing the various marketing functions (from display advertising to brand management) that benefit as a result of access to specific metrics. Throughout the note, each metric is placed along an ROI Continuum designed to add insight as to the role of each metric over time as it relates to a firm's bottom line.

Herborist, a high-end Chinese personal care brand, had been steadily expanding its share in global markets since 2008. The brand distinguished itself by integrating traditional Chinese medicine with modern biotechnology and emphasising its green and organic ingredients. Whereas the Chinese were familiar with the concept, how would Herborist sell it to consumers outside mainland China who were used to using established Japanese brands, such as Shiseido and SK-II, or Western brands, such as Estée Lauder and Sisley? In 2001, Herborist chose to enter the Hong Kong market and test its product in this very competitive market that was dominated by the major Japanese and Western cosmetics brands. The company opened two Herborist-branded stores in major shopping centres but was forced to close them down two years later due to bad results. The company tried again in 2007, this time distributing its products through the Hong Kong personal health and beauty chain Mannings. In 2008, Herborist entered the Paris market with the help of the cosmetics chain store Sephora. Results were mixed; although some of its products became top sellers, the overall sales figures were not very promising. By 2011, Herborist was ready for the next step in its international expansion plan. Which markets should it target and what strategy should it adopt?

P&G had become known and recognized as a marketing machine. It was the largest advertiser in the world, with 2010 spending of $8.68 billion. From the company's early exploitation of broadcast media (radio and television) for its soap products to more recent experiments in digital media for its men's hygiene brand Old Spice, P&G was a seasoned marketer with strong consumer research, a powerful innovation network, and the world's largest financial commitment to advertising.

The China national image film “People Chapter” — officially a sub-series of the “Experience China” campaign — was launched by the Chinese government to coincide with President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States in mid-January 2011. The one-minute promotional video was played on six giant electronic screens about 300 times per day, and had appeared approximately 8,400 times when the broadcast ended on February 14, 2011. The video showed a series of Chinese people, ranging from ordinary citizens to celebrities. It was a publicity effort aimed at promoting a truer image of China abroad, and signalling that China was opening to embrace the world. However, reactions from both Chinese and overseas audiences had been fairly mixed since the initial release of the promotional film. Experts from China and abroad were skeptical of the effectiveness of the campaign in promoting the national image of modern China to the world. This case presents the opportunity to examine the basic elements in the marketing communication process, analyze how decisions in marketing design affect outcomes, and understand the differences between nation and product promotion.

Worldwide, and in the U.S. marketplace in particular, the French cachet of L'Oréal was one of its most powerful marketing tools. However, with the opening up of emerging markets, L'Oréal had to cater to a diverse customer base: an aging population in the West, ethnic groups, aspiring and younger customers in the East, emerging markets, and growing interest in health and beauty care among men all over the world. Employing both traditional and innovative marketing techniques, L'Oréal worked to double its customer base to two billion by 2020 and increase to half from a third its share of sales from emerging markets.