Knowledge@Emory -- Marketing

Best Buy vs. Wal-Mart: Is There Room for Both, and Others?

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:26:10 EST

With the demise of electronics retailer Circuit City in March, Best Buy and Wal-Mart Stores are ramping up their struggle to capture added share of the consumer electronics market. Best Buy is positioning itself as the provider of quality service and sales help; Wal-Mart is using its dominance across all retail categories to position itself as the low-price option in consumer electronics. Wharton faculty and industry analysts say that instead of fighting to the death, the two stores can coexist if they follow clearly defined strategies focusing on service and price.

Is Finance by Any Other Name Still as Sweet?

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:26:10 EST

Not so very long ago, American financial firms such as AIG and Merrill Lynch had strong brands that conveyed reliability and trustworthiness. But those days are gone. Once the so-called bad assets are removed from these firms, what should their new brand strategy hold? Marketing and Business Communication faculty at Emory University's Goizueta Business School discuss the advantages and challenges of rebranding, especially in light of the savvy customers they cater to.

Positive Feedback: Why Customer Satisfaction Means More than Just Happy Customers

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:08:52 EST

When most organizations are under spending pressure or have to cut costs, marketing efforts are one of the first things to go. This fact has spawned a growing area of research into marketing’s impact on the financial performance of a firm. In their new paper “Customer Satisfaction and Stock Returns Risk,” Sundar Bharadwaj, associate professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, and Goizueta doctoral graduate Kapil R. Tuli examine the impact of customer satisfaction on stock returns risk. Beyond showing that investments in customer satisfaction insulate a firm’s stock returns from market movements and lower the volatility of its stock returns, the study also proves that customer satisfaction is a metric that offers valuable information to financial markets.

Can Manga Help Lagging Bookstore Sales?

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:36:48 EST

As brick and mortar bookstores struggle to bring in repeat customers, the tween and young teen set are finding new reason to frequent the U.S. chains, as they scour the shelves for the latest manga titles. But will manga be able to keep its momentum going? Greg Thomas, director of research and programs at Emory Marketing Institute at the Goizueta Business School, and industry experts explore the issues.

The Value and Benefits of Competing on Analytics

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:36:10 EST

A lot of companies collect data. But it’s the ability to analyze and strategically act on that data that matters, says Thomas Davenport, co-author of the best-seller Competing on Analytics: The Science of Winning. During a recent visit to Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, Davenport outlined the role of analytics and noted that data used and analyzed in the right way can help companies target results such as how to optimize customer relationships and prioritize marketing initiatives.

The Mystery and Motivation of Valuing Brands in M&A

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:36:10 EST

In 2005 Procter & Gamble acquired the Gillette Company for $57 billion. At the time, the move was the largest purchase in P&G’s history. Such acquisitions piqued the curiosity of Sundar Bharadwaj, a professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, and led to new research on brand valuation in M&A. In “Financial Value of Brands in Mergers and Acquisitions: Is Value in the Eye of the Beholder?” Bharadwaj and fellow Goizueta colleague, Rajendra K. Srivastava along with Goizueta doctoral graduate S. Cem Bahadir, now assistant professor of marketing at the Moore School of Business, explore how acquirers attribute value to target firms’ brands and offer important lessons particularly for target firms as they put themselves up for sale.

Why Turning the Customer Experience into Emotional Engagement Adds Value to a Brand

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:24:54 EST

To successfully engineer customer expectations and create an effective brand, a company has to do more than provide an experience. “It requires getting into the mind and heart and head of customers,” and ultimately, discovering the clues that make them loyal, sometimes irrationally so, to a brand, contends Lou Carbone, founder and chief experience officer of Experience Engineering, a Minneapolis-based consulting firm. Carbone recently presented, “Clued In: Managing Experience as the Value Proposition,” during a brand experience event sponsored by The Emory Marketing Institute (EMI). EMI is based in Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. According to Carbone, the ultimate value is not how customers feel about a company’s products and brands, but how [the products and brands] cause the customers to feel about themselves.

New Model for Predicting the Trajectory of New and Existing Products

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:06:43 EST

When it comes to analyzing and predicting the market penetration of new products, the Bass model has long been considered the standard benchmark. New research by Ashish Sood, an assistant professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, and coauthors addresses a fundamental concern of managers everywhere: how fast consumers will adopt the new products that companies introduce. In their paper, “Functional Regression: A New Model for Predicting Market Penetration of New Products,” which will soon be published in Marketing Science, the researchers show how their model integrates information about different countries, different markets and different products to predict several things, including the future penetration of a product or the years to take off.

Illusion, Not Quality: The Transformation of the Luxury Niche into a Global Mass Market

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:57:01 EST

When Givenchy dressed Audrey Hepburn for her role in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, luxury was still exclusive, the particular provenance of the refined social elite. By 1980, all that was changing. When Brooke Shields announced that nothing came between her and her Calvins, the message was not that Calvin Klein jeans were for her alone; it was that they were for everyone. In the 20-year span between the film and the ad, luxury entered the mass market -- and, quite arguably, stopped being truly luxurious, as Dana Thomas, cultural correspondent for Newsweek, suggests in her book, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster.

Super Bowl Showstoppers: Despite the Economy, the Big Game Is Still on for Advertisers

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:22:02 EST

Even against the backdrop of an increasing likelihood of recession, television advertising spots for February's Super Bowl XLII were nearly sold out by early January -- several weeks sooner than in the past -- and advertisers are paying record prices. While the power of television has waned as new media competes for the consumers' attention, the Super Bowl appears to have retained -- and solidified -- its position as the ultimate in television marketing, according to Wharton faculty and industry analysts.

The Hidden Influence of Emotions on Consumers� Choices

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 17:33:28 EST

Marketers spend untold amounts of money to define who their customers are, what their needs are, and how to ensure they have a positive experience that will translate into sales. But how often is the role of emotions factored in when discussing customer buying habits? Not nearly enough, contends Liam Fahey, chief architect at the Emotion Mining Company. During a recent lecture hosted by Emory University’s Emory Marketing Institute, Fahey outlined the importance of emotions and how tapping into the subconscious feelings of customers can translate into increased sales and satisfaction, not only for the customer, but for the company too.

Science -- Not Food and Flattery -- Sways Doctors' Prescription Decisions

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:27:42 EST

The plethora of marketing efforts by big pharma firms has stirred a debate over what influences doctors to prescribe the drugs they do. Are physicians motivated by research, the friendly pharma reps, or patients’ requesting a certain drug by brand name? Researchers Sriram Venkataraman, an assistant professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, and Stefan Stremersch, a visiting professor of marketing at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a chaired professor of marketing at the School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands, set out to explore how effective marketing efforts were influencing physician decision-making. Their paper, “The Debate on Influencing Doctors’ Decisions: Are Drug Characteristics the Missing Link?,” published this November in Management Science, provides evidence that the role of specific drug characteristics, such as a drug’s effectiveness and a drug’s side effects, may tip the balance in this debate.

'Men Buy, Women Shop': The Sexes Have Different Priorities When Walking Down the Aisles

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:27:42 EST

When it comes to shopping, women are from Nordstrom's and men are from Sears. Women are happy to meander through sprawling clothing and accessory collections or detour through the shoe department. For men, shopping is a mission. They are out to buy a targeted item and flee the store as quickly as possible, according to a new study by Wharton's Jay H. Baker Retail Initiative and the Verde Group, a Toronto consulting firm. The study's findings have implications for retailers that are looking for ways to tailor their goods and services to specific segments of the shopping population.

Embracing the Intricacies and Consumer Power of Female Baby Boomers

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:36:29 EST

In Boom: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer�The Baby-Boomer Woman, authors Mary Brown and Carol Orsborn contend that female baby boomers are a huge force in the marketplace. Why? Female boomers make the majority of household purchases and the authors expect them to spend more than a trillion dollars next year on goods and services. Although this buying power is attractive, marketers should beware: with female boomers, one size does not fit all. �What is critical for the marketer,� the authors advise, �is to breathe life into the statistics that can be gleaned about her, synthesizing the complex influences, dynamics and intelligence into an accessible portrait of her that will be product or category specific.�

Why IT Security Can Instill Confidence in a Company�s Reputation and Brand

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:36:29 EST

More than 52 million account records were placed in jeopardy because of security breaches in 2005, according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In the last few months, breaches occurred at retailer Marshalls and T.J Maxx�s parent company TJX, affecting customers in the U.S., UK, and Ireland, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, and the online stores of ESPN SportsZone and NBA.com. As companies continue to collect unprecedented amounts of customer information, such data breaches can be harmful. To examine the ways security and IT integrity influence brand assurance, confidence and value, Emory University�s Emory Marketing Institute compiled a report entitled, �Secure the Trust of Your Brand: The Impact of Security and Privacy on Brand Trust in the Information Age.� The report finds that to prevent a loss of reputation or customers, �Companies must understand current and future privacy legislation in all markets where they participate, and must have a solid compliance maintenance strategy in place.�

Loews Hotels CEO Jonathan Tisch on the Essence of Customer Service: Experience, Service and Quality

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:28:32 EST

In the book Chocolates on the Pillow Aren�t Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience, Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels, co-chairman of the board and a member of the Office of the President of Loews Corporation, along with freelance writer Karl Weber, discuss the best approaches to customer service in an increasingly competitive marketplace. In a recent Q&A with Knowledge@Emory, Loews Hotels head Jonathan Tisch discussed the engaging new book and the ways to customize and improve the quality of customer service in any type of industry.

In the Retail Space, Is Market Positioning the Key to Retailer Gold?

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:55:46 EST

With more shopping options available than ever before, from online merchants to specialty cut-rate retailers, the top discount stores are hard pressed to distinguish themselves from the pack. But the reverse positioning of hip retailer Target is capturing key segments of the customer base, from women to teen shoppers. As Wal-Mart looks to retool its image, after a shakeup in marketing and merchandising posts, will the world�s largest retailer be able to keep up with the changing times? Experts at Emory University�s Goizueta Business School and a consumer research firm discuss the implications of establishing a store as a �destination� for shoppers.

Three Advertisers Extol the Value and Challenges of Internet Advertising

Wed, 09 May 2007 21:11:57 EST

Advertisers are expected to plunk down more than $31 billion in online advertising this year. According to ZenithOptimedia, Internet ad spending should grow more than 28% in 2007 (it was up 31% in 2006). Internet advertising may not topple television advertising anytime soon, but its double digit growth means online advertising has momentum. To speak to this growing trend, several advertising industry experts have visited students at Emory University�s Goizueta Business School in recent weeks. The common theme? With each and every click, online consumers tell advertisers what they want; unfortunately, most companies don�t pay as much attention as they should.

Employee Brand Engagement: It�s Not a Myth�Happy People Make Happy Businesses

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:54:35 EST

Every manager knows that unhappy employees are not good for business. Deciding how to engage employees and boost productivity can mean the difference between failure and success. Recently a panel of marketing experts discussed the importance of employees at an Internal Branding forum held at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Among the finding, satisfied customers are better to work with, and satisfied employees give better service.

Going After the Cash Flow: Marketing Should Take the Lead in Internal Branding

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:38:53 EST

For marketers, the road to galvanizing the organization takes a balance between advising the executive suite, and understanding the challenges of sales and other functions within the company, while managing resources effectively. �If marketers are going to be good internal branders and lead that initiative in our company, we need to think about the drives and the needs of our internal customers,� notes Roy Young, author of Marketing Champions and director of strategy and development at MarketingProfs.com, an online publisher. Young joined a group of marketing experts at a forum on Internal Branding recently at Emory University�s Goizueta Business School.