Are Creative People More Dishonest?
| Published: | December 7, 2011 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 83 Comments posted |
In a series of studies, Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely found that inherently creative people tend to cheat more than noncreative people. Furthermore, they showed that inducing creative behavior tends to induce unethical behavior. It's a sobering thought in a corporate culture that champions out-of-the-box thinking.
Creating Online Ads We Want to Watch
| Published: | October 12, 2011 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 3 Comments posted |
The mere fact that an online video advertisement reaches a viewer's computer screen does not guarantee that the ad actually reaches the viewer. New experimental research by Thales S. Teixeira looks at how advertisers can effectively capture and keep viewers' attention by evoking certain emotional responses.
Is Groupon Good for Retailers?
| Published: | January 10, 2011 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
| Forum: | open for comment; 57 Comments posted |
For retailers offering deals through the wildly popular online start-up Groupon, does the one-day publicity compensate for the deep hit to profit margins? A new working paper, "To Groupon or Not to Groupon," sets out to help small businesses decide. Harvard Business School professor Benjamin G. Edelman discusses the paper's findings.
Published in 2010
Sponsored Links' or 'Advertisements'?: Measuring Labeling Alternatives in Internet Search Engines
| Authors: | Benjamin Edelman and Duncan S. Gilchrist |
|---|---|
| Published: | November 30, 2010 |
| Paper Release Date: | November 2010 (Revised January 2011) |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
In processing a search for a particular phrase, Internet search engines generally offer two types of results: the algorithmic results, which a search engine selects based on relevance, and the "sponsored links," for which advertisers pay. The latter often occupy prominent screen space. But does the average web surfer realize that they are advertisements? In an online experiment, Harvard Business School professor Benjamin Edelman and doctoral candidate Duncan S. Gilchrist show that "sponsored link" is too vague a term for some users to understand, and that "paid advertisement" is a label that better clarifies the nature of the link. They call on the FTC to compel search engines to improve their disclosures.
The Unbundling of Advertising Agency Services: An Economic Analysis
| Authors: | Mohammad Arzaghi, Ernst R. Berndt, James C. Davis, and Alvin J. Silk |
|---|---|
| Published: | November 9, 2010 |
| Paper Release Date: | October 2010 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
From 1982 through 2007, U.S. advertising agencies increasingly "unbundled," or disaggregated, services such as copywriting and media placement, moving away from the industry's traditional one-stop-shop model. At the same time, agencies began to charge clients based on a fee-for-service system, rather than collecting commissions on media placements. The researchers analyze this trend and consider how it may be interpreted by the economic theory of bundling.
Competing Ad Auctions
| Authors: | Itai Ashlagi, Benjamin G. Edelman, and Hoan Soo Lee |
|---|---|
| Published: | January 22, 2010 |
| Paper Release Date: | January 2010 (revised February 2010) |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Joining ad platforms can attract substantial regulatory attention: In November 2008, the Department of Justice planned to file antitrust charges to stop the proposed Google-Yahoo transaction. More recently, in September 2009, the Department of Justice sought additional information from Microsoft and Yahoo about their proposed partnership. At first glance it might seem paradoxical to claim that the Google-Yahoo transaction is undesirable, for advertisers and for the economy as a whole, while the Microsoft-Yahoo transaction offers net benefits. But that conclusion is entirely possible. HBS professor Benjamin G. Edelman and doctoral candidates Itai Ashlagi and Hoan Soo Lee explore competition among ad platforms that offer search engine advertising services. In addition, the authors evaluate possible transactions among ad platforms—building tools to predict which transactions improve welfare and which impede it.
Published in 2009
Strategies to Fight Ad-sponsored Rivals
| Authors: | Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu |
|---|---|
| Published: | October 22, 2009 |
| Paper Release Date: | September 2009, revised March 2010 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Many companies choose to finance themselves using ad revenues and offer their products or services—from newspapers to software applications, television programs, and online search—free to consumers. Yet the emergence of ad-sponsored entrants in various industries poses significant threats to the incumbents in these markets whose business models are often based on subscriptions or fees charged to their customers. Faced with the threat from ad-sponsored entrants, incumbents must choose strategies to respond. HBS professor Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and University of Southern California professor Feng Zhu create an analytical framework to establish guidelines for incumbent firms facing these issues. The researchers consider four alternative business models: pure-subscription-based; pure-ad-sponsored; mixed-single-product; and mixed-product-line-extension. Analysis shows that the optimal strategic and tactical choices change dramatically in the presence of an ad-sponsored rival. This is the first study to provide a comprehensive analysis of the competition between a free ad-sponsored entrant and an incumbent that has the option of choosing different business models.
Understanding Users of Social Networks
| Published: | September 14, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Many business leaders are mystified about how to reach potential customers on social networks such as Facebook. Professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski provides a fresh look into the interpersonal dynamics of these sites and offers guidance for approaching these tantalizing markets.
Quantifying the Economic Impact of the Internet
| Published: | August 17, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Businesses around the advertising-supported Internet have incredible multiplier effects throughout the economy and society. Professor John Quelch starts to put some numbers on the impact.
Social Network Marketing: What Works?
| Q&A with: | Sunil Gupta |
|---|---|
| Published: | July 27, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Purchase decisions are influenced differently in social networks than in the brick-and-mortar world, says Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta. The key: Marketers should tap into the networking aspect of sites such as Facebook.
In Praise of Marketing
| Published: | February 5, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Marketers do a surprisingly poor job of marketing Marketing, says professor John Quelch. "They do not appreciate, let alone articulate, the economic and social benefits of marketing." Here is the story that needs to be told.
Published in 2008
Concentration Levels in the U.S. Advertising and Marketing Services Industry: Myth vs. Reality
| Authors: | Alvin J. Silk and Charles King III |
|---|---|
| Published: | December 18, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | September 2008 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
How concentrated is the U.S. advertising and marketing services industry? Over the past several decades, the effects of deregulation, globalization, and technological innovation have reshaped the advertising and marketing services industry as they worked their way through the economy. Estimates from the existing literature are typically based on data from trade sources and present a picture that emphasizes rising concentration over time and domination by a handful of holding companies. These estimates are suspect as they suffer from a number of conceptual and measurement limitations. This paper analyzes changes in concentration levels in the U.S. advertising and marketing services industry, using data that have been largely ignored in past discussions of the economic organization of the industry.
Should You Bring Advertising Expertise In-House?
| Q&A with: | Alvin J. Silk |
|---|---|
| Published: | October 14, 2008 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Advertising agencies have traditionally offered services to firms that couldn't afford or didn't find value in having that expertise in-house. But a recent study indicates more firms than previously thought are developing internal advertising units. Q&A with HBS professor emeritus Alvin J. Silk.
Securing Online Advertising: Rustlers and Sheriffs in the New Wild West
| Author: | Benjamin G. Edelman |
|---|---|
| Published: | October 7, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | September 2008 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
Online advertising remains a "Wild West" where users are faced with ads they ought not believe and where firms overpay for ads without getting the results they were promised. But it doesn't have to be this way. Enforcement by public agencies is starting to remind advertisers and ad networks that long-standing consumer protection rules still apply online. And as advertisers become more sophisticated, they're less likely to tolerate opaque charges for services they can't confirm they received. During the past five years, Edelman has uncovered hundreds of online advertising scams defrauding thousands of users, including all the Web's top merchants. This chapter summarizes some of what he has found and what users and advertisers can do to protect themselves.
The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-Industry Analysis
| Authors: | Sharon Horsky, Steven C. Michael, and Alvin J. Silk |
|---|---|
| Published: | September 18, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | July 2008 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
When are advertisers more likely to establish and maintain their own in-house agencies? Despite occasional indications to the contrary, such self-sufficiency has long been viewed by industry observers and scholars as more the exception than the rule in the U.S. advertising and marketing services business. With the background that vertical integration in this industry is a neglected domain of research, analysis by HBS professor emeritus Alvin J. Silk and colleagues suggests that while most large U.S. advertisers rely primarily on independent agencies for advertising services, many other advertisers operate in-house advertising units.
Google-Yahoo Ad Deal is Bad for Online Advertising
| Published: | August 12, 2008 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Op-Ed |
A proposed advertising deal between Internet competitors Google and Yahoo would reduce competitiveness in the Internet advertising market, likely resulting in higher advertising rates, says Harvard Business School professor Benjamin G. Edelman.
Published in 2007
Authenticity over Exaggeration: The New Rule in Advertising
| Published: | December 3, 2007 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Advertisers thought technology was their friend in identifying and creating new customers. Funny thing happened along the way, though: Now consumers are using the Internet to blunt traditional commercial messages. Time for companies to rethink their strategy, says HBS professor John A. Deighton.
Broadband: Remaking the Advertising Industry
| Q&A with: | Stephen P. Bradley |
|---|---|
| Published: | September 17, 2007 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Evolving from the Marlboro Man in the 1960s to the Subservient Chicken in a recent Web campaign, advertising is undergoing a radical transformation. Harvard Business School professor Stephen P. Bradley, who is cowriting a book on how broadband technologies are remaking many industries, discusses how advertising is responding to the challenges.
How to Profit from Scarcity
| Published: | September 14, 2007 |
|---|---|
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
This past summer's launches of the iPhone and final Harry Potter book were textbook examples of companies profiting in part by creating the illusion of scarcity. Professor John Quelch explains the advantages of this strategy when executed well, and tells how to recover from a real product shortage.
Published in 2006
Is MySpace.com Your Space?
| Q&A with: | John A. Deighton |
|---|---|
| Published: | August 16, 2006 |
| Feature: | Views on News |
Social networking sites such as MySpace.com have demographics to die for, but PR problems with parents, police, and policymakers. Are they safe for advertisers? A Q&A with Professor John Deighton.
