IESE Insight - Marketing

Experiential marketing: a way to get people talking

Gallo, Iñigo; Townsend, Claudia; Alegre, Inés Take a motorcycle: Is it a product, or is it an experience? If it's the latter, something lived on the open road, word of mouth is more likely to spread the message. This marketing trick now has research to back it, with a caveat.

How to get peak performance out of an innovation tournament

Camacho, Nuno; Nam, Hyoryung; Kannan, P. K.; Stremersch, Stefan Innovation tournaments have become a popular way to crowdsource new ideas from outside a firm. A study by IESE's Stefan Stremersch and colleagues reveals a surprising metric for tournament success, and why moderators may need to be cruel to be kind.

100 rules for better sales

Chiesa, Cosimo; Chiesa Ghio, Carlotta; Chiesa, Ludovica What are the essentials of sales? How can you sell more and sell better? Cosimo Chiesa's book runs through 100 maxims aimed at helping readers become effective salespeople and project enthusiasm in the digital era.

The mistake of allocating more resources to your best customers

Valentí, Albert; Srinivasan, Shuba; Yildirim, Gokhan; Pauwels, Koen Chances are, you allocate your direct mail marketing budget to your top customers and use email for everyone else. If so, you're doing it all wrong, according to a new study led by Albert Valenti.

What kind of relationship should I have with Amazon?

Jané, Joan Getting onto Amazon's e-commerce platform usually sends sales skyrocketing. But, let the seller beware: there are strings attached.

How to run companies with the stroke of a hashtag

Llopis, Jaume Twitter has changed how we communication. The book 500 tweets for better management gathers thoughtful messages about the economy and business management from the active account of IESE's Jaume Llopis.

Are we perceiving more polarization than there actually is?

Barasz, Kate; Kim, Tami; Evangelidis, Ioannis Are our inferences about Trump supporters or Brexiteers accurate? The more extreme the position, the more we may jump to faulty conclusions, says research by Kate Barasz. In an increasingly polarized world, understanding this cognitive bias is key.

How many choices should you offer your clients?

Reutskaja, Elena; Linder, Axel; Nagel, Rosemarie; Andersen, R.A.; Camerer, Colin Choice is good, but having too many options can be paralyzing. Using MRI machines, researchers can actually see a point at which having too many alternatives starts overwhelming our brains. The ideal number of options may be fewer than marketers think.

Advertising Up: When Regular Brands Go for Premium Advertising

Guitart, Iván; González, Jorge; Stremersch, Stefan Can premium-ad techniques be persuasive to sell non-premium products? A study of more than 2,000 car commercials homes in on the practice of "advertising up" to show when it boosts sales -- and when it backfires.

Will Targeted Ads Survive Our New Era of Data Transparency?

Kim, Tami; Barasz, Kate; John, Leslie K. The requirements of Europe's new data protection regulations need not spell doom for targeted advertising. In fact, increasing transparency along with the responsible use of data can boost the efficiency of digital marketing, according to a new study.