Launch! Advertising and Promotion in Real Time by Michael Solomon, Lisa Duke Cornell and Amit Nizan

  • Description
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Authors
  • Supplements
Publication Date: Mar 2009
License: Creative Commons
ISBN 10: 0-9820430-2-3
ISBN 13: 978-0-9820430-2-8

Listen to this podcast here of Mike Solomon discussing his textbook and the advertising course for insight on Launch! Advertising and Promotion in Real Time. Or meet here Amit Nizan, co-author, and learn about the unique perspective she brings to this text.


Launch! is written for advertising and promotions courses taught to students in the business school and journalism & mass communication students.

This book is the first of its kind to teach advertising concepts by reverse engineering a real advertising campaign from beginning to end.

In April 2007, SS+K, an innovative New York City communications agency, launched the first ever branding campaign for msnbc.com with the tag "A Fuller Spectrum of News." Launch! follows that campaign from initial agency pitch through roll-out of print and media assets to post-campaign analysis. Throughout, it exposes readers to the theory and concepts of advertising and promotion, and the personalities and decisions that drove this campaign. The book takes a rare look “behind the curtain” – even letting you see some of the paths not chosen by the agency and client.

Students get a realistic sense of how theory plays out in practice. They get a flavor for the exciting field of advertising. And, they consistently learn the perspectives of both the advertising agency (where many journalism and communications students will work) and the client (where many marketing majors will work).

This is a unique book, with a unique perspective, by a unique author team, and you won't find this kind of insight in any other text on the market. We think you're going to love it!

  • About the Authors
  • Acknowledgments
  • Preface
  • Chapter 1: Meet SS+K: A Real Agency Pitches a Real Client
    • Section 1: Why Launch!?
    • Section 2: Meet Our Agency Partner: SS+K
    • Section 3: The Pitch: Win the Account
    • Section 4: Let’s Meet the Potential Client
    • Section 5: Exercises
  • Chapter 2: A User’s Manual: Advertising, Promotion and Marketing Essentials
    • Section 1: Advertising Is Old—and Brand New
    • Section 2: The Four Cornerstones of Marketing: The Four Ps
    • Section 3: Advertising Industry Structure
    • Section 4: Exercises
  • Chapter 3: Advertising and Society
    • Section 1: Economic Effects of Advertising
    • Section 2: The Good: Advertising Enhances Our World
    • Section 3: The Bad: Ethical Hot Buttons
    • Section 4: Advertising Regulation: Who Looks Out for Us?
    • Section 5: Exercises
  • Chapter 4: Consumers and the Communications Process: SS+K Gets to Know Its Consumers
    • Section 1: From Talking to Consumers to Talking With Consumers
    • Section 2: Is the Medium the Message? Components of Communications
    • Section 3: Diffusion of Innovations
    • Section 4: Decision Making
    • Section 5: Internal Influences on Consumers
    • Section 6: External Influences on Consumers
    • Section 7: Culture, Globalization, and Advertising
    • Section 8: Exercises
  • Chapter 5: Know Your Audience: SS+K Learns All About msnbc.com, Inside and Out
    • Section 1: Types of Data
    • Section 2: Primary Data
    • Section 3: Secondary Data
    • Section 4: Physiological Data
    • Section 5: Using Research to Guide a Successful Launch
    • Section 6: Exercises
  • Chapter 6: Segment, Target, and Position Your Audience: SS+K Identifies the Most Valuable News Consumer
    • Section 1: Segment Your Market: Who’s Out There?
    • Section 2: Target Your Customer: Who’s Going to Want It?
    • Section 3: Position Your Brand: Why Will They Want It?
    • Section 4: Exercises
  • Chapter 7: Decide What You Can Afford to Say: msnbc.com Sets the Budget
    • Section 1: Budgeting Methods
    • Section 2: Share of Voice (SOV)
    • Section 3: Return on Investment (ROI)
    • Section 4: Managing a Budget
    • Section 5: Exercises
  • Chapter 8: Create a Strategy: SS+K Puts Its Research to Use as the Agency Creates the Brief
    • Section 1: The Power of Branding
    • Section 2: Describe Where You Are: A Strategic Framework
    • Section 3: Define Where You Want to Go: Set Objectives
    • Section 4: Decide How You’ll Get There: Create a Strategy
    • Section 5: The Creative Brief
    • Section 6: Exercises
  • Chapter 9: Choose Your Communication Weapons: SS+K Decides Upon a Creative Strategy and Media Tactics
    • Section 1: Integrated Marketing Communications: United We Stand
    • Section 2: Elements of the Promotional Mix: The Advertiser’s Trusty Tools
    • Section 3: Create the Promotional Plan
    • Section 4: Exercises
  • Chapter 10: Plan and Buy Media: SS+K Chooses the Right Media for the Client’s New Branding Message
    • Section 1: Traditional Advertising Media
    • Section 2: New Media
    • Section 3: Media Strategy
    • Section 4: Exercises
  • Chapter 11: Execute on All Platforms: SS+K Goes into Production Overdrive
    • Section 1: Execute on Media Platforms
    • Section 2: How Do We Know What Worked? Evaluating Ad Executions
    • Section 3: Exercises
  • Chapter 12: Make the Message Sell: SS+K Ensures that All Components Tell the Brand Story
    • Section 1: Keys to Superior Advertising
    • Section 2: Types of Appeals: How Ads Generate Resonance
    • Section 3: Executional Frameworks: How Ads Generate Relevance
    • Section 4: The Creative Team
    • Section 5: Exercises
  • Chapter 13: Launch! msnbc.com’s First-Ever Branding Campaign
    • Section 1: msnbc.com: A Campaign Portfolio
    • Section 2: Logo
    • Section 3: Print
    • Section 4: TV
    • Section 5: Online Banners
    • Section 6: Screensaver
    • Section 7: NewsBreaker Game
    • Section 8: NewsBreaker Live
    • Section 9: E-mail Blast
    • Section 10: Spectrum Home Page
  • Chapter 14: ROI: msnbc.com Decides if the Campaign Worked
    • Section 1: ROI: Show Me the Money
    • Section 2: ROI for Broadcast and Print Media
    • Section 3: ROI for Alternative Media
    • Section 4: Exercises
Michael Solomon
Michael Solomon

Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D. is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Consumer Research in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University. Previously, he served as the Human Sciences Professor of Consumer Behavior at Auburn University, and as Chairman of the Department of Marketing in the School of Business at Rutgers University. He began his academic career in the Graduate School of Business Administration at New York University.

Dr. Solomon is no stranger to writing top-selling books. His textbook, Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, published by Prentice Hall, is widely used in universities throughout North America, Europe, and Australasia and is now in its eighth edition. His textbook, Marketing: Real People, Real Choices, Fifth Edition, also published by Prentice Hall, is one of the most widely-adopted principles of marketing texts in the U.S.A. Soundview Executive Summaries named his trade book, Conquering Consumerspace: Marketing Strategies for a Branded World, (AMACOM) one of the best business books of 2004. He is co-editor of The Service Encounter: Managing Employee/Customer Interaction in Services Businesses, published by Lexington Books.

Prof. Solomon's research interests include consumer behavior and lifestyle issues, branding strategy, the symbolic aspects of products, services marketing and the development of visually-oriented online research methodologies. He has published numerous articles on these and related topics in academic journals, and he has delivered invited lectures on these subjects throughout the world. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Consumer Behavior, the Journal of Retailing, and The European Business Review, and he recently completed an elected six-year term on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Marketing Science. Prof. Solomon has been recognized as one of the fifteen most widely-cited scholars in the academic behavioral sciences/fashion literature, and as one of the ten most productive scholars in the field of advertising and marketing communications.

In addition to his academic activities, Prof. Solomon is a frequent contributor to mass media, with feature articles appearing in such magazines as Psychology Today, Gentleman's Quarterly and Savvy. He has been quoted in numerous media, including Allure, Elle, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Mirabella, Newsweek, The New York Times, Self, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on television and radio to comment on consumer behavior issues, including "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," CNBC, Channel One, "Inside Edition," "Newsweek on the Air," The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, the Entrepreneur Sales and Marketing Show, the WOR Radio Network and National Public Radio.

Prof. Solomon has provided input as a marketing consultant to a variety of organizations. Clients have included Armstrong World Industries, Bayer Healthcare, Gap, Inc., Hakuhodo Advertising (Tokyo), H&M, Johnson & Johnson, Levi Strauss, Living Tomorrow, Prudential Securities, State Farm, and United Airlines. He is a Managing Director of Mind/Share, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in consumer research and lifestyle marketing issues for such clients as DuPont, Black & Decker, eBay, PPG Industries, Visa, VF Corp., Timberland, and Calvin Klein.

Dr. Solomon earned a Ph.D. in Social Psychology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981 and was awarded the Fulbright/FLAD Chair in Market Globalization.


Lisa Duke Cornell
Lisa Duke Cornell

Lisa Duke Cornell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Advertising at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. Dr. Duke Cornell joined the advertising department after 10 years as an award-winning copywriter and creative supervisor at Long Haymes Carr/Lintas, working on major accounts like Hanes, Planters/Lifesavers, Jefferson-Pilot Insurance, Rich Foods, Wachovia Bank, and Tyson/Holly Farms. She has won numerous industry awards, including “Best of Show” Addys for print and television, as well as recognition by the New York Art Director’s Club and the International Film and Television Festival. Her creative work was also featured as one of Advertising Age’s best commercials of the year.

Duke Cornell received her Ph.D. in 1999 from The University of Georgia, where she also earned her master’s degree. The American Association of University Women named her an American Fellow for her research on the role of communications in the socialization and identity development of children and young women. Duke Cornell is also interested in the role of creativity in advertising and in helping facilitate creative solutions to marketing problems. Her research has been published in the Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Advertising, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Communication Inquiry and The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

In 2001, Duke Cornell was recognized as the College of Journalism and Communications’ Teacher of the Year.


Amit Nizan
Amit Nizan

Amit Nizan is part of the editorial team at Advertising Age, the leading industry publication, where she curates event content. Previously, she served as Account Manager at TBWA\Chiat\Day and SS+K, both top advertising agencies in New York City. Among her clients were A&E Television Networks, Boots Retail International, Nextel, NASCAR, BlueCross and BlueShield, The Massachusetts Teacher's Association and msnbc.com. While at SS+K, Ms. Nizan led the msnbc.com account team, whose “Fuller Spectrum of News” campaign recently received a host of accolades in a range of categories from effectiveness to creativity.

Amit Nizan's fascination with communication sprouted from the need to be heard as one of six children growing up in Florida. At the tender age of seven, Ms. Nizan created her first ad: an interpretation of the "Get Met, It Pays" campaign for MetLife featuring Snoopy. It seems Ms. Nizan always had a keen passion to understand marketing messages, how they broke through, and what psychological motivations kept brands top of mind.

Nizan earned her B.S. in Advertising from the University of Florida where she met co-author Dr. Lisa Duke Cornell.

  • Instructor Manual

    The Instructor Manual will help guide you through the main concepts of each chapter such as learning objectives, key terms and takeaways. Many also include explanations and answers to chapter exercises.

  • PowerPoint Lecture Notes

    A PowerPoint presentation highlighting key learning objectives and the main concepts for each chapter are available for you to use in your classroom. You can either cut and paste sections or use the presentation as a whole.

  • Test Item File

    Need assistance in supplementing your quizzes and tests? Our test item files (in Word format) contain many true/false, multiple choice, fill in the blanks, and short essay questions.

  • Testbank for Import to Learning Management System

    We have taken our Test Item File and created files to import into the following Learning Management Systems*: Blackboard, Angel, Moodle, WebCT. We also support a Respondus Neutral file that you can use to easily import our questions in any LMS supported by Respondus.

    * Please note that only certain versions of each LMS are supported. Click on Supplements for detailed information.


Audrey Ashton

Audrey Ashton-Savage teaches in the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH. She teaches Principles of Marketing, Advertising and Promotion, Market Opportunity Analysis, and International Marketing in the undergraduate program and the Marketing Management course in the MBA and Exec. MBA programs.

Audrey has a B.A. in German and an M.B.A., both from the University of New Hampshire. She has had a variety of jobs in her career, all of which centered on marketing. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Enrollment Management at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. Prior to that, she was Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. In the late 90s Audrey was Dean of Graduate and Professional Programs at Emmanuel College in Boston. In the 1980s she worked at Nashua Corporation in New Hampshire as a Product Manager and New Product Development Manager. She has served as national chair for the Commission for Accelerated Programs and continues to serve on its executive committee. Since 1994, Audrey has served on the Board of Directors of Lamprey Health Care, a community health center, and currently serves as chair of its marketing committee.

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