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As part of our “Pricing and Marketing Productivity” class, we had to prepare a reading list from the articles that we referenced in order to get a good understanding of the subject matter. Many of these articles have been immensely helpful in learning about the various material we have covered. Though this is a formal submission, I am also releasing this to the blog so that it benefits its readers also.

Marketing productivity analysis

• http://thefinancialbrand.com/2009/02/23/marketing-roi/
  • With social media exploding in the past few years, many companies are entering this channel in order to reach its consumers. But one complex issue that arises with this is how to measure your ROI. This article talks about one such idea.
• http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_50/b3912109.htm
  • Similar to the article above. It mentions that marketing is slowly transitioning from the domain of just art to a combination of art and science. Given this fact, the C-level executives are interested in knowing exactly how the ad revenue translates into tangible sales of their company’s products and services.
• http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2008/01/16/measuring-marketing-roi-can-be-harmful-to-your-marketing-department/
  • An interesting twist to the thought process. The author of this article argues that ROI is really a ‘trailing’ indicator and not a ‘leading’ indicator. So should new strategies be first justified and thus constrained in its creativity? Leave the marketers alone.

Market response models

• Market Response Models
  • I haven’t read this thesis completely because of it is actually a complete book in itself. But I have often referred to it in absence of a true textbook whenever I have to understand certain types of models. This document has helped me get familiar with many models not discussed in class but handy and useful.
• A Customized Market_Response Model
  • This article talks about building a market response model. The interesting thing about this was the ideas in this document matched very closely with the data we used most of the semester. Very helpful article. There are some portions that involve higher knowledge of mathematics but apart from that, very good.

Functional forms, Estimating competitive effects

• Mid semester module course material – Syndicated Data Analysis for Brand Scientists by Prof. Doug Bowman
  • This is not a link because the material was provided in hard copy by one of our other professor. I always have this deck handy because it is easy to read and clearly explains various functional forms and methods of estimating competitive effects. It starts from the very basic and slowly builds in the concepts.

Costs, Customers, Competition, and Pricing

• Games of Strategy – THE book on game theory
  • This book is a required material on one of my other subjects – Strategic Decision Analysis. A lot of the concepts we study in pricing involves understanding competition, their actions, and consumer’s willingness to pay. This book is a great resource to learn about concepts like the prisoner’s dilemma and other games that are helpful in maximizing marketing dollars.
• Evaluating Willingness to Pay
  • A basic presentation on willingness to pay – covers basic economic concepts and the ever elusive consumer surplus
• http://www.cval.com/pdfs/VBMarketingAndPricing.pdf
  • White paper on Value based pricing model. This model speaks about an approach a specific company takes in measuring the true value to consumer. Interesting approach.
• http://cauvin.blogspot.com/2009/01/value-based-versus-cost-based-pricing.html
  • Value based pricing vs. cost based pricing
• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080123125551.htm
  • An interesting insight from one of my favorite sites about what actually determines our willingness to pay. Are we objective or subjective? But the real question is how can marketers exploit this sweet spot to sell their product.

Psychological aspects

• Influence: Science and Practice – A seminal reading – Read review here.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing
  • Wikipedia provides this interesting article on psychological pricing for e.g. why do prices of most items end in 99? The article talks about similar pricing mechanism in order to lure the customer into purchasing.

Segmentation, and pricing

• http://www.mindofmarketing.net/2007/05/customer-segmentation-why-exactly-does.html
  • A fresher’s guide to the importance of customer segmentation – probably one of the most important step before any marketing can actually be done.
• The “Killer Application” of Revenue Management: Harrah’s Cherokee Casino & Hotel
  • Segementation and pricing at its best. This paper by a Goizueta professor was not only an interesting read but also very informative. Given the right strategy and right method to segment customers, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino truly knows which customer to give their rooms and what to charge them.
• Read Cluster Analysis concepts