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Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising Net Present Value (NPV) / MBA Resources

Introduction to Net Present Value (NPV) - What is Net Present Value (NPV) ? How it impacts financial decisions regarding project management?

NPV solution for Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising case study


At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by Zsolt Katona, Brian Bell. The Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising (referred as “Rocket Taskabella” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Sales & Marketing. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, Marketing, Sales.

The net present value (NPV) of an investment proposal is the present value of the proposal’s net cash flows less the proposal’s initial cash outflow. If a project’s NPV is greater than or equal to zero, the project should be accepted.

NPV = Present Value of Future Cash Flows LESS Project’s Initial Investment






Case Description of Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising Case Study


The case describes an experiment designed to measure the effectiveness of an online display advertising campaign. After running the campaign for their client, Rocket Fuel's analysts are tasked with proving that the campaign was effective and had a positive return on investment (ROI). The experiment involves randomly assigning Internet users to a test or a control group based on cookies that uniquely identify each user visiting a site where Rocket Fuel can place an ad. Users in the test group see an ad for a newly released handbag by TaskaBella, Rocket Fuel's client. Users in the control group are shown a public service announcement (PSA) that is unrelated to the advertised product. Based on the unique IDs, Rocket Fuel is able to track which user eventually purchased a handbag from TaskaBella, allowing the analysts to discern the effectiveness of the campaign. A detailed data set (rocketfuel_data.csv) is provided with the case that allows students to conduct their own analysis.


Case Authors : Zsolt Katona, Brian Bell

Topic : Sales & Marketing

Related Areas : Marketing, Sales




Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising Case Study


Years              Cash Flow     Net Cash Flow     Cumulative    
Cash Flow
Discount Rate
@ 6 %
Discounted
Cash Flows
Year 0 (10015526) -10015526 - -
Year 1 3472713 -6542813 3472713 0.9434 3276144
Year 2 3966341 -2576472 7439054 0.89 3530029
Year 3 3950376 1373904 11389430 0.8396 3316812
Year 4 3247219 4621123 14636649 0.7921 2572102
TOTAL 14636649 12695087




The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2679561

In isolation the NPV number doesn't mean much but put in right context then it is one of the best method to evaluate project returns. In this article we will cover -

Different methods of capital budgeting


What is NPV & Formula of NPV,
How it is calculated,
How to use NPV number for project evaluation, and
Scenario Planning given risks and management priorities.




Capital Budgeting Approaches

Methods of Capital Budgeting


There are four types of capital budgeting techniques that are widely used in the corporate world –

1. Net Present Value
2. Payback Period
3. Profitability Index
4. Internal Rate of Return

Apart from the Payback period method which is an additive method, rest of the methods are based on Discounted Cash Flow technique. Even though cash flow can be calculated based on the nature of the project, for the simplicity of the article we are assuming that all the expected cash flows are realized at the end of the year.

Discounted Cash Flow approaches provide a more objective basis for evaluating and selecting investment projects. They take into consideration both –

1. Timing of the expected cash flows – stockholders of Rocket Taskabella have higher preference for cash returns over 4-5 years rather than 10-15 years given the nature of the volatility in the industry.
2. Magnitude of both incoming and outgoing cash flows – Projects can be capital intensive, time intensive, or both. Rocket Taskabella shareholders have preference for diversified projects investment rather than prospective high income from a single capital intensive project.






Formula and Steps to Calculate Net Present Value (NPV) of Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising

NPV = Net Cash In Flowt1 / (1+r)t1 + Net Cash In Flowt2 / (1+r)t2 + … Net Cash In Flowtn / (1+r)tn
Less Net Cash Out Flowt0 / (1+r)t0

Where t = time period, in this case year 1, year 2 and so on.
r = discount rate or return that could be earned using other safe proposition such as fixed deposit or treasury bond rate. Net Cash In Flow – What the firm will get each year.
Net Cash Out Flow – What the firm needs to invest initially in the project.

Step 1 – Understand the nature of the project and calculate cash flow for each year.
Step 2 – Discount those cash flow based on the discount rate.
Step 3 – Add all the discounted cash flow.
Step 4 – Selection of the project

Why Sales & Marketing Managers need to know Financial Tools such as Net Present Value (NPV)?

In our daily workplace we often come across people and colleagues who are just focused on their core competency and targets they have to deliver. For example marketing managers at Rocket Taskabella often design programs whose objective is to drive brand awareness and customer reach. But how that 30 point increase in brand awareness or 10 point increase in customer touch points will result into shareholders’ value is not specified.

To overcome such scenarios managers at Rocket Taskabella needs to not only know the financial aspect of project management but also needs to have tools to integrate them into part of the project development and monitoring plan.

Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 15%

After working through various assumptions we reached a conclusion that risk is far higher than 6%. In a reasonably stable industry with weak competition - 15% discount rate can be a good benchmark.



Years              Cash Flow     Net Cash Flow     Cumulative    
Cash Flow
Discount Rate
@ 15 %
Discounted
Cash Flows
Year 0 (10015526) -10015526 - -
Year 1 3472713 -6542813 3472713 0.8696 3019750
Year 2 3966341 -2576472 7439054 0.7561 2999124
Year 3 3950376 1373904 11389430 0.6575 2597436
Year 4 3247219 4621123 14636649 0.5718 1856608
TOTAL 10472918


The Net NPV after 4 years is 457392

(10472918 - 10015526 )








Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 20%


If the risk component is high in the industry then we should go for a higher hurdle rate / discount rate of 20%.

Years              Cash Flow     Net Cash Flow     Cumulative    
Cash Flow
Discount Rate
@ 20 %
Discounted
Cash Flows
Year 0 (10015526) -10015526 - -
Year 1 3472713 -6542813 3472713 0.8333 2893928
Year 2 3966341 -2576472 7439054 0.6944 2754403
Year 3 3950376 1373904 11389430 0.5787 2286097
Year 4 3247219 4621123 14636649 0.4823 1565981
TOTAL 9500410


The Net NPV after 4 years is -515116

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9500410 - 10015526 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Rocket Taskabella to discount cash flow at lower discount rates such as 15%.





Acceptance Criteria of a Project based on NPV

Simplest Approach – If the investment project of Rocket Taskabella has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Rocket Taskabella can ACCEPT the project, otherwise they can reject the project. This means that project will deliver higher returns over the period of time than any alternate investment strategy.

In theory if the required rate of return or discount rate is chosen correctly by finance managers at Rocket Taskabella, then the stock price of the Rocket Taskabella should change by same amount of the NPV. In real world we know that share price also reflects various other factors that can be related to both macro and micro environment.

In the same vein – accepting the project with zero NPV should result in stagnant share price. Finance managers use discount rates as a measure of risk components in the project execution process.

Sensitivity Analysis

Project selection is often a far more complex decision than just choosing it based on the NPV number. Finance managers at Rocket Taskabella should conduct a sensitivity analysis to better understand not only the inherent risk of the projects but also how those risks can be either factored in or mitigated during the project execution. Sensitivity analysis helps in –

What are the key aspects of the projects that need to be monitored, refined, and retuned for continuous delivery of projected cash flows.

What can impact the cash flow of the project.

What are the uncertainties surrounding the project Initial Cash Outlay (ICO’s). ICO’s often have several different components such as land, machinery, building, and other equipment.

What will be a multi year spillover effect of various taxation regulations.

Understanding of risks involved in the project.

Some of the assumptions while using the Discounted Cash Flow Methods –

Projects are assumed to be Mutually Exclusive – This is seldom the came in modern day giant organizations where projects are often inter-related and rejecting a project solely based on NPV can result in sunk cost from a related project.

Independent projects have independent cash flows – As explained in the marketing project – though the project may look independent but in reality it is not as the brand awareness project can be closely associated with the spending on sales promotions and product specific advertising.






Negotiation Strategy of Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising

References & Further Readings

Zsolt Katona, Brian Bell (2018), "Rocket Fuel: Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Advertising Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.


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