Question

John Daniel, a researcher at Georgia Metro Research, made the following notes about several of his clients to you, a newly hired trainee who had just graduated from college:

Client A is a consumer packaged goods manufacturer with a well-established brand name. The client has focused on manufacturing and distribution for years while the marketing program has been set on “auto pilot.” All had worked fine, though there was a hint of emerg- ing problems when, in the preceding year, market share had fallen slightly. Now, our client has just reviewed the current market share report and notices that over the pre- vious 12 months, their share has gradually eroded 15%. When market share falls, clients are eager to learn why and to take corrective action. In these situations we know immediately the problem is that we don’t know what the problem is. There are many possible causes for this slip- page. We need to determine the research design needed.

Second, Client B is a manufacturer of several baked goods products sold in grocery stores throughout the country. Marketing is divided into five regional divi- sions in the United States. The five divisions have had total autonomy over their advertising though all of them have used TV advertising almost exclu- sively. Each division has tried several different TV ad campaigns; some were thought to be successful and

households. SplitScreen also has agreements with the three of the largest grocery store chains, which will provide scanner data to SplitScreen. About 25% of the residents have SplitScreen scan cards that are scanned when items are bought at the grocery store and that allow SplitScreen to identify who bought which gro- cery products. For allowing SplitScreen access to their television hookups and their grocery-purchase infor- mation, residents receive bonus points that can be used to buy products in a special points catalog. Identify and diagram the true experimental design possible using the SplitScreen system. Assess the internal and external validity of SplitScreen’s system.

others not as successful, but no one had ever formally evaluated the ad expenditures. A new Marketing VP now wants to evaluate the advertising. She’s inter- ested in knowing not only the sales of the client’s products sold during the different campaigns but also what happened to sales of competitors’ brands. In this case, the client needs us to describe sales by SKU in the client’s product category for each TV market and for each time period associated with each ad cam- paign. What research design do you recommend?

Finally, Client C is in a very competitive category with equal market share of the top three brands. Our client is convinced that they have changed every market- ing mix variable possible except for package design. Since the three competitive brands are typically dis- played side-by-side, they want us to determine what factors of package design (e.g., size, shape, color, tex- ture) cause an increase in awareness, preference for, and intention to buy the brand. What do you recom- mend for the appropriate research design?

1. Describe what research design you would recom- mend for each client.

2. For each research design you selected for the three clients, discuss why you believe your choice of design is the correct choice.

Answer 1

(1)

I would recommend the use of exploratory research on Client A. It helps the consumer and marketing researcher to identify the problem and find a solution.

I would recommend using concise analysis for Client B. Client B, would like to examine what's happening in the marketing department and see if there's a gap as some campaigns are successful and others are not. For this reason, I recommend descriptive research to find out when, where, what, and why.

I would recommend causal research for Client C. Client C claims that the problem behind their marketing plan is all in the packaging, it is best to study this form of issue through experiments, which is why I choose the method of causal analysis.

(2)

The explanation that exploratory study is a good option for the situation of the Client A because it has no predetermining protocol to follow and the research method varies by the nature of the situation. Customer A is unaware of why market share is decreasing. Exploratory testing would be a good choice for getting to the root and seeking a solution to the problem as they can still change the method to complete the analysis as necessary.

The reason I think comprehensive research is a better choice for customer B is that customer B wants accurate details about their product sales in each marketing campaign, in each television market and even for each ad campaign relevant time span. Those specific details can be easily found if they are used. The analysis is concise. Because it is desirable for large-scale findings, it tends to figure out when companies want to know who their customers are, what brands they buy, how many qualities they buy, where they buy brands, and how they find out about products, etc. Of this purpose, concise study would be the best option for the Client B to get comprehensive information that they are seeking.

Client C is facing a situation in which they are attempting to create a new product package to increase product recognition, interest and desire to buy their products. Experimental usage would be a perfect way to find out which packaging can attract its customers.

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