BUS339 week 2 discussion 1

Case 4.1

Memo from a Researcher

56

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 pac

kaged 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

emerging 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 previous

twelve 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 slippage. We need to determine the research design needed.

Secondly, Client B i

s a manufacturer of several baked goods products sold in grocery stores

throughout the country. Marketing is divided up into five regional divisions in the United

States. The five divisions have had total autonomy over their advertising though all of them

have used television advertising almost exclusively. Each division has tried several different

television ad campaigns and some were thought to be successful and others not as

successful but no one had ever formally evaluated the ad expenditures. A new mar

keting VP

now wants to evaluate the advertising. She's interested 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

descri

be

sales by SKU in the client's

product category for each television market and for each time period associated with each

ad campaign. 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 marketing

-

mix variable

possible except for package design. Since the

three competitive brands are typi

cally

displayed side

-

by

-

side, they want us to determine what factors of package design (i.e., size,

shape, color, texture, and so on) cause an increase in awareness, preference for, and

intention to buy the brand. What do you recommend for the appropriate

research design?

Case 4.1 Memo from a Researcher

56

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

emerging 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 previous

twelve 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 slippage. We need to determine the research design needed.

Secondly, Client B is a manufacturer of several baked goods products sold in grocery stores

throughout the country. Marketing is divided up into five regional divisions in the United

States. The five divisions have had total autonomy over their advertising though all of them

have used television advertising almost exclusively. Each division has tried several different

television ad campaigns and some were thought to be successful and 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 interested 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 television market and for each time period associated with each

ad campaign. 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 marketing-mix variable

possible except for package design. Since the three competitive brands are typically

displayed side-by-side, they want us to determine what factors of package design (i.e., size,

shape, color, texture, and so on) cause an increase in awareness, preference for, and

intention to buy the brand. What do you recommend for the appropriate research design?