Marketing Research

Marketing Research

Project description
There are 6 sections for this paper and you need to choose at least one question from each section to write about; but you need to make sure that they all add up to a 100 points. There should be about a page for the 15 point questions. More for the questions with more points. Most Importantly, be sure and answer the questions. You’ll find the complete instructions in the attached file; please read them very carefully. If you need more time I could give you extra 10 days but no more than that. I just want you to make sure that the paper is of good quality.

Directions
1. No Late papers will be accepted! Put all of your paper into one file. You may turn in the paper early.

2. Select any of the “items” on the following pages, providing you select at least one question from each of the six sections. There will be a 10-point penalty for skipping a section.

3. Pick and choose the items you wish to “find” to total 100. Since not all items are of equal weight for some people their last item may take them over the 100 mark by 5 or 10 points. I will consider the quality of the entire item but will not give extra points. Please do not do extra questions! If you do several extra questions, I will just cut off the last questions that take you over- this may result in a penalty for no questions in the last section. There is no extra credit.

4. Do your BEST work, be creative, thorough, and document your work. Remember that a key aspect of this test is the acquisition of “RESEARCH” skills. How you found the answer is as important as what the answer is. If you call or visit a company for information, please be sure to ask the name and position of the person who helped you, then record this in your answer. The quality of your answer also determines whether you get the full point value assigned to each question.

5. All ads, packages or examples are to be scanned (or take a photo) and uploaded. They should be included with your question- not put at the end of the paper. Be sure to label what it is. ARTICLES AND INTERNET SOURCES SHOULD BE INCLUDED. All articles need to include the title of the article, publication date, name of magazine or book, and author-if given. For the questions that ask for articles, usually 2 articles would be appropriate. A recent article should be in the last 2-3 years. The best articles are ones that you access through business databases (such as Business Source Premier or General business File) at the library (not through Google-watch dates Google does not do the most recent first). No articles included, not a recent example and no ad, package are usually a -5 deduction.

6. Part of your grade will be based on presentation. Your test should be neat and well organized. MAKE SURE THAT EACH ITEM IS LABELED CLEARLY WITH THE CORRESPONDING NUMBER FROM THE LIST. Put attachments with the question. Your answers to the questions should be typed, however, you may have supporting material (for example, from a company) that is not.
7. Most of all use your MIND. Please remember to have a sense of humor, and enjoy this as much as possible; it will help you to do a better job. Be sure not to invest money, only time. When asking for help from a business, be HONEST and respect the fact that they may not have the time to help you.

8. Most of the items on the list are all around you every day. In fact, you are completely surrounded by them. Use magazines, newspapers, radio, television, the library, friends, telephone, a camera, mail service, web sites and your favorite retailers. You may use the Internet, although it is not always the best resource. Especially on the Internet, be sure to examine the source and read careful to make sure that the “article” is not a joke. You may want to save the ads from the Sunday paper for a few weeks; they are a great source of ideas and pictures.

9. There are a few “items” that will be a challenge to find. It is conceivable that they may even be impossible to find. If this is the case, you can still derive points based on how thoroughly you can prove you searched for the item.
Good Luck!

Questions

Section 1: Marketing Research
1. Go to an event on the CU Denver campus (a play, a concert, student organization talk, a movie, etc.) Include a copy of the flyer or poster or notice that promotes the event. You may use a Marketing Club event. Do in-depth interviews with two people (do not interview yourself or people you went with) who went to the event about why they went to the event. Include a copy of the questions you asked in the in-depth interviews. Include your results (what did they say) and your conclusion. What can people do to get more students to come to their events? (25 points)

2. Contact a marketing research firm with mall-intercept or focus group facilities. Arrange to visit these facilities when mall-intercept interviews are being conducted or be a subject of an interview. You can also participate in a focus group or other personal marketing research. Write a report about your experience. Be specific about details of the marketing research you observed or participated in. You can usually earn $20-$50 doing a focus group. (20 points)

3. Select an ad for two different condoms. Design and conduct an experiment to determine which ad is more effective. Use a student (or friends) sample of 10 people where everyone answers the questions on the 2 ads. Develop your own measures of advertising effectiveness in this context. What are your results? Include a copy of the ads (or link) and your questions. (15 points)

4. Find a recent example of a test market. What product was test marketed and what were the results of the test market? Include articles. (10 points)

5. Conduct a probability sample to find out the majors of people in one of your classes. Explain how you did it and what problems you had. Explain how it is a probability sample. (Hint- don’t forget the list. Random is not the same as probability.) Report your findings. (20 points)

6. Find a survey of some kind. Explain the background of the questionnaire, for example who was asked to fill it out. Critique the questionnaire, its questions and how it was administered. Find two things that could have been done better and two things that look like they were done well. For example, if one of the questions is worded poorly – explain what the problem is. (10 points)

8. Find an example of how companies measure the usefulness of their social media. For example, Facebook likes, twitter followers, etc. Is this a good measure? Explain one good thing about the measure and one bad thing. Include article(s). (20 points)

Section 2: Product
8. Find and include (package, photo or brochure) examples of each of the following (be sure to label each example) 1) Brand extension. What is the original branded product? 2) Line extension. What is the original branded product? 3) Private brand. What store is it from? 4) Multi-brand Strategy. Identify two brands and the company. 5) Co-branded product. Identify the two different brands. (10 points)

9. Find an article about seasonal/holiday products in non-traditional seasonal items (like snack products or soda). Do not use Christmas products or Easter candy, do not use cold weather (like snow shovels or skis) or hot weather products (like swimsuits or rakes). Are seasonal products increasing or decreasing? Include article(s). Find three examples of current seasonal products. Include package, photo or brochure. (15 points)

10. Find a recent case of false labeling investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). What companies were involved and what products were falsely labeled (Hint: try faux fur)? Include articles. (20 points)

11. Find and include (package, photo, brochure, or article) 5 examples of recent new products. For each product, is it continuous, dynamically continuous or discontinuous innovation? You can set Google to look for articles within the last two years. Why did they succeed/ fail? (15 points)

12. Document the new product development process of an actual new product. This should be an actual example of how a product went from step 1: idea generation to step 8: commercialization. Relate the information to the new product development process in the book (pages 261-269.) Did the product follow the steps? Why or why not? Be specific. This information could come from a company or article(s). Include the articles or explain where the information came from (usually an interview). For example, I had a student who started his own business who explained how his service went through all of the steps. (25 points)

13. Find a critique of a current product. What is the product and why is considered unsafe? What action has been taken by the government? Who is pushing to get it restricted? (Hint: try energy drinks). (15 points)

14. Find an ad for a B2B service. What company and type of service is it for? How is this ad different from an ad for a product? (15 points)

15. What is the latest color in packaging? What products are using it and why? Include article and package, photo or brochure. (15 points)

Section 3: Pricing
16. Find an example of bundle pricing. Explain what the regular price would be if you bought each product individually. What is the price of the group of products (the bundle)? Would you save money? What was the rationale behind grouping those products or services together? (5 points)

17. Interview someone in a company about how they determine the prices of their products or services. Explain the process of how they price the product. Do they use a standard mark-up? About what is the standard mark up in their industry? Be specific, give some detail for this question. Give an example of the price (and costs) of a specific product. Show the calculations. (20 points)

18. Find three used items at a consignment store or ARC or garage sale or Craig’s List or Ebay that are still sold today. Find the same (or very similar item) item new. Compare the price. Is the price differential worth it to buy the new or the used product? (15 points)

19. Pick two different products. Find out the price (convert local currency to US $) of this same product (same brand, same size if possible) in 5 different countries. Why is the price different (or similar) in different countries? (You can use Big Macs for one. The price of Big Macs are reported every year as the Big Mac index –use 2014 or 2013 or use store websites to find the prices). (20 points)

20. Pick out 10 grocery items. Find the price of your “basket” of items at three different stores. Which store had the best total price? Make sure the stores are different in type, for example, Wal-mart, Safeway, 7-11 and Whole Foods are all different. What is the difference on each individual item? Make a chart or graph. Were any of the items on sale? What is the total difference in price? Why are the prices/totals different at the different stores? (20 points)

21. What is a digital wallet? How are companies and consumers using them? How long until you will be using a digital wallet? Include articles(s). (15 points)

22. What is the price differential between a hybrid car and the same model (or similar) gas powered car? At the current price of gas (specify) and your approximate gas usage (specify) how long would it take to pay for the price difference in gas savings? (10 points)
Section 4: Channels of distribution
23. What would be the fastest and least expensive way to deliver a two-pound box of chocolates (in perfect unmelted condition) to someone in Hagåtña? Document the process step by step. Explain the costs and time of at least three ways of delivering it. Make sure that the ways are different from each other and not just a different company doing the same thing. Explain how it will arrive without melting and be sure to factor the costs into your answer. (25 points)

24. What are the top 5 retailers in the world (2013)? What country are they from? What countries do they have stores in? What are the names of the stores they use in different countries? (10 points)

25. Find the name of the store that has the greatest width and the store with the greatest depth of skin care products (pick men’s or women’s). Width is the types of skin care products and depth is the number of different products within each type of skin care product. Approximately how many skin care products does each store carry in which categories? Visit at least 3 stores (maximum of one of the stores may be online) and explain which stores you looked at and why you picked the two you did. (20 points)

26. Find an article and talk to someone (for example at the information booth) at the Mall for each of two malls in the Denver area. (Park Meadows, Flat Iron Crossing, Colorado Mills, Aspen Grove, Cherry Creek Mall, Aurora Mall or other mall). Pick malls that you think are different from each other. Compare and contrast the malls. How are their customers, their sales, their rent, etc. different? Explain where your information came from. Be specific. (20 points)

27. What is the current trend with Big Box retailers? How are they changing? What are some examples? Include article(s). (15 points)

28. Explain how a specific product gets from a manufacturer to a local retail store. Interview someone at the retail outlet or someone who works for a wholesaler and ask about logistics, transportation, warehousing and what companies are involved. Be sure to give lots of details about a specific product and how it goes through the system. (20 points)
Section 5: Promotion
29. Find real life examples for each of the following: samples, coupons, cash refund offers, price packs, premiums, advertising specialties, point of purchase displays or demonstrations (photo will do), contests (or games or sweepstakes) and event sponsorships (pg. 483-481). (10 points)

30. Go on an organized tour of a company’s facility (Coors, Celestial Seasonings, Hammond’s Candy, etc.). Write up a paragraph or two about how the company uses these tours as public relations? How much is their yearly cost? How many people tour the facility? (15 points)

31. Find 2 examples of recent viral marketing. What brand or company was being promoted? What techniques did they use? Include a photo or example (if possible). Include article(s). (10 points)

32. Find an article that criticizes advertising (like advertising to children, privacy in social media, etc.). Find an example of an ad that demonstrates one of the problems discussed in the article. Explain how the ad is an example of this issue. Include both article and example. (20 points)

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33. Find an example of a company that has a strong use of QR codes (hint Tesco). How is the company using the QR code? Include photo of QR code from that company and article(s). (20 points)

34. Find three examples of a company (and which brand/product) that has switched advertising agencies. Find an ad for the brand/product. What is the brand and the name of the new advertising agency? Hint – any day in the WSJ. (20 points)

35. Watch two movies that are set in present day (not a historical movie). One movie should be a blockbuster movie (a movie that is at most major theatres when it first came out). The other movie should be more of an art house movie (a movie that was not widely released, that you can find at Chez Artiste or the Mayan or at the Tivoli). Compare and contrast the amount of product placement. List the products that are placed in the movies. Which movie has more? Give specific examples. Why did one have more placement? (20 points)

36. Find an article about a recent negative publicity incident. Explain what happened and how the company handled the incident. What was the impact on sales? Include the article(s). (20 points)

37. Is TV advertising dying? Give at least two reasons why it is and two reasons why it is not. Include article(s). (20 points)

38. Find a TV ad that demonstrates each of the following; rational appeal, emotional appeal, moral appeal, source expertise, source trustworthiness and likeability. Total of 6 ads. Explain how the ad relates to the concept. Briefly describe the ads and include the links to the ads. (15 points)
Section 6: Consumer Behavior and Segmentation
39. Find 2 recent trends about current social media trends. How are marketers using /responding to social media advertising? Include article(s). (15 points)

40. The president of a scooter store (like Vespa) has asked for your help. The company is thinking about opening a store in the downtown Denver area. Construct a ten question psychographic (life-styles, attitudes, opinions) questionnaire (no demographics) that would be appropriate for segmenting consumers. (10 points)

41. Find an example of a common consumer product that is sold to a government unit. What are the two target markets (consumer and B2B (government)? How was the product changed? What is the product used for? (Hint: gum to the military). (20 points)

42. What are current (March/ April 2014) consumer confidence levels? How were consumer confidence levels impacted by current events (the housing market, Ukraine conflict, employment rates, etc.)? How was the economy impacted by these events? Does consumer confidence match up with what is happening? May need several articles to get this information, please include the articles. (25 points)

43. Develop a perceptual map for the product category of your choice. Be sure to identify approximately 10 brands. You may use price or quality but not both. Carefully describe the process that you used to develop your map. (20 points)

44. Find a different ad that targets each of the following cultural influences. 5 separate ads in total. 1) Ethic group (Hispanic, Black, Asian, etc.) 2) age (baby boomers, generation X, etc.) 3) religion (Jewish, Muslim, Christian, etc.) 4) Geography (region, rural, suburban or urban, etc.) and 5) social class. Tell me which specific group it is targeted to (for example, black, Muslim, urban and upper middle class) and why you think so. Include a copy of a print ad or link for TV or radio for all 5 ads. (15 points)

45. Interview two people from different generations (veterans, baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y). Ask them about the types of products that they buy and how they view advertisements (any media). Find two areas of differences and two areas of similarities. (20 points)

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