Chapter 9
Markeng Research
This chapter begins with the learning outcome summaries followed by a set of lesson plans for
instructors to use to deliver the content.
Lecture (for large sections) on page 4
Company Clips (video) on page 6
Group Work (for smaller sections) on page 8
Review and Assignments begin on page 11
Review questions
Application questions
Application exercise
Ethics exercise
Video Assignment
Case assignment
Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing from faculty around the country begin on page 25
Part 2: Integrated Case Assignments begin on page 32
Learning Outcomes
9-1 Define marketing research and explain its importance to marketing decision making
Marketing research is the process of planning, collecting, and analyzing data relevant to a
marketing decision. The results of this analysis are then communicated to management. Thus,
marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer
through information. Marketing research plays a key role in the marketing system. It provides
decision makers with data on the effectiveness of the current marketing mix and insights for
necessary changes. Furthermore, marketing research is a main data source for management
information systems. In other words, the findings of a marketing research project become data
for management decision making. Practically speaking, marketers use marketing research to
improve the decision-making process, trace problems, and serve both current and future
customers. Marketing research can also help managers understand whether and when changes
should be made to existing products and services. Marketing research helps managers understand
what is going on in the marketplace and take advantage of opportunities.
9-2 Describe the steps involved in conducting a marketing research project
Virtually all firms that have adopted the marketing concept engage in some marketing research
because it offers decision makers many benefits. The marketing research process involves
several basic steps. First, the researcher and the decision maker must agree on a problem
statement or a set of research objectives. Social media and big data may be helpful in this
pursuit. The researcher then creates an overall research design to specify how primary data will
be gathered and analyzed. Before collecting data, the researcher decides whether the group to be
interviewed will be a probability or nonprobability sample. Field service firms are often hired to
carry out data collection. Once data have been collected, the researcher analyzes them using
statistical analysis. The researcher then prepares and presents oral and written reports, with
conclusions and recommendations, to management. As a final step, the researcher determines
whether the recommendations were implemented and what could have been done to make the
project more successful.
9-3 Discuss the profound impact of the Internet on marketing research
More than 90 percent of U.S. marketing research companies conduct some form of online
research. The huge growth in the popularity of Internet surveys is the result of the many
advantages offered by the Internet. The Internet has simplified the secondary data search process.
Internet survey research is surging in popularity. Internet surveys can be created rapidly, are
reported in real time, are relatively inexpensive, and are easily personalized. Often researchers
use the Internet to contact respondents who are difficult to reach by other means. Marketing
researchers use the Internet to administer surveys, conduct focus groups, and perform a variety of
other types of marketing research.
9-4 Describe the growing importance of mobile research
Mobile survey traffic now accounts for about half of all interview responses. Mobile surveys are
designed to fit into the brief cracks of time that open up when a person waits for a plane, is early
for an appointment, commutes to work on a train, or stands in a line. Marketers strive to engage
respondents “in the moment” because mobile research provides immediate feedback when a
consumer makes a decision to purchase, consumes a product, or experiences some form of
promotion.
9-5 Discuss the growing importance of scanner-based research
Scanner-based research is a system for gathering information from respondents by continuously
monitoring the advertising, promotion, and pricing they are exposed to and the things they buy.
Scanner-based research also entails the aggregation of scanner data from retailers, analysis, and
identification of sales trends by industry, company, product line, and individual brand. A
scanner-based research system enables marketers to monitor a market panel’s exposure and
reaction to such variables as advertising, coupons, store displays, packaging, and price.
Neuromarketing is the process of researching brain patterns and measuring certain
physiological responses to marketing stimuli.
9-6 Explain when marketing research should be conducted
When managers have several possible solutions to a problem, they should not instinctively call
for marketing research. In fact, the first decision to make is whether to conduct marketing
research at all. Ultimately, the willingness to acquire additional decision-making information
depends on managers’ perceptions of its quality, price, and timing. Because acquiring marketing
information can be time-consuming and costly, to acquire additional decision-making
information depends on managers’ perceptions of its quality, price, and timing. Research,
therefore, should be undertaken only when the expected value of the information is greater than
the cost of obtaining it. Implementing a customer relationship management system is integral to
deciding if marketing research should be conducted. A key subset of data management systems is
a customer relationship management (CRM) system.
9-7 Explain the concept of competitive intelligence
Derived from military intelligence, competitive intelligence is an important tool for helping a
firm overcome a competitor’s advantage. Competitive intelligence (CI) helps managers assess
their competitors and their vendors in order to become more efficient and effective competitors.
Intelligence is analyzed information, and it becomes decision-making intelligence when it has
implications for the organization. The Internet is an important resource for gathering CI, but
noncomputer sources such as company salespeople, industry experts, CI consultants, and
government agencies can be equally valuable.
Key Terms
Behavioral targeting (BT) Experiment Open-ended question
Big data Field service firm Primary data
Central-location
telephone(CLT) facility
Focus group Probability sample
Closed-ended question Frame error Random error
InfoScan Random sample
Competitive intelligence (CI) Mall intercept interview Research design
Computer-assisted personal
interviewing
Management decision problem Sample
Computer-assisted personal
interviewing
Computer-assisted
self-interviewing
Marketing research Sampling error
Marketing research objective Scaled-response question
Convenience sample Marketing research problem Scanner-based research
Cross-tabulation Measurement error Secondary data
Ethnographic research Mystery shoppers Social media monitoring
Executive interview Neuromarketing Survey research
Nonprobability sample Universe
Observation research
Lesson Plan for Lecture
Suggested Homework
The end of this chapter contains assignments for the Nederlander Organization video and for
the Axe case.
This chapter’s online study tools include flashcards, visual summaries, practice quizzes, and
other resources that can be assigned or used as the basis for longer investigations into
marketing.
Lesson Plan for Video
Company Clips
Segment Summary: The Nederlander Organization
The Nederlander Organization is at the forefront of using technology to understand its customers
and the ways that those theatregoers purchase tickets. This video clip discusses specific ways the
Nederlander Organization collects data and then leverages that information to the benefit of the
customer.
These teaching notes combine activities that you can assign students to prepare before class, that
you can do in class before watching the video, that you can do in class while watching the video,
and that you can assign students to complete as assignments after watching the video in class.
During the viewing portion of the teaching notes, stop the video periodically where appropriate
to ask students the questions or perform the activities listed on the grid. You may even want to
give the students the questions before starting the video and have them think about the answer
while viewing the segment. That way, students will be engaged in active viewing rather than
passive viewing.
Pre-class Prep for You Pre-class Prep for Your Students
Preview the Company Clips video segment
for Chapter 9. This exercise reviews
concepts for LO1, LO2, and LO3.
Review your lesson plan.
Stream the video HERE.
Have students familiarize themselves with
the following terms and concepts: marketing
research, marketing research process,
marketing research problem, marketing
research objective, management decision
problem, open- and closed-ended questions,
research design, primary data, and
secondary data.
Ask students to define and provide a detailed
example of a marketing research problem and
a management decision problem.
Video Review Exercise
Activity
Warm-up Begin this session by asking students to explain the difference between a
marketing research problem and a management decision problem.
In-class
Preview
Segue into a review of the importance of marketing research to marketing
decision making.
Have students form teams of up to four members. Ask each team to brainstorm
several ways they can capture data about customers (e.g., frequent shopper
program, credit card databases, internet research, and surveys).
Move from team to team, and prompt them with additional questions.
Examples include “How will you turn that data into useful, valuable
information?” and “What are the risks of not collecting data or collecting the
wrong data?”
Have teams remain in place to watch the video segment about the Nederlander
Organization.
Review the Company Clips questions below, and make sure students are
prepared to discuss them with their group after viewing the video.
Viewing
(Solutions
below)
1. What are some of the methods mentioned in the video that the
Nederlander Organization uses to gather primary data?
2. In what way does the Nederlander Organization use secondary data?
Follow-up
Have the student teams re-form to respond to the viewing activity. Again,
move from team to team to respond to questions or redirect discussion.
Take-home activity: Have each student reread the book section on
questionnaire design and then design their own questionnaire on a product or
service of their own choosing to be turned in later.
Solutions for Viewing Activities
1. What are some of the methods mentioned in the video that the Nederlander
Organization uses to gather primary data? How does the company leverage that
data?
The Nederlander Organization has several ways in which it gathers information about its
theatregoers. Students could mention monitoring activity from the Broadway direct
newsletter, Audience Rewards program, as well as people opting in to receive the
newsletter.
The Nederlander Organization uses its primary data to re-target customers and send out
targeted marketing messages (as in the Evita example). It also gives its renters access to
segmented information gathered from its newsletters, website, and audience rewards
program so they can appropriately program and market shows. It also allows the
Nederlander Organization to make informed decisions about what shows to lease space to
because they can evaluate what shows will appeal to specific markets.
2. In what way does the Nederlander Organization use secondary data?
The primary use of secondary data mentioned in this clip is using the contact information
gathered by Ricky Martin’s fan club and using that to sell tickets to Evita. The Audience
Rewards mailer is also considered secondary data because people who signed up for that
program did so for a different show, but their contact information is being used by Evita.
Lesson Plan for Group Work
In most cases, group activities should be completed after some chapter content has been covered,
probably in the second or third session of the chapter coverage. (See “Lesson Plan for Lecture”
above.)
For “Class Activity: Pepsi/Coke Taste Test,” provide the information and the questions asked
by the class activity.
Application questions 6, 8, and 12 lend themselves well to group work. For those activities,
divide the class into small groups of four or five people. Each group should read the
question and then use their textbooks, or any work that was completed previously, to
perform the exercise. Then, each group should discuss or present their work to the class.
Class Activity: Pepsi/Coke Taste Test
Part 1
First, ask each student to select either the letter M or Q. Next, ask them to select a number from 1
to 4. Tally the results.
How did the Pepsi/Coke taste test evolve? In the late 1970s, Pepsi was looking for a creative
promotion for its big problem area: the southwestern United States. Pepsi’s national market share
was 17 percent at the time but only 8 percent in the Southwest. Pepsi decided to stage a blind
taste test using a sample of loyal Coke drinkers in the Southwest. Pepsi had the volunteers taste
test two colas—one labeled M (Pepsi) and one labeled Q (Coke)—and state their preference.
In this test, more than half the Coke drinkers chose the product labeled M (Pepsi). Pepsi
advertised the results in a promotion in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and sales of Pepsi doubled.
The promotion was so successful that Pepsi introduced it into seven other market areas.
At this point, Coca-Cola announced that Pepsi’s taste test was biased and unfair. Coca-Cola
pointed out that variables other than taste were affecting volunteers’ choices. One extraneous
variable is that people have a natural preference for the letter M over the letter Q. As a result, the
preference for product M could be based on taste or could be a subconscious preference for the
letter.
In extensive testing, when people were asked to pick either Q or M, 78 percent chose M and 22
percent preferred Q. When people were asked to choose a number from 1 to 4, 70 percent chose
2 or 3, and only 30 percent chose 1 or 4. How do your class results compare?
Part 2
Before Coke introduced its reformulated “New Coke” in 1985, it conducted almost 200,000
blind taste tests with consumers. The following are the results.
New Coke (55 percent) chosen over original Coke (45 percent)
New Coke (52 percent) chosen over Pepsi (48 percent)
However, after New Coke was introduced, it failed miserably in the market. The original formula
was reintroduced a few months later as “Coca-Cola Classic.”
You can replicate the taste test comparing Coke Zero, Coca-Cola Classic, and Pepsi in the
following manner:
1. Get 40 small paper cups, and label 10 with the letter R, 10 with S, 10 with T, and 10 with
W.
2. Outside the room, have a student volunteer randomly assign Coke Zero, Coca-Cola
Classic, and Pepsi to the letters R, S, and T. Write down which soft drink goes with which
letter.
3. At the start of the class, select 10 students as taste testers. The subjects should be regular
consumers of non-diet cola (at least six 12-ounce bottles in the last month). Place the
students at the front of the classroom.
4. Outside the room, the student volunteer should be filling each cup with the appropriate
soda. Fill the W cups with water.
5. Put an R, S, T, and W cup in front of each student, and hand each student a copy of the
Cola Taste Test Form provided.
6. To eliminate order bias, have three of the students begin the taste test with cup R, three
with cup S, and four with cup T. Have them take a sip of water between colas and continue
to sample and test in any order they wish. They can resample as needed to fill out the
questionnaire.
7. Have a student tabulate the answers during class, and share the results at the end of class.
The form could even lend itself to cross-tabulations (between preferences and answers to
questions 5 or 6) if the sample were larger.
Cola Taste Test Form
1. In comparing the tastes of R and S,
____ I prefer R.
____ I am indifferent between R and S.
____ I prefer S.
2. In comparing the tastes of S and T,
____ I prefer S.
____ I am indifferent between S and T.
____ I prefer T.
3. In comparing the tastes of T and R,
____ I prefer T.
____ I am indifferent between T and R.
____ I prefer R.
4. Which of the following brands are R, S, and T?
a. Coke Zero is ____
b. Pepsi Cola is ____
c. Coca-Cola Classic is ____
5. During the past month, estimate your consumption of the three colas so that they total 100
percent:
Coke Zero _______ percent
Pepsi Cola _______ percent
Coca-Cola Classic _______ percent
Total 100 percent
6. How many 12-ounce cans or bottles of sugared cola have you consumed in the past 30
days?
____ 6 or fewer ____ 13 to 24
____ 7 to 12 ____ 25 or more