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Case Assignment: FritoLay
FritoLay, which is owned by PepsiCo, always wants to know what is on their customers’ minds
Then January 2016 brought not just the beginning of a new year but the beginning of
To increase interest before the contest began, Lay’s took to social media. They tweeted
out emoji riddles for followers to guess the new flavors. For submitting a guess (even a wrong
FritoLay also roused attention by sending the media samples to taste in the form of eight
After a week of fielding guesses from the media and the public, Lays announced the real
flavors. In the Flavor Swap contest, the contenders for the “heat” flavor swap were Flamin’ Hot
From February 21 to March 8, 2016, customers were asked to try the new flavors and
It took Lays only a month to determine the winners, and they announced the “Flavor
“We heard our fans loud and clear and we are keeping the classic flavors around for them
to enjoy,” Jeannie Cho, Frito-Lay’s VP of marketing said in a statement.
Sources: B. Miller, “Lay’s Potato Chips announces ‘Flavor Swap’ winners,” Chew boom, April
25, 2016, accessed October 19, 2016,
TRUE/FALSE
1. Marketing research is the business function that links the consumer, customer, and public to
the marketer through information.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-1 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
2. FritoLay used social media monitoring to determine which flavors customers would prefer.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-2 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
3. Since not all customers who tried the new flavors voted online, the results were only a sample
of the flavor preferences of their customer base overall.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-2 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
4. FritoLay asked customers to try the new flavors and then go to FlavorSwap.com to participate
in online focus groups.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-3 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
5. FritoLay could have used scanner-based research to compare the votes cast online with the
actual purchases of the different flavors.
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-5 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which research method did FritoLay use to gather results about customers’ preferred flavors?
a. mall intercept interviews
b. online questionnaires
c. mail surveys
d. focus groups
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-2 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
2. If FritoLay asked “Do you prefer the flavor of our Honey Barbecue chips or our Korean
Barbecue chips?” this would be an example of a(n) __________ question.
a. open-ended
b. closed-ended
c. scaled-response
d. observation
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-2 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
3. If FritoLay asked “On a scale of 1–10, how much do you enjoy the flavor of our Fiery Roasted
Habanero chips?” this would be an example of a(n) __________ question.
a. open-ended
b. closed-ended
c. scaled-response
d. observation
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-2 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
4. If somehow only males in their 20s ending up casting votes in the Flavor Swap, this would be
an example of a __________ error in the research.
a. measurement
b. sampling
c. frame
d. random
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-2 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
5. Which of the following is NOT an advantage of internet surveys?
a. rapid development, real-time reporting
b. improved respondent participation
c. standardized questions and data
d. dramatically reduced costs
PTS: 1 OBJ: LO: 9-3 TOP: AACSB: Reflective Thinking
KEY: CB&E Model: Strategy MSC: BLOOMS: Level I Knowledge
Great Ideas for Teaching Chapter 9
James S. Cleveland, Sage College of Albany
Discussion Board Topics to Encourage Participation
Discussion board questions provided to students to encourage them to engage in thinking and
writing about the content of the Principles of Marketing course usually take the form of a
provocative statement to which students are asked to respond. An example of this would be “All
PR is good PR.”
Discussion topics such as this one are abstract and often require that the instructor provide an
initial reply to show students what is expected of them in their own replies. For students with
limited work experience, this approach may be quite appropriate. For adult students with
extensive experience as employees and consumers, however, the abstract nature of such topics
can be frustrating.
I have developed, therefore, a series of discussion board questions to use with experienced, adult
students. These questions are designed to encourage them to use their experiences as employees
and consumers as doorways to better understand the course material, and to make their own
responses more interesting to themselves and to the other students in the class who will read and
comment on them.
Each question has three parts:
1. First, there is a sentence or two from the students’ textbook introducing the topic. By using
the text author’s own words, students are enabled to locate relevant material in the text
more easily, the text content is reinforced, and confusion resulting from use of variant
terms or expressions is minimized.
2. Second, there is a reference to text pages the students should review before proceeding.
Since the goal of the exercise is for students to apply the course content to their own
experiences, reviewing the content first is important.
3. Third, there is a request for the students to think about or remember some specific situation
in their experiences to which they can apply the text material, and a question or questions
for them to address in their replies.
Here are additional such discussion board questions developed for Chapter 9 of MKTG11. Each
is written to fit the same text cited above but could easily be rewritten and revised to fit another
text.
Series A
1. Marketing research is the process of planning, collecting, and analyzing data relevant to a
marketing decision.
2. Review the information on the role of marketing research from section 9-2 of your text.
3. Then describe how your employer uses marketing research or, if you do not think your
employer does, how it could use marketing research.
Series B
1. All forms of survey research require a questionnaire.
2. Review the information on questionnaire design from section 9-3c of your text.
3. Suppose you wished to design a questionnaire that could be used by your employer to do
marketing research. Describe what the questionnaire would be designed to find out and
write one good closed-ended question that could be used on it.
Deborah C. Calhoun, College of Notre Dame of Maryland
Secondary Research Data Hunt and Marketing Strategy Development
The purpose of this assignment is to acquaint the student with the many diverse business
information sources available to them in their college library as well as introduce them to the
types of data marketers often use when making a strategy decision. As you are aware, the ability
I write a new data hunt every year around one of the cases in the marketing principles text book
and assign it relatively early on in the semester. I have treated it as either a pass/fail or a graded
assignment, and both approaches seem to work. I used to suggest to the students which sources
Petco Products Data Hunt
1. Who are Petco Products’ competitors in the dog-food and cat-food industry? Identify the
competitors by both brand name and manufacturer. You may wish to supplement your
library research with a trip to the local grocery or pet store. While at the store, note shelf
space allocation, types of product offerings, packaging, and pricing among the brands.
2. Ralston Purina is one of the largest competitors in the dog- and cat-food market. Develop a
profile of the Ralston Purina Company. Include information such as ownership, history,
market share (both domestically and internationally), and marketing practices such as
product/brand offerings.
3. What Standard Industrial Codes (S.I.C.) do dog food and cat food fall under? What S.I.C.
codes do pet stores and dog kennels come under?
4. Before investing a significant sum of money into the “First in Show” (F.I.S.-27) dog food
product, Petco Products needs to further investigate the domestic and international pet food
industry, in particular the dog food market. What are the significant trends, and what do
sales and profitability forecasts look like for both the consumer market and the pet
store/kennel market?
5. Trade Associations and trade journals are excellent sources of industry specific
information. The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association supplied much of the
pet ownership information in the case. What is the address and phone number of the
American Pet Products Manufacturers Association? Should Petco Products join the
Association? Why, or why not? Does your library carry any of the Association’s
publications? Name three other associations Petco may wish to join.
6. The case describes the characteristics of a pet owner nationally. How would you describe
dog and/or cat owners in your area? How do pet owners in your area differ from pet
owners nationally?
Kay Tracy, Gettysburg College
In-class Exercise in Research
To illustrate a few of the trials and tribulations of conducting marketing research, I have the
Students are asked to survey 10 of their classmates as to what brand of a personal-use item they
own and to collect benefit; demographic; psychographic; and activities, interests, and opinions
Time Required: One 50-minute class period
after interviews are completed
Procedure: Before class, reproduce survey forms for different products based on the format
below. You will need enough different products so that five students are interviewing about the
