MAR 201 MARKETING PRINCIPLES, SUMMER I, 2020

IPSHITA RAY

The modern digital and mobile marketplace is perhaps the most complex structure ever created by mankind. In fact, it can quite rightly be considered infinitely complex. Quite obviously, the ability of any real-world decision-maker or group of decision-makers to understand even a small portion of this complex structure is extremely limited. Yet even with these severe limitations, business decision makers must still learn all they can about their market in order to effectively compete.

As if these considerations and difficulties were not enough, the firm’s decision-makers must also take into account that what consumers say they are thinking is quite often not actually what they are thinking! (See, for example, the article “What Your Customers Can’t Say”, by David Wolfe, in the February 1998 issue of American Demographics). Furthermore, the very act of questioning someone about a topic can alter their opinion on that topic (or even force them to create an opinion where none actually existed, just to be enable themselves to answer the question!) This difficulty is further compounded by the fact that it is nearly impossible to establish credibility or authenticity of online individuals accurately and with any certainty. The astute business planner must, of course, take all of this into account when designing or evaluating any sort of strategic internet research involving the attitudes or intentions of online consumers.

In the modern, hypercompetitive marketplace, the speed of information acquisition is exceedingly important, hence we will expend a good deal of time and effort within this course learning how to use modern syndicated marketing research databases such as Simmons/Choices III and MRI among others. This will involve understanding the intricacies of database measures, as well as direct experience with the process of defining and assembling variables from the individual data items available in the database. Each individual student will be required to analyze Simmons and MRI data and compose detailed reports based on the interpretation of the quantitative data. Data will mostly comprise of indices, horizontal and vertical, as well as cross tabulations. In some cases, means analyses and correlation analyses will also be conducted. These individual interpretations will then be used to build effective marketing strategies for the team project.

Within database research – it is the properties of the data that limit and define the set of applicable questions one can ask.  It is difficult to get used to working within an environment such as this, where one is restrained from asking for more information than the data can reliably provide, but it is a critical skill to have.

PLEASE FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING STEPS TO COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT:

1. PLEASE SELECT YOUR TARGET MARKET (e.g. MALES 18-65) FOR THE PROJECT. THIS SELECTION WILL BE DETERMINED BY EXTENSIVE RESEARCH CONDUCTED IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TERM BASED ON YOUR PHASE I OR SITUATION ANALYSIS.

2         IDENTIFY SPECIFIC SUBSETS WITHIN THE OVERALL TARGET MARKET. THIS CAN BE BASED ON DEMOGRAPHIC AND/OR PSYCHOGRAPHIC VARIABLES. FOR INSTANCE, IF YOUR TARGET MARKET IS ALL MALES BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18 – 65 YEARS THEN YOU MAY HAVE THE FOLLOWING SUBSETS: MALES 18-24; MALES 25-45; MALES 45-65 AND SO ON. EACH MEMBER OF A TEAM SHOULD COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT WITH A FOCUS ON ONE OF THE MANY SUBSETS OF THE TARGET MARKET.

NEXT:

2. DEFINE YOUR TARGET MARKET BY THE BASIC DEMOGRAPHIC

INFORMATION (AGE, INCOME, EDUCATION, GENDER ETC.)

3. USING SIMMONS FIRST AND THEN MRI (TO EARN BONUS POINTS), PUT THE TARGET MARKET IN COLUMNS. IF YOU HAVE TWO OR MORE SUBSETS OF THE TARGET MARKET THEN EACH WOULD HAVE ITS OWN COLUMN. (EG. MALES 18-24; MALES 25-45 ETC.) (FOR MRI, YOU SHOULD ALSO HAVE A COLUMN FOR YOUR TARGET MARKET WITH DETAILED SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE INFORMATION – FOR EXAMPLE MALES 18-24 WHO USED FACEBOOK IN THE LAST 2 MONTHS, YOUTUBE, TWITTER AND SO ON.
4. ONCE YOU HAVE SET YOUR COLUMNS, SELECT ATTITUDE QUESTIONS IN THE ROWS.
5. ANALYZE, SORT BY INDEX AND INTERPRET AT LEAST 10 RELEVANT AND INTERESTING ATTITUDE AND LIFESTYLE QUESTIONS. TYPICALLY, STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE SEPARATE SETS OF ATTITUDES AND LIFESTYLES TO ANALYZE SINCE THERE ARE HUNDREDS AVAILABLE.
6. FINALLY, WRITE DOWN THE INTERPRETATIONS OF EACH OF THOSE 10 ATTITUDES/LIFESTYLE STATEMENTS ON A WORD DOCUMENT. YOU MUST INTERPRET THE INDEX, HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL PERCENTAGES FOR EACH OF THE 10 CROSSTABS. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU SHOULD HAVE 10 INDEX, HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL INTERPRETATIONS.
7. TRY TO TELL A STORY WITH THESE INTERPRETATIONS – WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND HOW DOES YOUR STORY ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA CONSUMPTION AND DIGITAL LIFESTYLES FIT IN WITH THESE FINDINGS.
8. FEEL FREE TO CREATE CHARTS AND GRAPHS BASED ON THE EXTRACTED CROSS TABULATIONS.

WHAT YOU SUBMIT VIA BB ASSIGNMENT FOLDER:

1. COVER PAGE WITH YOUR NAME AND YOUR TEAM’S NUMBER/IDENTITY (A, B, C etc.)
2. WORD DOCUMENT WITH THE INTERPRETATIONS AND CHARTS
3. CORRESPONDING EXCEL/SIMMONS SPREADSHEETS WITH THE RIGHT DATA YOU INTERPRETED. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU NUMBER AND HIGHLIGHT EACH CROSSTAB AND MATCH THE NUMBER WITH YOUR WRITTEN INTERPRETATION SO I CAN SEE WHICH CELL YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT IN THE DATA SHEET. YOU CAN ALSO COPY AND PASTE YOUR DATA IN YOUR WORD DOCUMENT ITSELF.

DUE DATE: (IN SYLLABUS).