Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE
The case talks about the company Bay-Madison Inc. and George Roberts who is the research
Director of the company wants to find the solutions to the ongoing problem by conducting a
study on the product “Rill”. It is a product of Ellis Company who is one of the clients of Bay-
Madison. Rill which is a initially a cleansing agent was developed in 1923 but later when the
R & D added an ingredient it was promoted as both a cleaner and a laundry wash additive.
Main Problems
The unit sales of the product decreased from the past five years
The agency and company are in a disagreement as to whether product should be
promoted as a cleaner, a laundry additive or a dual-purpose product
Information required
Why do people buy Rill is it because of it being a cleaner or laundry or a dual purpose
product
How do people buy Rill?
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Should it smell like a soap/perfume?
Which is better strong/weak product?
What should the pricing be?
How do people see our product is it good/average/ or poor?
What to promote either use it as a product/multi use product?
The Progressive research group started operations in 1948 and it is one of the most seasoned
showcasing research organizations. They have done many statistical surveying ventures and
their customers are biggest buyer merchandise producers. The organization has most developed
PC innovation and furthermore making steady upgrades in it to accelerate and make more
prudent, finish and point by point customer reports.
Research objective:
Research Methodologies
i) Market survey: face to face interview with 2275 homemakers who used Rill across
various geographical area.
ii) Intensive interview study: by taking 2 hour depth-interview with 600 consumers.
iii) The various study techniques that was used by NRA are:
(a) The Personification Test,
(b) The Thematic Apperception Test,
(c) Word Association Test, and
(d) The Semantic Differential Test, among others.
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Time & Cost
Research objective
Research Methodologies
iv) Market survey: face to face interview with 2275 homemakers who used Rill across
various geographical area.
v) Intensive interview study: by taking 2 hour depth-interview with 600 consumers.
vi) The various study techniques that was used by NRA are:
(a) The Personification Test
(b) The Thematic Apperception Test
(c) Word Association Test
(d) The Semantic Differential Test
vii) Completion time: 12 weeks
viii) Cost estimated: $52000
National Research Associate are more precise and accurate in their procedures.
Mostly focusing in determining the effective promotional activities in order to increase
the sales
Their research objective is to compare in relation to its current competitors in each of
the given fields.
Their study covers studying of consumers taking into consideration factors like brand
usage, purchasing and usage habits etc.
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Proposal to interview a sample size of 2,275 housewives, spread across a wide
geographical area, covering both the rural and urban areas which will be effective in
representing a population.
The research will consist of both intensive study (covering in-depth interviews), and a
market study is to be carried out by 88 University-trained and 455 trained field-staff,
respectively.
Different techniques like personification test, Thematic Apperception Test, Word
association test, Semantic differential test are used that will help to understand the
customers preferences better.
Laboratory test technique even included.
There is also a better shared understanding between Mr Roberts, the research-director
of Bay Madison Inc. and NRA (as compared to The Progressive Research Group).
Mr Robert considers marketing problems, are closer to what National Research
Association considers their research objectives.
They are making a surrogate information error by conducting psychological evaluation, which
is of little relevance, when the requirement of the company doesn’t fit well.
CONCLUSION
By analysis all the companies Mr Roberts should select National Research Associates although
they are charging high price because their research is sequential and the different techniques
which will be helpful to understand the customers’ habits and they will able to know better
what customer excepts which will them to take decisions regarding product formulation and
product differentiation if needed as per the market requirements and future changes. Errors
must be taken into consideration while proceeding the research to get more accurate results.
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