Bay-Madison, Inc.

Marketing Brief
Rill, a powder cleanser , was first introduced by Ellis company in 1923.It was a heavy duty cleansing agent for removing dirt and stains from porcelain, metal and ceramic tile surface. The product had sold well during earlier years then in 1936; the research department developed and added to the product the ingredient which imparted fluffy texture to textile product, suitable for laundry. But after that the unit sales were found to decline considerably because of competition. Over the years, they spent 50% of company advertisement for cleanser, 30% for laundry and 20% as a dual-purpose product. The product was distributed in various sizes of 4 ounce, 8 ounce and 1 pound. They had 6 major competitors in cleansing segment and 2 major competitors in laundry segment.

Marketing Problem
In November 1975, Mr Robert and his staff had drawn a research proposal which they had forwarded to six marketing research firms. In his proposal, the outlined marketing problems were as follows.

They were not sure of the context in which they should sell Rill i.e. as a cleanser, or as a laundry additive or as a dual purpose product. How do people buy products like Rill? Is it better to have a strong product or a weaker one? To decide on its Packaging Fragrance Pricing Usage(one use, multiuse)

How the product is rated and their consumers likes and dislikes.

Marketing Research Objective

To understand the perception of their consumers about the product Rill To plan a sound and effective marketing policy for Rill

Proposals Under Consideration

National Research Associates
Sampling and Methodology The company proposed to interview 2275 housewives on face to face basis and 600 in-depth interviews. Face-to-Face interview would help in knowing the competitive position of RILL & In-depth interviews would help to know the reason why RILL is in the present position by discovering the attitudes, perceptions and feelings towards the product and its uses.

Research Approach

Explorative o Whether to continue promoting Rill as a multipurpose product. o To decide about what would be the most effective promotional approaches for its different uses. o To decide upon the ways in which Rill distribution packaging, pricing and merchandising could be improved. Descriptive o They were not sure of why the sales were dropping; hypothesis has been taken into account considering three different contexts in which Rill might be marketed. o To consider the various effective promotional approaches.(If, multiuse) o To decide upon whether to launch another product or possibly the same product under different name for each of its uses.

Tests conducted 1. The personification test 2. The Thematic apperception test

3. Word association tests 4. Apparent size tests 5. Color preference and association tests 6. The semantic differential test

Possible Types of Errors

Sampling error: As the study will include only the interviews of homemakers. Selection error: The sample which has been considered is not a representative sample. Response error: Long duration of depth interview might lead to errors in their responses. Interference error: For the additional tests proposed there high chances of faulty interference. Measurement error: In the size and colour preference test, the interviewer has to take care of clearly defining the respective weights.

Time and Cost Estimation

The research can be completed in 12 weeks after finalization of the research design. The cost is estimated at $52000, 50 percent payable upon initiation of the study and 50 percent upon completion.

Progressive Research Group

Sampling and Methodology

Sample consists of a total of 750 homemakers of tight nature in terms of region, socioeconomic group, urban-rural, and the like. Qualification of interviewers: Mostly prefer women with average experience of four years.

Belonging to somewhere between upper middle and lower middle socio economic group. Should have completed some or all of high school. Extroverted and above average intelligence.

Research Approach

Explorative o To determine its Physical characteristics Psychological connotations Packaging(size, nature and label) Descriptive o Whether the Rill as a multiuse product has affected the market negatively

Tests conducted

Field Testing with a total of 100 homemakers distributed among people of varying socioeconomic groups, largely concentrated (for efficiency of handling) i.e. Chicago Metropolitan Area to make sure that sequence and phrasing are such a nature as to be understandable, to get co-operation and to obtain unbiased replies.

Possible Types of Errors

Sampling error: They are ignoring other consumers related to industries (e.g. Restaurants). Administering error o Recording error: The interviewers selected will have a tendency to induce improper data while collecting the responses Response error: As the questionnaire is quite lengthy, its feasibility cant be predicted

Time and Cost Estimation

Research can be completed in 12 weeks after finalizing the project details. The estimate of the cost of this project is $ 23900 + or - 10%.50 % payable at the time of authorization and 50 % on the delivery of the report.

H.J.Clifford Research
H.J.Clifford Research did not take up the research stating data inadequacy. They believed in theory that research plan could be formulated through continuing cooperation and mutual confidence between the research firm, the advertising agency and the client. But it had the support and reputation in the market.

Consumer Panel
Initiative was driven by Mr. Jacks, assistant of Mr. Roberts. Used for day-to-day planning and analysis of purchase behavior for past 10 years.The estimated analysis cost would be not more than $9000. Sampling and Methodology

The same group of respondents will be contacted at periodic intervals and data on actual purchase behavior will be collected to build time series data. The group being a representative of the population.

Possible Types of Errors

Surrogate Information Error: The objective of the independent research firm and that of Roberts research may vary thus leading to surrogate information error. Sampling Error Questionnaire Error: Since data collection part is done by the independent research firm, there could be a possible communication gap leading to questionnaire errors.

Comparative Analysis of Research Proposal

Time and Cost

PROPOSAL National Research Associates Progressive Research Group Robert via Consumer Panel

ESTIMATED TIME ( weeks ) 12 12 ----

ESTIMATED COST ( $ ) 52000 23900 + or 10 % 17000

Reliability
Based on the error analysis for each of the proposals, Progressive Research Group is found to have the least possibility of being subjected to errors which determines its accuracy.

Choice of proposal
According to our analysis, even if the proposal based on consumer panel seems to be least expensive, Roberts lack of experience and mismatch between his objectives and that of the research firm (for data collection) does not guarantee optimum results. National Research Associates seem to meet the objectives of the marketing study in a much better way by incorporating several methods that adds to the cost of conducting the research. Whereas, the Progressive Research group meets the objectives at a reasonable cost. Also it has better reliability with least chances of errors. The interviewers are of highest quality and have been given development under a direct control of a regional supervisor, thus the tests will be more accurate than that of the other proposals. Hence the proposal of Progressive Research can be recommended.