Marketing Research

Objective: Describe the five steps in conducting market research

1. Define the Problem:
Does each bag of M&Ms contain the same number of candies?
How many of each color M&M is in each bag?
2. Analyze the situation:
Complete the M&Ms website worksheet.
3. Develop a data-collection procedure:
Get a bag of M&Ms and complete the Data Collection Worksheet
4. Examine and organize information:
Complete the Group Comparison Worksheet
5. Propose a solution
Complete the Solutions Worksheet

M & Ms Website Worksheet

Directions: Use Google to answer the questions below.
History
1. What year were M&Ms first sold to the public?
19441
2. How were they packaged?
Plastic tubes
3. When the packaging was changed, what was it changed to?
It was changed to plastic bags
4. When were peanut M&Ms first introduced?

1954

4. Where are M&M candies made in the United States?

New jersey
6. What color was added to peanut M&Ms in 1960?

Yellow,red,green

7. What does M & M stand for?

Mars and murrie
8. The original M&M chocolate candies contained what color mix?

Milk chocolate mix with plain m and ms

9. What is colorworks?

An variety of m and m colours where you can order a bulk

10. What is M&M world?

A store that sells m and m merchandise and candy

11. What happened to the original name of M&M plain chocolate candies in 2000?

Milk chocolate and m and ms

12. Can you get your school colors?

From colorworks you can

13. What color was originally used for the letters on the M&Ms?

white

14. What % of each color do you get in a bag of M&Ms?

Brown=

8.5

Green=

22

Yellow=

Blue=

18

Orange=
Red=

22
8.5
23

%
%

For the following questions do a google search as well.

1. What are the details of the great color quest?
Giving back to the people winning prizes for finding a bag fill with orange which was the color they bring back

2. What company has M&Ms teamed up with for the great color quest?
Teamed up with aloe

3. The M&M Spokescandies were introduced as a form of marketing. Who are they? (List
their names)
They were there mascots. Their names where red, blue,green, orange, and ms.greene

4. Th e r e a r e g a m e s yo u ca n p l a y wi t h M& M s. U s e t h e i n t e r n e t t o f i n d a g a m e
a n d t r y p l a yi n g i t wi t h yo u r g r o u p . W ri t e o u t t h e n a m e o f t h e g a m e a n d t h e
i n s t r u c t i o n s f o r h o w t o p l a y.
M&M game
It is a game where we blindly pick up an m @ m and we tell something about
o ve r s e l ve s .
R e d c a n d y f a vi o r t e h o b b ys
G r e e n c a n d y f a vi r o t e f o o d
Yel l o w c a n d y f a vi o r t e m o vi e s
O r a n g e c a n d y f a vi o r t e p l a ce t o t r a ve l
B r o wn ca n d y m o s t m e m o r a b l e o r e m a s s i n g m o m e n t s
Blue candy wild cards

M&M Data Collection Worksheet

1. How many candies are in your bag (count twice for accuracy)?_

142

2. Count each candy per color and quantity (count twice for accuracy)
Color

Number

Red

12

Green

31

Brown

12

Yellow

26

Orange

28

Blue

33

3. What is the percentage of each color per bag? ((# of color/total)*100)

Color

Percent

Red

8.5

Green

22

Brown

8.5

Yellow

18

Orange

22

Blue

23

4. Using Excel, create a pie chart showing the percent of each color M&M. (Use the data in
the first table above). Change the colors of the chart to match the colors of the M&Ms.
Submit the chart to the hand in folder so it can be marked in colour.

Group Comparison Worksheet

Communicate with the members of other groups to complete the table below:
Group
Name

Total in
Bag

% of
Red

% of
Blue

% of
Green

% of
Brown

% of
Yellow

% of
Orange

142

8.5

23

22

8.5

18

22

142

8.5

24.6

21.8

19

Parveets group 141

31

13

13

16

13

Ellens

140

13

24

18

11

arjots

140

7.8

19.2

12.2

12.1

11.4

18.4

142

20

10

10

30

20

10

Our Group
Cams group

*m&m
standard
%s

*m&m % can be found online

Solutions Worksheet
1. Does each bag of M&Ms contain the same number of candies?
No but they are only like 1 to 2 off.

2. If the answer to number 1 is no, what is the average number of candies per bag?
142

3. How many of each color M&Ms is in each bag? (Approximately)

Blue is 20 %
Orange is 17%
Yellow 16 %
Brown 10 %
Green 26 %

4. How do the Group results compare to the M&M website results?

Theres were really similar to ours

5. Which color is most prevalent?

green

6. Is there a trend or reason for the most prevalent color?

No there is no reason or trend

7. Which color is least prevalent?

Brown

8. Is there a trend or reason for the least prevalent color?

It is for no real reason

9. Why do they introduce new colors as a marketing strategy?

They want to create their candys fresh, and alwatys appealing.

10. List any examples of advertisements, TV shows, movies that have used M&Ms (or
specific color M&Ms) as part of the script.
Pokemon because of there colours to the m and m

11. If you were marketing a bag of M&Ms what would be your breakdown of each color and why?
Blue, red, orange, yellow, brown
Because these are my favorite colors from favorite to least favorite

12. What does your group think of the Great Color Quest marketing strategy? (Explain)
it is a good way to hype up the product and keeping it new

Orange Is Coming Back to the M&M'S Mix; Great Color Quest Consumer Contest Yields First
Winner with Discovery of Bag of All-Orange M&M'S
Feb. 5, 2004
Orange was officially "found" in South Carolina and will be added back to the M&M'S(R) stable of
colors. Black and white since New Year's Eve, M&M'S launched the Great Color Quest consumer
contest to bring back the color, enlisting the support of consumers to find the six all-colored bags
of M&M'S from among the more than 37 million black-and-white packages.
"The M&M'S(R) Great Color Quest contest is designed to give the wonder of color back to the
people," said Doug Milne, senior marketing manager, M&M'S Brand. "While the color orange has
now been found, there are still five colors to go, with full bags of brown, red, yellow, blue and
green M&M'S waiting to be found so that all the colors can come together again."
While the color orange has now been found, there are still five colors to go, with full bags of
brown, red, yellow, blue and green M&M'S waiting to be found so that all the colors can come
together again.
In South Carolina, a life-long fan of M&M'S purchased an all-orange bag at a local store and soon
discovered that she was the first Great Color Quest winner. Consumers who purchase one of the
remaining black and white bags of M&M'S(R) containing candies that are all one color may also
be winners. A total of six lucky winners will receive a 2004 Volkswagen New Beatle Convertible
GLS in the color of the candy they discover, a trip to Los Angeles, and $20,000 in cash.
Each of the M&M'S(R) varieties - milk chocolate, peanut, crispy, almond, peanut butter and minis have turned black and white and are part of the Great Color Quest contest. More information
about the Great Color Quest is available at http://www.mms.com/us/bw/quest/.