a) Given the key findings from the usage and attitudes study on pp.

6-7 of the case, what did

the team learn from the study and what are the implications of these learnings?

Ans: The usage and attitudes study was conducted to understand the differences between the
Canadian and U.S. markets that could be leveraged to unlock growth in Canada. Initial screening was
done to identify the participants and categorize them as ‘users’ and ‘lapsed users’. Users being those
who had purchased refrigerated cookie dough in the past 12 months while lapsed users being the
ones who purchased over 12 months ago. On the other hand, non-users never made such purchase.

Following were the learnings from the study:

 Consumer demographics and family structure were very similar between Canada and the
U.S. market.
 Majority (56%) of Canada users, bake cookies only from scratch on the other hand use of
refrigerated dough was the most popular baking method in the United States(22%).
 Both the markets consider convenience and taste as the top most purchase drivers for RBG
cookies
 Kid-request plays a bigger role in the Canada market instead of quality of dough like in the
U.S.
 The perception of users and lapsed users are same for the RBG convenient factor whereas
the non-users are not.
 The cookie dough purchases are impulsive in nature
 Frequency of RBG cookie baking was similar in both the markets
 Use of RBG cookie dough was increasing among households with kids

Further in-home sessions and discovery workshop were conducted to gain insights into the lives of
cookie bakers, their feelings towards Pillsbury cookies and the emotions that baking evoked. The
learnings from them were:

 The baking solutions had to be practically easy and quick to make it worth consideration
 The act of baking made the mothers feel good by sensing that they made a difference in the
home.
 Children participated in the baking of cookies with enthusiasm and involvement which
made the whole process so special
 Brand champions were more of pragmatic and get it done types
 Lapsed users were more committed to scratch baking and convenience-product territory
 There was no genuine concern regards the nutritional value of Pillsbury cookies
 There was an emotional connect of love for Pillsbury which transformed an ordinary meal
into special
 Pillsbury product was better than a readymade product because it involved effort in baking
and hence. Represented an act of generosity
 Some people considered it with ‘cheating’ while some as ‘their little secret’.
The implications from the above learnings are as follows:

 Attitude of lapsed user- From the case it is clear that for lapsed user the cognitive
component was high since they had the knowledge about the product but the affective
component was low as they were not emotionally attached to the process because they felt
more committed to scratch baking. Also, the conative component which is the intension to
buy was low since they had stopped buying the product.
 Pillsbury cookies had a strong emotional connect with the users which depicted a leverage
for building strong loyalty from the existing customers.
 Buying behavior and post purchase behavior evolved around the emotions related to
baking between mother and children
 The household penetration In Canada was lower than that of USA because they focused
more on scratch and less on ready to make.

Based on the implications derived, what actions should Gulien and his team make?

1)Promotional campaigns should focus on the lapsed user’s affective component of the attitude.
Since, they derived pleasure through scratch baking which required more effort, the campaign
should highlight that it is not completely a convenience product as this also requires some amount
of effort. They should be made aware of the product and it should recapitulate them the baking
experience they had when they purchased Pillsbury RBG cookies. Since the lapsed users showed
traits they are inclined towards the product because of ease and convenience, they can be targeted
by keeping it in a place which are approachable easily and present distinctly in the supermarkets

2) The team should focus on their target segments which basically comprised of mothers.
Mothers who are busy with their families’ household work and are conscious about easiness, quality
of cookies, they can be targeted through putting up billboards in densely populated areas. It can be
even installed near supermarkets which displays the pleasure experienced by mother through baking
in the kitchen. The team should keep in the mind the hedonic need for targeting this segment. In
case of working mothers, who desires to bake good cookies for their children in less time as they are
busy, they can be targeted uniquely. For this segment, installing displays should be done outside
office buildings and different awareness campaign should be performed so that they get to know
about the product and its attribute

3) As per the case, it is inferred that the kids play an important role in the purchase of the cookies.
For targeting fun loving children who like to bake with their mother, the team can sell Pillsbury
cookies through various strategic locations like school canteen. Advertising should be attractive,
playful and promoted through different mediums like television etc. Apart from this through
conducting school quizzes, sponsorships etc., the visibility of the product will increase which will lead
to increase in the tendency to buy the product. The team should also focus on the packaging which
portrays fun loving kids baking in the kitchen. This will lead to an emotional association in mother
towards the product.