What type of exploratory research would you suggest in the following situations?

•A product manager suggests development of a non tobacco cigarette blended from wheat,
cocoa, and citrus. And get feedback on how it works and/or if improvements need to be made.

Prof. / Class: Exploratory research serves as a source for developing ideas that
are then subjected to further research investigation (Zikmund & Babin, 2010). Exploratory
research is usually qualitative, not quantitative, so it doesn’t provide much mathematical data. It
is usually a preliminary step in identifying the nature of a problem, when the researcher has very
little experience or knowledge of the issue, such as the new non-tobacco cigarette.

This cigarette blended from wheat, cocoa and citrus is not a commonly available product on the
market, so the best analysis is to find out how the market would react to such non-tobacco
cigarette. One of the first steps for this product manager is to discuss this idea internally,
including the marketing department, the sales reps and even the company’s resellers or
representatives of other distribution channels. The internal groups would be able to discuss
how they would advertise the new “chocorette” product, and the field sales reps and resellers
would be able to provide insight on what the market’s response would be to such a product.
Owners of tobacco shops and internet tobacco product distributors know what is moving in their
stores, and would they be willing to keep quantities of chocorette in their inventory.
Besides the obvious internal channels above, which are close to the decision maker, the new
concept could be used in a focus group approach. This means that there should be enough
prototypes produced to supply the testers. Both smokers and non-smokers could participate in
this focus group – the smokers for the taste and the cigarette effects, and the non-smokers for
the smell and their willingness to tolerate it.
One of the main exploratory research topics to consider with this product is its non-tobacco
properties, which line up with the health concerns of using tobacco products. There is already
extensive research on the harmful effects of tobacco products and having a group of health
professionals analyze and evaluate the chocorette would align this new product with other
healthier alternatives to tobacco smoking.
In the event that there are no prototypes yet available to test in a focus group, and no
commitment has been made to any further research and development, the most economical
way to test this would be case studies analysis.

•A research project has purpose of evaluating potential brand names for a new insecticide.

Prof. / Class:
In reading our text, we became aware of the importance of the brand names for the consumer
purchasing decisions (Zikmund & Babin, 2010). Evaluating potential brand names for a new
insecticide should start with an internal process of analyzing the existing brand names within the
company and their potential implications on consumer trends.
We first need to know who we are selling this product to. Only a few pesticides are made
available to the general public. Most pesticides are considered too hazardous for general use,
and are restricted to certified applicators. A pesticide that is a powerful chemical agent for
example, which could potentially be harmful to humans, if legal, could be still sold B2B to
commercial pest control companies, who spray large areas and don’t really care what’s the
brand name is, as long as they know the chemical composition. However, this type of a product
will probably not do well B2C with a conscientious parent in a household full of children.

I personally always like the concept of Case Studies analysis. This type of exploratory
research, not only gives us historical competitive information on similar situations, but also
enables the decision maker to learn by someone else’s mistakes, while avoiding to make the
same potentially costly mistakes.

It is important to note that this area is regulated by the EPA and if one wants to succeed in
branding and marketing an insecticide, they should familiarize themselves with the FIFRA. The
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) is a United States federal law that
set up the basic U.S. system of pesticide regulation to protect applicators, consumers, and the
environment. It is administered and regulated by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the appropriate environmental agencies of the respective states. In addition
to the FIFRA, the U.S. use is also controlled by Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2003.
In addition to the rules and regulations given by the EPA, the states may also offer an additional
set of rules and registration requirements for a registered pesticide. They can also request
annual usage reports from the pesticide users. And, as with any product if we want to sell
overseas, there is a whole different set of rules on chemical use in other countries.
All of the above seems to only concern the chemical composition of our new insecticide, but in
reality it is also very important information to consider when branding a product.

References:

Zikmund, W., & Babin, B. (2010). Exploring marketing research (10th ed.). Australia: Cengage
Learning.
~Milana