The Youth Hostel movement had become world-wide by the 1960s. It had at this time a near monopoly of organised international Budget Youth Tourism, on the basis of providing simple accommodation without frills for travelling youth. At some time in the 70s, there occurred a "sea-change" in the needs and attitudes of the young with regard to how, where and why they spent their recreational time away from home. Youth Hostels did not at first notice a gap was widening between their commendable social purposes with their old-fashioned image and the wishes of the young market they existed to serve. Market Research began to reveal this gap and the reasons for it. Between 1976 and 1989 a framework of the trends of change in Youth Tourism was built up with an indication of the strong and weak points of Youth Hostels. This paper illustrates the trends and their implications for Youth Hostels and describes some of the action taken.
This project provides an unusually clear insight into the way in which an aesthetic benefit can add to the perceived quality of a commodity product like tea. It also shows the way in which an ad-hoc panel can be used to provide reliable pre-launch test market data on how a new brand is likely to perform. Finally, it demonstrates that free sampling with significant amounts of product can enhance the quality of trial, such that trial is more focussed in the target group and higher levels of repeat purchase are obtained than would otherwise be the case.
Electronic technology has introduced the personal TV meter and product pack scanning and other devices into sophisticated measurement of advertising and product purchasing. The costs are too high for the methodology to be used in many countries and yet the need for measurements of advertising effect and coverage are there. In India, a single source Panel has been running for 18 months based on more traditional Panel methods, with modifications suitable for the cultural and social environment of the country. This paper provides evidence of the reliability and effectiveness of the research and case histories of the ways the data have been used to good effect. in particular it discusses ways of taking a more balanced measure of TV's impact and coverage in a country where, for the time being, it is perhaps regarded uncritically as an advertising medium. it looks at alternative media strategies and various measures of the sales effect of advertising. A new analysis for predicting audiences to sponsored programme series is also described. The main conclusion from the paper is that there is no need to wait until the electronic technology can be afforded. Suitable modifications to traditional non-electronic methods are more than adequate.
The AdLab Panel was set up in the Central TV area of England in September 1985 after a pilot study. By June 1987 it had been running for 21 months. The experience of the first years operations is contained within the attached summary paper. This experience suggests : a) Panel members are able to handle the amount of data required of them, ie both purchasing and media exposure data without evident reporting fatigue or abnormal drop-out or reporting rates. b) The data relates closely to that supplied from industry sources, eg product purchasing, TV viewing and readership. c) The analysis of the results provides new and useful data on the sales affects of advertising and on more precise media schcduling. The presentation of the results will examine the evidence for these conclusions both from the original paper and from further analyses in the second year of the Panel.
This chapter is concerned with panels. Like so many common English words placed in a market research context, its special research meaning is entirely familiar to the practitioners and confusing to the layman. Its nearest common meaning is a list of names (doctors, jurors, etc.), but in its research meaning this list of names has to be performing certain functions for certain desired objectives before it takes the form of a panel.
Conclusion of the Seminar on The Effective Use of Panels.
Marketing research is a fundamental part of marketing within TRIUMPH INTERNATIONAL and was already operating in the early fifties. From the very beginning consumer panel activities played an important role within our German TRIUMPH company and - since the early sixties - all over Europe.
The examples in this paper are drawn from one example of 'closed universe panels' ie. Sharescale Panels, which are set up on an ad hoc basis to measure particular product fields, usually to test the effect that a new brand might have in that field. Recently, however, Sharescale Panels have been set up to determine, inter alia, optimum price levels of existing brands - making use of the unique qualities of these panels to measure the effect of price.
The paper discusses the reasons why Consumer Panels are among the research techniques considered to be likely to lead in terms of future growth in market research, notably in relation to specialist Panels, increased practical sophistication of data analysis, and in the use of share prediction techniques. The paper goes on to discuss the development of panel prediction techniques from the early experiences of brand share prediction models in the 1960's through to the evolution of simulated market panels designed to maximise the speed with which the repeat purchase potential of a brand is known, whilst minimising expenditure or risk by avoiding putting the product on the open market until its successful potential is confirmed or not. The paper discusses a number of case histories from Sharescale Tests and, in particular, the unique opportunity to relate repeat purchasing to price.
This paper is concerned with purchasing or usage panels specially set up for a distinct period of time and usually to measure only one product, i.e. "tailor-made" panels. It examines the circumstances in which such panels are likely to be used, some of the special characteristics of the research techniques developed to provide "tailor-made" panels, and some of the operating advantages arising from them.
In opening the Seminar on Panels this paper is designed to provide a general view on the types of Panel operations currently in use, and some of the technical considerations on which efficient Panel running depends. It also considers some aspects of the accuracy and validity of Panel data.
The subject of this paper is the measurement of the sales effect of promotions by the analysis of consumer behaviour in terms of penetration and repeat purchasing. The type of penetration/ repeat purchasing analysis required for this purpose, and described in this paper, requires a continuous purchasing panel to provide data with the necessary detail and accuracy. Interview surveys can measure product penetration and the extent of repeat purchasing (although the accuracy of claims made may be subject to exaggeration) but they cannot provide the time spread of these activities sufficiently accurately unless multiple interviews are conducted with sufficient frequency for the resulting technique to be virtually a Panel anyway.