Classic market research methods do not provide us with any basis for differentiation. In fact, they merely establish simple and rudimentary links between different socio-economic characteristics and buying behaviour, which amounts to slicing the individual up into pieces. Hence the need for a more integrated approach, which would enable us to divide the market into homogeneous groups of buyers. Market segmentation consists of just this. Briefly, segmenting the market means dividing the population into groups of consumers which are homogeneous both in their apparent characteristics and in their buying mentality. Methods of segmentation, generally, consist of using mathematical techniques to divide a sample into classes. This gives a concrete and living framework for the intuitive work of the advertising man, which consists of thinking in terms of the actual buyer and not in fragmentary terms like age, town size, or profession. No definitive and completely satisfactory solution seems to have been found for this problem. There have, however, been some attempted solutions and we shall go on to describe them here.
This article attempts to clarify the current position, to define the problems of motivational research, so that everyone can evaluate it and fit it into the context of the systematic and organised methods without which marketing would be in danger of becoming a meaningless word. We propose to examine the problem, starting from the definition of motivation in the context of known needs; then we will illustrate the dynamic unity which forms the guideline for behaviour. From that we will be able to establish motivational research firmly in its place vis-a-vis the specific objects of those who wish to use it, and in relation to the predetermined aims of researchers. Finally we will tackle the problems that are putting to the test the concept of the relationship between the system and its application in the context of practical action.
The concept of marketing management contains two basic ideas. One is that of the "decision mind" (being physically limited to one or several persons), and the other is that of the executive team which consists generally of a larger or smaller number of persons, according to the importance and the sphere of action of the firms in which the team works. "Marketing management" is a substitute for what in former times belonged to the direct knowledge and to the personal intuition of a single individual. It was born and has been developing until it has reached its actual importance, of necessity due to the development of production and as a consequence of the function of marketing. From the historical point of view it is one phenomenon more which has appeared in the important change from a simple society to a "mass" society, with its large volume and complexity.
In 1959 , Prof. Behrens had already drawn attention to the long existing but still not fully recognised difference between field research and economic market research. Since then, this difference has become increasingly an integral part of the theory and practice of market research. While economic market research, as a special branch of empirical economic research, is aimed at economic objectivities (quality, quantity and price of goods), field market research, as a branch of empirical social research, deals with the actions and attitudes of people in relation to i the market as well as their bio-social conditions. The topics of field analysis merely reveal the aims of economic research. The former are the objectives of the latter.
Of all the elements which make up the brand image of a product (advertising message, package, price, etc.), the name is perhaps the least scientifically analysed. Very often, no research is undertaken on the "suitability" of a name to a product; in those rare cases that some research is conducted, the problem of the choice is solved through a rough, empirical analysis or due to a copywriter's intuition. No objective criterion whatsoever seems to guide this field of marketing so that certain guidelines on how to proceed with the creation and choice of a name should be laid out. The objective of this paper is to show how arbitrary, empirical decisions can be eliminated from this field and how the problem of the choice of a name can be formulated along rational, if not purely scientific, lines. Let us begin with a short definition of the subject matter.
Is not yet sufficiently clear that where research and advertising activity are integrated in the desired way, the creative man will not be afraid of suggesting new and effective ways of using the initial results of research, trusting the reliability of the studies which can be conducted to assess their merits - at any stage in the creative process - so that the final message or solution decided on will undoubtedly be more effective than one arrived at by leaving the creative people to work on their own. This new and correct conception of advertising research takes on fundamental importance when the object of study is not a product in general, but in fact a new product, or a type of product new to the market which is to be covered by advertising (which does not often happen); or a product which is substantially different to others of the same type already on the market.
The distinction between operational research (OR) and market research is a clear one. The task of operational research is to predict and compare the outcomes of alternative management plans and decisions; the distinctive approach is to develop models which are representations in scientific, possibly mathematical terms, of the relevant factors and relationships of the system being managed. Often, but not always , a model is evaluated on a computer. Initially, such a model throws light on the effect of different management decisions; eventually with progressive refinement, it should predict them with more and more accuracy. On the other hand, the primary task of market research is to collect, summarise and sometimes interpret information about the world external to a marketing company - particularly data about the purchasers and potential purchasers of the company's products. Statistical analyses are sometimes made, but market research reports do not generally include the evaluation of alternative plans to assist the decision-making of management.
As the result of a current study of British political attitudes we have been led to examine the accepted measures of class and in particular the point at which the line is usually drawn between the "middle" and "working" classes. In the summer of 1963 we collected interviews from a stratified random sample of just over 2 ,000 British electors and seventeen months later we managed to reinterview just on three-quarters of these. Our main findings will be written up elsewhere but, since our approach to class may be of help to people working in quite different fields, we are publishing this immediate report.
The degree of newness or innovation of a new product may vary greatly - ranging from a new brand in an established product field, which differs only slightly from existing brands in the product category, to a product involving an entirely new concept, such as the television receiver or the ball-point pen. In consequence the role of market research will tend to vary according to the degree of innovation, although in application rather than in principle. Today many commercial concerns use some form of market research at some stage in developing new products and broadly speaking we may divide this type of research into three categories.
In investigating the market for the services of insurance companies, the problems which market research has to solve are quite different in character from those that arise in industries which market manufactures, whether consumer or investment goods. Market research work in the insurance business must of necessity be more specialised in certain respects but in others it covers a much wider field. Generally speaking, this is due to the fact that in this sector, although the aggregate offer and the total demand at a given time is known fairly accurately, the various concurrent factors which affect the volume of business in regard to a particular insurable risk, do not lend themselves to quantity assessment.
There is a large number of excellent publications - books, articles, etc. - on the principles, purpose and practice of market research. But few of them give much consideration to the question of how to decide how much market research, in terms of money and time spent, should be applied to any given sales problem.
Our fundamental aim was to develop a new and more refined technique of image research which would be so simple to apply that the test persons to be questioned would not have to undergo too much strain, yet the results obtained from the interviews should lead directly to new avenues of approach and hence towards more effective marketing and product policies. Our test series finally and after long and thorough experimenting produced a new brand image test method, the so-called MRK Test. This new test method relies on the mathematical concept of multiple regression and correlation. The abbreviation name of the test "MRK" consists of the first letters of "multiple regressions and correlations". What the multiple regression approach is basically trying to achieve is this: we are seeking to find out to which degree we are able to predict the actual buying behaviour from variables that are within our reach, and then seek to determine which weight these variables have in the ultimate buying decision of consumers.