The aims of the present report are to present the problems which are particularly relative to the organization of market research in the field of industry, and to proceed to examine the corresponding solutions. The "EUROPLASTICS" research project, the object of which was estimate the prospects of expanding the plastics industry within the Common Market and the United Kingdom up to 1970-1975, will make possible a thorough review of the preceding aspects on the basis of a genuine concrete example.
The aims of the present report are to present the problems which are particularly relative to the organization of market research in the field of industry, and to proceed to examine the corresponding solutions. The "EUROPLASTICS" research project, the object of which was estimate the prospects of expanding the plastics industry within the Common Market and the United Kingdom up to 1970-1975, will make possible a thorough review of the preceding aspects on the basis of a genuine concrete example.
Ogilvy & Mather Limited is a large UK advertising agency, part of a group which includes large agencies in three other countries with smaller offices in a further three countries. Six months ago the London agency reorganised the way in which creative research was handled. This reorganisation followed a period in which a careful study was made of the creative research operation in the other three large agencies in the group. This paper gives a summary of the problems identified during the study, an account of the solution adopted in the London agency and a report on the operation of the new system.
Today we are reporting on the first test carried out in England. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the basis of pupil response I will describe it very briefly. The technique is based on the fact that in constant light conditions the pupil of the eye will give some indication of on-going mental processes. More specifically the pupil will dilate with positive feelings such as interest, desire, pleasure, and contract with negative feelings - boredom, dislike, disinterest and so on. There are exceptions to this general principle but by and large the relationship seems to hold good.
The media planner in the U.K. media situation is faced with a very large area of choice, together with a lot of information about the combinations of media he can select to reach a particular market for a particular sum of money. Judgements have to be made, but media planners can do With all the help they can obtain in processing their judgements and the information available, and this is where computers can help.
This year has seen not only the continued growth of market research in the U.K. hut also a number of developments which consolidate the scientific status of the profession. On a more general level two related developments are of considerable interest for the future. The first of these is the increasing interest that is being shown in an operational research approach to marketing and in the formulation of marketing models.
This study is of very much wider interest than the title might suggest. Although the study was in fact a critical investigation of the methods currently used in the National Readership Survey conducted in the United Kingdom by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, it also represents one of the most important and insensitive investigations ever undertaken into the structured personal interview, the basic technique of most market research.
The purpose of my paper is to discuss certain research, with which I have recently been concerned, into housewife shopping patterns in Great Britain. By shopping patterns, I mean the number and types of shops which the housewife uses to buy different products, the frequency of her shopping trips, the way in which she selects products inside the shop, and so on. It seems to me. that this is a very important aspect of consumer behaviour which has been neglected by market research in the past. It. is, important because it is the focal point of the selling operation and a great deal of market research is concerned with the selling of consumer products. I shall describe two research techniques which I have found to be of value in the investigation of housewife shopping patterns: the observation study' and the 'concentration study'. I would like to describe the development, methods and applications of these techniques by taking three specific marketing problems with which I have been concerned.
The purpose of the first pilot study was to establish that an enquiry into attention levels of the type envisaged would be practicable and that meaningful results could be obtained. 200 interviews were completed with housewives in I. T. V. homes in this study and the interviews took place in the latter part of June and early July 1960 in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Glasgow. Quota sampling methods were used with a social class control. During the interviews, housewives were questioned / about their activities during the preceding 30 minutes from the time at which contact was first established. 100 interviews began at some time between 5.30 and 6.00 p.m., and 100 between 9.00 and 9.30 p. m. All the interviews took place on weekday evenings.
The emphasis in this paper is on the Party Image, rather than on the characteristics of the voter. The Party Image is a similar concept as the Brand Image, but applied to a political party. Fifteen years ago we were asking such questions as What do you think the Conservative Party stands for?". The answers were illuminating and fundamental, but incomplete. The techniques of investigating the problem have come more sophisticated and comprehensive.