You Decide

TABLE 18-8

Analysis of Variance of Sales Changes

Source of Variation Advertising Store size Interaction Unexplained variation Total

a

Sum of Squares 360 88 984 480 1,912

Degrees of Freedom (df) 3 2 6 12 23

Mean Sum of Squares 120 44 164 40

F-ratio

3.0a 1.1 4.1b

Significant at the .10 level. b Significant at the .05 level.

Cases for Part III

Data Analysis

CASE III-I The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra1

Daniel Gardiner and Charles Weinberg At an afternoon meeting at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) offices, three executives, concerned with the marketing of the VSO, were discussing some of the challenges they currently faced.2 Ed Oscapella: We’ve got to do something, and do it fast, to get out of this difficult situation. Time is running out of the 1987/88 season. Jane Corbett: From my point of view, I’ve got to find out who wants what: Do subscribers want something different than nonsubscribers? If so, what? We’ve got all this information that needs analyzing and I’m hoping it will be useful in marketing the 1987/88 season. E. Douglas Hughes: I’ve got to decide on an appropriate theme or themes to communicate to the segment(s) we go after. We’ve got to give the printers sufficient lead time to get our brochures out, so I need to know what to focus on in the promotion.

Armed with the computer data from a recent audience survey completed January 6, 1987 (four weeks earlier), the three knew that they had to sift through all the information very carefully. Within two weeks, they had to come up with a set of specific and actionable recommendations. The VSO’s Board had already voted to cancel many concerts in June so as to lower its deficit. All three agreed that perhaps their immediate task was to build ticket sales for the remaining four months of the 1986/87 season. The guest artist and concert schedule from February through June is shown in Marketing Research in Action III-1. During this time period, two subscription series were offered. The...