Marketing Research

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CHAPTER 1

THE ROLE OF

BUSINESS

RESEARCH

After studying this chapter, you should be able to

1. Understand how research contributes to business

success

2. Know how to define business research

3. Understand the difference between basic and applied

business research

4. Understand how research activities can be used to

address business decisions

5. Know when business research should and should not be

conducted

6. Appreciate the way that technology and internationalization are changing business research

Chapter Vignette: “If It Quacks Like a Duck?”

PR NEWSFOT

O AFLAC

“If you’re hurt and you miss work”: This is the tag line for one of the most popular U.S. advertising campaigns—for AFLAC Insurance. The tag line is accompanied by the familiar Pekin duck

constantly reminding people with a loud “AFFLLAACKK!!” Recent polls show that the

AFLAC duck has become one of America’s favorite icons,

coming in second only to the Mars

M&M’s characters. But how

has the duck’s favorable fan

status affected AFLAC’s business performance? Certainly,

AFLAC’s business strategy

goes beyond creating the most

popular duck since Donald!

Throughout its thirty-year

history, AFLAC, like other firms,

has faced important business

decisions about how to create brand awareness, how to

build consumer knowledge of

the brand, and how to build

sales and loyalty. Leading up to

these decisions, the firm must first

assess its current situation and

its brand awareness relative to its

competitors. Approximately two

dozen AFLAC duck commercials ago,

research revealed that most consumers were unaware of AFLAC. The vast

majority of consumers would not list AFLAC when prompted to name insurance companies.

Instead, names like Allstate, State Farm, and Prudential proved more familiar. Not surprisingly,

these companies enjoyed greater market share. Based on this research, AFLAC decided to invest

in a national television campaign to build awareness of the brand...