Case Study – Pringles

Methodology: Hall Tests

Since 2005 Warwick Equest has been helping P&G extend and develop their famous Pringles snack ranges through extensive consumer testing of new flavours, production methods and ingredients.

New Pringles variants are exposed to the consumer in a series of hall tests where they are evaluated for over 30 different variables such as taste, colour, shape, texture, saltiness, crunchiness, aftertaste and greasiness.

By comparative testing of the different variants P&G are able to identify and refine the most appealing new products prior to production and launch.

Typically the recruitment criteria for Pringles hall tests are very wide – generally males or females aged between 18 -55 who are regular consumers of chips, crisps and snacks. As such it is common for each day’s hall testing to capture the opinions of over 100 respondents at a time.
 

Case Study – Thule

Methodology: Online Survey

When Boston Consulting Group were asked by their client Thule to develop brand stretch options we helped them assess the consumer reaction to their new concepts.

Online research with over 1,700 car owners was conducted in the UK, France, Germany and US. The fieldwork was completed within 14 days and the research not only helped BCG underpin their proposals, but provided valuable knowledge about the consumers’ awareness of Thule and competitor brands.

Case Study – RoDO

Methodology: Postal Survey

RoDO, a leading manufacturer of equipment, supplies and sundries for the professional decorator wanted to understand their customers’ attitudes to different brands, equipment design, product usage and the influence of price on their choice of equipment.

Because of the specialised nature of the market we first identified and built a database of professional decorators and tradesmen from specialist directory listings and trade associations. From this we were able to mail out a 2,000 strong postal survey, using a prize draw as an incentive to participation.

From the research results RoDO were able to identify design, packaging and branding issues that influence purchase decisions, gain an understanding of the positioning of their brands against those of competitors, and establish a trade research panel for future projects.

Ask The Expert

Paul Dobbie is the Market Research Manager with local full service research agency Warwick Equest Limited. Paul is a full member of The Market Research Society and has a passion for delivering actionable customer insight to his clients.

Although an experienced researcher, Paul also has over 20 years experience as management consultant, principally working in the areas of retail and marketing. This has given him a client-side perspective of the research industry, having appointed and worked closely with a number of different agencies throughout his career. It has also given him an appreciation of research that delivers not just results but clear direction and actionable recommendations.

Paul’s guiding principle is that the customer is the single most important asset to any company, organisation or business venture, and that you can never know too much about them. This, he believes is the raison d’etre of all good market research.

And he means “customer” in the broadest sense of the word. You might refer to them as your clients, ,colleagues, stakeholders, patients, passengers, residents, public or supporters depending on your organisations own perspective – Paul even has one client who refers to them as inmates!

Paul’s work experience includes:

P&G - On going consumer recruitment, in home and hall tests in support of the Fairy, Vicks, Pringles, Lenor, Ariel, Iams and Bounty brands.

Dallas Carpets - - Store exit research, customer mapping and advertising awareness for local home improvement retailer.

O2 - detailed consumer research programme to assess the impact of the brand re-launch and measure customer acceptance of new format shops and in-store services.

Alterra - development of a 20 year marketing strategy for Juan Santamaria Airport, Costa Rica, including customer segmentation and offer planning.

Boots - Identification of customer engagement concepts on behalf of Boots order to drive customer spend, visit frequency and loyalty.

Parker Foods – evaluation of consumer acceptance of a new food product prior to UK launch.

Copenhagen Airport – Development of 5 year marketing strategy for Copenhagen Airport Shopping Centre, including identification of key passenger profiles and future needs and wants.

Monkey Jungle – assessment of the market potential to develop a walk-through zoo in the North East of England, identifying propensity to visit, likely visit frequency and optimum price points.