MANAGEMENT 3210Y
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT GUIDELINES
Overview
Companies that fail to meet the changing needs and wants of their customers ultimately
lose out to those who can and do. Meeting these needs and wants requires not only an
understanding of consumer behaviour but also a comprehensive marketing plan based on
that knowledge.
The group research project is a semester-long project designed to integrate and apply the
course material to the development of a real-world marketing strategy. The project
requires a team of three to five people to select and research a product or service
category, select a brand within that category, reposition it according to the needs of a new
market segment, and then develop a marketing plan for the repositioned brand. It consists
of a written report and two class presentations and is worth 35% of the final grade. Part of
the research for this project will involve primary research collected through a
questionnaire administered to a small sample of the target market. Teams will be selfselected and must be formed by the 3rd week of class, i.e. January 26th.
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Since leaving the project to the end of the semester is counterproductive it needs to be
completed in three phases. As the aim of the first two phases is to provide feedback and
to the team make steady progress they will not be graded. For each phase not handed in
on time, however, the group will lose 10% of the overall project grade.
Phase one requires a two to three page description of the product category the group has
chosen to focus on, a breakdown of the responsibilities among group members, and a
project plan. Phase one is due Feb. 9.
Phase two, due March 8, involves a profile of your product category's market, a
description and justification of your new target segment, and a draft of your
questionnaire. You will also be required to give a short (5-7 minute) oral presentation to
the class describing your product or service and its new target segment at this time. Part
of the class on this date will also be used to pre-test your questionnaire and receive
feedback from the class. The final report, due the last day of classes must be a
professional and polished document, no more than 20 double-spaced pages, excluding
any appendices, references, or exhibits.
Objectives
 To integrate and apply the understanding of the concepts and principles of consumer
behaviour learned throughout the course to real-world marketing strategy.
 To develop skills working in groups
 To develop leadership and presentation skills.
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Group selection
Due: January 26
You will work on this project in groups of three to five people. Groups will be selfselected and a list of members, using the appropriate form, must be provided by January
26th. Group cohesiveness is often improved if the team also gives itself a name. In
addition, one person in the group must be elected as a contact-person. All problems
arising within the group related to relative contributions of the group members are to be
handled internally, by the group. This is an essential part of the group project experience.
You will however, have an opportunity to evaluate your group members at the end of the
semester based on the quality and quantity of their contributions. Your grade can go up or
down based on these evaluations
OUTLINE OF GROUP PROJECT
The following outline is provided as a sample structure for your group project. It is not
meant to be all-inclusive and should be modified where necessary to fit the specific
context within which your product or service is marketed. Your marketing plan should
draw on as many topics covered in class as possible.
Phase One: market profile
Due: February 9
As a team, you must choose both the product category as well as the specific
product/service within this category on which to focus. The deliverable for this phase is a
two to three page report. The first page or two should describe the product or service
category you have chosen to focus on, as well as the specific brand or product. The last
page must be a timetable with a breakdown of who is responsible for what.
Phase Two: description and justification of your target market segment
Due: March 8
Phase two is a five-six page progress report and consists of:
1. A profile of your product category's market and the product itself based on any
secondary research such as library research, company brochures, websites and
reports, personal interviews, etc., you have conducted.
 Describe the product or service you are repositioning. What are its features and
benefits?
 Describe the product category you are analyzing.
 Describe the market for your type of product in terms of size, historical trends,
growth forecasts, etc.
 What customer segments exist in the market?
 Describe competitive positions within major market segments. Who are the
leaders? Why? What are their positions (i.e. advantages and disadvantages)?
 What recent trends (e.g. economic, demographic, psychographic) have affected
the nature of this market?
 What marketing opportunities do such market shifts suggest?
2. A description and justification of your new target segment.
 Based on your understanding of the market, what consumer segment(s) do you
feel will be especially attractive in the future? Describe that segment.
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Justify why you have selected that segment.
How does the problem recognition occur for your product?
Describe the internal/external search process. What sources of information are
used? When? For what purpose? How do these inputs affect consumers?
 Describe the kind of knowledge and involvement consumers might have about
your product.
 What types of means-end chains might they have?
 Is symbolic meaning important for your product?
 Describe the interpretation processes consumers might use in learning about your
product. Is exposure likely to be accidental or intentional? Is comprehension
likely to be shallow or deep? What types of inferences, if any, are likely to be
common?
 Do any issues of one's personality and self-image affect purchasing and use
decisions for your chosen product
 Do consumer psychographics and lifestyles affect product usage? What lifestyle
factors do the consumers seem to have in common?
 What might be your consumers' consideration set? Which brands might be
included?
 What beliefs exist regarding important brands and product attributes? Why do
these beliefs exist? What are the salient attributes?
 Describe typical decision strategies used by consumers to make a choice in this
product category. What model best predicts choice?
 What are consumers' attitudes towards the brands in the category? Do strong
subjective norms exist? What kind of brand loyalty, if any, exists for your product
or service category? Why does it exist?
 Is there role specialization in the buying process? What are the relative influences
of family members or others in the buying process? Are there other important
reference group or cultural influences?
 Is word of mouth an important factor for purchasing your product? How does
word of mouth flow?
 Where and when do consumers buy the good or service? How does the setting and
timing affect consumer behavior? How important is the sales environment or sales
person?
3. A draft of your questionnaire (not more than two pages long) as an appendix. The
questions in this questionnaire must be based on what you think are the key consumer
behavior issues for your target segment. What information about your target segment
would be most helpful in devising a successful repositioning strategy?
Your group must also make a 5-7 minute oral presentation to the class. In this
presentation, you need to describe your product/service and its new target segment, and
use your findings to convince the audience that your repositioning idea is a creative and
profitable one. This is an opportunity to get feedback from the class.
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This class will also be used to pretest your questionnaire so print up enough copies for
everyone. The aim here is not to collect data, as it is unlikely that the class is
representative of your target market, but to get feedback on the questionnaire itself.
Final report
Due: April 14
The report must contain
1. A revision and expansion of the first two phases and should integrate the concepts
discussed in class with your questionnaire data as well as any other secondary data
you may have about your target segment.
2. A product positioning statement
 Including the specific brand image to be used.
 Justify your positioning statement based on your analyses of the target
consumer’s behaviour
3. Marketing mix recommendations
 Select a product strategy for your brand. Discuss packaging, brand features,
services, etc. Justify your strategy with what you have learned about consumer
behavior in Phase Two.
 Select a pricing strategy for your brand. Justify your decision based on your
understanding of price sensitivity, cost, competition, and psychological pricing
considerations.
 Outline and justify a general promotional program.
 What is the relative importance of various promotional mix tools?
 What are your advertising objectives?
 What is your message?
 What media will you select?
 Will you use a personal selling program? If so, why and how?
 Design and justify the appropriate channels of distribution.
The final report must be a professional and polished document, no longer than 20 doublespaced pages, using no smaller than 11-point font. Be sure to cite all references where
appropriate in the body of the paper and list your sources of information, including
articles, interviews at the end. Any charts and tables, as well as the PowerPoint
presentation and questionnaire, can be included as appendices. Papers must include a
cover page with the names of all group members. The first page of the report must be a
table of contents and the second page an executive summary that provides a brief
overview of the report (i.e. product chosen and your market repositioning concept). An
example of a table of contents is provided at the end of these guidelines.
The heart of this project is your analysis and creative application of the basic consumer
behavior issues, concepts, models, and theories involved in the marketing problem you
are addressing. What are your suggestions for using these concepts to help study,
understand, and interpret the basic issues underlying the consumption of your product or
service? Be sure to present your ideas in explicit and concrete terms; examples can help
here. Be careful not to get carried away with presenting facts about the product category,
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the company, or the product that you fail to explicitly relate them to consumer behavior
concepts.
You should also offer creative suggestions for developing marketing mix strategies to
accompany the segmentation and repositioning scheme that you have identified. These
strategies involve aspects of product strategy, advertising, sales promotion, pricing, and
distribution. Be as specific as you can and be sure to justify your recommendations on the
basis of all the information you have regarding how consumers behave towards your
product/service.
Final presentations
Due: April 5
Presentations will take place over two classes beginning April 5, and concluding April
14th. Unless a compelling reason can be given for making the presentation on a particular
date, the order of presentations will be chosen by lot on March 29th. Those groups
giving their presentation on the 5th have the advantage of getting feedback on their
project before the final report is due. Those going on the 14th have the advantage of
extra time. All team members must participate in the presentation.
The final presentations must be in PowerPoint. They must be professional, interesting,
and clearly convey the strength of your repositioning concept and both the thoroughness
of your marketing plan and its soundness in terms of consumer behavior. Plan on
presenting roughly 15 minutes of material, leaving about 5 minutes for classroom
discussion. Since part of the presentation mark is for class discussion it is important to
encourage questions. You are expected to attend all the project presentations, as some
exam questions will be based on them. Each group must provide a copy of its PowerPoint
presentation with the final report.
Grading
This project is worth 35% of the final grade; 10% allotted for the presentation and 25%
for the final report. In general the project will be evaluated on your choice of the key
consumer behavior issues involved in the marketing problem, the creative way in which
you analyze the consumer issues, how you select and use concepts from the class to help
solve the segmentation and repositioning "problem", the originality and soundness of the
strategies that you recommend and how clearly these follow from your consumer
behavior analysis.
More specifically:
Papers will be graded using the following guidelines
Profile of the market
15 points
Description and justification of target segment
10 points
Analysis of consumer behaviour issues
35 points
Strategic marketing mix recommendations
20 points
Organization
10 points
Coherence, style and writing
10 points
100 points
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Oral presentations will be graded using the following guidelines
Content
10 points
Organization
5 points
Presentation style
5 points
Use of visual aids
5 points
Timing
5 points
Handling questions
5 points
Professionalism
5 points
40 points
Key Dates
Jan 26
Feb 9
Mar 8
Apr 5
Apr 14
Team Selection
Phase One Due
Phase Two Due, Questionnaires tested and brief presentation
Group Presentations Begin
Completed Project Due
Sample Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Product Description
Product category market profile
Segments
Competition
Trends
Target segment Consumer Behavior
Motivation and Values
Personality and Lifestyles
Attitudes
Decision making
Group Influences
Cultural Influences
Situational Influences
Product positioning statement
Marketing mix recommendations
Product
Price
Promotion
Place
Conclusion/Summary
References
Appendices
Charts and Tables
Questionnaire
PowerPoint Presentation
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