MANAGEMENT 3210Y
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT GUIDELINES
Background
Product positioning refers to how consumers perceive a product or service relative to its
competition. Product positioning is thus not so much about the product itself, as it is
about the place the product occupies in the mind of the consumer.
Positioning helps define the target market. For example, Mount Blanc pens sell for over
$100 and are clearly not for everyone, including many wealthy people. People who buy
them, buy them as a fashion statement or as a status symbol not so much because they are
good writing instruments. They’re not made of translucent plastic and you won’t find
them in packs of ten in Walmart next to your 49-cent Bic (which is positioned
differently), or advertised in the weekly Shoppers Drug Mart flyer. How consumers
perceive a product or service (or how you would like them to perceive it) thus influences
the attributes of the product, the message(s) relayed in any promotional material, how and
where it is sold, and its price. In other words, how a product is positioned affects all
aspects of the marketing mix. How to position a product, however, means understanding
the consumer.
The essence of this project is to take an existing product or service, see what position it
holds in the market (i.e. in the minds of the target customers) and then reposition it.
Repositioning essentially means changing the identity of the product in the mind of the
consumer and may involve changing the features of the product, changing the name,
stressing different benefits, even perhaps changing the target market. Since repositioning
will also affect the marketing strategy, successful repositioning also requires putting
together a marketing plan. For it to be successful, it must also be based on an
understanding of the consumer. Marketing plans must also take heed of corporate
financial capabilities, but for the purpose of this project we can assume that the company
has both the skills and the finances to pull off the repositioning.
Overview
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.
Since leaving the project to the end of the semester is counterproductive it needs to be
completed in three phases. Dates are set for the completion of each phase. As the aim of
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the first two phases is to ensure that the team is on track, and to provide feedback, they
will not be graded. For each phase not handed in on time, however, the group will lose
10% of the overall project grade. Details of each phase are given below. See the course
outline for due dates.
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.
Group selection
You will work on this project in groups of three to five people. Groups will be selfselected and a list of members must be provided by the third week of class. One person
in the group must be elected as a contact-person. Group cohesiveness is often improved if
the team also gives itself a name. All problems arising within the group related to relative
contributions of the 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
provide a confidential evaluation of the quality and quantity of your group members’
contributions at the end of the semester. Your grade can go up or down based on these
evaluations. It is important, however, to inform the instructor of any problems that have
arisen, and the steps taken to resolve them, before the evaluations are submitted.
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
The deliverable for this phase is a two-to-three page description of the specific product or
service and product category the group has chosen to focus on, a one to two sentence
statement as to how the group plans to reposition it, and a timetable with a breakdown of
who is responsible for what (i.e. a project plan).
Phase Two: Description and justification of your target market segment
Phase two is, in essence, the crux of the project that will be fleshed out in phase three.
Phase two is essentially about how consumers currently view your product and how you
would like to reposition it, i.e. what changes you would make and how you would like
your customers to view it. The deliverable for this phase is a five-six-page progress report
and involves a profile of your product category's market, a description and justification of
your new target segment, a product positioning statement, and a draft of your
questionnaire. At this time 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.
Part of the class on this date may also be used to pre-test your questionnaire and receive
feedback from the class.
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Phase two 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. Where does it sit on the store
shelf?
 Describe the market for your type of product in terms of size, historical trends,
growth forecasts, etc.
 How do consumers currently use the product?
 What customer segments exist in the market?
 How do customers currently perceive the product or service? Is it seen as the
safest, best quality, cheapest etc. in its category? I.e. what is its current position?
 Describe competitive positions within major market segments. Who are the
leaders? Why? What are their positions (e.g. have they positioned their product as
the safest, cheapest, best quality, trendiest, etc.)? Look at their advertisements and
other marketing communications. Who are they targeted at?
 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.
 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?
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
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?
 What do you want to know about your consumer – what information do you need
to gather?
3. A repositioning statement. This should be only one or two sentences, and should
outline how you would like your product or service to be viewed by your target
market.
4. 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’s attitudes and lifestyles etc. 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 thus far to convince the audience that your repositioning idea is a
creative and profitable one. This is an opportunity to get feedback from the class.
This class will also be used to pretest your questionnaire so print 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. If
people in the class are part of your target market you may wish to administer a revised
survey at a later date.
Phase Three: Marketing Plan Final Report
The final phase of this project involves using the understanding about the potential
consumers for the repositioned product gained during phase two to put together a
marketing plan. In other words, now that you have a good understanding of the
consumers for your product how are you going to market it to them? The final report
should contain the following:
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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.
 How will you create consumer awareness?
o Don’t just say “we will use effective displays to grab consumers
attention.” What will make them effective?
 What is the relative importance of various promotional mix tools?
 What are your advertising objectives?
 What is your message?
 What slant or idea will promotion take? – This should be consistent with
the positioning statement. How are you going to persuade target audience
to buy your product?
 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, due the last day of classes, must be a professional and polished
document, no longer than 25 double-spaced pages (excluding any appendices, references,
or exhibits), 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, etc. at the end. Any additional charts and tables (if not used in the
body of the text), as well as the PowerPoint presentation and questionnaire, should 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). A common error with the executive summary is to
summarize what the team did rather than, or to the exclusion of, the results. 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
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here. Take care not to get carried away with presenting facts about the product category,
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 you expect consumers to behave
towards your product or service.
The idea is to convince the reader(s) (i.e. your
marketing manager or financiers) that your idea of a repositioned product or service
would succeed.
Final presentations
Presentations will take place over the last two classes of the term. Unless a compelling
reason can be given for making the presentation on a particular date, the order of
presentation will be chosen by lot the week before. Those groups giving their
presentation the first week of presentations have the advantage of getting feedback on
their project before the final report is due. Those going on the second week 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, style, grammar and spelling
20 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
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
Examples of Past Projects
 Vinegar repositioned from a condiment to a cleaning agent
 Ford Dakota repositioned as the truck for women
 Huggies Baby-wipes repositioned as all-purpose hygienic wipes
 Swiffer wet jet repositioned as an industrial Swiffer Mighty
 Travel cosmetic organizers repositioned as a “Purse Pal” for teens
 Bacardi cooler repositioned as a low carb cooler
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