1. Leo Coffee – A case study on designing a research
Mohan Ghosh, the marketing manager
for Leo Coffee, was discussing the
future advertising strategy for Coffee
products with the company’s
advertising agency when the
discussion turned to magazine ads and
the copy for those ads.
Ghosh had recently been to a conference on psychological perception. At that
conference, it was pointed out that in spite of the old adage “You cannot judge
a book by its cover”, the interpersonal relations in organization continue to be
based on this theory only. An individual’s initial perception of and reaction to
another individual is affected by the physical attractiveness of the other
person. Furthermore, a fair summary statement of that research is “What is
beautiful is good”. The evidence cited at the conference supporting this
proposition was impressive.
What particularly impressed Ghosh,
though was that the positive attributes
one associates with a physically
attractive person do not depend on
actual contact with that person they
arise when the judge is simply shown
photographs of physically attractive
and unattractive individuals but is
otherwise unaware of the subjects’
traits.
Ghosh thought that this knowledge could be used to advertise Leo Coffee and
gain profits through it.
2. He proposed that the product be shown with
a physically attractive female with the
argument “What is beautiful is good”. but the
advertising agency countered with the
argument that it would be better to employ
physically unattractive people in the ads to
make the ads more believable and effective
by making them less “romantic”, since coffee
is not a romantic product. Further the agency
suggested that it might be better to employ
males in the ads rather than females.
After considerable discussion, the advertising agency proposed and
conducted the following research to answer two questions; should physically
attractive or unattractive individuals be used in the ads? Should male or
female models be employed?
The Design
Four different advertisements were
prepared. The copy was same in each
ad; only the person holding the coffee
was changed. The four ads included an
attractive male, an attractive female, an
unattractive male, and an unattractive
female.
Four different advertisements were prepared. The copy was same in each ad;
only the person holding the coffee was changed. The four ads included an
attractive male, an attractive female, an unattractive male, and an unattractive
female.
3. The attractiveness of each model was
determined after having a convenience
sample of subjects view photographs of 20
different models (10 men and 10 women) and
rate each model on a seven-point scale
where in “1” was unattractive and “7” was
attractive. The male and female models with
the highest and the lowest mean scores were
then selected as the stimulus persons for the
experiment.
Colour ad with each of the four models and the planned copy were then
developed. A sample of subjects for the experiment was developed by random
sampling from the New Delhi telephone book. The subjects were asked to
participate in a MR experiment. Subjects were paid for their participation, and
they were also reimbursed for their travel to the agency’s headquarters.
On their arrival at the ad agency, the
96 recruits who had agreed to
participate were randomly assigned to
one of the advertisements. The 48
men and 48 women were first divided
randomly in to 4 groups of 12 persons
each. One member of each group was
then assigned to one of the four ads.
Each saw one and only one, test ad.
However three other “filler” ads were
also used to disguise the particular ad
of interest. The “filler” were same for
each participant. Each participant was
introduced to the experiment with the
following instructions:
4. “We are interested on obtaining your opinions concerning particular test
advertisements. You will be shown four ads one at a time and after each
showing, you will be asked several questions about your reaction to the
ad and the particular product depicted in the ad. You should note that
this is not a contest to see which ad is better, so please do not compare
the four ads in making your evaluations. Each ad should be judged by
itself, without reference to the other ads”
After answering any questions respondents may have had, the experimenter
presented the first ad. When the respondent had read the advertisement, it
was taken away, and the experimenter then handed the respondent a copy of
data-collection sheet (Annexure-1). After completion of this form, experimenter
presented 2nd ad, and process was repeated. At no time were the participants
allowed to look back at advertisements or their responses once they had
surrendered them to the researcher. To allow respondents’ time to warm up to
task, the experimenter always placed the test as third in the sequence of four.
The Scale
Items in scale were chosen in order to
tap all three components (Cognitive-
Affective-Conative) of attitude. Priori,
it was thought that cognitive
component would be measured by the
terms believable, informative and
clear: that the affective or liking
component would be tapped by terms
interesting, appealing, impressive,
attractive & eye catching and
Conative component would be
captured by 3 behavioural -intention
items at bottom of questionnaire.
5. These a priori expectations were not strictly confirmed. A basic item analysis
suggested that the “interesting” was of related to any of three components and
it was dropped from the analysis. Responses to remaining items in each
component were summed up to produce a total score for each component.
The analysis of these scale scores indicated the following
1. The attractive male model produced the highest cognition scores for the
ad among females and males.
2. The attractive male model produced the highest affective scores among
female subjects, whereas the attractive female model produced the
highest affective scores among males.
3. The attractive male model produced the highest Conative scores toward
the product for female subjects whereas the unattractive male model
produced the highest Conative scores among male subjects.
On the basis of these results, the advertising agency suggested that the
attractive male model be employed in the advertisement.
Questions
What is management Decision Problem?
What is research problem?
Formulate the hypothesis based on information given in the case.
What kind of research design employed in this investigation?
Suggest other design of your choice and give rationale behind choosing the
design?
What type of scale is used to take measurement? Evaluate the scale,
6. Annexure – 1
On each of the scales below please check the space that you feel
best describes the advertisement you just read
Interesting Dull
Unappealing Appealing
Unbelievable Believable
Impressive Unimpressive
Attractive Unattractive
Informative Uninformative
Clear Confusing
Eye catching No Eye Catching
What is your overall reaction to this ad?
Favourable Unfavourable
With regards to the product itself, how do you feel this product
compares to similar products put out by other manufacturers?
Distinctive Ordinary
Would you like to try this product?
No, Definitely
Not Yes, Definitely
Would you actively seek out this product in a store in order to
purchase it?
No, Definitely
Not Yes, Definitely
