Market research report on Thumbsup

1. MARKET RESEARCH REPORT
Presented by
Alok Kumar
Chandrakant Ezong
Jinia Biswas
Pankaj Agarwal
Pousali Mukherjee
Sriparna Chakraborty

2. INTRODUCTION

3. We have conducted a market survey on whether ThumsUp has been able to create an
image in consumer minds through advertisements.
Thums Up is a brand of cola in India.The logo is a red thumbs up. It was introduced in
1977 to offset the expulsion of The Coca-Cola Company from India. The brand was
later bought by Coca-Cola who re-launched it in order to compete against Pepsi.As of
February 2012, Thums Up is the leader in the cola segment in India, commanding
approximately 42% market share and an overall 15% market share in the Indian aerated
waters market.
Thums Up was launched by Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd to fill the void left by the government
ban on American soft drinks giant Coca-Cola in the 1970s. The thumbs-up logo was
adopted early on, but the brand was positioned differently then. Things changed post
liberalization, when Thums Up faced stiff competition from Pepsi and Coke. After a
tough fight, the Chauhan brothers, owners of Parle Agro, finally sold Thums Up to Coca-
Cola.

4. Salman Khan emerged as the brand ambassador of Thums Up in this time. It seemed a
logical choice to have some hatke from the chocolate boy heroes of the film industry. It
also came at a time when the advertisements started depicting that Thums Up was not
a drink for kids, obviously appealing to the egos of adolescents. Salman continued as
the ambassador for a considerable period until endless controversies finally forced the
company to drop him as the ambassador.
Enter the original Mr. Khiladi, Akshay Kumar. His graph had been on the rise and too fit
the image of alpha male. Being known as an action hero only added to his utility. At this
time the positioning started altering. Akshay Kumar continues to be the brand
ambassador for the time being and in many subsequent advertisements was shown
doing death defying stunts to get that 1 more Thums Up.
Looking at the entire country, ThumsUp has had an intelligent strategy for various
regions. In a gold crazy South, it offered gold coins as promotional campaigns. It roped
in Mahesh babu for Andhra Pradesh, a young, popular action hero. In Gujarat, it offered
cash prizes, ran cultural centric campaigns in Bengal and did a Harley Davidson
campaign in Maharashtra.From „Taste the thunder‟ to „Aaj Kuch Toofani Karte Hai,‟
Thums Up continues to evolve as brand but staying true to its targets, which also
continuously evolves

5. OBJECTIVE
The objective of this research is to show whether advertisements of
ThumsUp has been able to influence the consumers into consuming the
drink.

6. KEY FINDINGS
We have conducted a focus group interview on 20 consumers of soft drinks. The
following data has been collected and have been graphically represented.
Flavour preferred the most
Cola
Orange
Lemon
Others
80 %
10 %5%5%

7. ANALYSIS :80 % of the respondents prefer the cola flavor followed by
others.
Cola flavour preferred the most
ANALYSIS :In three age groups , maximum consumers are that of
ThumsUp , followed by Coca-Cola in the age groups of 31-43 years and
57-69 years. However, in the age-group of 18-30 years, the youth segment,
Coca-Cola and Pepsi have equally given close competition to ThumsUp .
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
18-30(yrs)
31-43(yrs)
44-56 (yrs)
57- 69 (yrs)
ThumsUp
Coca-cola
Pepsi

8. ANALYSIS : From the graph we can see that 35% of the respondents find
celebrity endorser the primary attraction of the ThumsUp advertisements.
Akshay Kumar known as the Action-Hero of our Indian film industry has
been showcased to be the tough, fearless man who would not leave even a
Most attractive part of the
advertisements
Concept
Celebrity
Slogan
Jingle
35 %
25 %
25 %
15 %

9. single bottle of ThumsUp. This has created a “Toofani” impession on young
minds.
How much ThumsUp has impressed consumers
ANALYSIS : From the above bar diagram we can see that maximum of the
consumers aged between 18-43 years are impressed by the advertisement
of ThumsUp. Whereas none of the consumers aged between 44- 69 years
are impressed by the advertisements.
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
18.00
18-43 (Yrs) 44- 69 (Yrs)
NO
YES

10. HYPOTHESIS TESTING
The purpose of hypothesis testing is to determine whether there is
enough statistical evidence in favor of a certain belief about a
parameter. So we have done this testing to show that ThumsUp has
a certain place in consumer minds.
TERMINOLOGIES:
 NULL HYPOTHESIS : A statistical hypothesis which is
assumed and which validity is tested on the basis of the sample
is called a null hypothesis and is denoted by H0 .
 ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS: A statistical hypothesis which
differs from the null hypothesis and is denoted by H1 .
We used the Test For a Specified Proportion given by Z = (P- p)/{square
root(P*Q/n)} , where P = Population , p = Sample proportion , Q = 1 – P , n =
sample size .
Hypothesis testing for ThumsUp :
We take a sample of 20 softdrink consumers out of which 8 consume ThumsUp
and the rest drink other cola drinks. We assume and test whether ThumsUp is as
successful asother cola drinks using 5% level of significance .
Null Hypothesis : H0 : P = ½
Alternative Hypothesis : H1 : P (not equal to) P = ½ , p = 8/20 , Q = ½, n = 20

11. Z = (½ - 8/20)/{square root(1/2 * ½)/20}
= 0.89
Table Value of Z for 95% , 2-Tail = 1.96
Calculated Value = 0.89
{Calculated Value} < {Table Value}
Or , 0.89 < 1.96
H0 is True , ThumsUp is as successful as other cola drinks .
ARITHMETIC MEAN TAKING NUMBER OF DAYS IN A WEEK IN WHICH
THUMSUP IS CONSUMED AS FREQUENCY :
AGE FREQUENCY(f) VALUE(x) F * x
20-29 4 4 16
30-39 1 1 1
40-49 1 1 1
TOTAL 6 = N 6 18
Arithmetic Mean = {Summation(f*x)}/N
Where N = total frequency
Therefore , mean = 18/6 = 3
INTERPRETATION : We have used the weighted arithmetic mean as
frequencies of various classes are varying. We have assigned each
observation a weight that reflects its importance within a data set.This

12. measure has facilitated comparison between consumers of different
age groups who consume ThumsUp on some days of a week.
CALCULATION OF MEDIAN :
AGE(years) FREQUENCY(f) CUMULATIVE
FREQUENCY(c)
20-30 4 4
30-40 1 5
40-50 1 6
TOTAL 6 = N 15 = F
Median = L1 + {(N/2 – F)/f} *I ,
Where , L1 = lower boundary of median class
N = total frequency,
F = cumulative frequency of the preceding class of median
I = width of the median class,
Median class = Age group of 30-40 years.
Therefore, L1 = 30, N = 6, F = 4, I = 10 ,
Median = 30 + {(6/2 – 4)/1} * 10 = 20
INTERPRETATION : 20 is the central point such that one half of the
observations in the data set is less than or equal to 20. This simply means
that respondents are young adults who consume ThumsUp.The median is

13. considered the best statistical technique for studying the qualitative
attribute of an observation in the data set.
CALCULATION OF MODE :
Modal class : 20-30 years
Mode = LI + (FO-FI)/(2F0-F1-F2) * I , where L1 = lower boundary of modal
class, FO = frequency of modal class, F1 = frequency of preceding modal
class , F2 = frequency of succeeding modal class.
Therefore , Mode = 20 + (4-1)/(0-4-1) * 10 = 14
INTERPRETATION : Here , the modal class is 20-30years as it has the
highest frequency of 4. Mode is a good technique to compare consumer
preferences for ThumsUp.
MEASURE OF DISPERSION
STANDARD DEVAITION(WEIGHTED)
S.D = Square root[{summation(f*x^2)}/n – {(summation fx)/n}^2]
AGE FREQUENCY(f) VALUE(x) f * x F * x^2
20-29 4 4 16 64
30-39 1 1 1 1

14. 40-49 1 1 1 1
TOTAL 6 = N 6 18 66
S.D = square root[66/6 – (18/6)^2] = 1.414
INTERPRETATION : 1.414 is the average distance values fall from the
mean. Standard deviation of 1.414 is less affected by fluctuations of
sampling as compared to other measures of variation. Further this measure
can be used for comparing skewness.
MEAN DEVIATION :
M.D(weighted) = 1/N * summation[f * mod(x – X)], where, X = weighted
mean.
In addition to the above information, we add another column for f * mod(x-
X) :
F * mod(x-X)
4 * mod(4-3)=4
1 * mod(1-3) = -2
1 * mod(1-3) = -2
TOTAL = 0
Therefore , M.D = 1/6 * 0 = 0
INTERPREATION : None of the values in the data set vary from their mean
of 3.

15. LIMITATIONS
1) From the above graph we can see that younger generation are impressed by the
advertisements but the consumers aged between 44- 69 years remain
unimpressed by such advertisements.
2) It also shows that most of the consumers aged between 44- 60 years are not
impressed with the concept of ThumsUp advertisement.
3) Some female consumers gave their opinion that the thumsup advertisements are
confined with the male celebrities whereas chance of endorsement of female
celebrity is not found.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1) ThumsUp can change the concept of their advertisements in order to impress the
consumers aged between 44- 60 years.
2) One of the recent advertisements of ThumsUp shows a female character in the
ad with Salmaan Khan but she is in a supporting role. Instead of that a female
celebrity can endorse and feature in the action pack advertisement of thumsUp.
She can play the lead role in the commercial.

16. CONCLUSION
Twenty years ago "Taste the Thunder" and "Toofani Thanda" exploded onto the Indian
advertising stage. It was fashionable, it had international appeal. No other advertising
campaign has treated an Indian brand with such a feel. Though the advertisements
have some limitations but till now ThumsUp is the market leader.
Based on our above discussion we can conclude that advertisement play a vital role
behind the success of ThumsUp. It represents the emerging youth of India. The
advertisements feature and celebrate action-driven men whose insatiable quench only
get satisfied with the fiery taste of Thums Up. These men are portrayed as loyal fans of
the brand who would go to any lengths to „Taste the Thunder‟ of Thums Up. It is indeed
the stroke of genius that has been the foundation of the brand‟s success to this day.
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