Consumer Behavior - Week 2 Readings
Questions and Answers Grade A+ 2023
NYT "Penetrating the Mind by Metaphor" - Summary - -Mr. Zaltman considers that focus
groups and questionnaires are usually a waste of time, and 60 to 80% of products using these
techniques fail. He is the creator of ZMET, the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique. Mr.
Zaltman argues that consumers can't tell you what they think because they don't know. Their
most profound thoughts, the ones that account for their behavior in the marketplace, are
unconscious. Not only that, he insists, those thoughts are primarily visual as well. Example,
using visual images, is the study on Coca-Cola, where volunteers were asked to spend a week
collecting images that reminded them of the brand. Finally, they created a digital collage with
their pictures and recorded a short text about its meaning. Mr. Zaltman's team came to this
conclusion: Coke evokes not just feelings of invigoration and sociability, but feelings of calm,
solitude, and relaxation as well.
-WSJ - "Focus Groups Fall Out of Favor" Summary - -"Sometimes, people don't always tell you
what they want, and you have to dig a little deeper." Focus groups are becoming passe because
what people say and what they mean can be very different. Examples of new technology are eye-
tracking technology to pinpoint the best packaging and tracking shopper behavior through data
compiled by purchases. Focus-group subjects tend to try to please their testers, impress their
peers, and overestimate their interest in products, making it hard to get a read on what works -
interviewer effects, a social bias. Coca-Cola, New Coke, failed because of Coca-Cola Co. Online
groups like Generation Good, have people interact and talk about the company's products.
-Primary Data - -data originated from a researcher and collected to provide information relevant
to a specific research project. Ex. Surveys, focus groups, experiments.
-Secondary data - -data collected for some purpose other than the problem at hand. Ex. a census
data collected by the government is used by marketers to estimate the size of markets in their
own industry.
-Surveys - -a written instrument that asks consumers to respond to a predetermined set of
research questions.
-Focus Groups - -a form of interview involving 8 to 12 people; a moderator leads the group and
asks participants to discuss a product, concept, or other marketing stimulus
-Storytelling - -A research method by which consumers are asked to tell stories about product
acquisition, usage, or disposition experiences. These stories help marketers gain insights into
consumer needs and identify the product attributes that meet these needs.
-independent variable - -the "treatment" or the entity that researchers vary in a research project.
Questions and Answers Grade A+ 2023
NYT "Penetrating the Mind by Metaphor" - Summary - -Mr. Zaltman considers that focus
groups and questionnaires are usually a waste of time, and 60 to 80% of products using these
techniques fail. He is the creator of ZMET, the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique. Mr.
Zaltman argues that consumers can't tell you what they think because they don't know. Their
most profound thoughts, the ones that account for their behavior in the marketplace, are
unconscious. Not only that, he insists, those thoughts are primarily visual as well. Example,
using visual images, is the study on Coca-Cola, where volunteers were asked to spend a week
collecting images that reminded them of the brand. Finally, they created a digital collage with
their pictures and recorded a short text about its meaning. Mr. Zaltman's team came to this
conclusion: Coke evokes not just feelings of invigoration and sociability, but feelings of calm,
solitude, and relaxation as well.
-WSJ - "Focus Groups Fall Out of Favor" Summary - -"Sometimes, people don't always tell you
what they want, and you have to dig a little deeper." Focus groups are becoming passe because
what people say and what they mean can be very different. Examples of new technology are eye-
tracking technology to pinpoint the best packaging and tracking shopper behavior through data
compiled by purchases. Focus-group subjects tend to try to please their testers, impress their
peers, and overestimate their interest in products, making it hard to get a read on what works -
interviewer effects, a social bias. Coca-Cola, New Coke, failed because of Coca-Cola Co. Online
groups like Generation Good, have people interact and talk about the company's products.
-Primary Data - -data originated from a researcher and collected to provide information relevant
to a specific research project. Ex. Surveys, focus groups, experiments.
-Secondary data - -data collected for some purpose other than the problem at hand. Ex. a census
data collected by the government is used by marketers to estimate the size of markets in their
own industry.
-Surveys - -a written instrument that asks consumers to respond to a predetermined set of
research questions.
-Focus Groups - -a form of interview involving 8 to 12 people; a moderator leads the group and
asks participants to discuss a product, concept, or other marketing stimulus
-Storytelling - -A research method by which consumers are asked to tell stories about product
acquisition, usage, or disposition experiences. These stories help marketers gain insights into
consumer needs and identify the product attributes that meet these needs.
-independent variable - -the "treatment" or the entity that researchers vary in a research project.
