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RPF/JP 16th July 1985
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
VISIT REPORT: ITL, CANADA
DATES: 9TH-10TH JULY 1985
OBJECTIVES: (1) To critically review draft
questionnaire design for
Project VIKING
(2) To participate in a one-day synectics session
designed to generate
(a) product perception attributes for use in
the questionnaire and
M novel alternative product concepts for use
in an additional concept testing phase of
Project VIKING
BACKGROUND
Project VIKING was initiated in early 1985 under
the auspices of Wayne
Knox, with broad objectives as follows:
1. To characterise the Canadian market with
respect to smoking and
health and social pressure attitudes and
motivations.
2. To examine relative perceptions of product
classes within the tobacco
category (e.g. cigarettes, cigars, pipes, snuff,
etc.).
3. To examine consumer perception of the tobacco
product category
relative to other product categories (e.g. food,
alcoholic drink,
personal accessories, etc.).
4. To evaluate potential consumer response to
radical alternative
presentations of the tobacco product.
Implied in this approach is an attempt to provide
a prognosis of the
future Canadian 'tobacco market. Philosophically,
the approach differs
from the GR&DC LIBRA/ARIES/NARINERS work in two
respects:
(1) NARINERS is designed around the contention
that, to fully understand
the relationship between attitudes and behaviours
in the marketplace
(i e. quitting and switching), it is necessary to
monitor the same
group of people across time. VIKING takes the
alternative route of
using a large population in a "single shot" model.
(2) Whereas VIKING is essentially a prognostic
indicator with an emphasis
on seeking new product categories, NARINERS is
aimed at developing
more refined and predictive consumer segmentation
models to irr)rove
share within a conventional cigarette marketing
scenario.
Prior to Wayne Knox joining Hardees, the agreed
budget for VIKING was in
the order of 300,000 Canadian Dollars. Bob Bexon
now assumes executive
responsibility for the project and the budget is
still retained pending a
feasibility review.
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OUTCOME OF CURRENT MEETING
1. QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
The first draft questionnaire for VIKING has been
produced by The Creative
Research Group of Toronto, with input from a
previous VIKING meeting
(February 1985) and a series of consumer
qualitative group sessions.
This draft was reviewed (RPF) and the following
observations have been
made:
(a) The questionnaire is too long (approximately
2-hour administration
time) and alternative means of administration will
have to be
explored (including repeat visit and postal
returns).
(b) In current form, the questionnaire fails to
cover several of the
issues originally identified as important to
measure. This problem
can be resolved by building out to a questionnaire
size unconstrained
by timing issues and then reducing by eliminating
redundant measures
and non-discriminating or merely descriptive
status items.
(c) The inclusion of two lengthy personality
inventories was questioned
since one questionnaire (EPI) is designed to
measure a factor already
measured within the other questionnaire (16 P-F).
It was advised to
use only the 16 P-F and as a postal return
measure.
2. SYNECTICS SESSION
This synectics (brain storming) group comprised
the following individuals:
BOB BEXON
DICK CROSBY
ROB FERRIS
PETER ILLYCH
BILL SANDERS
PAUL NESBITT
(ITL, Montreal)
(Retired President of Canadian Facts)
(BAT Marketing Support)
(ITL, Montreal)
(ITL, Montreal)
(Creative Research Group, Toronto)
The first half of the one-day session was devoted
to developing the
product perception component of the VIKING
questionnaire. This involved
the generation of judgemental dimensions which may
be used to achieve
(a) a perceptual mapping of tobacco product
classes relative to one
another and
(b) a similar mapping of tobacco products usage
relative to uses of
products from other classes (food, drink, etc.).
Following this construct generation stage, the
group was used to generate
new alternative product concepts. The aim was to
iden*ify six concepts
which will be incorporated into a concept reaction
test within VIKING.
The test itself is of considerable interest since
it represents a form of
simulated test market (STM) methodology, an
approach currently being
evaluated (RPF) for its potential utility t o the
BAT Group.
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Briefly, the new product concepts generated were
segregated into those
showing most promise and those having less
promise:
MOST PROMISING
1. EXTRUDEDS: This covers a collection of
presentations ranging from
snack food type shapes and packaging through
chewing sticks to reel
dispensers or toothpaste tube type dispensers. In
each case the
notion of individual control over how much of the
material to break
off and use is paramount.
2. DRY SNUFF: Perhaps the most clearly endorsed
concept of all , this
product would be presented bleached white and
probably in an inert
carrier, formulated to eliminate the sneeze reflex
and marketed in
high imagery/quality containers.
3. MODULAR SMOKE DELIVERY SYSTEM: This concept
would be a smoking
device somewhat similar to a pipe into which the
basic fuel could
be mounted for combustion. Modular "clip-on"
mouthpieces could
be used to provide such smoker control options as
"dial-a-tar" or
"dial -a-f I avour" .
4. PIPE PLUGS: For the pipe smoker, this concept
would be a pre-formed,
pre-tamped, drop-in tobacco plug designed to fit
the appropriate
pipe bowl and sufficiently contained within the
plug to allow
subsequent lifting out of the spent unit.
LESS PROMISING
5. AEROSOL DISPERSION DEVICES: The concept covers
personal mobile
inhalers in combination with nicotine dispersing
air humidifier/
freshener units which could be used in controlled
social situations.
6. IMPROVED SMALL CIGARS AND AROMATIC CIGARETTES:
The use of blending/
flavouring to ameliorate harshness/dryness and
enhance flavour/aroma
of small cigars was seen as worthwhile. In
addition, the use of
pipe grades or pipe tobacco flavours (e.g.
vanillin) to enhance
conventional cigarette sidestream was endorsed.
DISCUSSED AND REJECTED
7. NICOTINE ADDITIVES TO FOOD PRODUCTS
8. SHORT "FAST HIGH" CIGARETTES: I.e. cigarettes
designed to provide
optimum nicotine requirement in the minimum number
of combusted
puffs.
In addition to these ideas, strong interest was
shown in the identification
of "safer" tobaccos, regions, design
configurations and synthetic smoking
materials. (RPF was requested to supply a ret
ospective review of the NSM
experience in the UK.)
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OBSERVATIONS
Without substantial revision of the VIKING
questionnaire, this project is
unlikely to proceed (and it would be ill-advised
to do so). The agency
involved was clearly so negatively impressed by
the overwhelmingly anti-
smoking feeling coming from the consumer
qualitatives that they themselves
are concerned about taking the project further.
It is suggested (RPF) that, with adequate
questionnaire design, the
project is important and viable. The agency
response to the consumer
group qualitatives reflects lack of experience
with this type of data -
such groups are invariably extreme, representing,
as they do, consumers'
theories about what their attitudes should be
rather than their true
in-depth attitudes.
The "re-surfacing" of a concern for generating new
product concepts is
interesting in the context of the R&D/Marketing
conference experience.
Some overlap of concepts is apparent across the
two sessions; the
interesting development here, however, is the
commitment to moving on
to evaluate the concepts using the VIKING consumer
population.
In terms of possible "knock-on" project work for
GRUC, the scope for
input is very high, given past recent history of
exploring these new
avenues.
While Southampton-based interest in these concepts
must be highly circum-
spect, given the confidential nature of VIKING, a
potential feasibility
response timed to follow VIKING consumer response
to these concepts may
be useful. This could be especially so for items
1, 2 and 5 since these
were Southampton contributions to this synectics
session.
R.P. FERRIS
CD
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