CONSUMER RESEARCH PROPOSAL EVALUATION OF COHSUMER RESPONSE TO AH INNOVATIVE (SMOKELESS) CI~AAETTE PRODUCT BRIEF i, To provide a preliminary view on whether there Is a potential market for a 'sn~okeless cigarette 2, On the assumption of a market potential, to give an indication of the type of eonsurPer segment most responsive to the concept, 3, also on the assumption of a market potential, to indicate likely patterns of preferred product usage (i~e whether as a substitute or a supplement to conventional cigarettes and whether used In highly specific environmental circumstances or not), 4, To examine the price elasticity of demand for the novel proposition relative to conventional cigarettes, KEY MEASURES 1, Response to the concept pre·trlal, 2, Response to the concept post·monadie trial, 3, Response to the product post·lmnadle trial, 4, Response to the Product post·plce~nent when used as a conventional cigarette substitute, (f,e, total replacement) 5, - Response to the product and concept post-placement when used a an unconstrained supplement of substItute for·conventldnal dgarettes, (Ile, free to se with or without conventional ci garettes) 6, Product usage patterns, t, Price sensitivity pre and post trial, 8, ~ hypothetical purchase opportunity measure of re-trial 'volume, All the above measures to be taken against segmentation by sex, delivery level aoked and degree ef rensltlvlty to mviromental smottng rertrfrt· tons, SAMPLING 40 consumer subjbcts drawn from the charter Research maintained population and selpnented as follows: O CI I:PUF -'::'II~Js~l, ' .. ~. - .~· CC t ·2· GROUP A 10 male moderate consumption full flavour smokers, GROUP B 10 female moderate consumption full flavour smokers, GROUP C 10 male moderate consumption low tar smokers, GROUP O 10 female moderate consumption low tar smokers, Degree of concern over envlronnental rertrictionr to be segmented within group where possible by telephone contact pre·JEreenlng, PRODUCT PAYOR REGUUUI, two packs per respondent, METHOD STAGE i: Central location hall session conducted separately for each respondent group, To open with a qualitative session covering reactions to the concept, product expectations and anticipated usage pattern, To then continue with exposure of the product, followed by anadle sampling and discuisjon, To close with a scaled questionnaire administered individually to quantify concept and product reaction, A clear briefing will be provided regarding confdentlallty, STAGE 11: The monadfe sampling Involved In Stage 1 would be presented by placing one pack with each respondent the remaining sticks (4) after the nonadic test are to be retained by the respondent and taken away as an tn·home placement, Instructions for the In· home placenent will be that, until the pack is finished, no conventional products should be smoked, Thfs 'total substitution" trial will be policed by the promise of a (baga) CO breath test to be conducted during an In·hane follow up, The In·h6me follow up will be conducted within four hours of the hall session and will comprise a repeat of the Stage 1 gvest~onnafre, a supplementary section of questions dealing with the adequacy of the product In a total substitution situation and a bogus breath test, ~hll In·home follow up will conclude with the placement of a further pack of the product per respondent together with a sealed follow up puestlannaire, Respondents Hill be instructed that their use of the product will be unconstrained (f,e, they are free to use them either as a total substitute or a supplement to conventional cigarettes and they may use the in however few or many environmental situations as they wish), The follow up questionnaire Is to be completed an finishing the last of the placement and comprises a repeat of the Stage I questionnaire, plus a supplementary secHon of questions dealing with the product usage pattern In this unconstrained situation, $ DIP~ry HrmnoClub O Clit; PDF -!::!!::a::!.f3 StlC.i: Dill -3· STAGE 111: 4·5 days following Stage 11 each respondent group will be convened separately back In central hall location, Ourfng this session, the In·home questionnaires will be collected, followed by a qualitative session covering reactions to the productlconeept following trial experience, the exper$ental product 512 will then be sampled monadlcally to determine if this product represents a preferred option, price elasticity of demand and future Intent to purchase will be measured simultaneously In an hypothetical token allocation exercise In which tokens representing monetary value are allocated against opportunity to purchase quantities of own brand conventional cigarettes and/or the FAVOR product, Finally a detailed de-brief covering confidentiality will be provided, The Pethod may now be represented schematically: RESEARCH METHOO: SCHE~RTIC STAGE 1 HALL ~-~A1ITATIVE I' 1 (EXPECTATION REACTION) Bi EXCLUSIVE SUBSTITUTION STAGE 11 (TRIAt) ~E~H[IHE~ P1ACEMEN'I BY VNCDNS'TRAINED USAGE HALL ~IIAL!TATrYE I I SWAGE 111 NG II (oISPosrTIoN) TIMING 14 days from Initial recruitment to top line report, .4· AOOITIONAl CONSIDERATIONS I, It Mill be necessary to clear all aspects of product liability for legal/ethical acceptability, In this respect It should be recalled that since the subjects are ex·ChaFter Research they are Still engaged In a voluntary agreement to the Company, 2, The relative merits of using a third party to implement this research design should he given consideration, 3, It Is strongly Fecon~Pended that a parallel Investfgatfbn be conduded in the U,S, n~ar~etplace Where the product is In limited circulation, The ideal position Mould be to fafthfully reproduce the methodology herein, the minimum acceptable fall·back position would be a 2·3 day field observation by an experienced observer, a, fhe sgeelffe tl~e of year for which thfs study is intended (January) may prove to be a constraint on time scale since recruitment and attendance are notoriously difficult to achieve In the post-Christmas period, Should problems arise, Incentives Ray have to be Increased, 4~9 R,P, FERRlS RPF/BCH 17,12,85 Clit; PDF -!::!!::!!::!.f3 StlC.i: 0111 EVALUATION oe POTENTIAL CONSUMER RESPONSE TO A SMOKELESS CIGARETTE,. KEY FINO1NGS Background This study was designed to provide a preliminary view an potential market response to the FAVOR snwkeless cigarette. Subsidiary objectives were to (a) Indleate~the type of consumer segment most responsive to the concept (b) to predict likely patterns of product usage and (e) to exallne price elasticity of demand for FAVOR relative to conventional e~garettes, The research used a small population of consumers segmented by age, sex, delivery level of own brand and degree of caping difficulty in dealing with restricted smoking sltuatlons~ (Thls latter segmentation was based on responses to the question 'when put In a posf tlon where you are not allowed to smoke, how difficult do you find it to cope without your cigarettesl'), consumer response to concept and product was measured using a combination of qualitative group discussion, questionnaires and personal diaries. A master questionnaire collected comparable information from three stages of increasing product exposure: (a) following concept presentation and one stick trial (b) after a four hour period of use as anexcluslve substitute for conventional cigarettes and (e) after a four day extended use trial, Results fn overall terms, response to both concept and product was positive, sustained throughout initial trial and four hour usage, and only shoving a decoy after four day trial, The product used throughout the exercise (FAYOR REGULAR) was eventually compared in sensory evaluation to a limited number of expe~~aental alternatlvesl These results indicate clearly that the fall off in positive attitudes Is Ittrllutable to product shorteornings which are capable of improvement, A likelihood of purchase measure showed fully 855 of respondents were potentially Interested in FAVOR (were it available In the U,KI) following one·shot trial, This measure decays to 75[3 at four hour exposure and 505 after four day usage, A more realistic measure Of consumer demand was provided by a trade·off exercise at the close of the study, As part of their raunerat~on, consumers were invited to allocate tokens against quantities of either conventional cigarettes or FAVOR REGULAR (fve tokens per consumer, each token being worth either one pack conventional or one pack FAVOR, It should be noted that a standard pack of FAVOR Includes six sticks, which are claimed to be equivalent to a pack of twenty conventional cfgarettes)~ Clit; PDF -!::!!::!!::!.f3 StlC.i: 0111 Average token allocation was P,3 to conventional and ,3 to FAVOR REGULAR, FAVOR demand strengthened further when experfRental alternatives were considered; I ~I I I Conventional FAVOR I I I I I I I Conventional v FAYOR HEHMO1 ( 3,2 1~8 I I ' 1 I I I I I Conventional v FaYOR 3W 1 2,9 2,1 I I likelihood of purchase and token allocation measures all indicate greater FAVOR responsiveness for males, lower delivery smokers and those who have less coping/abstinence difficulty when requfred to refrain from snaking, The lover responsiveness of females is apparently a function of social embarrassment associated with FAYOR use ( female relpansf veness Is actually higher than males prior to four day trial and direct measures show far higher unease during public use for the females), This social embarrassment response was clearly conditioned by the current absence of any advertising and public awareness of FAVOR, It may be expected that female responsiveness to FAYDR would re-assert and probably be greater than male responsiveness following more general social promotion of the product, Fu;ther indication of the positive consuner response to FAVOR is given In the end of session finding that 355 of consumers felt FAVOR would achieve some degree of success If launched in the U,K, FAVOR was' seen primarily for use supplementary to conventional cigarettes by the end of the exercise 721 of respondents still considered the product appropriate In such a context (InteresHngly, 352 of the sample also considered FAVOR potentially appropriate as a total substitute for conventional cf garettes, males and low coping concern-m~dfvfduats being over· represented in this group), Expected Future users of FAVOR were seen by the participants to be low tar, lower consumption smokers, females and socially reserved, situations In which FAVOR use was expected to be most appropriate were no-smoking theatres, restaurants and other peoples' ears and homes, prior to any opportunity for soelal exposure, consumers anticipated social reaction to be pred6nlnantly Interest and approval,with Iov tar smokers most likely to expect this reaction and females being more likely to expect amusement and ridicule. Subsequent measures after four day usage showed that Interest and approval was in fact the experienced majority reaction within the hone, but amusement and ridicule was the lain publ~e reaction (percelved especially keenly by females and law tar smokers), ~---~-~c~- Clil; PDF -!::!!::!!::!.f3 StlC.i: Dill HevertheleJs, at the close of the exercise, 6B of total sample felt at ease using FAYOR In public (851 of males, 45X of females, 9M of middle tar and 40~ Of low tar smol:ers). principal advantages of FAVM( were absence of smoke debris and snell. Shortcomings were largely sensory: tobacco taste levels too low. draw effort and irritancy too high, satisfaction levels tow and visuatltactlle quality insufficiently natural, .Group discussion and sampling of experimental products confirmed that all these features were seen to be Capable of significant improvement. Finally, It us generally agreed that the equation of dr PAYOR sticks to twenty conventional cigarettes was a credible claim, with 14% of the total sample reporting a decrease' In conventional cigarette consumption during the extended FAVOR trial, In the gRera; context of conruner evaluat~onr of radfcal ty innovative product propositions, the results of this exercise Indicate h significantly posl tf ve resoonse, Clit; PDF -!::!!::!!::!.f3 StlC.i: 0111