THREE BRANDS OF BREAKFAST BARS
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METHODOLOGY
DESIGN
The purpose of the survey was to evaluate consumers’ attitudes toward brands of breakfast bars as well as their response to advertisements for breakfast bars. The survey measured pre- and post- exposure to advertisements to measure respondents’ likelihood of purchasing each brand. There was no control group to compare the respondents’ answers with because of time constraints for the completion of the study.
STRUCTURE
Introduction: The beginning of the questionnaire gives a brief summary of the purpose of the survey as well as informing the potential respondents that it is strictly for educational use only and that their answers are strictly confidential.Recent Purchases (Section 1): Respondents were asked to give the brand name of their most recent purchases of cereal, fruit juice, and breakfast bars.
Pre-Exposure of Ad (Section 2): Three different brands were given for each of the product categories of cereal, fruit juice, and breakfast bars. For each of the three sections, respondents were asked to divide 10 points among the three brands based on their likelihood of purchasing each brand.
Post-Exposure of Ad (Section 3 & 4): Respondents were then shown print ads from Nature Valley, Quaker Chewy, and Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain breakfast bars. They were told to spend about 30 seconds on each. Afterwards, they were asked to again divide 10 points among the three brands of breakfast bars based on their likelihood of purchasing each brand.
Brand Attitude (Section 5 &6 ): The first section of questions asked the respondents if they felt differently about any of the brands of breakfast bars as a result of seeing the advertisements, and if this was a positive of negative change toward the brand. The second section of the questionnaire was composed of ten Likert scale questions, on a scale from one to five, in order to measure the respondents’ attitude toward each brand. The ten questions were repeated for each brand and were composed of both positive and negative statements about breakfast bars.
Ad Attitude (Section 7 & 8): The first section evaluated respondents’ attitude toward the three advertisements they viewed from Nature Valley, Quaker Chewy, and Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain. A mixture of ten words and phrases, both positive and negative, were given and respondents were asked to check a box if they believed the statement applied to one, two or all of the advertisements for breakfast bars. The second section gave ten sentences and asked to check “Yes” or “No” depending on if they felt that the statement described the ad. The same ten sentences were repeated for each brand.
Demographics (Section 9): The last section in the survey collected demographic information in order to learn more about the respondents. Gender, age, highest level of education, how often they purchase breakfast bars per month, how often they eat breakfast and exercise each week, as well as any additional comments were the measured demographics.
SAMPLE
A convenience sample was collected for this brand preference survey due to time constraints and the lack of access to an already established pool of individuals to take the survey. A minimum of sixty respondents were required, and all analysis were used with a sample size of sixty-eight individuals.
DATA COLLECTION PROCESS
The data was collected through a questionnaire posted online. Initially an email was sent out to family and friends telling them the purpose of the survey and providing them a link to the questionnaire to fill out. The email also asked them to forward it to anyone they felt qualified or would be willing to participate in the survey. A link to the survey was also posted on Hornfans.com, asking individuals to help fill out the questionnaire. A couple of individuals had difficulty submitting their answers, but for the most part everyone was able to complete the questionnaire without any issues.