Research Theory There are many different research methods to try to find out key information, every product every made has conducted research before to find out consumer’s habits, to determined the target demographics and how works well and what doesn’t in a particular product. There are two types of research primary or secondary. Primary research meaning research conducted by ourselves, this includes methods like interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. Primary research is a good method due to the fact it is highly valid, you are leading the research yourself consequently you know it is reliable information. However, the down side to this approach is that it is very time consuming, you have to find out the information by yourself, therefore if you need 150 responses and you have to conduct each one individually it is going to take you a lot of time. The other method is secondary research; this is the opposite of primary as it’s conducted by other people, this method is quicker as you don’t have to get the information yourself however it has a low validly, as the information could be false as you don’t know who produced the results. As well as the two main research methods, there are two sub genres, quantitative which is a closed method, this means that the questions would normally be yes or no answers or there will be multiple choice answers to the questions. Quantitative questionnaires are easy to quantify, as the answers are very simple therefore can we made into data charts quickly to get to a conclusion to the question, however by doing this you don’t receive any other information. On the other hand, Qualitative research is opened ended, therefore the results give the researcher more data as the answers won’t all be the same and they wouldn’t just only answer the question they would back it up with a reason. The negative to this way of collecting data is there it will become harder to analyse and find patterns within the research. All my research was primary I conducted a questionnaire for my body spray, as I made the questions myself and asked multiple target demographics to get a wide range of information. My research was both quantitative and quantitative as some of my questions were closed for example; do you like the idea of having a unisex spray? I also made some of my questions open ended like what do you look for in a body spray advert? as I wanted to get more information in this field. The research method I conducted in order to gain information about my target audience was interviews, I had five questions: What would you like too see from a body spray advert, Do you prefer it when the bottle is in a bottle is in a basic shape or a different shape? Would you want your bottle to be transparent or not? Do you prefer an atomiser or press down? Value for money or quality? And do you like the idea of a unisex spray? I had a wide range of question types, as I didn’t only want to know what people would like to see from the perfume itself but also what they want to see from a marketing point of view. I believe this method was very effective as I got a lot of information from the questions I asked, most of my questions were qualitative therefore they were open ended and normally needed to be explained. I found that speaking directly to the person puts them on the spot, this gains effective results due to the fact their answer is the first thing that pops into their head, therefore the body spray spoken about must be worth remembering and my brand could get ideas from the type of things that specific band has used. Another research method I
used was questionnaires, I found this method was less effective than conducting an interview as using a questionnaire you do not get their initial response and it eliminates the problem of satisficing. However, using a questionnaire was a lot easier to collect more information as people are more willing to take a questionnaire. I got many more results as its quicker and I didn’t need to be present when they were taking place. From my research, I found that the general public liked the idea of having a different shaped bottle like hearts, diamonds or simple shapes that you wouldn’t normally see from a body spray bottle like a cone/rectangle something that appeals from the typical cylinder shape. As it becomes more eye catching especially for females and the younger generation. However, the older generation stated ‘the simpler the better, a basic everyday design’. My research showed me that a transparent bottle is more appealing as you can see how much of the fragrance you have left, as a general deodorant brand like sure and soft and gentle has a coloured bottle. In addition, a transparent deodorant bottle has never been done before; therefore, the product will stand out on the shelves also creating a unique selling point. All age ranges prefers a simple press down spray to an atomiser as it’s easier to use, body sprays are a daily essential therefore it needs to be accessible to everyone, so by sticking to the simple press down spray we are appealing to the majorities needs. The open-ended questions gave our group a lot more information on what people really wanted from a body spray, we found that most adverts use the opposite sex or beautiful people to promote their brand, as it persuades the audience that by buying the spray they will find love or become as attractive as the model. This is a good promotion technique however, from my research I found that people found this boring, and wanted something unique, therefore making the advert ant—realist so it is different to any other brand and grabs the audience attention. We suggested in the questionnaire what people would think of a unisex spray the results we received were mixed, as the teenage target audience said it would be ‘ different and cool as you could wear the same as your boyfriend/ friend etc’ others said that ‘ boys and girls are meant to smell different’. After conducting all our research, we decided to follow the younger generation’s ideas, and create an advert and brand that is totally different from anything already on the market.