Assignment 1 TASK:

1. Choose a product or a product category. Choose a product to research throughout this course. Create a 1-page summary (approximately 250 words) about your proposed product. Include in the summary the product name, product category, sources for finding relevant information, and why you want to study this particular product or brand. Provide brief background information about your chosen product.

2. Customer Research and Trends Segmentation and targeting is an important aspect of consumer behaviour. In this section, you will analyse the trends in demand for your product and define market segments, targeting, and positioning, which will provide some insights into what would motivate potential customers to choose your product offering).

You may wish to:-

Conduct a secondary research by summarizing two or three relevant articles discussing trends in demand for your product. OR

Perform a small focus group, or a few in-depth interviews, of potential users of your product. You may consider using two different ethnic groups. OR

Using your own experiences, secondary researches, and exploratory research methods (interviews or direct observations), profile the primary market segment(s) for your product. Concentration on two questions - (a) What do they want to buy, and (b) Who are they? Make an estimate of the size of the target market for your product. Identify the market size, growth, and trends within the given market. Use business data already published. Explain how you arrived at your answer and state any assumptions you have made and why.

3. Analysis of Internal Influences (Factors) on Consumer Behaviour In this section, you will examine the various aspects of internal factors/influences and their implication to a marketer. You will continue to focus on your chosen product and market for the course.

i. Motivation and involvement Using the product that you have chosen to research, produce a 23-page report examining the level of motivation and involvement that a typical customer would display in the purchase of your product.

ii. Personality Using the concept of brand personality, describe a personality for your chosen product.

iii. Perception and Positioning Draw an attribute-based perceptual map for your chosen product. Include the main competitive brands and discuss any opportunity for repositioning. Explain the extrinsic and intrinsic cues would be used in assessing the perceived quality of your chosen product, and as a marketer describe the use extrinsic cues to improve the perceived quality of your product.

iv. Consumer Attitude Formation / Change Explain the strategies you would use to change consumer attitudes towards a particular brand of your chosen product by:- a. Changing beliefs about the brand b. Changing beliefs about competing brands c. Changing the relative evaluation of attributes