What to do: To provide hands on experience with projective techniques, try a sample application in 2 product categories. Select at least 3 brands from each product category. Have 5 people write an obituary for each of the brands (e.g., pretend that Tide has disappeared from the market… what would you write in a brief obituary for Tide?), Use at least 2 types of projective techniques from the list below, or from the text book. Overall, interview 5 consumers using a questionnaire on 3 brands in each of 2 product categories, with 2 different projective techniques.

Examples of other projective techniques

1.            Sentence completion: Tide is a ______________ because it is ____________.

2.            Describe the picture (1 paragraph): In this picture, Tide is .

3.            Brand personality: If tide were a person, what would the characteristics of this person be?  How dressed, how he/she looks, whether a social person, etc.

4.            Balloon completion: Show picture of 2 people talking, ask what they would say about Tide.

Analysis: a) Look for broad patterns across each projective technique to understand how consumers relate to the various brands, b) Do the obituaries (and other techniques) show a consistent pattern? c) What particular implications do these reports have for the competing marketers? d) How useful are these 2 techniques in terms of understanding deeper needs/motivations; how would you improve them?

The report should be a maximum of 1.500 words, 12 pt. font; double-spaced, plus charts, tables and appendices.

Written Reports:

Written reports should provide a 1.500 words executive summary of the team's findings.  Do not include an introductory paragraph discussing what you did (all the relevant information of this type can be placed in the appendix).  You only have 1.500 words to highlight your findings, analyses and implications – you don't want to waste space telling me what you did. 

Each of the issues/questions in the analysis section should be addressed individually.  Use headings corresponding to the different parts of the analysis section to distinguish between the different sections of your report.  

A good written report draws from the information collected in the experiential project to draw all conclusions.  Your findings should not be based on information from the lecture, text or other published sources.  Correspondingly it is critical that you support your analyses with references to the information provided by your sample.  It is perfectly OK if your findings conflict with what the "book" says.  In fact, presenting and explaining unanticipated results can make for a very strong paper.

 All relevant supporting materials including:

1.            information about the sample

2.            data from surveys

3.            summary tables of results

4.            questionnaires

5.            transcripts of interviews, etc. should be included in the appendix and referenced where appropriate in the write-up.