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For this assignment, develop a short research proposal for a brand (or product category) that you are interested in learning more about throughout the semester. Your research at this stage should include (but is not limited to) looking at the following questions:

Question 1:                 What is the current positioning of the brand in the marketplace?

Question 2:                 How does it stack up against competitors?

Question 3:                 What do consumers think about the brand and its products?

Question 4:                 What are current trends in this particular industry that consumers follow?

Use these research questions to think about the possible opportunities or problems for the brand.

Writing it up:

Write a proposal of not more than 2-3 pages (Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, single-spaced) making sure to address the following details:

• Background:
  • Give a description of the brand, organization or product category and the marketplace environment it is a part of.
• Answers/Details regarding the 4 questions mentioned above (or more if your group wants to add a few)
• Research Objectives (at least 3):
  • State your overall research objectives. What do you want to determine/focus your research on? Be specific. These should be in the form of 1-3 lines per bullet point and should be based on the problems/opportunities you have chosen to highlight.
  • Important: Remember that you’re going to be doing your research with CONSUMERS. So your research objectives should be based on information you can collect from the consumer!
• Now try and write down research hypotheses based on your research objectives that you could test in your research this semester (1-2 per research question). Look at the research objective versus research hypotheses examples on the following page.

Don’t forget to add your sources to the research proposal (Citations, weblinks, etc.) in the APA format.

Examples of Research Objectives v/s Research Hypotheses

(The following is for a hypothetical scenario. Let’s say you do research on Netflix and find an article saying that the average time spent by a user on Netflix is stagnant and the company wants to find a way to change that. You decide to base your research on that.)

Research Question: How to increase average time spent on Netflix per user?

Possible options could include looking at:

• Consumer profiles of current subscribers (demographics, psychographics et al.)
• Usage habits of current subscribers (time of day, choice of device, single use versus family packs, used at home/work/other place, light versus heavy users)
• Consumer preferences for different genres of shows/movies on Netflix
• Consumer profiles of subscribers to other services such as Hulu, Amazon Prime et al.
• Usage habits of subscribers to other services such as Hulu, Amazon Prime et al.
• Consumer preferences for different genres of shows/movies on Hulu, Amazon Prime et al.

Research Objective 1:

To find out more about the consumer profiles of current subscribers of Netflix.

            Possible research hypotheses:

1. A majority (> 50%) of current subscribers are younger than 30.
2. A majority of current subscribers are female.

Research Objective 2:

To find out more about the usage habits of current subscribers of Netflix.

            Possible research hypotheses:

1. People are more likely to watch Netflix on their tablets than on their mobile phones.
2. People who binge-watch are less satisfied with Netflix than ones who regulate their viewing.
3. Family pack subscribers consumer more Netflix hours per week than single subscribers.
4. Men are more likely to use Netflix at home while women are more likely to use Netflix at work.

Research Objective 3:

To find out more about consumer preferences for different genres of shows/movies on Netflix.

            Possible research hypotheses:

1. People who are higher on extraversion (i.e. extroverts) are likely to watch more full-length films than people who are lower on extraversion (i.e. introverts).
2. People are more satisfied with the selection of comedy shows available than they are with the selection of drama shows.
3. People watch more hours of TV shows than they do of movies.