1. What will be learned from the test?

2. What would you add or change about the test?

3. What else would you like to know before making a decision about the test?

The Tiger-Tread spray product designed to free cars stuck in ice or snow had been delayed due to problems with packaging. In the summer of 1996, the problems were solved and the product was ready to go. There were, however, a host of basic decisions that needed to be made, and Charley Omsrud was considering the value of delaying a national introduction of the product and running a test market.

One issue involved the amount of production capacity to plan both for the 5-oz can (good for two or three use occasions) and the 10-oz can (good for four to six use occasions). Although the 200 people from the Toledo lab that tried product samples did not seem to have problems using it, there was always the lingering concern that unanticipated product problems could materialize in a broader test.

An issue that had recently emerged was whether the market should be restricted to fleets of cars. A colleague of Charley Omsrud, the marketing manager, had observed that for every fleet car there were well over 10 other potential customers. If a consumer effort were mounted, the nature of the marketing program needed to be decided. In the test market used in 1970, extensive information on advertising and distribution was obtained. Charley felt that a middle course might make sense. His idea was to distribute the product through service stations and support it with point-of-purchase display stands and brochures. After all, the consumer did rely on the service station to provide antifreeze and other winterization services.

Charley was evaluating a proposal from a local marketing research firm to conduct a test market through the coming winter in a snowbelt city of around two million people. The plan was to reach fleet owners with the existing sales force and to reach individual car owners through service stations supported by point-of-purchase advertising. The cost would be $500,000 for running the test and evaluating the results.

Among the outputs would be the following:

1. The percentage of households that

• Were aware of the product

• Purchased the product

• Made a repeat purchase

2. The number and size of fleets that

• Were aware of the product

• Were aware but did not order the product

• Ordered the product

• Ordered the product and made repeat purchases

3. The type and incidence of any product problem.