Sara Sandals is the Marketing Manager for a large conglomerate Allied Sports, that produces a number of sports apparel and performance equipment products. Allied Sports has been successful in many areas including being the market leader in some of their product categories. Sara is meeting today with Jacob Galant who is the brand manager in charge of one of Allieds performance running shoe lines GeneratorEX. For more than a year now, sales have been declining. This successful performance running line has been around for over 20 years and the GeneratorEX is the latest version offering ultimate quality and performance. Jacob has been charged with determining how the company can recapture their market share which has dropped approximately 13%. Recent research has indicated that consumers buy higher end performance runners for training or in the preparation for a marathon or long distance event. The ChallengerEX has been designed with thoughtful geometrics and offers crucial forefoot flexibility. The upper features engineered mesh and no-sew overlays to deliver the ultimate in lightweight, breathable security while a three layered mesh upper gives ultimate comfort and fit. Two versions of the product are currently on the market, the original and a trail running version which is sealed in and waterproof and almost half the weight of the original. Successful past promotion strategies have stressed that consumers can achieve their performance goals by wearing the ChallengerEX. Sara and Jacob are meeting to discuss the results of some focus groups conducted to investigate consumers thoughts and feelings regarding product Allied Sports performance running shoe product. Sara: Ive been reading through the focus group transcripts and I have to say, theres not much there to give us clues on why our market share is dropping. Jacob: I agree. I watched the focus group conducted here in town and the videotapes of the others and it is really hard to get anything definitive about why consumers arent buying the product. They say they like the products quality and design, but we still dont have anything that we could use in a promotion strategy to give this products sales a kick-start. Sara: So what do you propose we do.we have to do something because sales will continue to slide! Jacob: Well, Im not so sure our focus groups uncovered enough of why people like or dislike the product. I feel like consumers told us what they thought we wanted to hear. I talked to the focus group moderator and she agrees. MK 503 Consumer Behaviour Projective Test Due Thursday November 5th , 9:30 am Written Submission 20% Erin Oner (Fall 2020) Sara: We spent time and money on those focus groups and now youre telling me you dont think we got what we needed! So whats nextdo we pull a product that has been in the marketplace for several years!!!! We should be celebrating its longevity not watching it go down the drain! Jacob: Well Ive been thinkingmaybe the focus groups were the wrong approachmaybe what we need to do is use projective techniques. Sara: Listen, at this point Ill try anything! But for goodness sakes, make sure we get something we can use! YOUR TASK: Respond to the Marketing Managers assignment by developing a proposal that utilizes each of the four different types of projective techniques. a) Word associationsubjects are presented with words or phrases and asked to respond quickly to each of the stimulus words/phrases with the first word or phrase that comes to mind. Ensure that any test created consists of at least 15 words for respondents to consider. b) Sentence completionsubjects are asked to complete an unfinished sentence. Ensure that any test created utilizes at least 10 sentences for respondents to complete. c) Picture construction interpretationsubjects are asked to describe what is taking place in a specified picture. Use at least three pictures in the picture interpretation. Design your own and create text bubbles for the respondent to fill in with their dialogue. d) Role play technique subjects are asked to describe the motivation or characteristics of another person. Include a detailed description of the intended role play. You should be specific and detailed in your description of how each of these is to be implemented. For example, in the word association test, what specific words will you use? What types of themes are you are looking for. Remember that the goal of this projective research is to gain insight into the underlying reasons why consumers are not purchasing this product. The report should include the following: Introduction: outline the purpose of creating these tests. (Caution: do not begin the introduction with: we were told by Erin Oner to conduct a projective test. Methodology: describe each type of test will you use. Provide examples of each of the tests you have created. Findings: identify the objectives of each test, what you are hoping to find out and the possible marketing implications.