Reebok Shoe Discussion Case

Questions for Discussion

1. What are the different ways in which Wild Planet gains insight into customers' opinions? Are the insights gained from its market research worth the costs?

Wild Planet gains insight through market research, but not in the conventional way like other companies would. Wild Planet is creative with their market research and has many different ways to collect this information. Observe kids with "Ethnographic Research" were they study kids in their natural play environments. This allows Wild Planet to gain valuable insight into the world of the kids and natural play habits. Wild Planet can then process the information and use this information to best fit the kids and parents opinions on the toys they should produce. Wild Planet does not gather research in the conventional way, but go out of their way to collect more accurate information and feedback. Wild Planet goes out and follows kids around in everyday life and visits their homes to gain insight using ethnographic research. Wild Planet also does research on the shopping and buying of toys that kids do when shopping with their parents or by themselves. Wild Planet gives children $30 to go out in the mall and buy toys while observing what they buy. This allows Wild Planet to monitor the effective advertisement of their toys and if they are appealing enough to a child's eyes. The research department does not only focus on targeting kids, but asks the parents as well. Since kids do not usually have the money to buy the toys, it is the parents who have the final word on what to purchase from the stores. Wild Planet also has a survey department called the Toy Opinion Panel (TOP) to gain information from people on a database at any time. They use surveys and home groups to test new toys and give feedback on certain products in testing. This is very valuable because they already have a testing group on call that can help them market and produce their toys effectively. There is also an annual contest called "The Kid Inventor Challenge" which is used to gain ideas from the kids themselves and the best ideas are then developed into actual toys for kid consumption. This is effective because Wild Planet and get into the actual mind of the kids to access valuable information. Research is more authentic the closer you are to a real environment. This market research is worth the cost because it gains value insight from multiple sources directly linked to the consumer that buy them. It gains research and feedback in multiple ways so that all the research doesn't come from one area and can then be processed with the excess information to make the best possible toy to generate large profits from the market making the research worth the cost. This extensive research scheme allows Wild Planet to get into the minds of the kids and create toys that the kids themselves want since it is not possible to put their own taste and desires into creating products.

2. When conducting research, what might Wild Planet watch for?

Ethnographic Research is basically watching kids in their natural play environments. Doing

this allows them to study what kids do and like without affecting them at all. They go to a kid's house rather then bringing them to a lab which could affect how they act. Wild Planet

would probably want to see how long the kids play with the toy. If they play with it for a

while, then it shows that they are interested. They can also look at the kids' reaction when he receives the toy and how willing he is to give it up. Other suggestions of things Wild Planet may look for include: the number of toys a child will play with at one time, what environment they play in, what toys are played with in different environments, and if the parents participate. If the parents do participate, how so?

3. Toys represent a product in which the designers, developers, and marketers