Eoc Week 3: "9 to 5"

The movie “9 to 5” is a classic comedy about three secretaries kill their boss. The producers of the movie got the idea for the film from an article they ready about how someone tried to kill their boss. The movie became very popular during its time because everyone seemed to be able to relate to the movie in someway. Although the movie is shown as a comedy it really is the way that most women felt when working in the business world surrounded by so many egotistical men. It was right around this time that women were making their way into the work force, positioning themselves in jobs more than just desk receptionists. This movie pushed the envelope and helped get the whole concept out there and moving. The movie created quite the movement.

What many people don’t know is the makers of the movie did actual market research to see if secretaries really felt this way about their bosses. The results they acquired were quite shocking. By conducting some simple applied research they gathered realistic information from real-life secretaries. Applied research is the type of research that you must conduct. The type of applied research they conducted I would say would have had to have been exploratory research. This would include qualitative research, in-depth interviews, and observations. This type of research helps clarify research in certain types of environments. The producers never came out and told us what they did to gather the exploratory research, but they did mention that they spoke to actual female secretaries about their views on their bosses. They could have simply done this by conducting a focus group. A focus group is where a group of people discuss their attitudes toward a product, idea, etc. This can be in an interactive setting or there can be a moderator helping the group to move along.

There were many ethical dilemmas referenced in the movie. These included killing your boss, office affairs, and sexism. Although these are very serious ethical dilemmas they film got around them by playing them off as jokes.

EOC Week 2 Research Surveys

Many people conduct marketing research to help them make better decisions when it comes to improving their brand our business. These better decisions come from external research that is gathered through many stages of the marketing research process. Researching others people surveys and results can help people decide what type of research would be best for them to conduct like, and it also helps them learn a lot about the company conducting the research.
I decided to research the results of a fashion survey conducted on young girls. The fashion survey was called “Are you a Fashionista or a casual cutie?” The survey was conducted on girls between the ages of 10-14 with the average of the girls taking the quiz at age 13. The survey was attempting to answer questions like, “Are you trendy or laid back?” “Do you wear designer or thrift store finds?” “Is pink really the new black?” The research company conducted the research on all SmartGirl users. Smart Girl is an online community where girls can share their opinions, creativity, experiences, and goals. The girls can see what other girls are thinking and add their own thoughts to the mix. Visitors to the site are generally girls between the ages of 11-17. They come from many countries around the world.
The researchers wanted the girls to open their closets and tell them more about their fashion styles, what they wear, where they shop, and what their favorite outfits are. By conducting this research the company was trying to find out what is popular amongst girls of this age. A clothing company that shares similar target markets to that of SmartGirl users might have paid a researching company to conduct the survey to help them determine current trends going on with their target market.
The results I reviewed were very detailed and included all questions with the answers and appropriate percentages. Many of these included graphs of the results. This surveys results could be very advantageous to many companies. One company I could think of that would benefit from this would be the girls’ clothing store called Justice. I have attached the link of the marketing research where all the results can be viewed. http://www.smartgirl.org/reports/4413755.html

Week 1 EOC: Expectations

When I first think of marketing research I think of those annoying people that stalk you in the mall asking you if they can bother you to fill out a survey. Many shoppers run in fear from these annoying researchers, but what I hope to uncover from this class is that market research isn’t always annoying and tedious but more interesting and helpful. I want to learn how I can conduct helpful research that will assist me when I start up my own company. I want to know who to hire and what kind of research will best benefit my type of company. I do also expect to conduct some sort of market research myself. I hope to uncover some valuable information that will help me along with my midterm and final’s projects for this class.