Problem: For its study, Teens and Healthy Eating: Oxymoron or Trend?, New York-based BuzzBack Market Research focused on snacking. Among its findings: Teens eat an average of three snacks per day; breakfast is the meal they skip most often. Though scads of snacks are stacked on store shelves, when it comes to healthier treats targeting adolescents, it's a bit of a teenage wasteland. BuzzBack asked 532 teen respondents to imagine new foods they'd gobble up. The following are some of their ideas:
• "Travel fruit. Why can't fruit be in travel bags like chips or cookies? Canned fruit is too messy. Maybe have a dip or something sold with it, too."-Female, age 17.
• "A drink that contains five servings of fruits and vegetables."-Male, age 16, Caucasian.
• "I would invent all natural and fat-free, vitamin-enhanced cookies and chips that had great flavor."-Female, age 16.
• "I would make fruit-based cookies."-Male, age 16, Caucasian.
• "Low-carb trail mix, because trail mix is easy to eat but it has a lot of fat/carbs."-Female, age 15, Caucasian.
• "I would create some sort of microwavable spaghetti."-Male, age 16, Caucasian.
• "Something quick and easy to make that's also cheap. I'll be in college next year, and I'm trying to find things that are affordable, healthier than cafeteria food, and easy to make."-Female, age 17.
• "Good vegan mac n'cheese."-Female, age 18, Caucasian.
• "A smoothie where you could get all the nutrients you need, that tastes good, helps you stay in shape, and is good for you. Has vitamins A, B 3, B12, C, ginkgo. Packaging would be bright."-Female, age 16, African American.
• "A breakfast shake for teens. Something easy that tastes good, not necessarily for dieters like Slim Activities
1. Fast, etc. Something to balance you off in the morning."-Male, age 18.29
You are a new-product development specialist at Kraft. What guidance can you get from the BuzzBack study?
2. Choose one of the suggestions from the above list of healthy snack concepts. Imagine that your company is interested in turning the idea into a new product but wants to conduct market research before investing in product development. Design a marketing research plan that will give company managers the information they need before engaging in new-product development of the idea.
3. Once you have finished your plan, collect the data. Depending on the data-collection methods you have outlined in your plan, you may need to make adjustments so that you can collect actual data to analyze.
4. Analyze the data you collected and create a report for your company either recommending that the company pursue the idea you chose or investigate another.