Kenna's Dilemma is everyone's dilemma

I thought this chapter, “Kenna’s Dilemma: The Right and Wrong Way to Ask People What They Want” was completely accurate in describing the decision making process. This chapter focuses on how judgment is made within people’s minds. Now, not too scientifically of course, we are not in a biology class but it really captures people’s thought process when they need to make a decision- easy, hard, critical, or basic. Just last week in my marketing research class, we performed a blind taste test between Coca-Cola and Pepsi using five students in the class. Exactly as it was mentioned in this chapter, four out of the five students chose the Pepsi over the Coca-Cola after their “sips”as their favorite. However, before they even tasted each soft drink, our professor asked which one they preferred if they were to purchase one over the other at say, a grocery store. All five students said that they are Coca-Cola drinkers, more so than Pepsi. So why did four out of the five choose the Pepsi instead of their obvious favorite? After much discussion, it came down to that with only a few sips, Pepsi is sweeter and tastes better, but if drinking a whole can or bottle Coca-Cola would be the favorite choice most of the time. Now, in class we did not extend our discussion to the various flavors that you must take into account with a whole can/bottle versus sips but it proved exactly what the article proves. You must take into account a few sips, or a whole can of a product.

Malcom Gladwell also goes on to say how different the results may be if you do a test in a normal environment setting versus a laboratory focus group setting. This is an especially critical lesson that marketers, specifically those in research should acknowledge. Last year, I did several marketing studies in the marketing research labs on campus. They ranged from watching videos to picking out product packages but because I was in a computer lab with huge headphones and wooden walls all around me like a cubicle, I immediately felt like a science rat. I felt like I needed to pick the exact package they were wanting me to pick, or listen for a particular noise in the video, all the while I’m not in an actual setting where I could actually choose more accurately. I feel these tests would be much more correct if they were to just come into a random classroom or even stop by students’ dorm rooms to conduct the marketing studies. By performing studies so uptight and out of a natural setting, your results will ultimately be skewed. Procter and Gamble have mock grocery stores that look identical to the real thing so that consumers (research participants) can come in and purchase items while researchers can observe and then ask questions at the end about why they chose one product over another. With this natural setting of a real grocery store, these researchers are able to obtain accurate results on how most people really do shop for products.

One of the other lessons that Malcom Gladwell talked about in this chapter, and is my favorite is the decision process with packaging. Consumers may spend over five minutes trying to choose a product based solely on the package appearance. I thought the study that was performed on the margarine compared with the butter was hilarious but also really opened my eyes to how much people rely on packaging and rarely the taste itself. Today, many people do not even know there is a difference between butter and margarine, let alone believe that margarine is colored and even packaged like butter because of marketing. However, this is probably one of thousands of products that must be packaged like its competitor to increase sales and overall likeness among consumers. What I think is even more interesting is how product packaging changes over the years within product categories. For example, packaging on power bars five years ago were bright and colorful with big block letters but today they have neutral colors with a mountain scene in the background. My thought for this is because of the growing trend for natural ingredients and healthy choices but overall the ingredients have not changed one bit. However, when showing the five year old bright box compared to the earthy natural box to consumers today most would probably choose today’s box. This is just another lesson that marketers must remember to gain insights on their target market. Packaging is not just important for kids or impulse shoppers but even those consumers who they think know all about a particular product.