Marketing Research
Objective: Describe the five steps in conducting market research
1. Define the Problem:
Does each bag of M&Ms contain the same number of candies?
How many of each color M&M is in each bag?
2. Analyze the situation:
Complete the M&Ms website worksheet.
3. Develop a data-collection procedure:
Get a bag of M&Ms and complete the Data Collection Worksheet
4. Examine and organize information:
Complete the Group Comparison Worksheet
5. Propose a solution
Complete the Solutions Worksheet
M & Ms Website Worksheet
Directions: Use Google to answer the questions below.
History
1. What year were M&Ms first sold to the public?
March 3rd 1941
2. How were they packaged?
Sold in cardboard tubes
3. When the packaging was changed, what was it changed to?
Plastic bags
4. When were peanut M&Ms first introduced?
1954
5. Where are M&M candies made in the United States?
New Jersey
6. What color was added to peanut M&Ms in 1960?
Tan
7. What does M & M stand for?
The last name of Bruce Murrie and William Murrie put together
8. The original M&M chocolate candies contained what color mix?
Red, yellow, brown, green, and violet
9. What is colorworks?
Getting your own color made or design on your candy
10. What is M&M world?
M&M's World is a retail store that specializes in M&M's candy and merchandise.
11. What happened to the original name of M&M plain chocolate candies in 2000?
They said their chocolate was too good to be called plain.
12. Can you get your school colors?
Yes
13. What color was originally used for the letters on the M&Ms?
black
14. What % of each color do you get in a bag of M&Ms?
Brown=
30
Green=
10
Yellow=
20
Orange=
10
Red=
20
Blue=
10
%
%
For the following questions do a google search as well.
1. What are the details of the great color quest?
At the New Year m&m started making only black and white candies, people had to then find bags full
of just one color to then add back the colors to the whole bag.
2. What company has M&Ms teamed up with for the great color quest?
3. The M&M Spokescandies were introduced as a form of marketing. Who are they?
(List their names)
They are animated talking m&ms for each color, mix of boys and girls who show up in commercials
advertising the chocolate.
4. T h e r e a r e g a m e s y o u c a n p l a y w i t h M & M s. U s e t h e i n t e r n e t t o f i n d a
g a m e a n d t r y p l a yi n g i t w i t h y o u r g r o u p . Wr i t e o u t t h e n a m e o f t h e
g a m e a n d t h e i n s t r u c t i o n s f o r h ow t o p l a y .
The game that I played was called M&Ms. Basically the mini M&M's disappeared and you have to go on
a quest with Red, Yellow or Green to find them. Collect all the M&M's and the bonuses on your way to
raise your score, open boxes and jump on enemies to defeat them.
M&M Data Collection Worksheet
1. How many candies are in your bag (count twice for accuracy)?_
141
2. Count each candy per color and quantity (count twice for accuracy)
Color
Number
Red
13
Green
43
Brown
19
Yellow
23
Orange
18
Blue
25
3. What is the percentage of each color per bag? ((# of color/total)*100)
Color
Percent
Red
9%
Green
31.5%
Brown
16.3%
Yellow
16.3%
Orange
12.5%
Blue
17.5%
4. Using Excel, create a pie chart showing the percent of each color M&M. (Use the data in
the first table above). Change the colors of the chart to match the colors of the M&Ms.
Submit the chart to the hand in folder so it can be marked in colour.
Group Comparison
Worksheet
Communicate with the members of other groups to complete the table below:
Group
Name
Total in
Bag
% of
Red
% of
Blue
% of
Green
% of
Brown
% of
Yellow
% of
Orange
141
18
31
13
16
13
142
8.5
19.0
24.6
7.0
21.8
19
Thomas
140
13
25
24
18
11
Ryan
141
17.8
19.2
31.2
12.1
11.4
18.4
Hunter
142
8.5
23
22
8.5
18
22
Max
138
22
20
10
22
19
20
10
10
30
20
10
Our Group
Jai
*m&m standard 141
%s
*m&m % can be found online
Solutions Worksheet
1. Does each bag of M&Ms contain the same number of candies?
No
2. If the answer to number 1 is no, what is the average number of candies per bag?
140
3. How many of each color M&Ms is in each bag? (Approximately)
Red= 11.9% blue= 19.4%
green= 16.2%
brown= 12.6 % yellow= 18.1%
orange=16%
4. How do the Group results compare to the M&M website results?
Green and yellow are the closest compared to the website
5. Which color is most prevalent?
Green
6. Is there a trend or reason for the most prevalent color?
Green is more popular because of its bright color and eye catching appearance.
7. Which color is least prevalent?
Red
8. Is there a trend or reason for the least prevalent color?
Because its a darker, and more of a dull color
9. Why do they introduce new colors as a marketing strategy?
They want to change it up and find out what people like and by how much. They dont want their
strategy to become boring and they want to attract customers.
10. List any examples of advertisements, TV shows, movies that have used M&Ms (or
specific color M&Ms) as part of the script.
Used in super bowl ads, YouTube, before a movie starts
11. If you were marketing a bag of M&Ms what would be your breakdown of each color
and why?
Blue= 40%
Green= 20%
Brown= 1%
Red= 25%
Orange= 14%
12. What does your group think of the Great Color Quest marketing strategy? (Explain)
Its a really good contest because people will buy the candy more due to the fact they want to win.
Its kind of like the Tim Hortans roll up the rim, the company makes more profit in the end.
Orange Is Coming Back to the M&M'S Mix; Great Color Quest Consumer Contest Yields First
Winner with Discovery of Bag of All-Orange M&M'S
Feb. 5, 2004
Orange was officially "found" in South Carolina and will be added back to the M&M'S(R) stable of
colors. Black and white since New Year's Eve, M&M'S launched the Great Color Quest consumer
contest to bring back the color, enlisting the support of consumers to find the six all-colored bags
of M&M'S from among the more than 37 million black-and-white packages.
"The M&M'S(R) Great Color Quest contest is designed to give the wonder of color back to the
people," said Doug Milne, senior marketing manager, M&M'S Brand. "While the color orange has
now been found, there are still five colors to go, with full bags of brown, red, yellow, blue and
green M&M'S waiting to be found so that all the colors can come together again."
While the color orange has now been found, there are still five colors to go, with full bags of
brown, red, yellow, blue and green M&M'S waiting to be found so that all the colors can come
together again.
In South Carolina, a life-long fan of M&M'S purchased an all-orange bag at a local store and soon
discovered that she was the first Great Color Quest winner. Consumers who purchase one of the
remaining black and white bags of M&M'S(R) containing candies that are all one color may also
be winners. A total of six lucky winners will receive a 2004 Volkswagen New Beatle Convertible
GLS in the color of the candy they discover, a trip to Los Angeles, and $20,000 in cash.
Each of the M&M'S(R) varieties - milk chocolate, peanut, crispy, almond, peanut butter and minis have turned black and white and are part of the Great Color Quest contest. More information
about the Great Color Quest is available at http://www.mms.com/us/bw/quest/.
