Marketing Research

The fall semester of 2009 I took a sociology class and we watched a video on marketing. In the video they talked to the pop company Sprite. In the early 1990's Sprite was struggling with selling their pop. Sprite decided that they needed to do "Marketing Research." Sprite chose to do "custom research" in the form of a "focus group." Sprite found out that there product was boring to teenagers and that teenagers were tired of "marketing strategies" which pushed teens to buy a product. Sprite responded with the ad you see at the top left. Sprite figured out that if they would tell the truth and not push their product too hard that teens would buy their pop. Along with this marketing Sprite also realized that the rap/hip-hop industry is what teens followed. In response to that Sprite started using hip-hop stars to advertise their pop. Sprite even went as far as throwing a party with some famous rappers and paid teens to come and have fun. Sprite filmed the party and broadcasted in on TV. This new "marketing plan" was successful and put Sprite back in the competitive world of beverages.