RESEARCH 7.1: Good Things Come to Brands That Give
In Kenya, CocaCola
is helping teach children how to test drinking water for contamination. The company also is providing
waterpurification
systems for some of the country’s most povertystricken
areas.
In India, Starbucks is addressing sanitationrelated
health problems by donating $1 million to WaterAid. CocaCola
and
Starbucks have taken the initiative to illustrate the good they are doing for the 1.1 billion people who lack access to clean
drinking water.
Such efforts are applauded not only from a humanitarian standpoint, but also from a branding perspective. Sixty percent of
U.S. adults over the age of 18 said “knowing a company is mindful of its impact on the environment and society makes me
more likely to buy their products and services,” according to findings in the Lifestyles of Health & Sustainability (LOHAS)
Consumer Trends Database by the Natural Marketing Institute in Harleysville, Pennsylvania.
The company surveyed 2,000 adults via the Web to gauge their perceptions of how companies are dealing with social and
environmental issues as well as how those perceptions impact their buying decisions.
Fiftyseven
percent of consumers said they feel more loyal to companies that are socially responsible, and about half (52
percent) said they were more likely to talk to their friends and families about such mindful corporations.
More than a third (38 percent) said they’d be willing to pay extra for products produced by socially responsible companies,
and 35 percent said they were more likely to buy stock in such corporations. “Consumers are more likely to be brand loyal
and less likely to be price sensitive,” said Steve French, managing partner at the Natural Marketing Institute, which was
founded in 1990.
Despite that, the study found that many companies that do good, do a bad job of promoting the fact. “There’s a big disconnect
between what companies are doing and what consumer perceptions are,” said French.39
Questions
1. Given the general nature of this survey, would an open panel be an acceptable source for a sample? Why or why not?
2. If a researcher was going to place restrictions on who might participate in this survey, what might those be? Age was
already mentioned as a qualifier.
3. Could this survey have been done just as easily by mail? Why or why not?
4. How might a firm like McDonald’s or Microsoft use this information?
Instructions:
. Read Case 7.1 and answer all the questions at the end of the case.
Make sure your paper is related to Marketing Research class( MKGT400) You should have at least 4 references from
professional publications. Your research references should be primary works from professional publications.. In 500 to 750
words, following APA format, Font: Courier or New Times Roman: 12 Line Spacing: Double