Introduction to Marketing - MKTG 2201

MKTG 2209 INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING

Market Research Case and Homework

Colorado Peace Ride

Problem Definition/Purpose of the Research

The goal of the research is to attract as much bicycle enthusiasts as possible. As well, organizers

would like to maximise the amount of money collected during this ride. This could be reached

by essentially enticing more lucrative sponsors as partners of the event, or by building loyal

following of cyclists, that would only be increasing in time. This leads us to the question how do

we increase number of participants? Fundraising goal is currently set at $500 – we must analyze

whether it is an optimal sum for such event or not. In order to attract more investment to it we

need research how to make this race a more established fundraiser and popular among the

cyclists. As an outcome of the research, we plan to reach 500 participants this year for 4 days

race. Throughout the research, we also aim to outline a target market group.

Plan the Research

Both types of information – primary and secondary – would be used in the research. This could

be contributed by the participants themselves, by sponsors/partners and also by population who

provides donations. Participants may help us to outline factors that make them want to

compete in this race; as well, they may provide us with their schedules, so more participants can

be available on those dates. We also need to think what other firms we can partner with, and

suggest acceptable marketing options, like advertisement and merchandize, so they can profit

through these events too. Population who donates money can help us to determine average

$$$ per person, so we can estimate where we can set that minimum level of contribution per

participant. Primary sources would be more preferable, however news articles/reports can also
 Introduction to Marketing - MKTG 2201
be a good retrospective on successful campaigns. I would use electronic surveys and/or

personal/phone interviews/surveys.

Performance of the Research

From the surveys that came back from the cyclists we could see that most of them were male

(64%), Almost 90% of the participants have higher education (either MBa or Bachelor’s). Also, we

see that around 80% of them are above 45 years old. The results show that the participants have

mid- to high income, so these all factors help us to highlight a few target groups for our

fundraising event. Greater number of participants do only 1 race a year, and only a few

participate in 4 or more race per year. Yet, the research also shows that those who race only

once a year are most likely to raise over $1000 per an event. Another observation that we got

from our research is that those who raise over $1,000 prefer easier terrain to challenging one.

Fro

Processing the Research – Using the figures from our research we can easily outline our targeted

market – male over 45 years old with average income of $75,000 per year and with higher

education. Those are not novel, however they are not very likely to race on challenging terrain.

For these events we may want to increase our targeted group – involve directly female

participants, or get universities more involved in these campaign – students may have lower

goal of the fundraiser. Merchandize like water bottles/ T-shirt/ caps/telephone cases/spinners

may be provided by sponsors of the event as an opportunity to raise profits. Plus, offer half-

marathons for amateurs (2 days/1 day).

Preparation of the Final Report – In final report we can outline again the techniques that can be

used to attract more participants, more investments and more donations. We also outlined area

that can act as a restrain to the amount of participants that are willing to race in Colorado. In

final report we could suggest a few alteration to the characteristics of the race.