Miranda Pietschman

Market Research Project:

Testing Brand Loyalty With Ice Cream
BUS-121
3/2/14

Section 1
A) My testing methodology was as follows. I had three bowlsa red, blue, and purple. I mixed
up which brand went into each different colored bowl for every tester to avoid skewed results.
On a separate piece of paper (which you will find attached to this project) Ive listed what each
person was actually taste testing in the blind test. I began by scooping one round ice creamscoopI had three of the same ice cream scoopers, one for each ice cream so as not to mix
flavorsfull into the first bowl (not in the eyes of any test subject). I let it thaw for fifteen
seconds. While it was thawing, I asked my first subject, Adrian, to record his favorite brand of
chocolate ice cream from Breyers, Deans, and Walmarts Great Value brand on the survey
sheet and mark whether he could identify that brand in a taste test. Then I started with the blind
taste testing. I first gave him the Great Value brand and let him record his ratings on sweetness,
texture, and flavor. He recorded his overall opinion of the ice cream, what brand he thought it
was, and if he would purchase it or not. Then he swished around an adequate sip of bottled water
in his mouth while I scooped out Breyers and let it thaw for a total of 15 seconds. He then rated
this brand and swished another swig of water around while I scooped out Deans and let it thaw
for 15 seconds. Again, he rated the ice cream. Then I began the taste test in which he knew the
brand he was trying. Adrian swished water around while I moved the first brandBreyersout
on the counter in front of him. I scooped it into one bowl, let it thaw for fifteen seconds and had
him rate the ice cream again. I followed these same steps for the second ice cream he tried (Great
Value) and the third (Deans). After Adrian, I tested nine other subjects with the exact same
procedure for every test so that I could get the most accurate results possible.
B) My results proved to be pretty interesting. In the included charts, you can see how the average
perception of each brand changed from the blind to the revealed taste test. For the two wellknown brands, Deans and Breyers, their ratings on sweetness, texture, and flavor either
increased or stayed the same from the blind taste test to the revealed taste test. Deans seemed to
have the worst results of the two in the blind taste test, but when it came to the revealed taste test,
the points shot up much further. A lot of comments taste testers were making after I revealed
their results to them were that they thought Deans was actually Great Value. In fact of the
taste testers who tried the Great Value in the blind test thought it was Deans, and of the taste
testers who tried the Deans brand in the blind test also recorded that it was Great Value! And
many of the same people who mixed these two up had ratings that changed quite a bit from the
blind to revealed test. In fact, in the blind test, Great Value outscored Deans brand in all three of
the categories. But, Great Value was the only brand that decreased its average rating in all three
categories from the blind to the revealed taste test. In the revealed test, Great Value averaged a
lower score in sweetness, texture, and flavor when compared to Breyers, and averaged a lower
score in the sweetness and flavor categorywhile tying for the texture categorywhen
compared to the Deans brand.

Section 2

Breyer's Chocolate Ice Cream

7
6
5
4

Blind

Not Blind

2
1
0
Sweetness

Texture

Flavor

Dean's Chocolate Ice Cream

7
6
5
4

Blind

Not Blind

2
1
0
Sweetness

Texture

Flavor

Great Value Chocolate Ice Cream

7
6
5
4

Blind

Not Blind

2
1
0
Sweentess

Texture

Flavor

Section 3
1A) 7 out of the 10 participants identified Breyers as their favorite brand. 3 out of the 10
participants identified Deans as their favorite brand. No participant identified Great Value as his
or her favorite brand. 1b) Only 3 participants were actually able to identify their favorite ice
creamall 3 were from the group whose favorite brand was Breyers. No one whose favorite
brand was Deans was able to identify it in the blind taste test. 1C) Only 2 participants correctly
guessed all three brands; no participants were able to correctly guess two of the brands; 6
participants correctly guessed 1 brand; and 2 participants didnt get any of the brands correct.
2A) It was surprising to see how much the results changed from the blind to the revealed test,
especially for Deans and Great Value. In the blind taste test, many participants believed Deans
was actually the Great Value brand, therefore rating it low. In the blind test, Deans averaged a 5
for sweetness, 3.6 for texture, and 5.5 for flavor. For example, one participant, Branden, rated the
Deans brand texture as too icy (a 3) and therefore believed it was the Great Value brand in the
blind test. But when the revealed test came around, he rated Deans texture at very creamy (a
7). Then in the revealed test, he rated the Great Value ice cream lower by 1 to 2 points in every
category than he had rated it without knowing which brand it was in the blind test. Brandens
favorite brand is recorded as Deans, but from the blind test, it looks like he preferred the taste of
Great Value. Breyers held very good ratings in the blind test; in the revealed test, the numbers
ended up favorably increasing for both sweetness and texture, while remaining the same for
flavor. 2B) Deans rating for texture markedly improved from the blind to revealed test by 1.4
points. This is because many people seemed to think that Deans was too icy in the blind taste
test, but changed their minds in the revealed test, rating it up to four points creamier in some
cases. The averages for each category of the Great Value brand fell significantly from the blind
to revealed test. Great Value scored a 5.2 or above in each category of the blind test, but scored a
5 or below in each category of the revealed test. Breyers also gained improvements from the
blind to revealed test, scoring a 6.1 for texture in the revealed test from the previous 5.0 in the
blind test. 2C) In many cases during the blind test, the Great Value brand was mistaken for the
Deans brand. And many who originally claimed Deans was their favorite brand ended up rating
it poorly in the blind test. One of the participants, Adrian, recorded Deans as his favorite brand,
and ended up rating it very poorly in the blind test with an overall comment of, Its not good to
me, believing this was the Great Value brand. But when looking at his revealed test, he scored
Deans very high in every category, and claimed it was amazing. Many others recorded the
Deans brand as too icy or not creamy enough thus believing it was the Great Value brand in
the blind test. After revealing the results to each tester after they were done, many were shocked
they had picked Great Value over Deans. It turns out that Great Value doesnt taste like Deans;
it tastes better.
3) Clearly advertising plays a major role in the way that we view products. I know from personal
experience that I am less likely to buy a generic brand of anything because I fear it will fall short
on performance or taste. Advertising influences most peoples choices in the same ay. Not one of
my ten participants claimed that Great Value was their favorite ice cream before starting the test,
but the results show that many ended up enjoying the generic brand more than a well-known
brand in the blind taste test. But advertising has a way of convincing consumers that brand name
items are often the best, or healthiest, or tastiest items to choose, when in reality, generic brands
can often be just as tasty or even tastier than well-known brands.

Section 4
Brand loyalty begins with a consumers ideas and feelings about a brand. There are ten essential
components to creating a strong brand, which in turn creates strong consumer feelings about the
brand.1 CommitmentI believeis one of the most important components, as we can see
through Coca-Colas New Coke example. In the 80s, Coca-Cola decided to introduce New
Coke, a new recipe of their iconic soft drink.2 But they didnt take into account the angry 12% of
tasters who declared they might possibly stop drinking coke altogether if the new recipe was
introduced.2 Unfortunately, New Coke was a complete failure for Coca-Cola because the
company failed to remain committed to belief in its brand. A lack of internal commitment in the
face of competition does nothing but upset brand-loyal consumers. As the Coca-Cola story points
out, many angry phone calls gave off a sense that consumers felt like the New Coke tragedy had
been like losing a family member.2 The entire New Coke debacle shows just how important
commitmentamongst other essential components like authenticity, consistency, etc.is in
creating not only a strong brand, but a consumer that is brand loyal. Coca-Cola learned a very
hard, money-consuming lesson from implementing a product that loyal customers werent
satisfied with. Fortunately today Coca-Cola has regained their old product strength. In 2013, they
came in 3rd out of the 100 Best Global Brands survey, falling only slightly from its previous long
reign in 1st place.3 A lesson to be learned from Coca-Colas mistakes: brand loyal consumers are
never to be ignored.
Brand loyalty can be applied to many other brands besides Coca-Cola. The preceding blind taste
test I performed on ten participants shows this to be true. All of my participants chose one of the
two brand-name ice creams as their favorite; none chose the generic brand. But when actually
rating the ice cream, many mixed up a brand name with the generic brand, giving the latter a
higher score. Conclusions from the blind taste test show that the generic Great Value brand was
rated higher in sweetness, texture, and flavor than Deans brand, and rated higher in texture and
flavor over Breyers brand. But what happened when the revealed taste test came around?
Participant preferences dropped significantly for the Great Value brand and rose significantly for
both Deans and Breyers. My results show that consumers are brand loyal when they see the
familiar brand label sitting right in front of them. Advertising has huge effects on consumer
brand loyalty. According to brandchannel.com, an Interbrand online resource, consumers operate
on a communication model, which consists of a sender, medium, filter, receiver, and feedback.4
Everyday, consumers are bombarded with advertisements from a company (sender) through a
specific utility like TV commercials or billboards (medium). We are the receiver of these
advertisements, and we filter through them to store the ones with importance to us. Our feedback
is the successful interaction between sender and receiver. For example, when we see an ad on TV
for Taco Bell Late Night and we then go to Taco Bell at 11 p.m. to buy six soft shell tacos, we
are giving the sender our feedback. If weve had a pleasant experience with Late Night tacos, we
encode that in our minds. This then translates to other evenings when were starving and we
continuously go to buy tacos from Taco Bell because of all our positive previous experiences.4
Thus, we are fostering brand loyalty. Our pleasant experiences lead us to repeatedly search out
another pleasant experience with the same brand. And more likely than not, if another taco joint
opened up a block away and it offered Late Night tacos, we would continuously stick with Taco
Bell because we have already fostered a connection with their tacos and our satisfaction.

According to boundless.com, other factors important to brand loyalty besides repeat purchase
behavior and satisfaction are perceived value, brand trust, and commitment.5 Breyers ice
cream is currently having a difficult time with these three values. In 2012, Breyers announced
ingredient changes to a few of the companys ice cream products that would effectively change
their names to frozen dairy dessert instead.6 Breyers commented on the new version of
desserts stating that they are prepared in a different manner, allowing for a smoother texture,
which many consumers were demanding. Breyers also stated that a nutritional benefit of the
new dessert is that they contain less fat than regular ice cream.7 But, to many loyal Breyers
customers, the question isnt about less fat, its about at what cost is the new less fat dessert
being implemented?6 The reason so many consumers are upset is that a plain flavored ice cream
by Breyers generally had about 7 ingredients in it; the new frozen dairy desserts by Breyers
now have about 13 ingredients.6 Even more upsetting to consumers is that the packaging on
Breyers is staying almost completely the same, except for the small wording on the front of the
container and the lid that now state frozen dairy dessert rather than ice cream.6 Many once
loyal Breyers customers have boycotted the new dessert, stating that Breyers is trying to
completely pull the wool over consumers eyes by a) keeping the same look, therefore tricking
consumers into thinking the product hasnt changed and b) stating that there is less fat, and
therefore frozen dairy desserts are a healthier option, but failing to state the list of
unpronounceable new ingredients and the effects they have on consumer health.6 It is clear from
this example that any company can fall trap to losing brand loyalty when they forget the 10
essential components of brand strength. Breyers, like Coca-Cola, lost site of their commitment
and belief in their own brand. Instead, Breyers attempted to cut costs by creating a new product
without fully listening to its loyal consumers. Therefore, many consumers lost both perceived
value and brand trust in Breyers.
The 10 essential components of brand strength are central to creating a strong brand, as shown
by all three examples above. When a company creates a brand with all ten principles of brand
strength, they are much more likely to gain loyal consumers. The reasoning behind this is that
most consumers look for brands that have these ten principles of strength implemented; they
want to use brands that are authentic or brands that differentiate between themselves and other
products. The 10 essential components of brand strength are what draw consumers to products;
how well companys implement these strengths in their products are what keep consumers loyal.

Blind Experiments

Adrian



Purple bowlGreat Value
Red bowlBreyers
Blue bowlDeans

AJ
Purple bowlBreyers
Red bowlDeans
Blue bowlGreat Value

Tarja
Purple bowlBreyers
Red bowlGreat Value
Blue bowlDeans

Donnie
Purple bowlDeans
Red bowlGreat Value
Blue bowlBreyers

Leila
Purple bowlDeans
Red bowlGreat Value
Blue bowlBreyers

Hannah
Purple bowlGreat Value
Red bowlBreyers
Blue bowlDeans

Kim
Purple bowlBreyers
Red bowlDeans
Blue bowlGreat Value

Branden
Purple bowlBreyers
Red bowlGreat Value
Blue bowlDeans

Caitlyn
Purple bowlDeans
Red bowlBreyers
Blue bowlGreat Value

Alexia
Purple bowlDeans
Red bowlBreyers
Blue bowlGreat Value

References

1
Interbrands 10 Principles of Brand Strength.
The Power of Your Brand.2
http://www.interbrand.com/Libraries/Branding_Studies/Best_Global_Brands_2013.sflb.ashx3
http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=6804
https://www.boundless.com/marketing/branding-packaging/branding/brand-loyalty/5
http://consumerist.com/2012/09/11/new-breyers-recipes-when-ice-cream-is-frozen-dairydessert/6
http://www.breyers.com/home/about7