Day 257 - 06 Jun 96 - Page 58
1 A. It is -- it may not derive directly from them at all.
2 This is a written summary of a piece of qualitative
3 research which is a visual interpretation -- well, it is a
4 literal interpretation of the groups that were conducted by
5 the research company. So this is not quantified research
6 at all.
7
8 The first stage of brand audit in 1992 is qualitative
9 research. Qualitative research takes the forms of a series
10 of focus groups. There are probably about eight people in
11 each group -- I think it was 12 times eight people -- and
12 across the eight, sorry, across the 12 groups we would
13 normally recruit a representative sample of McDonald's
14 users.
15
16 These processes tend to be two-stage because what we do is
17 we allow the customer to set the agenda. So, we ask our
18 customers, "What are the issues for you about McDonald's"
19 in stage one, which this is. Then, in the second stage, we
20 go on to use those issues to set the questionnaire and
21 quantify them.
22
23 So, the first stage is an interpretation by the research
24 company of the focus groups they witnessed. It is in no
25 way fully quantified. It is their interpretation of how
26 people see McDonald's in 1992.
27
28 Q. I know this is probably wide knowledge -- but I do not know
29 it, actually -- but on page 3 under "User Image" and
30 "Actual Usage" it says, "Heavy users of McDonald's are
31 more likely C1, C2 males under 25 and without children or
32 with older children". What does that C1 and C2 translate
33 as?
34 A. It is blue collar skilled, blue collar unskilled.
35
36 Q. In that order?
37 A. Yes, and that line, that summary would not be a
38 surprise to us.
39
40 Q. Right. In section 4, the "Occasion Imagery", if you go
41 over the page and the second paragraph on the next page is
42 that, "McDonald's is more likely to be chosen than its
43 competitors in response to kids pestering, from a desire to
44 treat the kids or when one does not want to spend too
45 much."
46
47 Again, under "medium and light users", in the same section,
48 the second to last paragraph of that section it is "Medium
49 and light users were more likely than heavy or lapsed users
50 to see McDonald's as a response to kids pestering", and,
51 for light users, occasions when they did not want to spend
52 much were also chosen. What is your aim in noting this?
53 A. We did not note this. The research company noted
54 this. We commissioned this, and we continue to commission
55 this research every two years as a kind of opportunity for
56 us to reset our agenda with the customer. It is an
57 opportunity for us to listen to the customer and get their
58 views on McDonald's, how they use McDonald's, what they
59 think about McDonald's, what is good and what is bad about
60 McDonald's. So, in 1992 this document would have reset our
