Marketing Research

Objective: Describe the five steps in conducting market research

1. Define the Problem:
Does each bag of M&Ms contain the same number of candies?
How many of each color M&M is in each bag?
2. Analyze the situation:
Complete the M&Ms website worksheet.
3. Develop a data-collection procedure:
Get a bag of M&Ms and complete the Data Collection Worksheet
4. Examine and organize information:
Complete the Group Comparison Worksheet
5. Propose a solution
Complete the Solutions Worksheet

M & Ms Website Worksheet

Directions: Use Google to answer the questions below.
Name:Brandon Mexter
1. What year were M&Ms first sold to the public? 1941 was the first year.
2. How were they packaged? In a cylindrical black and white tube.
3. When the packaging was changed, what was it changed to? It was changed to the
pack that we know today in the 90s
4. When were peanut M&Ms first introduced? 1954 was when they were first
released.
5. Where are M&M candies made in the United States? New jersey 285 badger ave.
6. What color was added to peanut M&Ms in 1960? Yellow,red,green
7. What does M & M stand for? For Bruce Murray and Forest Mars.
8. The original M&M chocolate candies contained what color mix?
Red,yellow,brown,green,violet
9. What is colorworks? Color works allows you to customize your m&m colors
10. What is M&M world? A place where you can buy M&Ms in bulk and customize.
11. What happened to the original name of M&M plain chocolate candies in 2000? They
changed it from M&Ms plain chocolate to M&Ms milk chocolate.
12. Can you get your school colors? Yes at M&M world.
13. What color was originally used for the letters on the M&Ms? Black
14. What % of each color do you get in a bag of M&Ms?
Brown=

13

% Green=

18

% Yellow=

% Orange=
% Red=

20

% Blue=

28

15

For the following questions do a google search as well.

1. What are the details of the great color quest?
At the time the goal was to add orange to M&M which is a color now but the goal is to keep adding colors so people will keep
buying the product.

2. What company has M&Ms teamed up with for the great color quest? Volkswagen have teamed up
with M&M
3. The M&M Spokescandies were introduced as a form of marketing. Who are they? (List
their names) red, yellow, blue, green, brown, orange.

4. Th e r e a r e g a m e s yo u ca n p l a y wi t h M& M s. U s e t h e i n t e r n e t t o f i n d a g a m e
a n d t r y p l a yi n g i t wi t h yo u r g r o u p . W ri t e o u t t h e n a m e o f t h e g a m e a n d t h e
i n s t r u c t i o n s f o r h o w t o p l a y.

M&M Data Collection Worksheet

1. How many candies are in your bag (count twice for accuracy)?_

75

2. Count each candy per color and quantity (count twice for accuracy)
Color

Number

Red

15

Green

14

Brown

10

Yellow

Orange

11

Blue

21

3. What is the percentage of each color per bag? ((# of color/total)*100)

Color

Percent

Red

20

Green

18

Brown

13

Yellow

Orange

15

Blue

28

4. Using Excel, create a pie chart showing the percent of each color M&M. (Use the data in
the first table above). Change the colors of the chart to match the colors of the M&Ms.
Submit the chart to the hand in folder so it can be marked in colour.

Group Comparison Worksheet

Communicate with the members of other groups to complete the table below:
Group
Name

Total in
Bag

% of
Red

% of
Blue

% of
Green

% of
Brown

% of
Yellow

% of
Orange

75

20%

28%

18%

13%

5%

15%

Group 2

84

13%

5%

18%

28%

14%

17%

Group 3

80

25%

25%

10%

15%

20%

5%

Our Group

*m&m
standard
%s
*m&m % can be found online

Solutions Worksheet
1. Does each bag of M&Ms contain the same number of candies? No some are short.
2. If the answer to number 1 is no, what is the average number of candies per bag? 80 per bag
3. How many of each color M&Ms is in each bag? (Approximately) min 10 max 20

4. How do the Group results compare to the M&M website results?

5. Which color is most prevalent? In our group blue was the most dominate.

6. Is there a trend or reason for the most prevalent color? no

7. Which color is least prevalent? Yellow with only 5% of the bag being yellow.
8. Is there a trend or reason for the least prevalent color? No it is just luck.

9. Why do they introduce new colors as a marketing strategy? It gets consumers wanting the
product because it has the persons favorite color in it.

10. List any examples of advertisements, TV shows, movies that have used M&Ms (or
specific color M&Ms) as part of the script. While watching brickleberry I saw a M&M
commercial

11. If you were marketing a bag of M&Ms what would be your breakdown of each color and why?
If it were me I would constantly changing the colors of the pack because it would make
people wonder what colors are in there pack and with certain colors it could make your
pack of M&Ms very special depending on how rare the color is.

12. What does your group think of the Great Color Quest marketing strategy? (Explain)
we think it is a very good marketing strategy and makes people want to buy the product
over a simple color change that doesnt really effect the product.

Orange Is Coming Back to the M&M'S Mix; Great Color Quest Consumer Contest Yields First
Winner with Discovery of Bag of All-Orange M&M'S
Feb. 5, 2004
Orange was officially "found" in South Carolina and will be added back to the M&M'S(R) stable of
colors. Black and white since New Year's Eve, M&M'S launched the Great Color Quest consumer
contest to bring back the color, enlisting the support of consumers to find the six all-colored bags
of M&M'S from among the more than 37 million black-and-white packages.
"The M&M'S(R) Great Color Quest contest is designed to give the wonder of color back to the
people," said Doug Milne, senior marketing manager, M&M'S Brand. "While the color orange has
now been found, there are still five colors to go, with full bags of brown, red, yellow, blue and
green M&M'S waiting to be found so that all the colors can come together again."
While the color orange has now been found, there are still five colors to go, with full bags of
brown, red, yellow, blue and green M&M'S waiting to be found so that all the colors can come
together again.
In South Carolina, a life-long fan of M&M'S purchased an all-orange bag at a local store and soon
discovered that she was the first Great Color Quest winner. Consumers who purchase one of the
remaining black and white bags of M&M'S(R) containing candies that are all one color may also
be winners. A total of six lucky winners will receive a 2004 Volkswagen New Beatle Convertible
GLS in the color of the candy they discover, a trip to Los Angeles, and $20,000 in cash.
Each of the M&M'S(R) varieties - milk chocolate, peanut, crispy, almond, peanut butter and minis have turned black and white and are part of the Great Color Quest contest. More information
about the Great Color Quest is available at http://www.mms.com/us/bw/quest/.