This activity is important because the marketing research approach provides firms with a systematic checklist for making business decisions. The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate your understanding of the marketing research approach applied to the development of Fisher-Price's Rescue Heroes.

Marketing Research Approach

This activity is important because the marketing research approach provides firms with a systematic checklist for making business decisions. The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate your understanding of the marketing research approach applied to the development of Fisher-Price's Rescue Heroes.

The Rescue Hero story:
Fisher-Price noticed a societal trend called KGOY (kids are getting older younger) that was impacting the purchase patterns of toys. In response to this trend, Fisher-Price introduced an action figure called Everyday Heroes primarily targeted at children who historically have not used action figures (3- to 6-year-old boys). The company noticed that children in the target market seemed frustrated and gave up playing with the toy because it would fall over a lot. Parents certainly wouldn't want to buy a toy that their children won't like. Marketers decided to put large feet on a new prototype to prevent it from tipping over. The company's research objective was to determine if children preferred the new toy design by measuring the length of play time with the new toy.



Being able to get the new toy to market prior to the Christmas shopping season was a major concern. Also, management had given the marketing team only a limited budget because they weren't convinced the toy could be a success. To test the new prototype quickly, they pulled up their list of families with boys aged 3 to 6 years and invited them to come to play with the new toys where marketers could watch children play.



To quickly test the new prototype, market researchers spent two days watching, through a one-way mirror, groups of 3- to 6-year-old boys play with the new toys in the Play Lab. They recorded behavior, enjoyment level, and length of play time. Researchers also conducted focus groups with the mothers to get their opinions on the new toy, including important factors such as price and promotion.



Following the two days of observation and focus groups, marketing researchers analyzed their findings. Key insights gained were that the children played with the new prototype longer than any toy they had ever tested. Moms were especially enthusiastic about the new toy, but were skeptical about the proposed price and the name "Everyday Heroes." The marketing team presented their findings to their managers.



Based on the analysis, Fisher-Price decided to launch the product in three test market cities with demographics closely resembling the demographics of the United States as a whole. Rather than lower the price point, they decided to offer on-packaging discounts. The new name of Rescue Heroes was accepted. The sales from the test markets were closely watched, and sales exceeded expectations.