Hershey’s Market Research

Overview

The Why

Reinforced Values
Be Principled
Knowledge
Sound Judgment

This two-part activity is designed to familiarize your students with basic market research. The purpose of the activity is to give students an opportunity to, in Part 1, design a simple market research survey. In Part 2, your students will implement the results of the market research survey using online tools.

Intro

Hershey’s Chocolate Bars have the lowest market share in the chocolate industry. More and more consumers choose Hershey’s competitors’ products over the simple Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar. Once the leader in the chocolate industry, Hershey’s has lost considerable popularity among the fastest growing population, youth ages 12-18. Youth prefer Reese’s, Snickers, Twix, Kit Kat and other more innovative chocolate bars.

Still, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar is considered top quality and has 100% mind share. Everyone knows and recognizes the Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar brand. The problem: no one in the youth market buys them.

Hershey’s is looking to invest in a new chocolate bar company owned and operated by young entrepreneurs. However, it has yet to find a young entrepreneur that has an innovative and exciting new product and brand that caters specifically to the market of youth ages 12-18.

Social and Emotional Skills

1. In this activity, students will engage in “Perspective Taking” and “Appreciating Diversity” in the “Social Awareness” competency. By gathering feedback on an idea and forcing themselves to incorporate diverse viewpoints into their product, they’ll internalize the inherent value that others’ perspectives can bring to a product, project, or life more generally.

2. In this activity, students will be required to analyze the candy bar market, think creatively to solve a problem in the market and reflect on that solution through market research and analysis. These activities all reinforce the “Responsible Decision-Making” competency. Students will gain a real-world understanding of risks and consequences of decisions and they’ll understand the importance of ensuring those decisions benefit the greater good rather than themselves solely.

Preparation

1. Determine how you will share the activity with your students.
2. Review the Hershey’s Market Research Handout and modify it as needed.
3. Decide if you would like students to respond to any of the debrief questions after they complete the activity and how they would do so.
4. Post the activity to your classroom platform for students to access and complete.

Directions

Hershey’s has hired you to conduct market research to identify the tastes of young consumers of chocolate ages 12-18. You must complete the following.

Part One:

• Possible questions include but are not limited to the following: 
  • Rank the top 3 criteria for chocolate selection from ingredients, price, quality, and packaging – What are your top 3 favorite ingredients? 
  • What are your 3 favorite brands? 
  • How often do you purchase chocolate bars? 
  • What is the price you are willing to pay for a chocolate bar?
• Implement the market research survey through social media, phone calls, online polling, etc.
• Draw conclusions based on the results of the market research surveys.

Part Two:
Based on the results of the market research and the conclusions you have drawn you must now: 

• Create a NEW product based on the results of the survey. 
• Create a strategy that addresses EACH part of the Marketing Mix (Product, Price, Place and Promotion).
• Design a NEW product name, logo, tag line, and packaging. 
  • Students can use the Hershey’s Market Research worksheet to design their packaging.
• Explain the reasoning behind the strategy.
• Create a 30 second commercial advertising the product. Your 30 second commercial will be your “pitch” at the end of the project. It should include the name, logo, and tagline at minimum.

Debrief

Students can complete the debrief on paper by answering the following questions or be put into groups via Zoom to discuss their learnings. 

• Who is the target market? (Answer: 12 to 18-year olds)
• What kind of market research did you conduct to determine what Hershey’s may need to do differently in an effort to better reach this target market?
• What is a market signal? What market signal was Hershey’s receiving? Give an example of a change made by a company because of a market signal they were receiving from their target markets.
  • What is the status of their current marketing strategy (advertisements, social media, packaging, etc.)?
• What is the current brand image?
• Who are Hershey’s top competitors? What can Hershey’s do to be more competitive?
• What do youth ages 12-18 think of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar?
• What can Hershey’s do to boost sales of their Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar?
• Should Hershey’s change their brand name? Image? Packaging?