When Polaroid Corp. prepared for its first-ever entry into the 35mm consumer film market, senior management had numerous questions. Fortunately, its 19-person market research division had many of the answers—with help from a cross-tabulation software product called A-Cross, from Strawberry Software, Inc., Watertown , Mass.

“This launch was a very hot topic inside Polaroid, and management wanted as much data as possible in order to market effectively,” says Linda Tamkin, Polaroid market research division analyst. “With A-Cross we were able to supply new cross-tab data in a matter of hours, instead of waiting days or weeks for a service to supply it.”

The market research division, headed by Jim Landrigan, supports the corporation’s industrial and consumer product activity. The group conducts product research and market-specific research, including new product development, existing product evaluation, and identifying new markets for existing products. The division tracks consumer trends year-to-year on attitudes, product needs, brand awareness, and advertising impact.

“Our basic mission,” says Landrigan, “is to integrate all of the market-related information generated by the company into a central database as well as to integrate past research with current projects. This allows us to create a more pro-active position within the company and to provide more action-oriented information to Polaroid’s worldwide marketing effort. Our intention is to increase the department’s involvement in all of the company’s target marketing areas, on a worldwide basis—amateur, industrial, advertising—so as to provide timely, value-added information. “

Survey conducted

To prepare for Polaroid’s major market expansion effort with its color 35mm film, due for official launch this spring, the market research division conducted a survey sampling of hundreds of consumers across the U.S. This survey was considered especially critical as Polaroid is primarily identified with instant film technology and has no products in the highly competitive U.S. 35mm market.

The survey used random shopping mall interviews in major market areas, during which respondents were led through a questionnaire containing approximately 40 questions. The questions focused on the areas of product concept, packaging, consumer interest, film usage habits and consumption, and competitive brand assessment.

Working with an outside service supplier, Polaroid’s market research division prepared the survey questionnaire, conducted the interviews, and processed the survey results. The survey data was organized into some 200 tables which, at Polaroid’s request, the supplier entered on two floppy disks. The reason for this admittedly non-routine request, says Tamkin, was so the data could be downloaded and manipulated on A-Cross.

Multi-tasking

Released in 1987, the software package is a multi-tasking statistics program in spreadsheet form for use by market researchers, sales analysts and other professionals who deal with large quantities of raw research data.

“I first heard about A-Cross from a coworker who was using the product, and called to ask them to come in for a demonstration,” says Tamkin. “I had a training session on the product and agreed to try it on a test basis.”

Previously, Polaroid had relied on suppliers to provide cross-tabulations of raw research data, a process that typically required one to two weeks. There was a natural tendency, Tamkin says, for the research division’s staff to wait and combine several jobs into one, so that the department could get the most out of each individual request.

“With A-Cross, of course, this is not a factor. We can do the work immediately,” says Tamkin.

Management meetings

These factors came into play as the market research division presented the survey data at management meetings concerning the color 35mm product rollout. Typically, these sessions included product managers, program managers, marketing staff and research division personnel. “Discussion and analysis of the data we received from the supplier frequently identified further areas for analysis,” Tamkin recalls. “Naturally, we wanted to work on data in the most timely manner possible, so that we could respond to our internal division questions and present the most complete data set possible at the senior management meetings. And even then we might come up with additional issues for scrutiny.

“The answers to most of our questions required additional cuts of the research data. These tended to be highly-focused cuts, and A-Cross could handle them quickly and efficiently, and was a more economical resource than going back to the supplier. It enabled us to do this quickly and efficiently, and to enhance our presentations to senior management.

“There is no question but that the program was a major asset in helping us to make our research as complete and precise as it possibly could be,” Tarnkin concludes. “It was an effective tool—easy to use, accessible, and cost-efficient.”