Nine out of ten Detroit respondents 

 agreed that sardines usually are not eaten 

 only by children. This statement was the 

 only one agreed to by as many as 90 percent 

 of the respondents. As in Birmingham, 75 

 percent to 8k percent of the respondents 

 agreed that sardines do not have many uses, 

 that they are a convenient food and not too 

 troublesome to prepare. All of the other 

 statements were eigreed to by less than 70 

 percent of the respondents. 



Rather wide differences of opinion 

 among the respondents in the three cities 

 were noted for the items "sardines have an 

 unpleasant smell," "are food for poorer 

 people, ' and "are used a great deal by 

 Negroes." 



Measiu'ing the 

 Motivational Difference 



The aim of motivational analysis is to 

 determine the characteristics which have 

 the greatest influence on the behavior of 

 the respondent. The approach used in this 

 study to measure the strength of a motive 

 was to determine first the ratio of heavy 

 users among those who agree with the state- 

 ment and compare it with the ratio of heavy 

 users among those who do not agree with it. 

 The difference between these ratios, which 

 will be called the motivational difference, 

 indicates whether agreeing with the state- 

 ment has influence and measures the extent 

 of the motivational strength of the state- 

 ment. The greater the difference between 

 the ratios, the stronger the influence of 

 the specific statement. The selection of 

 heavy user groups Is justified because 

 there is an interest in converting not only 

 the never users into reguleur users but also 

 to transform the light users into heavy 

 users of canned seirdlnes. 



Considerable agreement exists among 

 the three cities with respect to the items 

 with the highest motivational differences. 

 Good flavor is first in all three cities 

 and is clearly the most important motive. 

 The motivational differences sire high for 

 "are not undesirably oily, " "have a pleasant 

 aftertaste," "are a food of high quality," 

 and "have a nice appesurance in the can." 

 Ease of prepatration is eilso an Important 

 motive. In Boston, "not troublesome to pre- 

 pare" ranked high as a motive. "Not hard to 

 make look good ' was listed as an important 



item in Detroit; it also was a significant 

 consideration in Birmingham. 



Index of Possible 

 Market Gain 



As a third step, the extent to >rtiich 

 a motivating characteristic is already 

 attributed to the product by hcmemakers 

 must be measured. iy Conversely, the pro- 

 portion of homemakers irtio are to be con- 

 vinced that canned sardines have a specific 

 desirable quality must be established. It 

 is in this group that the potential market 

 gain is greatest. The result of multiply- 

 ing the motivational difference by the 

 potential to be convinced yields &n index 

 of the possible market gain. 



Observations Based on 

 Computed Indexes of 

 Possible Market G€d.n 



Only the itans "sardines have a 

 pleasant aftertaste," "are not hard to 

 make look good, " and "are not undesirably 

 oily" are among the leaders in all three 

 cities. This is explained for the most 

 part by the fact that the survey cities 

 are located in different regions of the 

 country. The variations in the list among 

 the cities axe a reflection of differences 

 in socio-economic characteristics and 

 marketing behavior. 



Ccraraon to both Boston and Detroit are 

 the items "sardines have a good flavor" and 

 "have many uses." linportant in Birmingham 

 and Boston is the ch€u:acteristic "nice 

 appearance in the can." "Sardines are only 

 good if a well-known brand" is among the 

 leading Indexes in Birmingham and Detroit. 



SUGGESTIONS 



The following suggestions have been 

 derived from the analysis and summary of 

 the data: 



hj There is no need to try to convince 

 that sector of the public that a prod- 

 uct has a certain characteristic ^en 

 everyone within the sector recognizes 

 that this is the case. 



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