Industry: Pharmaceuticals
Study Type: New Product

The main purpose of this study was to segment asthma patients for the launch of a new asthma medication. However, the findings also gave the pharmaceutical company a fresh perspective on the dynamics between physicians and asthma patients in the marketplace.

This landmark study, involving asthma patients and physicians across Canada, looked, for the first time, at what it is like to live with asthma from the patients' perspective. Patients' collages were especially powerful and were later used effectively in sales meetings and presentations.

As a result of the study, the company incorporated the findings relating to asthma patients into their sales and marketing materials so that physicians would be better able to prescribe medication and treatment appropriate to each patient. The study also opened up a new venue of research for the company - to understand lifestyle issues surrounding patients and medications - that began with asthma and has since become a standard approach with all of their products.



Bathroom Tissue

Industry: Consumer Products
Study Type: Product Evaluation and Re-packaging

The main objective of this research was to determine how to increase the competitiveness of a well-known brand of bathroom tissue in the marketplace. The company was on the verge of engaging in consumer-directed advertising and the study led them to realize that their packaging needed to be more appealing to those actually doing the purchasing: women. Prior research had shown a disconnect between what the product was communicating - a high quality tissue - and what the packaging was communicating - a low quality one.