Surveys and Market Research in Action!

By conducting market research studies during movie test screenings, the following movie titles were revised:

• Shoeless Joe became Field of Dreams. The reason? Panelists thought Kevin Costner was playing a homeless person!

• Teenie Weenies became Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The reason? Viewers couldn't relate to the original movie title after seeing the movie.

• 3000 became Pretty Woman. The reason? Nobody could figure out what the number meant, even after seeing the movie. ("3000" is actually the amount of money it cost in the movie to spend a night with Julia Roberts).

Choosing a good, catchy movie title is imperative in the film industry. Conducting market research studies during test screenings of movies can reduce the risk of selecting a bad title, which often leads to millions of dollars in losses for a studio.

Another real life test-screening example is when James Cameron (writer-director of Titanic) had a test screening for Titanic and the audience went wild. His relief came from this, as months of bad vibes plagued his eventual blockbuster.

Typical Test Screening Questions:

From this we can see that market research plays an incredibly important role in our lives and even influences the types of entertainment we see are affected.

Start influencing products today! You can be a part of the group that decides!

Source: Berkowitz, Crane, Kerin, Hartley, Rudelius. Marketing. Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 2000.