Baskin Robbin

1. Baskin Robbins Brand Officer KEN KIMMEL felt it was important to conduct this study because the frozen-food retailing industry had become more hostile to Baskin-Robbins in recent years. A few entrants such as Cold Stone Creamery and others had popularized the in store experience. Cold Stone Creamery’s sales were now almost 75% of Baskin-Robbins sales. The contest has changed since the mid 1980’s. Customers are more demanding about the hospitality experience. They earn more money and they can buy comparable ice creams to Basking-Robbins in grocery stores now. While Baskin-Robbins competitors are pushing this mix in experience- a higher priced theater experience.
2. The main purpose of Baskin-Robbins study was to decide whether or not they should change their logo to gain a competitive advantage. They are also using this study to find out the implications of a change of logo and a change in the way the stores are designed.
3. The key questions Baskin-Robbins brand team is addressing are should the brand logo be changed to signal something new is happening at Baskin-Robbins? If the logo is changed, would there be synergy between the logo change and the redesigned interiors? Another aspect was that changing the interiors would pose lot of complications with the franchises. A main concern was that whether they would be willing to buy the new idea or not.
4. The methods used by Kimmel and his team to identify the marketing research problem were they talked with four focus groups