Click on the box next to each answer. Keep track of your own score.

1. If a company designs a product around the needs of people who have a lifestyle, personality, and social class profile that is different than that of other groups of people, the company is using:
   • A. a differentiation strategy. INCORRECT Product differentiation has to do with making a product  that is perceived by potential buyers as different  in some important way from competing products.  It is related to (but not the same as) the notion  of product positioning.
   • B. demographic segmentation. INCORRECT You jumped for the word "segmentation". But this  profile is based only partly on demographics.
   • C. psychographics. CORRECT By definition, these are the sorts of factors that are  used in psychographic segmentation.
   • D. database marketing. INCORRECT Database marketing is related to the idea of mass  customization, but even the latter would be the  wrong answer and from the wrong chapter using the  wrong logic.
2. A credit card company creates one set of print ads directed towards students, another directed toward professional and technical workers, an another toward small business owners. It is using:
   • A. a differentiation strategy. INCORRECT Product differentiation has to do with making a product  that is perceived by potential buyers as different  in some important way from competing products.  It is related to (but not the same as) the notion  of product positioning.
   • B. demographic segmentation. CORRECT These are occupation sorts of classifications that are  relatively easy to define and to identify in people.
   • C. psychographics. INCORRECT It is possible that a person's occupation affects his/her  lifestyle and such - a student probably fits into  a different psychographic category from a small  business owner - but these classifications do not,  alone, tell us anything about psychographic issues  or variables.
   • D. database marketing. INCORRECT Database marketing might be used to identify members of  these groupings, but that's about as close as it  gets here. Wrong chapter.
3. When we talk about selling multi-million dollar assisted-living condos to the GI Generation, retirement resorts to Baby Boomers, and hi-tech gadgets to Generation X'ers, we are talking about differences between:
   • A. Generation or age cohorts. CORRECT Bet you wondered, is it that easy?
   • B. strugglers, makers, and strivers. INCORRECT These are psychographic categories used in a commercial  product called VALS. While there might be some  relationship between different age generations and  various categories that VALS uses, the VALS  categories do not make up a set that maps onto age  groupings.
   • C. innovator categories. INCORRECT Why would anyone guess this?
   • D. stages in the family life cycle. INCORRECT If there wasn't another answer in this set, this answer  could work. The reasons for targeting people in  these categories is related in part to lifestyles  that we might expect at various stages along any  of a variety of family life cycles. But another  answer in this choice set is more direct with  regard to simple definitions.  
4. The inventor and maker of a new kind of technology used in mobile phone devices launches the first version of the product with a price skimming strategy, believing that the "innovators" and "early adopters" are willing to pay a high price. This strategy appears to be based on assumptions made about:
   • A. response bias. INCORRECT There is no such thing! Non-response bias has to do with  errors in survey results - wrong chapter.
   • B. the experience curve. INCORRECT A penetration pricing strategy might or might not be based  on experience curve effects (costs). But by using  a skimming strategy, this seller is apparently not  immediately concerned about market penetration.
   • C. economies of scale. INCORRECT You're either guessing or you're smart to be seeing what  kinds of insights you can get out of answers that  you didn't choose.
   • D. new product diffusion. CORRECT These adopter categories are associated with the concept  of diffusion of innovation. The idea is (in part)  that as a new kind of product diffuses into the  marketplace, different kinds of people have an  interest in it as it becomes more commonplace.  Sometimes, we are not so interested in the  "innovators" and such, but are more interested  in reaching the majority of new product adopters  as quickly as possible.
5. Jack and Jill Smith are on a one-day car trip with their kids to Grandmother's house for a holiday family reunion. About three hours into the trip, the kids in the back seat start complaining, "Mommy, I'm hungry!" Immediately, Jill brings MacDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King to mind and starts looking for billboard signs along the highway. These three brands that initially came to mind represent:
   • A. the early majority. INCORRECT Yikes! Somebody didn't read the book! Time to study . . .
   • B. an evoked set. CORRECT The evoked set includes those brands that initially come  to mind when thinking about a product category.  Brands such as those in this story advertise heavily  to maintain this "top of mind awareness".  The marketers who manage these brands know that the  first brands that are evoked by a stimulus such as,  "Mom, I'm hungry!" have a higher chance  of being chosen than are brands that are farther  down the mental list.
   • C. the sales potential. INCORRECT Yikes! Somebody didn't read the book! Time to study . . .
   • D. internal validity. INCORRECT Yikes! Somebody didn't read the book! Time to study . . .
6. Baby boomers are now becoming empty nesters. This statement refers to issues of:
   • A. Cohort analysis. INCORRECT This answer could be correct, but look for another answer  in this set. As an age cohort, the boomers  currently share some common experiences that, as a  broad generalization, affect that cohort's buying  and consumption behaviors.  
   • B. the consideration set. INCORRECT I'll assume that you are so wildly guessing that I need  not provide any explanation.
   • C. innovator categories. INCORRECT I'll assume that you are so wildly guessing that I need  not provide any explanation.
   • D. the family life cycle. CORRECT Marketers are interested in the traditional family life  cycle as well as in variations on the traditional  family life cycle (e.g., blended families, single  parent families, etc.). Empty nesters exhibit  different buying behaviors from, say, young  singles, newly married couples, or full nesters.
7. Peter is returning home from an evening college class. He is in a hurry to get home to watch his favorite TV show, and he is in a bad mood because he didn't do so well on this evening's exam as he had hoped. He gets even a little more cranky when he recalls that his wife had told him to pick up some orange juice on his way home. He stops at a convenience store and pays twice as much for orange juice as he would if doing his Saturday grocery shopping. While in the convenience store, he decides that his mood deserves a break and buys a tub of chocolate ice cream, an indulgence that he rarely allows himself. This scene illustrates:
   • A. perceived risk. INCORRECT Say what? What's this have to do with anything in this  story?
   • B. spouse as influencer (buying roles). INCORRECT Yes, the spouse is an "influencer" from the  perspective of buying roles, but there is a whole lot  more that is happening in this story.
   • C. the importance of situational influences. CORRECT Temporal factors, task definition, and antecedent states  influence Peter's choice of retail places, the price  that he is willing to pay, and the items that he buys.
   • D. the family life cycle concept. INCORRECT Say what? What's this have to do with anything in this  story?
8. Jane is 17 years old and shopping for her first car. Al, of Big Al's Best Cars, sees that Jane is very much interested in a classic, sporty, fast 1987 Dodge Daytona Shelby with an intercooled turbocharger. It is in very good condition for its age and 130,000 miles and Jane seems to have fallen in love with it. At $6,000, it is priced about the same as a four year old Kia that is also on the lot. Al believes that he will more than likely sell the Kia rather than the Shelby. Why?
   • A. Situational influences are important moderators. INCORRECT Situational influences are always a factor, but in this  scene, we aren't told very much about situational  factors.
   • B. Buying roles are important influences. CORRECT At age 17, Jane very likely must rely on a parent for  assistance in funding the car purchase or in buying  insurance. A parent could function as an influencer,  a decider, and a purchaser, even if Jane is the sole  user. Big Al must maintain a sense for such  influences on purchases that are made.
   • C. Maslow's hierarchy of needs will stress safety. INCORRECT Maslow's idea of a hierarchy has nothing to do with this  situation.
   • D. Jane is a psychographic actualizer. INCORRECT What kind of a guess was that?  
9. Before Mary bought a car, she was debating whether she wanted to buy a more expensive new car to ensure good reliability or a less expensive used car.  She ultimately bought the new car because she felt it would be more safe and more reliable.  Driving it home from the dealer, however, she began to think about the wisdom of this choice; she began to wonder if she can afford the monthly payments and began to wonder if a used car would have been just as safe and reliable.  The salesperson who sold her the car should be concerned with:
   • A. customer satisfaction. INCORRECT Well, yes of course we don't want dissatisfied customers.   but there is a more pressing concern in this case.  
   • B. need recognition. INCORRECT You're taking that "consumer buying process" model   out of context. 
   • C. cognitive dissonance. CORRECT The salesperson should be concerned that Mary might be   having some second thoughts.  S/he probably should   call Mary to make sure that everything is all right   and to, importantly, assure Mary that she made a good   choice.
   • D. Reciprocity. INCORRECT