Basic
Instructions:
1. You
need to use Microsoft Excel (either the Windows or Macintosh version) for this
assignment. Some functions may work differently on the Macintosh version
(especially in Excel 2008 and Excel 2011). If you do not have Microsoft Excel,
you can find it in any of the computer labs (link
to computer lab locations) or
you can download the free student version by following these instructions: link to Microsoft download
instructions.
2. Read the Case Described in Detail
Below.
3. Work
sequentially through the tabs included below starting
with the Cover Sheet before moving on to the S1 Intro Questions, S2 Data
Analysis, and S3 Wrap-up.  Show all of
your work, which should be completed in the designated worksheet areas.
Quaker Oatmeal Marketing
Campaign Case Description:
This
case asks students to evaluate the impact of a marketing campaign implemented by
Quaker Oats whereby the company paid supermarkets to display a Quaker Instant
Oatmeal promotion at the end of the breakfast cereal aisle during the week
of November 2nd to November 11th.  This
week corresponds to Week 3 in the associated data.  If it costs Quaker $3,000 to run this
promotion at each supermarket, is the marketing campaign profitable for the
company?  To help answer this question (and help Quaker decide if they should run
the promotion across all US supermarkets), Quaker decided to first run this
promotion at 50 randonly chosen supermarkets across the country.  Then, they purchased supermarket scanner data
from Nielsen, a market research firm, from the 50 promo stores and data
at 50
stores where they did not run the promotion. 
The data provided sales
information for the
two weeks before the promotion, the week of the promotion, and three weeks
after the promotion.  Data on total
weekly sales of instant oatmeal for each supermarket are included in the Data worksheet.  Use them to analyze whether the
campaign worked and whether it was profitable.