1525-0012-0111 - Justification - Qualitative Presidential $1 Coin - Advertising - Testing Focus Group

3

United States Mint

Qualitative Presidential $1 Coin Research – Advertising Creative Concept Testing Focus Groups

5/14/2008

Purpose of the Research

The United States Mint plans to conduct focus group-based research to gain directional understanding and insights of likely consumer reactions to proposed $1 Coin advertising creative concepts.

Research will be conducted to gauge reactions to specific creative materials designed to communicate the United States Mint strategy for gaining robust circulation of the $1 Coin and encourage consumer usage. A variety of creative executions will be evaluated (TV storyboards, rough print ads, rough in-store POP materials, etc.) to ensure the ideas are clear, appealing, appropriate, and motivating. The research is necessary to ensure that funds spent on an advertising and marketing campaign are expended wisely.

Qualitative Research Topic Outline

The topics planned for inclusion in these focus groups are:

1. Explore habits around how people spend money (e.g., choice of cash, debit, credit, check)

2. Determine awareness and understanding of attitudes and behaviors relating to $1 coins

3. Gauge understanding of and reaction to proposed advertising creative concepts

Research Design and Methodology

The United States Mint will conduct a series of 6 focus groups in two cities:

- Charlotte, NC – 3 groups

- Austin, TX – 3 groups

Respondent Selection Criteria: (based on program target population)

- Between the ages of 18-54

- 60% female, 40% male

- Frequently use cash for small dollar amount transactions

- Average or above HHI income

- 2-3 African Americans per group in Charlotte

- 2-3 Hispanics per group in Austin

- At least moderately supportive of environmental issues

- 8-10 respondents will participate in these 90 minute discussions (48-60 people total)

Focus Group Discussion Flow and Research Stimuli: (Moderator Guide attached)

- Introduction:

• Explanation that opinions/comments are being elicited for research purposes only, will be kept confidential, and not to be used for broadcast purposes

• Open discussion of honest opinions, no right or wrong answers

- Respondents will be engaged in a quick warm-up exercise to explore how they spend money, and when they make cash transactions versus check, debit, or credit card purchases

• Determine awareness and understanding of $1 coin in circulation

• Explore perceived occasions to use $1 coins

- Exposure to rough creative concepts:

• Print ads

• Out-of-home (OOH) concepts

• In-store materials

• TV storyboards

- Reactions to creative concepts will be obtained:

• Main message comprehension/playback

• Appeal of the message and creative concepts

• Likes/dislikes of creative concepts

• Any confusion regarding message and concepts

• Likelihood of considering using $1 coins in the future

• Likelihood of recommending to friends/family that they use $1 coins

Methods to Maximize Response Rates

The focus groups are designed to be as short as possible to enable the collection of necessary information. The recruitment criteria targets the relevant population, reasonable recruitment fees will be paid and more respondents than necessary will not be recruited.

Estimate of the Burden Hours

The collection of information will involve completion of in-person focus groups. There will be 6 groups conducted and each group will have 8 to 10 participants. The groups will last 90 minutes each. The total estimated burden for the groups is between 50 to 100 hours.

	Materials Survey
# of Respondents	48-60
Average interview minutes	90
Estimated Burden Hours	100