I am currently a student at the University of Oregon getting my masters in Sports Product Management (get to talk gear all day so it is pretty fun!)
I am working on a project for my marketing class about brand perception. I am curious what triathletes think about a few different brands in the industry. Here is a link to a survey I made - If you could spare a minute to take it I would be so grateful! Also, feel free to share with anyone!
You’re going to get some interesting results with only the current choices for responses (i.e. performance, quality, reliable, etc are all basically synonyms in cycling/triathlon). May want to consider a broader array of possible responses or something quantifiable.
And there is no ‘junk’ category on the Shimano question
Thanks for the input. That is a good suggestion. I think there is a difference between performance/quality/racing but I see that others might not agree. I may edit it. Thank you!
Putting aside validity & reliability issues, pondering the how and why of the survey. What are you trying to discover with a narrow product list? What’s the literature say?
took your poll, but i don’t like how its drafted. You really need a “none of the above” response, rather than a “i am not familiar with the brand.” When I think of the giro brand, i thought more about “affordable” than any of the options. you boxed me into a corner with choices i did not like. you need to be more thoughtful in your polling for the results to be valid.
As a product guy myself in CPG and branded goods, I don’t think your survey is extensive enough to drive true insights on brand perception. Need more brands to compare against (I.e what brand represents racing more - giro or shimano or which brand represents x trait the most) or scalability in answer across the different traits. Also calling “Specialized†by it’s legal name Specialized Bike components is quite confusing. Order was weird too.
What makes this tough is that these brands make a full spectrum of products, from low end to world class.
Example: At the department store bike level, having Shimano components is a sign of a premium bike. At the racing level, Shimano isn’t more premium than Campy or SRAM (at that level IMO the brand stands for precision).
FWIW, IMO S-Works translates to “pro-quality” or top-of-the-line in the same way that DuraAce or SRAM Red do.
Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping to limit the choices, but you are right I missed a few key descriptors there and I can see now how that can impact responses!
Good insights, thank you! You are right, for true brand perceptions I needed to add in some more comparisons and more brands. I am mainly interested in two of the brands mentioned and added in another one to mix it up. Thanks for the thoughts!
Yep, that is very true. Do you think if instead of listing the brand in its entirety, I chose a specific product to compare against that would help with this question? For example, if I asked instead, “Which attribute do you most closely associate to the Shimano S-Phyre?”
You really need a “none of the above  answered the survey but had use “best fit†a few times as I didn’t fully agree with any of the answers
I would not do product as it is too specific. And as you know specialized and shimano have product that spans from recreational to performance. I am a fan of rank top 3 questions. “Please select and rank the top 3 traits that come to mind when you think of brand x†and as another poster said have a more choice and differentiation in selection criteria.
Okay that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the suggestions. I am going to keep that in mind as I continue working on this project and creating surveys. I really appreciate it!
Got it! My I intentionally wanted to force a response from the listed options, but I understand now how this can impact data. Thanks for the suggestion!
