The first large-scale marketing study in which individual consumers’ survey responses could be linked to their panel diary recordings is reported. The results, for the margarine category only, indicate correspondence between the two data sets at the aggregate brand share level but great discrepancies at the individual consumer level. Analysis of this discrepancy calls into question the use of survey reports as an indicator of individual purchase in product positioning, segmentation, advertising media and copy research, and concept/product testing.
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