Research Plan

Background

Whiskey & Wolf (W&W) is a scented candle company for men that was recently founded. The company’s founder loved how certain smells could trigger pleasant or unpleasant memories but was unsatisfied at how most of the scents he found were directed towards women. The goal of W&W is to give men the opportunity to relive cherished memories with scents like Campfire, ‘62 Rum and Tanned Leather & Diesel. The goal of W&W is to give men candles that are a direct reflection of their perception of themselves and to evoke empowering emotions.

Research goals

• Analyze competition to determine how W&W can differentiate itself
• Identify target audience
• Discover the audience’s voice, tone and language to compile a content style guide for optimized copy
• Determine if the target audience is open to a subscription service

Research methods

• Competitor analysis

  • I will conduct competitor analysis to determine how they speak with their audience and how I can differentiate their subscription service from W&W. I also want to learn about each competitor’s design patterns to determine what resonates well with their audience and what doesn’t.

• Conversation mining

  • I will comb through any forums, online reviews and comments on competitors’ social media to begin developing a content style guide. By combing or mining conversations, I can better understand the target audience’s voice, tone and specific language to better resonate with them.

• User survey

  • Once I discover the potential target audience/user persona, I will find several participants who fit the description and send out surveys. The descriptive answers will give me additional insight into how the target audience communicates, which can be used to further enhance the content style guide.

  Potential participants

  ---

  • Male
  • 25-50
  • Loves outdoor activities like hiking, camping, etc.
  • Has an interest in vintage automobiles
  • Amateur liquor and cigar enthusiast (at the very minimum enjoys liquor and cigar fragrances)

  Timeline

  ---

  • April 4-6
    • Complete competitor analysis
  • April 7-10
    • Complete conversation mining
  • April 11-13
    • Draft and finalize user survey
  • April 14-17
    • Find participants and sent out the final user survey
  • April 18-20
    • Collect and synthesize surveys
  • April 20-23
    • Draft and finalize research report
  • April 24
    • Submit final research report

  Competitor Analysis

  ---

  Airtable link: https://airtable.com/shrph5JJ6KJqEJuma