Insight Report Prepared for BMO

Delivered By Team Chef

 Executive Summary
The research process first involves formulating a problem, this was done through client meetings and
business question formulation. The research design and data collection method was then planned
out. Quantitative data collected through a survey was determined to be the most appropriate. Next,
the survey was designed and the sample frame was formed. Finally, the collected data was analyzed
and interpreted in order to draw conclusions from it. This report was made to share the conclusions of
this project. Our recommendation/conclusion is that BMO continue their sponsorship of the Lights
Festival because 76.6% of people who were not BMO customers felt more favorable towards BMO
after learning about their sponsorship.

The business question is the overarching question for the project that was found to be most
important. Team Chef's business question is: How can BMO Harris Bank Magnificent Mile create a
brand activation opportunity for people to be drawn towards the bank?

The research objectives help to guide the research process so that the end conclusions answer the
business question. Team Chef's research objectives are:
1. To investigate what attractions are most popular at the event.
2. To understand what draws people to attend.
3. To determine how attendees discovered the Lights Festival.
4. To investigate the current demographic that attends the Magnificent Mile event.
5. To investigate the level of awareness of BMO’s sponsorship.

The intended audience is the clients at BMO Harris Bank and at the Magnificent Mile Association.
 Background
Team Chef understands that BMO wants to try to infuse their tradition with new and fresh ideas at the
Lights Festival. During the interview session, BMO kept illustrating what they typically do at each
festival, but were open to trying new things. Our team hopes to discover key insights to blend these
two aspects together. We understand that brand awareness is a top priority for BMO in sponsoring this
event. We also recognize that BMO wants to engage with the community through this sponsorship.
Our team knows that this event is important in showing that BMO is more than a typical corporate
bank and that they care about engaging with the community. We hope to further that.

Because of this we decided on the business question of, "How can BMO Harris create an impactful
engagement opportunity for people to be drawn towards the bank at the Lights Festival?" We decided
on our research objectives because they helped to guide us in supporting the above managerial
decision opportunity. Our research objectives were designed so that our data collection would be
centered around them.
 Background
The initial informational interview with BMO and Magnificent Mile was essential to the formulation of
the business question and research objectives. Below is the most important data that was gathered
from this interview.
Representatives from Mag Mile stated that it is important to “make sure the attractions are interesting” and that
these attractions “inspire people to want to come back year after year.”
BMO wants to "target current customers with customer perks". They also want to "target people who aren’t
customers so that if they need a service, they think of BMO and want to check them out."
BMO wants to come across as "approachable, fun, and good for people to go to."

Another key aspect to the formulation of this project was the client-provided secondary data. In
reviewing this data, it most important that:
The 2016 survey data from a previous MARK311 class suggested that 29.48% of respondents had already
attended the event before, while 23.89% had visited 3 or more times. This data reflects that there is incentive for
respondents to return to the Lights Festival that we can investigate further.
Based on the 2016 survey data from a previous MARK311 class, we have learned that our largest attending
demographic are those ages 18-24 (26.13%), while the second largest demographic are those ages 25-34
(25%).
57.81% of respondents declared that their knowledge of BMO Harris Bank being a prominent sponsor for the
Lights Festival did not change their feelings towards the bank, while 40.82% declared a growing favor towards
BMO Harris.
 Solution
Team Chef measured the five research objectives using a survey made in Qualtrics.
Although some structured observational data was used in the final report, the team did
not rely on qualitative data because it is not appropriate for the goals of this
project. Quantitative research was used because it provided statistical analysis using
hypothesis testing from which our team was able to draw specific predictions and
trends. With the qualitative data, our team was able to run crosstabs and produce
specific statistics and trends that can be analyzed.

The Qualtrics survey was designed to gather the data needed to respond
to the research objectives for BMO. This survey is designed to be both simple and fun
for the respondent, while also gathering meaningful data for BMO. However, due to
client request, all of the teams ended up abandoning these surveys. Instead, the
teams used a survey that was carefully crafted by the client to fit the specific insights
BMO wanted to analyze.
 Solution
The small amount of qualitative data used came from a structured observation each team
member did at the Lights Festival. The natural setting of participants at the Lights Festival
was observed. In this observation the team took notes on participants, behaviors,
interactions, and the overall environment. This data was analyzed in NVivo to provide
further insights for the conclusion. Though this qualitative data is useful, the quantitative
data is still central to this project.
 Solution: Qualtrics Survey
NOIR Interactive Multiple
Questions: Features Pretests
Nominal- 12 questions Survey had open response
Ordinal- 4 questions Three pretests guaranteed
questions, and a table
Interval- 3 questions survey quality.
where they could rank their
Ratio- 1 question enjoyment.

Avoids Confusing or Avoids Leading

Unfamiliar Words
The survey used everyday
wording and simple terminology
to insure that respondents
clearly understood what was
being asked.
Questions
The survey followed a funnel
approach. It had non-leading
questions in the beginning, and
then slowly got more specific to
BMO.
 Sampling
Sample Frame:
The sample frame consisted of people who have holiday spirit, families with children, engaged festival
participants, and people who are aware of BMO. This frame fairly represented the population the client
wanted to focus on. Team Chef used a sample plan of convenience to connect with this audience. To do this
participants were given the survey at the Lights Festival by our team.

Demographics:
The only demographic information collected was ages. The ages of the respondents and their children (if
applicable) was noted in the survey. The most represented age groups were 18-54. Age groups that were
under-represented in our data were under 18, and 55 and up. Each age group represented at least once.

Ethical Dilemmas
One ethical dilemma was collecting data from people under 18. The team tried to avoid this. However, there
was one respondent who answered the survey who was under 18. Another ethical dilemma was the privacy
of the respondents. Their privacy was respected by keeping the survey results confidential and not asking for
names or similar personal information.
 Data Analysis Planning
Process
After completing the surveys on paper, the data was manually input into Qualtrics. After all of the
data was in Qualtrics, it was exported to SPSS in order to be analyzed. Before analysis could
begin, the data was cleaned and coded. This was done by going through the data in SPSS, making it
look cleaner, and making any edits necessary so that it could easily analyzed later.

After this, crosstabs were run on the data in SPSS. This process took some trial and error, but our
team eventually produced meaningful crosstabs that were useful in our analysis. These crosstabs
helped summarize the data and produced meaningful statistics from it.

Finally, the qualitative data was also analyzed. All observational data was gathered. All of the
questions and prompts in these documents were deleted so they would not skew the data. Next, all
of the observations were imported into the program NVivo. From here, a word cloud was created that
showed the words and terms that were the most central in the qualitative data. Any unnecessary
words such as "the" were deleted. Once this was done, the word cloud was exported so that it could
be analyzed.
 Conclusion
After forming a research plan, collecting data, and analyzing this data, Team Chef was
able to bring everything together to conclude this research project. Data analysis was
used to answer our business question and research objectives. This brought the project
full circle. After doing all of this, some conclusions and recommendations have been
formed.

General conclusions are as follows:

1. The kid's zone was effective in connecting the community with BMO and in enjoyment
of the festival.
2. The most popular age demographic for the kid's zone was 25-44 for adults and 0-10
for kids.
3. This event is very people focused, and it seems to be an effective tactic to create a
connection to the community for BMO.

The following slides will go more into depth about the smaller conclusions that helped to
form these overall ones. These conclusions are based on specific crosstabs,
observational data, and secondary data.
 Conclusion: Insights
1. In investigating age vs preference of either tradition or innovation, we came to the conclusion
that:

People of all ages preferred “Tradition” to “Innovation” when given the choice. This lets us know
that traditional attractions are more important to guests than innovative attempts. From our cross
tabs we were able to see different age groups ranging from 18-65+ and no matter the age range
each group scored higher than 58.3%, meaning that BMO should keep incorporating the idea of
tradition in their festival.

2. In investigating awareness of the event prior to today and how many times people have
attended in the past, we came to the conclusion that:

No matter how many times people have attended in the past, they were aware about this event.
Event organizers are doing a good job of getting the word out to both new and returning people.
We found from our cross tabs that 80.8% knew about the Mag Mile lights festival even if it was
their first time, and that 97.1% of people knew about the Mag Mile Lights Festival if they attended
3 or more times before. This furthermore indicates that BMO Mag Mile Lights Festival is doing a
good job in getting the word out about his event to both new and returning people.
 Conclusion: Insights
3. We compared the amount of time spent in the kid's zone with how likely respondents were to
return to the festival to come to the following conclusion:

People who spent the maximum amount in the kid’s zone, were more likely to be enthusiastic
about returning next year. From our cross tab we were able to conclude that people who spent
more than 1 hour in the kid’s zone had a 70% chance of being extremely likely to come back next
year, correlating to the idea that BMO should try and make families stay in the Kid’s zone,
participating in activities as long as possible.

4. In comparing demographic information of kids and adults, we came to the following conclusion:

Our fourth cross tab showed the demographic of adults and kids that were at the festival,
presenting us with the target audience of families that would be interested in the kid’s zone. From
this cross tab, we were able to conclude that BMO should be targeting adults age ranging from
25-44. This age range had the most respondents in general, but more importantly, had the most
respondents with kids in the appropriate age range for the kid's zone.
 Conclusion: Insights
5. In running a cross tab on impression of BMO after knowing they are a sponsor and "are you
currenly a BMO customer, we were able to conclude:

We were able to gather that BMO is making an impact on people who are not yet BMO customers.
76.6% of people were not BMO customers, and felt more favorable towards BMO after knowing
about their sponsorship. 86.5% of people who were not BMO customers said the sponsorship did
not change their feelings about BMO. This is obviously not the result we would like to see, but it is
not a negative thing. We were able to conclude that BMO's sponsorship is good for the bank
because it either increases the bank's standing among potential customers or keeps it the same.
Either way, it is not a negative thing for BMO and is not hurting them at all. We see this as a reason
for BMO to continue their sponsorship.
 Conclusion: Insights

This word cloud is a result of our qualitative observational data from the Lights Festival. As you can see,
words that were central were "people", "participants", and "children". This shows that the Lights Festival is
all about people and the community. We see this as a positive sign that BMO is the title sponsor of an
event like this because it shows a connection and care for people. This just further proves that the Lights
Festival is a good way for BMO to connect with the community and to show their humanistic side.
Conclusion

This secondary source shows that

people do care about their personal
experience with a bank and the role
of the bank in their community. This
proves that BMO is smart in
sponsoring a traditional community
event like the Lights Festival.
Because people care about personal
experience and community
involvement, the Lights Festival
should cause people to see BMO
more positively. According to this
statistic, it should also increase trust
in BMO as a financial institution.
 Conclusion: Limitations
External Validity
The results of this project could possibly
be generalized to other situations and
people. Our team used these results to
make general conclusions about all the
people that attended the Lights Festival.
However, it may not be accurate when
applied to other community events that
BMO may be interested in sponsoring
Sources of Error:
randomly selected sample may
not represent entire population
possible errors in data input
conclusions from cross tabs may
be incorrect if data is incorrect
respondents answered survey in
poor weather conditions and could
have been rushing through
incomplete surveys
 Works Cited
BMO Harris Bank, and Team Chef. “BMO Initial Client Interview.” 13 Sept. 2017.

Statista Survey. "Factors Influencing Trust in Financial Institutions, including Banks, Mortgage Lenders
and Credit Unions in The United States in 2017, by Age." Statista - The Statistics Portal, Statista,
www.statista.com/statistics/379722/influence-on-trust-in-various-institutions-usa-by-generation/,
Accessed 14 Dec 2017

Magnificent Mile Organization, and Team Chef. “Magnificent Mile Initial Client Interview.” 13 Sept. 2017.

Team Chef. “Lights Festival Observation.” Lights Festival, 18 Nov. 2017.

2016 Marketing Research Classes. 2016 BMO Lights Festival Data. 2016 BMO Lights Festival Data.
Accessed 11 Sep. 2017.
 Linked In

Claire Gardone - https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-gardone-4aa348138/

Natalia Gheewala- https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalia-gheewala-

0629b6138/

Katie Sailor- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ksailor/

Miles Hoehne- https://www.linkedin.com/in/mileshoehne/

Katrina Nicdao- https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinanicdao/

 Appendix Files

1. Qualtrics survey
2. SPSS and Nvivo outputs
3. Client meeting field data
4. Observation data
5. Slack channel screenshots
6. Focus Group data