Challenge assumptions

- Back in 1983,…Joe Wilkie was an analyst…with Nielsen BASES.…That's a consumer research firm that helps predict…the sales of new products before they're launched.…In part one of their test, they show a bunch of people…the concept behind a new product.…Just a few words to describe what it does…and how it does it.…And then in part two, the people actually get to…use the product for a week or two.…And Joe's team asked them a bunch of questions…after each part.…Well, on one of Joe's first projects,…the test results coming back…were not what he expected.…

Consumers thought the concept was average, at best.…But once they actually used the product,…they loved it.…It was one of the biggest differences…between concept results and usage results…that they'd ever seen.…Now, conventional wisdom for a situation like this…would be to recommend a heavy sampling program, right?…I mean, since the concept wasn't that appealing,…consumers weren't likely to try the product on their own.…But if they got a free sample of this…amazing stuff in the mail, they'd start buying it.…