Analytical Consulting Lab Candidate Projects Fall 2015

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1 Analytical Consulting Lab Candidate Projects Fall 2015 Welcome the Analytical Consulting Lab! In the following pages, you will find candidate projects from sponsoring companies under the Analytical Consulting Lab (DECS 915) for Fall The projects listed include working with actual company data, developing meaningful analytical models for managerial decision-making, and presenting results and recommendations to company executives. Most projects will require some level of Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with the sponsoring company. More information about the class can be found at its website: Please feel free to contact me at or with any questions and interest Thanks for your interest. Russell Walker, Ph.D. Clinical Associate Professor Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University

2 Element Bars About We are a custom energy bar company located in Chicago. This means that at customers can create their own custom energy bar by selecting from all natural and organic ingredients and then naming their own bar. Our whole food ingredients are carefully handpicked and kept as nature intended. Then we hand make our bars using the ingredients our customers choose, bake them in our ovens and deliver them freshly baked from our ovens to their doors. The Founder and CEO Jonathan Miller is a Kellogg alumnus from the Class of He has worked with several students from Kellogg including hiring summer interns and serving as clients for other class projects. The Analytical Consulting Lab provides another great opportunity to provide students with rewarding experiences while allowing Element Bars to leverage student skills. Below are 3 projects of interest. The Analytical Consulting Lab provides another great opportunity to provide students with rewarding experiences while allowing Element Bars to leverage student skills. Project 1 Search Engine Optimization Element Bars shows up in the search results set of Google for both organic search results (Search Engine Optimization - SEO) and paid placement (Search Engine Marketing SEM). We would like to analyze which keywords are driving the highest lifetime value of customers and then think about optimizing for competitive keywords. The data we can provide includes purchase behavior, Google Adwords access, and Google Analytics access. Project 2 Demographics of Purchasers via Google Analytics We have purchase data that is stored on our web analytics platform (Google Analytics) and also our internal order system, but this data has not been tied to demographic data (either internally collected or via 3rd party sources). We would like to tie these data sets together and then analyze the highest (and lowest) value customers for demographic trends. The data we can provide is sales data, customer data, and Google Analytics data. Project 3 - Social media marketing Explore different social media advertising (most likely with a focus on Facebook) and how their demographic targeting overlaps with our target segments. Run test campaign to see conversion. Analyze (very) old social media campaign to see what targeting works best. The data we can provide is sales data, customer data, Google Analytics data, Facebook access.

3 Chicago White Sox chicago.whitesox.mlb.com Client: Chicago White Sox Contacts: Beth Grabowski Project: Retail and concessions. We would like this group to focus on our retail and concessions data from the 2015 season to uncover trends or patterns in buying behaviors. The data will focus on the number of transactions, revenue per transaction, timing of transactions, location of transactions, items sold (and in what combinations) as well as perhaps an analysis of current retail inventory levels to help guide 2016 purchasing decisions. *We will need all participants on this project to sign an NDA. Students will work with Beth Grabowski long time ACL supporter and Kellogg grad!

4 Jacksonville Jaguars About the Project In the any captive audience setting (airports, hotels, stadia, etc.), the conventional wisdom is to press pricing given that consumers have limited alternatives to desired products when faced with purchase decisions. As such, particularly in the stadium setting, teams and venues find themselves fielding negative feedback on concessions pricing. The Jacksonville Jaguars would like to explore whether the top 5-10 staple stadium items at EverBank Field (beer, water, soda, chicken tenders, hot dogs, burgers etc.) are optimally priced. We are open to suggestions that may range from lowering, raising or variably pricing certain items, and look to the ACL team to develop a compelling case for these recommendations. This project is sponsored by Hussain Naqi, Jaguar Senior Executive and Kellogg graduate.

5 Project: American Airlines American Airlines has constructed its network as a traditional hub and spoke structure. This means that almost every origin and destination that a customer can purchase on American Airlines requires a connection in one of eight hubs. This network structure allows for operational efficiency and cost optimization but may leave valuable direct flights between spoke cities as underserved. These spoke to spoke routes are often served with a direct flight by one of our competitors or have connecting flights through a competing hub. For this project, we would like to focus in on two key questions. First, are there spoke to spoke routes with outsized passengers yields that we could serve with a direct flight. Second, are there routes in our own network that competitors might few as enticing to begin serving with their own direct flight. This will require analysis of potential revenue streams but also consideration of general operational factors (e.g. having sufficient existing volume of flights at the spoke to mitigate maintenance or crew availability issues). This project will utilize capacity and schedule data for the major airlines along with a 10% sampling of all tickets sold in the United States. In addition, we would like the analysis to incorporate growth forecasts and census data where appropriate as a secondary overlay on which opportunities might be most attractive. Finally, we would like any analysis to take into account potential competitor response and make an assessment for whether serving these routes may impact other parts of our network.

6 Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls Analytics Department is excited to partner with the Kellogg School of Management on a project for the Analytical Consulting Lab. The Bulls Analytics Department is dedicated to improving revenue streams (e.g. tickets, sponsorship, merchandise), driving enhanced fan engagement and optimizing overall marketing efforts. The specific challenge to be addressed focuses on trying to determine when an individual game ticket is most valuable to consumers. The group will use ticketing data to address this challenge with the goal of creating a model the team can use as an tool going forward. This is a unique opportunity to introduce yourself to the Bulls and work with employees across several functions including Analytics and Ticketing. The Bulls look forward to collaborating with students excited about working in sports.

7 Northwestern University Sports There are 3 projects available with the NU Big Ten sports management team. An analysis on the effectiveness of Northwestern Athletics advertising/branding campaign An examination of the current advertising campaign that provides conclusions and insights on the current media mix and if it is effectively communicating the brand/positioning of Northwestern Athletics while also providing a sufficient call to action to increase ticket sales for football and men s basketball. The focus on the advertising should look at the most effective ways to achieve these sales and branding goals as well as include an evaluation of the creative that is being utilized. Areas to explore include outdoor, digital, print, radio and transit. An analysis of our fans from a data standpoint, with the goals of helping us communicate with them better/spend our advertising $ more effectively Analyze the makeup of those who identify as Northwestern fans. Research the NU fan base, paying particular attention to their communication tendencies and buying habits. Also, identify who they are demographically, what they value (i.e. price, experience, ease of access) and how they consume information. Based on this research, provide recommendations to assist NU Athletics in communicating with this group as well as prioritizing gameday improvements. What is the perception of NU athletics relative to faculty/staff at NU and how can we better engage this population? Reach out to Northwestern departments throughout both the Evanston and Chicago campus to provide an analysis on the relationship of faculty and staff with NU Athletics. Determine what this group values relative to Northwestern Athletics as well as what drives their decision to attend a game, or become a season ticket holder. Some potential categories to explore buying histories, geographical considerations and affinity to Northwestern. Ultimately, provide recommendations to Northwestern Athletics on how to better engage these two populations.

8 U.S. Soccer Federation U.S. Soccer is the official governing body of soccer in all its forms in the United States, including the Men s and Women s National Teams. As the official online store of U.S. Soccer, USSoccerStore.com is a key commercial area of focus for us and experiencing rapid growth in line with the overall sport. SEM Analysis Search Engine Marketing is a valuable customer acquisition tool for our online store. U.S. Soccer is looking for a comprehensive performance analysis on individual keywords and ads. We d like to know what elements offer the highest ROI and how the search dynamics change around major shopping windows like the World Cup, jersey launches, and the holidays. The objective is to offer insights to better improve the design of the ad campaigns and allocation of budgets. Customer Profile We d like to nail down some customer insights that will inform our marketing efforts. How does our core customer change based on seasonality and team (World Cup year vs. non- World Cup year, Men s National Team game vs Women s National Team game, etc.)? Customer segmentation: How should we segment our customers based on spending? What is our customer lifetime value? How much is an average customer worth compared to a good customer? How would you recommend segmenting our list and tailoring offers based on seasonality and customer spending profile? Upselling: Are customers likely to buy certain products based on what is already in their shopping carts? *Note: All participants will be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Primary contact: Ross Moses Manager, Analytics and Research U.S. Soccer Federation