ROGER AND HENRY

In order to better understand how consumers process information and decide to buy specific products and brands, a research study was conducted with two middle-aged drinkers. The drinkers (one heavy user and one light user) met individually with an interviewer in the subjects’ homes to discuss their beer-related consumer behavior. Questions focused on the specific strategies subjects used in their beer product, brand, purchase, and consumption decisions. Blind taste tests were also held in which the subjects drank four different brands of beer. Finally, the respondents were asked to complete an extensive questionnaire on beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors toward beer as well as to report on demographics. Psycho -graphics and media exposure patterns. A summary of the research study follows.

THE CASE OF ROGER

Roger is a friendly, family-oriented 41-year old man. He has a B.S. in mechanical engineering and met his wife in college. They have four children, three sons and one daughter, ages 12 to 20.

Roger owns and operates his own automobile body-repair service and employs his 20-year old son. He owns his own home and has a $25,000 yearly family income.

Roger has five close friends in the neighborhood, and he and his wife usually spend an evening per week with one or more couples. His friends are important to Roger and his wife.

Roger drinks coffee consistently and beer erratically. In the following excerpt, Roger discusses his beverage consumption (R = Roger: I = interviewer):

R. I drink what I am told is an uncommonly large amount of coffee-probably twelve to fifteen cups of coffee in a normal day.

I. Even on a hot day?

R. Even on a hot day. When I go to work, coffee is my beverage, and even in the evening. It can be go or 99 degrees outside and I’ll still have my coffee.

I. Do you ever drink soft drinks or anything like that?

R. Not too much.

I. Iced tea?

Page | 1

R. Iced tea I enjoy on occasions. I do like, of all the soft drinks, I guess I would prefer the sugar-free beverages, such as the Tab variety. But the super sweet things, I don’t care for them.

I. Are there any occasions in which you might prefer perhaps something like bourbon of Scotch or a mixed drink?

R. Yes, I’ll drink hard liquor. I think most predominantly my biggest consumption of hard liquor would be almost when I am alone and that is still very limited. Because, to tell the truth, I enjoy it, not the quantity and not like some of my friends- they like what it does to them, the way it makes them feel. I enjoy the flavor. I can probably identify by brand between ten and fifteen different types of whiskeys by a sip. Within the bourbon class, I can probably pick four or five of just the bourbon and give you the brand name of it and so forth for other types like that.

I. About how much beer would you say that you drink, let’s say in an average day of over a week’s time?

R. If you’re going to divide it into a week’s time, I have to say it would depend on the week.

I. Say a nice, hot week, where you’ve had to mow the lawn.

R. Okay. It depends on the week because in one week I might not have one single drop of it. T he next week I might consume a case. It depends on how I’m feeling and so forth. Another thing too. This again beer in glass is something very nice to look at. Whereas you could pour something out of that quart [liquor] bottle over some ice cubes and it doesn’t have anything near equal the appeal to look at. This apparently has something to do with it.

Roger narrowed his beer-consumption occasions to three situations:

1. While watching football game on television during weekends

2. While with friends in the neighborhood on Friday or Saturday evenings

3. During and after mowing the lawn on hot days

The second situation often produces the most single-occasion consumption by Roger: ten to twenty 12-ounce servings.

Page | 2

Purchase Decisions

Roger’s household purchases beer informally, and the home frequently contains beer bottles and cans, but not both.

I. you said your son very often- sometimes brings in beer. When somebody notices that beer is running low, is there anybody in particular who makes the decision that this is the time to go out and buy beer?

R. No, it’s not on the shopping list. If there’s beer in the house I’m afraid it’s going to be me to bring it in, or my son Rusty on occasion will, if he has some [money] left over. But it’s not a thing that is part of a shopping list. I will buy a case or two cases at a crack or sometimes just a six-pack or two, and it I know some friends s are coming at a specific time I will try and have at least a case or so on hand. I will check it [beer at home] for them. But it doesn’t usually matter to me if run out and don’t have one for this evening.

I. Is there any particular place you might go to buy beer – like at a supermarket or a packaged-goods store or somewhere else?

R. No particular place. Usually it is our local super-market because [of] it’s convenience and no other reason. Of course, its convenience and price compared to the quicky store right up the street…If I wanted to go out and buy two or three cases for a party, as you mentioned. I would probably go to my local super market, and what was easiest for me to handle of the better-known premium brands of beer, that’s what I would get….If I knew I was going to get a rather [large] quantity of beer, I would have a cart with me through the super market. I don’t go to a beverage store simply because there’s none convenient to my home. And whichever one [beer is laid out easier for me, to get, that’s the one I’m going to get- a brand well known to me.

Brand Decisions

Roger requires that his brands be well known. On his “premium list”, Low-priced, and liked by friends if they were “coming over.”

I Okay. Well, could you characterize, or could you give me, the names of two of your favorite ones?

R Well, I think I can say definitely that I buy probably more Blue Ribbon [PBR] and Old Milwaukee than anything else.

I Okay, well, let’s say that Old Milwaukee and Pabst Blue Ribbon are in this display, and you are getting ready for a party. And Old Milwaukee has a price tag on it of

Page | 3

s1.49 a six pack and Pabst Blue Ribbon has s1.89. Would you still end up buying some of both?

R No, I would buy the cheaper one. The beers are comparable.

I Okay. Let’s say there’s only may be a 10-cent difference between them in the six pack. Would that make a difference?

I Yes, I would still buy the cheaper one.

I So, then, price does become a very important.

R Of course it does.

I Okay. You mentioned earlier that some of your friends might make a choice if they had one given that you had a cooler full of beer. What are some of the brands that some of your friends drink? Can you recall any of those?

R Yes. Ray is partial to Schlitz and/or Old Milwaukee. Grady is definitely a Blue Ribbon fan-that’s about all he buys; Rusty is Miller-every time he busy it, he brings home Miller.

I So, if you were having a party and they were coming over, you would normally expect to be buying three different brands of beer?

R That’s right.

Roger reported that he and his friends do not drink Budweiser, Busch, and import beers.

Roger expressed a preference for saying “I’ll believe I’ll have a Blue.” `

R It just rolls out so smooth, and it’s easy to say, and it’s easy to think, and perhaps another one of our commercial brainwashing won out, I don’t know.

Taste Tests

Roger could not correctly identify six different brands of beer in blind taste tests. We served each beer in a clean 12-ounce glass with the beer poured down the center of the glass from the lip.

Roger could assign specific attributes to different brands when shown the labels following the blind tests. For example, he judged Budweiser as “harsh,” Pabst Blue Ribbon as “heavy” but “very drinkable,” and Schlitz Light as the “lightest.”

Page | 4

Advertising Awareness

Using unaided recall, Roger could recall only one advertising theme-Schlitz Malt Liquor. He reported that he really disliked that “stupid bull ad on television.” We unsuccessfully made several other attempts to have Roger relate other commercials or advertisements for brands of beer.

In aided recall tests, Roger could identify the “king of Beers” as Budweiser, but could not correctly identify other advertising themes.

THE CASE OF HENRY

Forty-eight-year-old Henry teaches business at a small college. He has a master’s in business administration. Teaching is Henry’s second career, following 20 years in the military.

Henry makes $32,000 a year, and he and his 42-year-old wife live in their own house. They have no children.

Henry drinks beer consistently and heavily. He is loyal to Anheuser-Busch beers. Henry drinks fifteen to thirty, 12-ounce servings of Michelob, Budweiser, or Busch Bavarian on a typical evening.

Henry designed one room in his home for beer consumption. The game room, 20’ by 25’, includes a wet bar with a keg of beer on top, Budweiser lamps and wall decorations, bumper pool table, color television set, fireplace, bar stools, and two soft chairs, and a couch. (In the following dialogue, H = Henry and I = interviewer.)

H. I drink mostly Michelob or Budweiser or Busch and, as a result, I really can’t compare it too much with any others because I don’t drink that much of the others except usually if we go out to dinner at a restaurant and they do have a foreign beer, such as Heineken or Lowenbrau or one of those, I will order it. Just for the simple reason that you don’t normally have it in your house because of the cost factor. When you’re out for an evening you don’t mind paying a premium price.

Purchasing Decisions

Henry purchases beer more formally than Roger. He buys a pony keg of Michelob every 2 to 3 weeks from a local distributor. The keg holds 7 gallons. Henry buys one or two cases of beer when the keg runs dry and before he has the opportunity to refill the keg. He buys either Busch or Budweiser by the case at the military base. Henry’s wife rarely buys beer for him, and she infrequently drinks beer (i.e., one glass or less per week).

Page | 5

Brand Decisions

I. Is there any kind of bitterness [to A-B beer]?

H. Yes, again something with A-B products, a lot of people do not like Bud because of its taste. It is a distinctive taste.

I. When you said a lot of people don’t like Bud, I gather you have talked with others who don’t like Bud for that reason.

H. Yes. For many years I did not like Budweiser either. And then I was stationed in Alaska once, and at the country club I became very good friends with a district A-B representative- not a distributor, but a representative employed out of St. Louis with A-B and stationed in Alaska. Always at the club he was setting up beers for people. Naturally, knowing that he was a Bud man and being closely associated with him, his wife, and kids, I became a Bud drinker out of respect to the man. I didn’t feel I should drink anything else around him. Consequently, I became a great Budweiser fan. Had my tastes converted.

I. Do you often drink other kinds of beer? Other than Anheuser-Busch beers?

H. No.

I. Just at the restaurants?

H. Just on a night out. I do drink beer that I don’t normally have in the house.

Henry, unlike Roger, would not purchase brands of beer other than Anheuser-Busch brands for friends coming over for an evening. He explained, “Because I normally don’t have any beer except the Michelob because of the draught. And I’ve never had anybody say they wouldn’t like the draught beer. And again, I think part of it is the novelty of drawing your own glass of beer, and secondly, most of the people that come, if you are a beer drinker, you will drink any kind of beer when you’re in somebody else’s home. At least that’s the attitude I take. And, again, if they serve me a beer that I don’t especially like, I just don’t drink much of it.”

Taste Tests

Henry correctly identified five out of six brands of beer by name in blind taste tests. He could not identify Schlitz Light. He reported later that he had never tasted Schlitz Light before the study. Schlitz Light had been available one month prior to the study.

Henry provided specific reasons for attributing brand names in the blind tastes. For example:

Page | 6

I. With all the beers that you can remember having tasted, which brand do you think this might come closest to?

H. Probably Schlitz.

I. How are you making that comparison—the basis?

H. The taste. It tastes to me a lot, with no bitterness in here, but I have a feeling in my mind if I get one of the Anheuser-Busch beers I’ll probably be able to recognize it. I’m not saying I always will, because the temperature makes such a difference, including [the fact that] the same beer served at different temperatures will give you a different taste.

I. Why would you say that this is Schlitz, then?

H. I would say [it is because of] the sweetness, It’s an ingredient that I don’t really care for in beer, not that if I visit you at your house and you offer me a Schlitz I won’t turn it down.

Advertising Awareness

In aided-recall tests Henry could identify ten out of ten advertising themes correctly by brand. But in prior unaided tests, he could only identify Clydesdale horses with A-B advertising.

STRUCTURED RESPONSES

Roger’s and Henry’s responses to the structured questions in the third interview supported their responses in the prior interviews. Roger reported consumption of eleven 12-ounce servings in the past seven days, and Henry reported consumption of ninety-four similar servings for the same time period (sixty servings of Michelob, fourteen servings of Budweiser, and eight servings of Busch Bavarian).

Henry strongly agreed with two of eleven statements on a seven-point scale: I prefer a good-tasting beer; I prefer a beer for people who drink a lot of beer. He disagreed with the following statements: I prefer a beer that is a good value for the price; I prefer a beer that my friends like; I prefer a beer that is on sale a lot.

Roger strongly agreed with three statements: I prefer a good-tasting beer; I prefer a beer that is easy to find in stores; I prefer a high-quality beer. Roger did not disagree with any statements.

Henry strongly agreed to the following three product-specific psychographic statements.

Page | 7

1. One of the great pleasures in life is sitting in front of the TV at night and having several beers.

2. I often drink beer when I feel a bit nervous and edgy.3. I am drinking more now than I used to.

Henry disagreed with the following: The only time I drink a lot of beer is in the summer. Roger strongly disagreed with all four of these statements.

While Roger rated the consumption of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Milwaukee, and Budweiser somewhat to very likely for ten situations and Schlitz unlikely, Henry ranked Budweiser only as very likely for all ten situations. (Only four brands were rated on a seven-point scale, from very unlikely to very likely.)

Questions

1. If Roger and Henry are two distinct target groups of customers, identify the bases of segmentation and targeting process.

2. What environmental variables can you identify from this case as significant influences on beer purchasing? How do situational influences play a role in this purchase?

3. If Roger and Henry were typical of large segments of consumers, explain and differentiate the consumer buying behavior based on this case.

4. Develop a positioning theme for each of the category of consumers Roger and Henry.

Page | 8