Yesterday, I was walking down the street. I wasn’t in a hurry when someone approached me for a survey. They said it would take 25 minutes and they would give me 40 hryvnias as compensation. The questionnaire was about beer. I had the time, and I’m interested in marketing stuff. It’s an experience, after all.
We started off by discussing which Ukrainian beer I prefer: Slavutych, Obolon, Rohan, Zybert, or some other brand. I thought about it and said that I really don’t care. No, seriously. If there’s draft Obolon, I’ll take that. If I need a larger container, I’ll go for Slavutych. Rohan… well, I don’t like the name or the bottle, but I wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from its competitors, so if there’s nothing else, I’d take it without hesitation. Zybert. I haven’t tried it yet and, interestingly, I don’t plan to. And it’s not because “this brand doesn’t align with my values and lifestyle,” but simply because I genuinely don’t care what kind of beer it is.
I couldn’t continue the survey, even with the prospect of losing 40 hryvnias. The interviewer insisted that I could proceed with the survey once I chose a brand of beer.
What does this say? That I’m not the target audience for beer marketing? Not at all. I am the target. I prefer beer over vodka and wine when I want to easily get tipsy with friends and chat, and I don’t draw lines on the menu between “ugh, local” and “cool, imported.” It indicates that millions of dollars spent on advertising, positioning, branding, promotion, and PR have been wasted, and I, as a typical “average consumer,” already live in an extremely noisy information space where I just don’t care anymore.
And speaking of brands, as a kind of anticipation of the experience from the product, for me, Slavutych still looks more and more appealing because it has a certain calmness to it. Obolon stresses me out, starting with their failure with low-quality malt about 10 years ago and their attempt to build consumer loyalty on patriotic feelings. Rogan bothers me with its awkward name and inconvenient bottle. Lvivske annoys me with its blatant lies about the brewery’s dates. But Chernigivske or Slavutych don’t stress me out. Maybe the key to the consumer’s heart is not to be stressful, right? Carlsberg, Tuborg, or Staropramen don’t stress me out either.
I started to consider myself an “average consumer” when I realized that I had begun drinking, and then stopped drinking “Chernigov White” along with the majority of beer drinkers.