Substitution Therapy?

Vorion, Bullet, Black Knight and Kalyani. Do these names/ words ring a bell? Well, to a large percentage of us, they do. For the ‘economically’ inclined, meaning those who closely study economics, their technical name would be ‘substitute’ brands/ products. Without digressing too much, let me inform those few who still don’t have a clue about the names I dropped in the beginning: these are beer brands and they have been moderately successful in substituting the category favourite: Kingfisher.

One of the top regrets that Great Lakers voiced after the course started had nothing to do with the college, per se. They were heartbroken (some even had ligament tears and such!) simply because they couldn’t get their hands on what is popularly referred to as ‘hard drinks.’ To add to their misery, even in the beer category the crowd favourite, Kingfisher, was scarcely available. I grabbed this opportunity to turn their misery in to a “consumer behaviour study” for my marketing management project!

Methodology of research:

Phase 1: In the popular show, ‘The Tonight show with Jay Leno,’ there is a segment called ‘Jaywalking.’ In this segment the host Jay Leno, interviews random strangers on US roads and questions them on seemingly simple general knowledge questions. The results are usually hilarious! Here’s a sample question from the show:

Q: What do you think is the meaning of the word, “philanderer?”

A: Something or someone who does charity work! (an obvious confusion between the words ‘philanderer’ and ‘philanthropist’)

I used a similar strategy to kick start my research; a simple start up survey with only 4 questions on a sample of 34 respondents.

My survey questions were:

Q1: Are you familiar with the word teetotaler?

Q2: What brand of beer do you drink most often? Rate the following in terms of    preference: Kingfisher, Carlsberg, Tuborg, Haywards and Others (Royal Challenge, Kings etc

Q3: Are you familiar with at least two of these brands: Vorion, Bullet, Black Knight and Kalyani? If yes, were you familiar with these brands before/ after joining Great Lakes?

Q4: Under what circumstances will/ have you shifted brands?

Phase 1-findings:

In short, the findings suggest that Great Lakers have a substantial hand in popularizing (by consuming) substitute brands! 28 out of 34 respondents changed brands because of unavailability of Kingfisher and 18 of the 27 who are familiar with these brands, tried them for the first time after joining GLIM.

Interesting facts about these brands:

Miscellaneous details:

Demography: Gender- M: F= 27:7 Age (range): 24-28

Places surveyed: Rose Corner, Moonrakers (both branches) and Shore Side restaurant

References: 

The Tonight show with Jay Leno: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyA1JKg4ias

TASMAC website: http://tasmac.tn.gov.in/Mrp.htm

Project submission mode: I intend to consolidate my project findings and share them in the blog on a term-wise basis, so until the next time... Cheers!

Lathish Venugopal

FT 13435/ S4

P.S: teetotaler:One who abstains completely from alcoholic beverages; no wonder 6 out of the 34 respondents had no clue!