Why do consumers love GreyGoose - Research Paper Example

Task: Why Do Consumers Love Greygoose. Greygoose is vodka with a natural taste and smell produced and processed traditionally in France. The spirit won a platinium award at the world spirit competition held at San Francisco by Chicago Beverage Testing Institute. The winning answered the consumer’s long asked question of whether expensive vodka tested better than cheap vodka. Consequently people felt justified for buying expensive vodka (Rothbaum 60). Following the cosumer’s loving for greygoose, we developed an urge to conduct a research. The research was to explain why consumers love greygoose. We used ZMET procedure to carry out our research. We chose on ZMET because the procedures involved draw out the deepest feelings, thoughts, recognitions and undisclosed perceptions of the respondent concerning the topic being interviewed. ZMET is the best choice for researchers willing to investigate consumer behaviors concerning a given product (Chang 279). We recruited our informants from France. Since many people were willing to participating in our interview, we carried out screening criteria on consumers who were interested in participating in the interview. We conducted in-depth interviews and carried out the convenience sampling to choose our interview participants (Chang 279). We were gender-sensitive thus we selected one male and one female. Therefore we had two informants for our data collection process with whom we carried out two interviews. The female informant was a 45 year old house-wife while the male informant was a 28 year old employed young man. We used two tape recorders to record the data conveyed by the respondents in the two interviews (Gofin, Lemke and Koners 49). After the interview, there was need of understanding the informants’ information on why consumers love greygoose. We critically analyzed the collected data to identify the metaphors that the greygoose consumers use about this vodka. We focused on obtaining metaphors because through them we could gain a better understanding of the consumers’ thinking. We transcribed the information collected from the two interview tapes into text for deeper analysis (Gofin, Lemke and Koners 49). From the data, we identified metaphor expressions and categorized them into thematic metaphors, conceptual metaphors and deep metaphors. Thematic metaphors described various aspects of the informants’ attitudes towards consumers’ love for greygoose. Conceptual metaphors played a role in data reduction and organization. We obtained deep metaphors by analyzing the thematic and conceptual metaphors (Belk 401). The informants revealed that greygoose consumption made them think of France, their home. We used resource as a deep metaphor to show the informants’ claims that greygoose consumption is a source of entertainment (Belk 401). The study showed that consumers considered greygoose consumption as a source of entertainment after engaging themselves in strenuous activities. The informants affirmed the entertaining ability of greygoose increased their trust in the brand. The statement we recorded from these claims was, “greygoose gets me high…it entertains me, I trust the brand!” The vodka also reminded them of the great times they shared with their friends and family members back in France. Greygoose made them think of the tragic accidents and people lose caused by alcohol consumption. The informants stated that sometimes they met new people during greygoose consumption process hence making new friends. We used intimate as a thematic metaphor to show greygoose consumption as a source of memories. Conceptual metaphors obtained included anarchy, messy, France, friends and family. The informants revealed of how greygoose consumption connected their memory to the upscale greystone club. They reaffirmed that the packaging of greygoose was classy and gave them a sense of psychological ownership of the brand. Greygoose also gave them a sense of belonging. The following verbatim from the male respondent indicated this: “greygoose reminds me of greystone club, something upscale. It’s the drink! Even its packaging looks classy and chicky”. The thematic metaphor revealed from their statements relating to greygoose consumption was sophisticated. Conceptual metaphors were classy and upscale. The informants informed us of how greygoose consumption reminded them of the crazy spring break weather. We used journey as a deep metaphor to describe the in-depth feelings elicited in our data. The informants communicated a number of aspects in life, one of them being greygoose consumption, as a journey to be completed. They described life as a long journey that each individual has to travel. They revealed that the sight of a bottle of greygoose reminded them of the times when they used to drink with their friends in Cabo. The informant’s statements were as follows, “whenever I see the bottle of Greygoose, it reminds me in Cabo, oh ya!! Especially drinking with other friends in Cabo, i miss those times.” We chose on expedition as a thematic metaphor and crazy as a conceptual metaphor. Our analysis of the informants’ expression of ideas on greygoose consumption revealed force manifested in a number of ways. Therefore we chose on force as a deep metaphor. Force, as a deep metaphor, is associated with many negative conceptual metaphors which include the seducer, the con-man, the broken record and the noisy drunkard. However, force has a positive aspect of greygoose consumption as an engine. We also came up with a conceptual metaphor of greygoose consumption being an omnipresent being. We examined this greygoose consumption aspect from the studies on greygoose consumption. One of the respondents likened greygoose consumption to sleep: hard to avoid. However, the informants were annoyed at the aspect of time-wasting while drinking greygoose with friends. They were upset for being unable to control this act. Furthermore, they discussed the negative effects of greygoose abuse by the young individuals. Analyzing the conceptual metaphor of the noisy drunkard, our informants were against the irritating noise caused by many of the greygoose consumers. They also referred to the noises produced from the clubs as an interference of daily economic activities. One of the statements that we recorded was, “I hate their noise! Yes, they disrupt my daily routine!” The conceptual metaphor noisy drunkard is related to omnipresent being because entertainment arising from greygoose consumption comes unsolicited. Greygoose consumers are very sensitive to the brand’s consumption. The conceptual metaphor broken record reflects this aspect of deep metaphor force. Greygoose producers aim at attaining the greatest number of consumers which will enable them to re-enforce and change the consumer’s attitudes towards the greygoose brand. Our research revealed that greygoose vodka is a seducer. This is a conceptual metaphor emerging from the deep metaphor force. Our informants explained that the good feeling caused by the brand gave consumers an urge to drinking the vodka again and again. One of their statement was as follows, “whenever I start drinking…I usually don’t feel like stopping... I continuously consume bottle after bottle!” They revealed that greygoose consumers usually have the best of their moments while consuming the vodka with their friends. Analyzing greygoose consumption as an engine under the deep metaphor force, our research indicated that the sale of the vodka improved their country’s economy. Our informants acknowledged the positive impact of the brand’s consumption on the nation’s economy and the society as a whole. They stated that the income obtained from foreign consumers was used to raise their living standards. Essence was another deep metaphor of greygoose consumption that we came up with. Our informants described the false-great feeling caused by the vodka’s consumption. We came up with a conceptual metaphor evil therapist. As an evil therapist, greygoose creates imaginative images of homes and lives of the consumers (Wallace 186). We recorded a respondent’s statement as follows, “greygoose makes me feel like a king in the palace...Highly honored and respected!” The imaginative images created are the thematic metaphors. Greygoose consumption makes people forget about their problems hence giving them peace of mind. Our report on why consumers love greygoose indicated that neither adults nor students believed in the false feelings caused by the spirit. From the data that we collected, we came up with evidence supporting the notion that greygoose consumption makes people live in a world of fantasy. Our data indicated that the evil therapist in conjunction with seducer and con-man encouraged people to consume greygoose to create the imaginary images in their minds. References Rothbaum, Noah. The Business of Spirits: How Savvy Marketers, Innovative Distillers, and Entrepreneurs Changed How We Drink. New York, NY: Kaplan Pub, 2007. Print. Chang, Kevin C.-C. Advances in Web and Network Technologies, and Information Management: Apweb/waim 2007 International Workshops, Dbman 2007, Webetrends 2007, Pais 2007 and Aswan 2007, Huang Shan, China, June 16-18, 2007 : Proceedings. Berlin, BE: Springer, 2007. Print. Goffin, Keith, Fred Lemke, and Ursula Koners. Identifying Hidden Needs: Creating Breakthrough Products. Houndmills, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Print. Belk, Russell W. Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2006. Print. Wallace, Stephen. Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs and Sex - What Parents Don't Know andTeens Aren't Telling. New York, NY: Union Square Press, 2008. Print. Read More