Target Market & Rationale for Selection of the Target Market - Literature review Example

Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Assignment Overview   1.2 Target Market   1.3 Rationale for selection of the Target Market 2. The Problem  2.1 Extent of the Problem of Youth binge-drinking   2.2 Importance of this issue for Government   2.3 Importance of this issue for the Commercial marketers   2.4 Analysis of the key factors that are known to influence binge-drinking   2.5 Analysis of the marketing strategies that have been undertaken previously globally to address this problem 3. Culture Theory   3.1 Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture   3.2 Relevance of the five diments to the topic   3.3 Analysis of the drinking habits of the two countries/cultural clusters you have selected using Hofstede’s five dimensions 4. Recommended Strategy   4.1 Strategies 1. Introduction 1.1 Assignment Overview According to statistics, many drinkers don’t even know themselves that they binge drink, since many don’t even know the true definition of binge drinking. But among those who are aware of what binge drinking means, many, up to 20% go beyond the limits, consuming more than 10 or 15 drinks in a single session. (06/2006 Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research). The outcomes of binge drinking and yet drinking above the limit are numerous, ranging from, fights, accidents, to sexual assaults and blackouts and still more, dying from an overdose, etc. Therefore binge drinking is a very serious problem and it needs to be taken care of responsibly. 1.2 Target Market & Rationale for selection of the Target Market The target markets chosen here are Australia and the UK. The reason for choosing these two cultural clusters is that binge drinking rates of these two cultural clusters is among the highest in the world. According to Arjun Chaudhuri (2006), in Australia, statistics show that this form of excessive drinking starts from ages as low as 12-16, and it is also widely accepted, whereas the legal drinking age is 18. According to statistics from the National Health Survey it is evident, that among the people aged over 18, 48% of males who were found binge drinking in 2004, among them 12% did excessive drinking at least once a week, and among 30% of the females that were found to be engaged in binge drinking at least once in 2004, among them 4% were doing so at least once a week. At the time when the survey was taken, ‘binge drinking’ was considered to be 7 or more standard Australian drinks per occasion for males and 5 or more for females. Binge drinking in women: According to a Roy Morgan survey for the Salvation Army, the findings were that binge drinking by young women had decreased, although a huge number of twelve % were drinking nine to 30 drinks on a regular basis and about 5 million Australians were regularly drinking almost 6 to 30 drinks in one session at least once a month. The survey was based on a random sample of 1331 people from all over Australia (17/9/04: Canberra Times, p.7; Age, p.5; Adelaide Advertiser, p.15; Australian, p.3). In the United Kingdom, binge drinking is also very prevalent. And it is the cause of many accidents as well. According to BBC, in 2003, the estimated cost of binge drinking was about 20 billion pounds. It has been noticed, that while in other countries, the pubs remain open through out the night, the pubs in UK close early. Therefore this leads to, too much drinking before the closing hours of the pub and more drunken people. And in other countries, a drink is taken with a meal, going in slowly and gently, not causing a lot of drunkenness. Binge drinking in UK is so worse, that the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair warned that binge-drinking was fast becoming the “new British disease” according to BBC. 2. The Problem 2.1 Extent of the Problem of Youth binge-drinking The Problem: Common consequences of binge drinking (Queen’s University, Queen’s Health, Counseling, and Disability services) • Nausea and vomiting • Failing grades • Violence • Impaired driving and accidents • Sexual violence • Liver failure • Cirrhosis of the liver • Increased blood pressure and heart rate • Mental health disorders: Compulsiveness, depression or anxiety • Early deviant behavior • Brain damage and memory loss There are no excuses for binge drinking. If anyone says, it only affects him, then that person is wrong, excessive drinking affects one’s school, work and society, absenteeism from that person’s workplace and decreased performance level, whereas another consequence is, worsened academic grades. 2.2 Importance of this issue for Government As the majority of the people that are involved in this activity belong to a younger age group, and the extent of binge drinking has increased from the past, the government needs to take stern action against it. 2.3 Importance of this issue for the Commercial marketers Price: According to a bar owner, an increasing factor that encourages binge drinking is the lower or discounted prices on the drinks, whereas some commented that if the price was slashed a bit too much, people would look at that drink suspiciously. So, perhaps, commercial marketers could price their drinks at a level which would become unaffordable for the masses to buy, let alone, buy in large numbers, to get alcoholically intoxicated. Product: Wine producers should introduce new added features or product diversifications like low-carb beverages or low-alcohol drinks that do not get a person, quickly alcoholically intoxicated. Marketers should market these characterstics widely so that these drinks gain in popularity. 2.4 Analysis of the key factors that are known to influence binge-drinking The factors that influence binge drinking, the biggest among them is: • Peer-pressure. • Another factor is access. • Discount schemes from Alcohol marketing companies. • Suggestive advertising • Hanging out with friends • To get over difficult problems; drinking as an escape 2.5 Analysis of the marketing strategies that have been undertaken previously globally to address this problem According to Yuan Gao, (2004), these are a few suggestions by which binge drinking could be curbed or stopped. One way is self hypnosis. On the internet there are many sites, which offer or sell self-hypnosis recordings. Another method is putting a check on oneself or controlling one against having alcohol, by slowly decreasing the number of drinks, and then afterwards switching to water or soft drinks after one has had about two drinks. Drinking slowly is another way to stop getting drunk and acting indecently. By drinking slower, one can enjoy also and have a good time with friends; while on the other hand, one is in enough senses to know when to stop, and remains in control of himself. These are methods that have been applied succefully in the past. 3. Culture Theory 3.1 Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture Geert Hofstede is a Dutch writer. Most of his works are related to the study of cultures, for example, national cultures and organizational cultures. His studies show that different nations can be grouped together because of the similarities in their cultures. He also showed that the behavior of societies and organizations is also affected by national and regional cultural groupings. To assess culture, Hofstede found five dimensions, which need to be taken into consideration. They are: • Low vs. High Power Distance • Individualism vs. collectivism • Masculinity vs. femininity • Uncertainty avoidance • Long vs. short term orientation Low vs. High Power Distance: In relation to binge drinking, people identify the difference between Champagne, which is considered to be expensive and the drink of the elite class, and beer which is cheaply priced and readily available. Everyone cannot afford champagne, let alone binge drinking it. Students usually are found drinking beer, which they can afford, but at parties of the well-off people or people belonging to the high society, highly priced drinks are usually served. Individualism vs. collectivism: Australia and United Kingdom both are considered to be individualistic cultures. Over here people are free and have their own choices. Therefore each of them must be having a unique brand choice and different taste. Masculinity vs. femininity: Masculine cultures value ambition, assertiveness and competitiveness, that is, they are more focused on the quantity of life. While feminine cultures give more stress on relationships, hence quality of life. Uncertainty avoidance: For cultures that fall in the category of uncertainty avoidance, such countries avoid risk. Long vs. short term orientation: This factor deciphers how much value is attached to respect for tradition, perseverance, and persistence. 3.2 Relevance of the five diments to the topic These five dimensions alter and affect the way that these cultures respond to every external thing, in this case drinking or more specifically binge drinking. It discusses their traits or their personality characteristics which is overshadowed in everything they do or are involved in. For example whether they are masculine or feminine in nature, whether they like taking risk or not, etc. 3.3 Analysis of the drinking habits of the two countries/cultural clusters you have selected using Hofstede’s five dimensions Low vs. High Power Distance: Australia was a beer drinking country till 1960, but this year was when the Australians started taking interest in wine. This shows people shifted to low-cost wine, in order to fit their affordability. This shows that Australians are not so class-conscious. Individualism vs. collectivism: Both Australia and UK are considered to be individualistic cultures, so everybody has their own choice and their own brand. Masculinity vs. femininity: UK and Australia are considered to be masculine cultures, so the companies that advertise drinks, hit on the masculine factors of goal seeking, ambition seeking. For example, an Australian beer ad saying “Forget the monarchy, support the Publicans”, talks of masculine traits of speaking about politics. However, in the UK, the trend is shifting towards taste and ambience rather than session drinking. Uncertainty avoidance: For countries that avoid risk, low-alcohol beer is a good option, which doesn’t get you drunk quickly. Long vs. short term orientation: Some beer ads are found showing ‘Respect for heritage’. 4. Recommended Strategy 4.1 Strategies How to stop Binge Drinking on College Campuses • Increase awareness: Letting people know of the dire consequences of binge drinking will be of help. Making statistics known in a positive manner will be of tremendous help also. • Provide mentors and role models: Famous people in the college or university, who do not drink, or drink soft drinks, might become a source of inspiration for the other students. They can share their anecdotes about how they reduced or quit drinking. • Increasing the number of fines and the number of police available round the campus: Putting heavy fines and taxes on the student population will help leverage down the number of students involved in binge drinking. • Provide alternatives to partying’ like dances, movie shows or arts and crafts projects: Some students think, that enjoying life only means having to drink. But if the college or university helps organize different movie shows or arts and crafts projects, then their drinking habit may be curbed and not fueled further. • Every single person should take responsibility: Every citizen should be a responsible citizen. And they should know in order to act sober; they should not be drinking too much. Tips to stop binge drinking Some tips to stop binge-drinking are as follows. Students usually have a perception that their peers drink much more than they do, and that their fellow students are allowed to drink more than they are in reality. Therefore they indulge in more and more drinking in order to fit that image. They try to do as the normal behavior is, according to their thinking. But a way to curb bingeing is that, taking surveys and putting the factual statistics in front of the students. When students get a glimpse of the reality, they drink less, since now they know that drinking is not so widely socially a norm. Another way to bring binge-drinking levels down is as follows. Let’s take a hypothetical example, that for instance in a university campus; it is found through a survey that 25% of the students are involved in binge-drinking. If you openly announce this statistic, then students would believe that, a big part of the student body in this campus is involved in binge drinking and so, other students would also like to follow the norm. But if it is reported, on the other hand that 75% of the student population, are not involved in drinking, then the psychological effect that it would have would be, that since 3/4th of the students are not found doing this act, then it should not be done, in order not to look awkward, or in order not to stand out. 5. References 1. Yiannis Gabriel, Tim Lang (2006) The unmanageable consumer, Icon Group International 2. Yuan Gao, (2004) Web systems design and online consumer behavior, Idea Group Inc. 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Hofstede 4. Arjun Chaudhuri (2006) Emotion and Reason in Consumer Behavior, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann 5. Michael R. Solomon (2004) Consumer behavior: buying, having, and being, Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2004 6. http://Acceptresponsibility.org Read More