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WILL LEGAL MARIJUANA DEBUNK THAT FLAVOUR & TASTE GENERATES CATEGORY LOYALTY?
The survey suggests that “27% of surveyed beer drinkers have or will substitute beer for marijuana when and if it becomes legal in their state."
Anecdotally wine and spirits sales are also expected to take a hit.
What’s surprising is the ease that regular long term drinkers have/will jump from beer and possibly alcohol completely.
For years industry pundits have told us that it’s the flavour and taste of beer and spirits that motivates consumers.
The argument then segues into attributes of both “the experience” and “the occasion” that creates the environment for drinkers to relax and party.
The question that follows: what drives brand or category loyalty, when consumers can readily switch and ditch?
Can the argument be synthesised into something simpler: for consumers is it about the buzz, meaning the cost of a joint and its effects may be cheaper and quicker (with no calorie considerations) than an equivalent volume of booze?
If in the short terms sales do drop by 20-30%, there’ll be some horrific fall out, however what this will look like longer term no one knows.
Will folks drift back to beer and spirits?
Brands, retailers and bars are in for interesting times, perhaps now’s a good time for conjurers and marketers to huddle and strategise, to create new stories to help hold the existing market together.
Image courtesy of www.freepik.com
Provenance, Read the Fine Print!
Provenance is the event horizon authenticating a product’s journey from start to finish.
History, heritage, pedigree; serve as the assurance to guarantee consumers favourable experiences.
With consumers increasingly becoming more curious about health impacts of food and drink, will more attention flow towards greater product transparency...?
The WHERE (it’s from) will become less important than the WHAT (it’s made of!)
Grab any soft drink can, beer bottle and most packaged food, flip it around to discover a long list of chemical ingredients. Everything is there to be seen from how much sugar, fat, preservatives etc. etc. is used.
The broader thought: informed consumers make better decisions!
If you’ve got an allergy, a health issue.... diabetes, heart disease, weight or cholesterol issues: read a product’s “discovery label” to decide whether that product may have harmful impacts!
Taking this thought one step further: will activist consumers make demands on regulators to enforce stringent labelling transparency on more product categories?In the not too distant future, could pressure be forced on the Wine industry to declare contents and chemical composition of Wine? What would the spill-over effects be on the Spirit industry?
Under these circumstances can the most pure Spirit brands still advertise as being the most pure, the most natural if a chemical analysis is forced onto its outer packaging.
Could new Prohibitionists (the anti-liquor lobby) force greater alcohol restrictions and higher taxes in the pursuit of their self-righteousness?
Here’s a thought: governments (in a democracy) require Legislation to restrict or prohibit things, however it’s the public service at the behest of Government who can proscribe regulations (declaring something to be or not to be) bypassing the legislative process and public scrutiny!
When the day comes for the Wine and Spirits industry to become label transparent, marketing fundamentals relied upon for hundreds of years will also change from amazing storytelling, mystique, provenance and pedigree to that of plain old cardboard facts?
Yuck!
