Leading student media group, Student Aid, has carried out the ‘Student Drinking Brand Awareness Survey’. The aim of the survey is to find out how drinks brands are perceived by the student market and how they affect the student drinking experience. Essentially - how much impact do alcohol campaigns actually have on the money conscience university student?
Whilst there are always seasonal drinks campaigns, there is a big push with a variety of promotions for the summer of 2010; from Gaymers’ on-bottle promotions for BOGOF music tickets, to Birmingham University’s Student Union capitalising on the World Cup offering discounts on drink purchases.
Current national drinks campaigns, such as the £4m cross-merchandising and cross-marketing Diageo and Coca Cola Enterprises joint venture ‘Together for a Better Summer’, aim to promote branded spirits and branded mixers together. The partnership, which is predicted to be worth £230m in sales by 2012, will be focussing on promoting Schweppes and Coca-Cola alongside Diageo’s Smirnoff, Gordon’s and Pimm’s. How much notice will the university student take to this campaign? Will the cheaper alternative always be the preferred option?
26% of respondents want their drink to be served with their preferred spirit and mixer and served correctly. 30% are nonplussed - their drinking experience isn’t affected if it is a familiar brand or not. The majority, unsurprisingly enough, of 44%, would only choose to drink the cheapest spirit and mixer offering.
Let’s assume this 44% are drinking unbranded drinks to save money, but once graduated they will upgrade to branded spirits and mixers - it is therefore important to find out how drinks brands are perceived by students. The Power 100 Report, carried out by Intangible Business, found that Diageo’s Smirnoff was named the most valuable drinks brand, described as possessing a “modern, cool image”. Has this translated to the student market? It would appear so – according to the Student Aid survey, the majority of 40% cited Smirnoff as being the brand they perceive most positively – followed by Jack Daniel’s with 19%. Results that also correlate with the Power 100 Report include Bacardi, occupying third place with 12%. Other brands synonymous with the student market that were cited most positively include Vodka Kick and Malibu.
If there were no influence of promotional offers, 50% of respondents said they will stay loyal to their favourite drinks brand. However, on-pack promotions such as Gaymers’ current £1m campaign, which invites consumers to go on-line and register an on-pack code to get two music events tickets for the price of one, would appear to be a successful vehicle to persuade university student drinkers to try an alternative to their preferred drink – a vast majority of 79% of respondents said they would purchase a substitute drink if free music tickets were available.
It can be concluded that students are aware of and susceptible to drinks marketing campaigns, even sharing similar brand perceptions as their elders. Regardless of this, it is drinks promotions that influence the purchasing decisions for a university student.
To find out about brand or product placement opportunities with Student Aid, please contact Michael Konig on 020 3008 6609. For all university enquiries, please contact David Corbineau on 020 3008 6605.
Editor notes:
Student Aid was set up by young entrepreneur, Andy Fidler and consists of a network of on and offline media channels, which enable brands and universities to interact directly with students. This includes a new social networking site specifically for UK students which will beta launch in June 2010. Andrew’
Contact:
Danielle Young, PR Manager
danielle.young@
07854770581
To see the 2009 Student Aid Welcome Parcel, please follow this link: Student Aid Welcome Parcel 2009
