Measurement of Pearl River’s Brand Extension relate to its Brand Equity & Identity MN5251 Daming Xie 100636545 Tutor: Dr. Rob Stevenson Pearl River Beer MSc International Management School of Management
Measurement of Pearl River’s Brand Extension relate
to its Brand Equity & Identity
MN5251
Daming Xie 100636545
Tutor: Dr. Rob Stevenson
Pearl River Beer
M S c I n t e r n a t i o n a l M a n a g e m e n t S c h o o l o f M a n a g e m e n t
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Abstract
With the advanced development of technologies, assimilation of productivities and quality of same product class grows rapidly in an unexpected speed. Hence, brand name becomes crucial element to identify the differences of products. Hence, more and more literatures perceived that a brand could be concerted as a set of assets/liabilities, consisting Brand Awareness, Brand Loyalty, Brand Associations and Perceived Quality. Furthermore, such brand equity can be related to a brand’s identity, which could be treated as a person, organization, product or symbol. Pearl River currently owns relatively lower brand equity, due to the lost of its loyalty customers (elder people) and the youth’s market. To step out of this crisis, Pearl River decided to rebrand itself via rebuilding the brand communications channels and the brand image of its sub‐brand, Supra. This study adopted both qualitative and quantitative researches to analysis Pearl River’s current brand equity and branding strategy; verify the subjects of lose customers; moreover, measure the latest brand communication approaches so as to examine the purpose of Pearl River’s branding activities.
Keywords: Pearl River, Brand Equity, Branding, Beer, Consuming Behaviour, Brand Image.
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MSc International Management
Royal Holloway,
University of London,
MEASUREMENT OF
PEARL RIVER’S BRAND EXTENSION
RELATE TO ITS
BRAND EQUITY & IDENTITY
Post Graduate Dissertation: MN5251
Name: Daming Xie
Student ID: 100636545
Tutor: Dr. Rob Stevenson
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Background knowledge of Pearl River Beer .......................................................... 7 1.2 Learning Outcome........................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Theoretical Branding and Object of the Study ....................................................10 1.4 Structure overview .......................................................................................................11
2 Literature Review.....................................................................................................12 2.1 The New Role of Branding in Present Business ..................................................12 2.1.1 Currently Market Situation in China .............................................................................13
2.2 Consumer Behaviour and Brand Value..................................................................15 2.2.1 Consumer Buying Behaviour............................................................................................15 2.2.2 Relationships between Brand Value and Price.........................................................16
2.3 Brand Equity ...................................................................................................................17 2.3.1 Brand Awareness...................................................................................................................18 2.3.2 Perceived Quality...................................................................................................................20 2.3.3 Brand Loyalty ..........................................................................................................................21 2.3.4 Brand Associations ...............................................................................................................23
2.4 Brand Identity ................................................................................................................24 2.4.1 The Brand Personality.........................................................................................................25 2.4.2 The Brand as Symbol ...........................................................................................................26 2.4.3 The Brand as Organization ................................................................................................27 2.4.4 The Brand for Product‐related Associations .............................................................28
2.5 Brand Extension and Brand Identity ......................................................................30 2.5.1 Structure of Brand Identity ...............................................................................................30 2.5.2 Brand Extension.....................................................................................................................31
2.6 Theoretical Overview ..................................................................................................32
3 Strategies and Frameworks Implementation .................................................33 3.1 Porter’s Five Forces ......................................................................................................33 3.2 ANSOFF Matrix and Brand Extension Mixed ........................................................34 3.3 Porter’s Generic Strategy (1980).............................................................................35
4 Research Methodology ...........................................................................................36 4.1 Questionnaires...............................................................................................................36 4.2 Secondary Research .....................................................................................................38 4.3 Interview (semistructure & indepth)..................................................................39 4.4 Artifacts ............................................................................................................................41 4.5 Focus Group & Observation .......................................................................................42 4.6 Methodology Summary ...............................................................................................44
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5 Data and Information Analysis ............................................................................45 5.1 Pretesting Survey Analysis ........................................................................................45 5.2 Loyalty to Pearl River ..................................................................................................48 5.2.1 Preferences between Age Categories............................................................................48 5.2.2 Loyalty to Various Beer Brands.......................................................................................49 5.2.3 Market Segmentation on Loyalty....................................................................................50
5.3 Perceived Quality to Pearl River..............................................................................54 5.3.1 Motivation & Taste................................................................................................................54 5.3.2 Quality & Productivity .........................................................................................................55
5.4 Brand Association to Pearl River.............................................................................56 5.4.1 Associations to Pearl River from Interviews .............................................................56 5.4.2 Profile of Manager from Different Brands ..................................................................57
5.5 Brand Awareness to Pearl River ..............................................................................58 5.5.1 Recall & Recognition with Draft Beer ...........................................................................58
5.6 Brand Identity of Pearl River ....................................................................................60 5.6.1 Impression to Pearl River ..................................................................................................60 5.6.2 Effects of Advertisement fro Pearl River .....................................................................61 5.6.3 Advertisement and Slogan.................................................................................................62 5.6.4 Comments to the Latest Advertisements ....................................................................63 5.6.5 Change of Brand Image After Advertised....................................................................64
5.7 The Brand Extension Supra.....................................................................................66 5.7.1 Brand Awareness to Old Supra........................................................................................66 5.7.2 Preference to the Design of Bottles................................................................................67
6 Findings Description ...............................................................................................69 6.1 Strategic Analysis via Frameworks .........................................................................69 6.1.1 Porters Five Forces in Southern China Beer Industry ...........................................69 6.1.2 Generic Strategy of Pearl River........................................................................................70 6.1.3 ANSOFF Matrix and Brand Extension Mixed of SUPRA ........................................70
6.2 Findings from Surveys.................................................................................................71
7 Recommendation and Limitation .......................................................................75 7.1 Recommendation to Pearl River..............................................................................75 7.2 Recommendation for Further Research................................................................76 7.3 Limitation ........................................................................................................................77
8 Conclusion...................................................................................................................79
References .........................................................................................................................83
Appendix ............................................................................................................................87
Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................135
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List of Appendix
Appendix 1. STRATEGIC BRAND ANALYSIS ............................................................86
APPENDIX 2.HOW BRAND EQUITY GENERATES VALUE .....................................87
APPENDIX 3. THE SIX FACETS OF BRAND IDENTITY ...........................................88
APPENDIX 4. ANSOFF MATRIX & BRAND EXTENSION.........................................89
APPENDIX 5. PRETESTING QUESTIONNAIRES .......................................................90
APPENDIX 6. DATA OF PRETEST QUESTIONNAIRES ..........................................92
APPENDIX 7. FURTHER QUESTIONNAIRES .............................................................94
APPENDIX 8. GATHERING DATA FROM “SPSS” ......................................................98
APPENDIX 9. RECORD OF INTERVIEWS.................................................................112
APPENDIX 10 MEANSURES OF BRANDBUILDING BLOCKS ............................119
APPENDIX 11. FOCUS GROUP DATA 1– KARAOKE BOX ...................................122
APPENDIX 12. FOCUS GROUP DATA 2– DINNER PARTY ..................................127
APPENDIX 13. OBSERVATION TO GUANGZHOU BEER MUSEUM...................129
APPENDIX 14. RELIABILITY, DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS & ANOVA..............130
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1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background knowledge of Pearl River Beer
The beer industry is rapidly developing in China during the recent years, since
China has become the biggest beer producer and consumer around the world.
Yet competition between beer producers is increasingly growing and more
furious within the Chinese market. As modern advanced technologies and
economies of scales are widely launched by beer manufactories, assimilation
affects the quality, cost, taste and some other characteristics of beers from
various brands. In accordance with Kapferer (2008), brands are a direct
consequence of the strategy of market segmentation and product differentiation.
Hence, brand name proves to be the major and strong weapon.
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Pearl River is a national‐owned company, which locates in Guangzhou,
Guangdong. According to an interview with the manager of Pearl River in Global
Food Industry Magazine (2007, Jun.), Pearl River is a member of Top Three beer
brands in China; furthermore, it is one of the biggest beer manufactories over the
world. On 21st August 1997, Pearl River had successfully developed the first
Chinese draft beer on its own. Hence, its productivity and sales were significantly
enhanced and monopolized the Guangdong beer market (over 70% market
share), gaining over 30% profit by holding merely 8% sales of the overall
Chinese beer market (Wang, 2002). However, The achievement of great profit in
the competitive Guangdong market has trapped Pearl River Beer into dangerous
situation. Many beer brands, whether national brands like Tsingtao, Yanking, or
foreign brands e.g. Budweiser, Carlsberg and etc, are targeting at the rich market
in Guangdong (Yu & Wang, 2007) and attempting to share part of the huge
benefits.
Besides, Pearl River is facing certain serious conditions – loss of customers, lack
of market segmentations. Pearl River was founded in 1985. Customers in favour
of Pearl River are mainly of the old segment, and for health and some other
personal reasons, they are leaving Pearl River or changing their tastes with the
passage of time. Yet the advanced brand identity of new entrants to the market,
most young beer consumers follow the trend and become fans of foreign beers.
Thus aging of customers while losing fresh blood – young customers – is main
reason of getting Pearl River into trouble (No.1 interview, Appendix 9).
To maintain and enhance both customer and market share, Pearl River has
determinedly decided to develop a new product with an existing brand name ‐
Supra” (No. 1 interview, Appendix 9). Supra is a Latin word, as its meaning of
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superiority, “Supra” beer is produced to challenge competitors and assault the
high‐end market.
In addition, the brand “Supra” was developed in 2004, yet as a matter of fact, it is
exactly the same liquid of draft beer with different physical design for targeting
at the higher market with a better identity (Xu, 2007). However, “Supra” gain no
success as a wrong strategy was adopted (Wang, 2002). Meanwhile, along with
re‐launching Supra, Pearl River aims to rebrand itself and rebuild the connection
to the market today.
1.2 Learning Outcome
A theoretical review about brand analysis (Aaker, 1996) and management (see
Appendix 1), which consists of brand equity, identity, and extension, is the back
bond of this study. There is a linkage between consumer behavior and brand
equity, including awareness, loyalty, association and perceived quality.
Therefore, the study is based on this relationship, and then understanding the
factors that affect brand equity via analyzing the brand as person, organization,
product and symbol, which is majorly represented as brand identity (Aaker,
1996; Kapferer, 2008).
Yet there are just a few existing survey‐based or documentary studies on beer
industry so far, even less on Chinese market. So this study can be a settler of
branding and brand communication on the aspect of Chinese beer market,
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meanwhile it can provide certain information to researchers for further study or
research on this aspect.
1.3 Theoretical Branding and Object of the Study
As stated by the pioneer of brand strategy – Aaker (1996), a brand name is a set
of assets (and liabilities), which could create value for both customers and
corporations. Therefore, brand equity, which including brand loyalty, awareness,
association and perceived quality, has become a crucial part within the aspect of
branding and marketing. Kapferer (2008) supports Aaker’s (1996) study that
brand identity is strongly and directly relates to brand equity as a person,
product, organization and symbol. So this paper is aiming to research the brand
identity of both Pearl River and Supra with the link of consumer behaviour, in
order to analyze the brand equity of them. And finally in accordance with the
brand structure, brand extension is required within a successful brand. So the
relationship between Pearl River and Supra is another object of this study.
So far, however, there has been little discussion about the brand management
within Chinese beer industry. The survey has gathered information for
measuring Pearl River’s brand equity via both qualitative and quantitative
researches. Afterwards, it has conducted a further analysis of whether Pearl
River’s brand equity is strong enough to achieve brand extension, or whether it
expands its brand for other object.
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1.4 Structure overview
The paper is divided into six chapters. Firstly, Chapter One shows an overview of
the background and object over the whole study, followed by a theoretical
analysis of branding, which mainly consists of brand equity, brand identity, and
brand extension in Chapter Two. Meanwhile, customer buyer behaviour is
implemented to examine the effects of brand equity. Thirdly, the next Chapter
lists the sampling and methods that used to study consuming behaviour and the
Pearl River’s brand equity, while questionnaire, focus group, and interviews are
applied. And then according to the findings and collected data, Chapter Four
analyzes Pearl River’s brand equity, identity and certain Supra’s brand identity.
After that, discussions and recommendations to the management of both brands
are given in Chapter Five. Finally, Chapter Six shows the summary of the overall
research and findings, and lists certain limitation during the progress.
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2 Literature Review
2.1 The New Role of Branding in Present Business
“The way we made money in the past was by saving money, by cutting costs. Now
we have to make money by spending money, by investing in our brand.”
Eric Yu, CFO, BenQ
A brand is a name with power of influencing customers, whose power increases
when more people know about it, trust it and are convinced by it. Branding is a
process by organization, giving a sense of identity to consumers, stimulating
consumers’ senses and enriching their life experiences, such as increasing
emotional and psychological benefits, meanwhile, enhancing the popularity of the
organization and differentiating the company itself from its rivals (Martin Roll,
2006).
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From a customer’s viewpoint, rather than the quality of manufacturing, a brand
comparatively reflects the quality and reputation of the product or service more
efficiently. Customers are more willing to pay substantial and consistent money
for the brand instead of product or service per se. Moreover, a successful brand
strongly holds customers’ attributes, values and personality via building an
emotional and psychological relationship. At the same time, the behaviours of
those consumers illustrate the concept of corporate branding, as well as the point
of organization’s view. Corporate branding is branded by the organization as a
whole, and its brand name then is used to support the product or the product
brands (Teresa & Paul, 2010). In addition, corporate branding is a key to build
and maintain the reputation, image and the public acceptance. Heller (2007) has
argued in the study of Prudential Assurance Company that corporate branding is
important in developing an internal culture. Besides, internal culture provides
assistances for the company in attracting and retaining a dedicated workforce
and in enhancing employee commitment, such as worker loyalty.
2.1.1 Currently Market Situation in China
The General Manager of Zenith Media, Beijing (2005) pointed out the situation of
the greater Chinese market on the book Branding in China (China Knowledge,
2005), there will be a leader who can hold up around 15% share of the market.
However, it will probably comes to the same situation where there may be a
market leader, but perhaps holding 30%‐40% market share in a developed
market. Namely, the market in China is comparatively huge but full of
competition. As a result, it is important to launch a long‐term investment and
sensitive reaction to build brands in China.
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Martin (2006) quoted Maslow’s theory ‐ “Hierarchy of Needs” (see Figure 2.1.1,
Schutte with Ciarlante, 1998) on his Asian brand strategy research, western need
for self‐actualization is replaced in the Asian context by social needs of status,
admiration and affiliation. Compared to some western branding campaigns,
there should be more emphases on the consideration of cultural and racial issues
before executing the campaign in China, Asia.
source: Martin Roll‐Asian Brand Strategy, 2006
According to the report of China Knowledge (2005), the living standard, living
quality and consuming power are in direct proportional to the developing level
and position of the area; besides, the gap between the high‐end and low‐end for
the developing level of the city is dramatically huge, namely, the difference
between the cities. That is to say, consumers in bigger or more advanced areas
like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are aware of greater brands more easily,
since the citizens have higher disposable income. While in some other areas,
such as third or even fourth‐tier cities, consumers are still striving for basic
needs: for survival, jobs security and etc.. Consequently, branding could not be
very effective for the time being.
Figure 2.1.1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and the Asian equivalent Upper Level
needs
Lower Level needs
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2.2 Consumer Behaviour and Brand Value
2.2.1 Consumer Buying Behaviour
As Foxall’s (1981) stated that consumer behaviour can be expressed as a “four
phase, sequential process” – (i) conscious and unconscious motivation; (ii) pre‐
purchase research; (iii) sub decisions and buying experience; and (iv) post
purchased consumption and evaluation. Researchers, like Kotler (1997),
developed the Consumer Information Processing Model and suggested that
consumers’ purchasing‐decision‐making processed as the following five stages
(see Figure 2.2.1.1).
Figure 2.2.1.1 Consumer Information Processing Model
source: Aaker, 1996
Kotler (1997) analyzed the consuming processing as firstly perceiving a need
(problem recognition), after that seeking value (information research), next
assessing value (evaluation and selection of alternatives), and then buying value
(decision implementation), afterwards examining value in consumption or use
(post‐purchase evaluation), finally perceiving a further need and going back to
the first step (problem recognition) again.
Problem Recognition
Information research
Evaluation and Selection of Alternatives
Decision Implementation
Post‐purchase Evaluation
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2.2.2 Relationships between Brand Value and Price
Kapferer (2008) stated the necessary first step of building a strong brand and
differentiation is creating a brand‐own value, rather than holding an advanced
product. Branding starts from the customer, hence, Keller (2001) proposed that
building a customer‐based equity is significant to build great brand equity. And
such customer‐based equity is mainly concentrate on the value that a brand
offers to customers.
Figure 2.2.2 Value Proposition of Customer Buying Behavior
According to Aaker (1996), a brand’s price is related to the value/benefits that
the brand provides. At the same time, since brands are evaluated independent of
price, in the aspect of brand identity, price can define the competitive set, such as
upscale, middle market or downscale. Higher relative price signals a higher
quality or premium position while low relative price signals a lower quality or
value position (see Figure 2.2.2). Namely, from customers’ point of view, a higher
price of strong brands provides greater value (Keller, 2001), and also this value
affects consumer’s willingness to pay. In addition, it is the way of building brand
identity as well.
Functional Emotional Self‐Expressive Relative Benefit Benefit Benefit Price
VALUE PROPOSITION
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2.3 Brand Equity
Kapferer (2008) defined that “brand equity is a set of mental associations and
relationships built up over time among customers or distributors”. As Lukeman
(1995) mentioned, brand equity is a set of intangible asset.
The value of the product or service, which is added by the brand’s name or logo,
can be seen as a set of assets and liabilities, such as brand name awareness, brand
loyalty, perceived quality and brand associations. All these intangible assets or
liabilities are Brand Equity, and it generates value for both customers and the
firm (see Attachment Two, Aaker, 1996) – affects consuming behaviours by
changing the consumer’s confidence in the purchasing decision and using
satisfaction; enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing programs for
the firm, as well as assisting the firm to gain the larger margins and competitive
advantages.
However, Ehrenberg, Barnard and Scriven (1997) were against the concept of
brand equity that a brand name has negative and positive power to affect
consumer’s buying behaviour. The reason for a brand to hold and retain market
shares is the salience of a brand.
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2.3.1 Brand Awareness
A large amount of literature, including Aaker (1996) and Keller (2001), agreed
that brand awareness is basically the first and the most important factor to affect
consuming behaviour and provide more additional value to both the firm and
consumers. According to Kapferer’s (2008) research on marketing directors of
the top 500 corporate of the world, about what they would consider to be the
characteristics of a strong brand, a significant company asset. The followings are
the answers in order of importance:
• Brand awareness (65%);
• The strength of brand positioning, concept, personality and distinct image
(39%)
• The strength of signs of recognition by the consumer, such as logo, codes,
packaging, and etc. (36%)
• Brand authority with consumers, brand esteem, perceived status of the
brand and consumer loyalty (24%)
Aaker (1996) and Keller (2001) have provided a view of awareness that it refers
to the strength of a brand’s presence in the consumer’s mind (recognition and
recall), such as the message or image that is provided by the brand. Brand
awareness is measured according to the way that how consumers remember a
brand through a logo, image, symbol or slogan. The main presences of Brand
awareness are mainly related to brand recognition and brand recall. In fact, brand
recognition and recall are far more significant to affect consumer’s behaviours
rather than just remember a brand. That is to say, even with nonsense words,
people instinctively prefer an item or symbol they have previously seen to one
that is new to them.
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Brand recognition is simply remembering that there was a post campaign to the
brand; but doesn’t really involve remembering where the brand encountered,
why it is different from the other brands, what the brand’s product class is. A
psychological research on recognition (Aaker, 1996) shows that a more positive
feeling can be generated from anything, like music, people, words or brands.
Brand Recall can be seen as a greater effect on consumers’ mind compared to
brand recognition. Its emphasis of a brand comes to consumers’ minds when its
product class is mentioned (Keller, 2001).
Young and Rubicam Europe ltd. developed the “graveyard model” (see Figure
Error! Reference source not found.) with the guidance of Jim Williams, which
compares position of brands in a product class in a way recognition versus recall.
There are findings consistent across many product classes verified that brands
tend to follow the curved line shown in the following figure of “Graveyard Model”.
The study of Y&R argued that both the recognition and recall are equally
important, and the sales and market share will increase when brands are moving
away from the graveyard.
A strong brand name, in a recall task, could be remembered as the only brand
within a product class by most of customers, such as Heinz Ketchup.
low Recognition
high
Low Recall high
brand Graveyard
Niche Brand
Figure Error! Reference source not found. Recognition Versus Recall: The Graveyard Model
Brand
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2.3.2 Perceived Quality
In Brand Leadership by Erich Joachimsthaler and David A. Aker (2000), the
authors proposed a case that “when a high level of perceived quality has been (or
can be) created, raising the price not only provides margin dollars but also aids
perceptions.” Aaker (1996) pointed out consumers have the ability of recognizing
the quality perception through the awareness of a brand. As more and more
marketing messages are bombarding, on the mind of consumers, the quality
perception of a product or service is linked with brand identity. However, a better
brand identity does not represent high quality, a better quality of product or
service is the fundamental prerequisite of perceived quality. Besides, according
to Keller’s (2001) study, same as perceived quality, attitude toward brand is
crucial to improve brand equity.
Aaker (1996) has previously argued there is no absolutely high quality to product
and services, it is important to understand what quality means to different
customer segments, e.g. psychographic segmentation, geographic segmentation
and etc. As well as Keller (2001), they believe the perceived quality of a product
or service is directly related to the distance of competitive advantage of the brand
name, brand identity and brand position within consumers.
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2.3.3 Brand Loyalty
Jacoby and Kyner (1973) stated that brand loyalty is not just a simple repeated
purchasing behaviour, but also the certain brand bias on purchase decision‐
making (rather than random). Aaker (1996) emphasized the importance of
loyalty to the brand value – a higher loyal customer base can be expected to
generate greater sales and profit stream. Moreover, it is much less costly to
retain existing customers than to attract new ones. Kapferer (2008) wrote all
strong brands are currently establishing loyalty programmes. In addition, Keller
(2001) perceptively suggested a blueprint for creating a strong brand is to build
customer‐based brand equity, namely, to hold and to enhance loyal customers.
According to the “80/20 Rules” (The Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2009),
within a business, 80% profit comes from 20% top customers, and most of these
customers possess high loyalty towards the specific brand. Again, the report
stresses on the significance of brand loyalty and it is the key to build a strong
brand. During the debate about what is most important: customer equity or
brand equity, Kapferer (2008) argued that all strong brands are currently
establishing loyalty programmes. However, there is another challenge for the
companies that which group of people is their target market. According to
Aaker’s (1996) study on loyalty segmentation, a market is usually divided into
the following groups:
• Noncustomers (people buy competitor brands or not product class users)
• Price switchers (people with price elasticity/ price sensitive)
• Passively loyal (people purchase follow their habits rather than reasons)
• Fence sitter (people that indifferent between two or more brands)
• The committed
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The idea of Aaker (1996) to improve brand loyalty is to decrease the number of
price switchers, to strengthen the fence sitter and committed’s ties of the brand,
and to increase the number of people who have willingness to pay for the brand.
At the same time, Cross and Smith (1994) proposed the aim of the actions
required to keep loyal customers:
Defensive Aim, to give the customer no reason for leaving the brand;
Offensive Aim, to create a personalised relationship with the client.
All in all, to build the brand loyalty is aiming to enhance and maintain customer
share, which is also the object of relationship marketing. Besides, Bailey, Baines,
Wilson & Clark (2010) stated a suggestion when conducting research on
relationship marketing: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) largely
influences brand loyalty, which is an influential part of consumer purchasing
process.
Meanwhile, Aaker (1996) assumed that it is easier to understand the nature of a
brand‐customer relationship through making personalizing for a brand, creating
it own a personality and interpersonal relationship with customers. And this
assumption is usually achieved by strong brands – move beyond product
attributes to a brand identity.
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2.3.4 Brand Associations
According to the study of Spreading‐
Activation Theory (Allen and
Elizabeth, 1975), the memory of
human is set up by people’s
knowledge (see Figure 2.3.4). And
the association is actually dispersing
randomly and in accordance with
the experience and memory.
However, the way of inspiring
consumers’ associations is to
develop and implement a brand
identity.
Brand associations can be related to a symbol, colour, music, brand name, the
way that the brand presents and some other relevant messages. As Aaker (1996)
mentioned, a strong symbol provides a cohesion and structure to an identity and
makes it easier to remember. In accordance with martin Roll’s (2006) study on
Asia branding, companies have used well‐known public figures, celebrities and
sports personalities to endorse their brands, and these campaigns are much
more popular in China. Since it is widely believed that such celebrities assist to
build or reposition brands by extending their personality, character and
popularity to the brands they endorse.
Figure 2.3.4Human Spreading Activation
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2.4 Brand Identity
According to the previous study of brand equity, generally, the brand value is
mostly based on the brand identity and image. Aaker (1996) defined brand
identity as also the unique set of brand associations that establishes a
relationship with target markets, and these associations generate the customer
value via functional, emotional or self‐expressive benefits. It is the visual and
verbal impression of a brand, and supposes to be memorable, authentic,
meaningful, differentiated, sustainable, and flexible. (Alina Wheeler, 2006)
Meanwhile, in Alina’s (2006) book Designing Brand Identity, She states the best
identities advance a brand, and she considers a great identity of a brand is to
build with Vision, Meaning, Authenticity (market, positioning, value proposition
and competitive difference), Differentiation, Sustainability, Coherence (wherever
a customer experiences a brand, it must feel familiar and have the desire to
possess), Flexibility, Commitment and Value.
Nevertheless, Kapferer (2008) developed the Six Facets of brand identity,
explaining the feature of brand identity with more details, while the hexagonal
prism represents brand’s physique, personality, relationship, culture, reflection
and self‐image (see Appendix 3). Physique of a brand refers to the physical
specificities and qualities, which is made of a combination of either salient
objective feature. Personality is the character built up through communication.
Culture, the core of the brand, determines the essential principles of external
communication. Brand is an embodiment of a relationship, offering chances for
mutual communication. Reflection could be the apparentness of the target
customers, while self‐image illustrates the internal reflection of the target
customers. These six facets form a well‐structured entity and interrelate to each
other.
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As 1996, Aaker suggested brand identity have texture and depth, an organization
should consider dividing its brand into four different categories as product
(product scope, product attributes, quality/value, uses, users, Country of origin),
organization ‐ organization attributes, localization and globalization, person ‐
personality, brand‐customer relationship, and Symbol ‐ visual imagery and
metaphors, brand heritage (see Appendix 2).
2.4.1 The Brand Personality
People choose their brands in the same way as they choose their friends in
addition to the skills and physical characteristics; they simply like them as
people (Azoulay and Kapferer’s, 2004). Namely, brand personality is richer and
more interesting than the product of the brand itself.
Aaker (1996) wrote brand identity could help create a self‐expressive benefit
that becomes a vehicle for the customer to express his or her own personality;
and it provides convenience to strengthen the relationship between the
customer and the brand. A brand can play various roles in different relationship
segmentations (Kapferer, 2008). It can be an active relationship partner, and the
brand behavior itself for different personalities, and Aaker (1996) lists certain
relations between brand behavior and brand personality as Table 2.4.1.
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Table 2.4.1Relationship between brand behavior and brand personality Brand Behavior Personality Traits
Frequent changes in position, symbols, ads Flighty, schizophrenic
Frequent deals and coupons Cheap, uncultured
Advertises extensively Outgoing, popular
Strong customer service, easy to use, package Approachable
Continuity of characters, packaging Familiar, comfortable High price, exclusive distribution, ads in up scale magazines
Snobbish, sophisticated
Friendly ads, endorser Friendly
Association with cultural events, PBS Culturally aware
Brand personality is often a sustainable point of differentiation, it can be unique
within the product class and provides a powerful vehicle to develop an identity.
Meanwhile, Alina’s (2006) viewpoint on Coherence repeats Aaker’s thinking –
whenever a customer experiences a brand, it must feel familiar and have the
desire to possess, it is no need to be rigid or limited in order to feel like one
company.
2.4.2 The Brand as Symbol
In the study of new economy, Campbell (1999) stated brand identity must distill
the essence of the brand experience promise in a unique and memorable way;
and she derived a formula from a positioning statement for the brand identity
studies:
“Brand Symbol = Name + logo + Slogan”
27
Inside the formula, the name is an integral part of the brand identity and is
served as the initially impression, no matter in the core‐brand or sub‐brand. The
logo is used to strengthen the power established by the name. Slogan can show
the brand positioning and induce the further association of customers. Again,
this statement emphasizes the importance of Aaker’s (1996) point “brand as
symbol”. In Aaker’s (1996) study, a strong symbol can be more meaningful and
provide cohesion and structure to an identity and make it much easier to
improve brand recognition and recall (see Point Error! Reference source not
found., brand awareness), since symbols involved visual imagery can be
memorable and powerful.
2.4.3 The Brand as Organization
The perspective of a brand as an organization concentrates on characteristics of
the organization rather than those of the product or service (Aaker, 1996). All
these attributes, such as innovation, quality, and concern for the environmental,
are created and personified by the people, culture, and values of the company
(MBJ, 2003; Aaker, 1996). In some specific contexts, apart from organizational
attributes, brand can also be described as product attributes (see point 2.4.4).
However, a lot of researchers like Kapferer (2008) and Aaker (1996) stated that
it is much easier to copy a product than to duplicate an organization with unique
people, values, and programs, as organizational attributes (e.g. internal culture)
are built with a long time accumulation and it is impossible to evaluated.
28
According to Aaker (1996), a customer focus, environmental concern,
technological commitment, or a local orientation can involve emotional and self‐
expressive benefits, as organizational attributes can contribute to a value
proposition.
2.4.4 The Brand for Productrelated Associations
Aaker (1996) perceived that product is always the fundamental element of a
brand as it affects the type of associations that are desirable and feasible. A
product is directly related to the purchase or use of a product can provide
functional benefits and certain emotional benefits for customers. It can build an
extra value proposition by offering something better and more, like features or
service.
2.4.4.1 Design of a Product
According to the Brand identity prism (see Appendix 3), Kapferer (2008)
ordered physique is the fundamental base of brand identity. As is mentioned
before (see Point 2.4.3), physique is both the brand’s backbone and its tangible
added value. In addition, supported by Alina (2006) when explained a
compelling vision by an effective, articulate, and passionate leader is the
foundation and the inspiration for the best brands.
Physical appearance is significantly important since it guides the initial feeling
and association of customers immediately when the brand is shown, e.g. the
29
flagship product is always the representative of the brand’s qualities and image.
At the same time, a strong, coherent brand identity, especially physical design of
a product, will be easier to remember. The interesting and special characteristic
is more memorable than the boring and common (Kapferer, 2008; Aaker, 1996).
At the same time, product‐related associations will almost always be an
important part of a brand identity (Aaker, 1996). It is directly linked to
customers’ brand awareness, decision‐making and using experience. Hence,
brands are two‐legged value‐adding systems.
2.4.4.2 Quality and Value of a Product
Linking back to the preserved quality element (see point 2.3.2) of brand equity,
according to Aaker (1996), perceived quality provides either the price of
admission or the linchpin of competition. It is extensively applied as a core
identity within many brands. Meanwhile, value is firmly related to a product’s
quality (Kapferer, 2008), and it enriches the concept by adding the relative price
(see point 2.2.2).
2.4.4.3 Association with Users and Use Occasions
Aaker (1996) proposed to own a particular use or application and a specific type
of customer share could assist brands to success. By doing that, organizations
force competitors to work around this reality and imply a value proposition.
30
2.5 Brand Extension and Brand Identity
2.5.1 Structure of Brand Identity
According to Aaker’s (1996) work,
brand identity consists of a core
identity and an extended identity
(see Figure 2.5.1). The two identities
represent different depth and views
of a brand.
Core identity, the organization based
view, represents the timeless
essence of the brand, and it can be seen as the DNA of a brand (Aaker, 1996). It
provides the basic information that requires for the future expansion and brand
communication. Meanwhile, extended brand identity provides a richer content of
the brand, in order to express the brand completely. Extended identity is the key
element of the brand’s marketing program. It introduces and embellishes the
brand with more details, and associate customers with benefits as impressions,
e.g. psychological benefits, emotional benefits and self‐expressive benefits.
(Keller & Aaker, 2001)
EXTENDED IDENTITY
CORE IDENTITY
Figure 2.5.1 Brand identity structure
31
2.5.2 Brand Extension
With the help of the advance brand power/brand equity, brand extension is a
strategic investment to a new product or new market, in order to cut the
launching cost and enhance the customer acceptance (Kapferer, 2008). It is the
basis of corporate branding (see Point 2.1). Meanwhile, Tauber (1981) held that
brand extension offers new channels for companies’ growth, also gains a
strategic opportunity to evaluate and to redefine the nature and direction of the
business. In accordance with Keller & Aaker’s (1990) work, compared with
creating a new brand, it is more beneficial for a firm (with higher brand equity)
to launch a new product within an existing brand. Nevertheless, a failure of
brand extension can lead to a disastrous consequence.
Figure 2.5.2 The consequences of product and concept fit and misfit.
source: Michel, 2000
Keller & Aaker (1990) suggested the extended product and the original product
must have the strong relevance. In addition brand identity provides a strong
assistance for a successful brand extension. With regards to Kapferer’s (2008)
research, extension is based on physical fit and concept fit, and it can be
summarised as the Figure 2.5.2.
Brand dilution
Brand reinforcement
Extension product
Prototypical product
Extension product
Brand concept
Physical fit
Concept fit
32
2.6 Theoretical Overview
As brand equity contributes value for both customers and company, branding is
becoming the most significantly important and strongest weapon of the current
marketing and financing battles. The objectives of customers’ needs and wants
have changed from functional needs to value of brands, such as psychological,
emotional and self‐expressive benefits (Kapferer, 2008, Keller, 2001). The
pioneer of branding studies ‐ Aaker (1996) perceived Brand equity is consisting
of awareness (including recall and recognition), perceived quality, loyalty, and
associations. However, Kapferer (2008) discussed a brand identity is that how a
brand would like to be perceived.
That is to say, brand identity strongly and directly relates to brand equity.
Besides, brand identity is straightforward to focus on product related brand
characteristics (Alina, 2006), and according to Aaker (1996) it represents as
person, product, symbol and organization. As brand identity is divided into core
identity and extended identity (Kapferer, 2008), brand extension offers
convenience to develop new products within a strong brand.
Yet it is important for a strong brand to maintain and extend its market position
by brand extension. From the physical fit to concept fit, it initially is to aim at
satisfying consumers’ needs and wants, maximize the added value of the product
or service, in order to gain a greater satisfaction. In a broader view of the brand,
with consideration of emotional and self‐expressive benefits, a brand personality
and brand symbol, the likelihood of creating real differentiating value is
enhanced (Aaker, 1996).
33
3 Strategies and Frameworks Implementation
3.1 Porter’s Five Forces
At the beginning of 1980s, Michael Porter developed a framework (see Figure
3.1.1) that suggests an industry as being influenced by the following five forces:
rivalry among competitors, threat of substitutes, threat of entrants, bargaining
power of buyers and bargaining power of suppliers (Porter, 2010). However,
deal to the diverse positioning and situation of different industries, the
characteristics and importance of these five forces are different.
Figure 3.1.1 Potter’s Fiver Forces Framework
34
3.2 ANSOFF Matrix and Brand Extension Mixed
Aaker (1996) considered that there are four leverage options for brand
management – line extensions, stretching the brand vertically, brand extensions
and co‐branding.
• Line extension is a new version of the product within the same product
class under the same brand name, e.g. Apple iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.
• Brand extension is a new product within different product class under
the same brand name, e.g. Tesco Supermarket and Tesco Petrol.
• During the same product class, an item applies a new brand name but the
same market position, it is called flanker brand. (Tauber, 1981)
• A new entry employs a new brand name and the product or service in a
new product class to the company is a traditional new product, it is called
cobranding. (Tauber, 1981)
ANSOFF Matrix allows marketers to consider different ways to grow business via
launching existing/new products in an existing/new market (see Appendix 4).
Referring to Tauber’s (1981) study on brand extensions, it can be perfect to
apply the ANSOFF theory into the branding extension strategies (see Figure
3.2.1).
FIGURE 3.2.1 Existing Products New Products
Existing
Brand Product Line
Extension Brand
Extension
New
Brand
Flanker brand CoBranding
35
3.3 Porter’s Generic Strategy (1980)
Porter (1980) developed a framework for organizations to achieve sustainable
competitive advantages, and he outlines three strategic options with a
consideration within the context of competitive environment (see Figure 3.3.1).
FIGURE 3.3.1: PORTER’S GENERIC STRATEGY
Competitive Advantage Low Cost Differentiation
Broad Target COST LEADERSHIP DIFFERENTIATION
Competitive scope
Narrow Target COST FOCUS DIFFERENTIATION
FOCUS
Cost leadership indicates that firm’s theory about how to compete successfully
centers on low costs and price.
Differentiation strategy focuses on how to deliver products that customers
perceive to be valuable and different.
Focus strategy serves the needs of a particular segment or niche of an industry.
36
4 Research Methodology
4.1 Questionnaires
In order to conduct the research on measuring Pearl River Beer’s brand equity,
this study has used questionnaires (200 responses, see Appendix 7); and for the
performance sampling control, pre‐test/pre‐questionnaire‐questionnaires (50‐
60 responses, see Appendix 5) are implemented. Since these are the most
common and reliable approaches of descriptive research that provide reliable
data gathering from people with beer preference. Additionally, according to
Glatthorn & Joyner (2005), surveys are an appropriate method to gather
opinions, perceptions and attitudes over a large amount of people.
37
Inside the pre‐test questionnaire, in order to provide convenience to focus group
design and interview processes, questions are generally focusing on the overall
beer industry in China, as well as the beer consuming behaviors. For example,
the factors that influence buyers’ purchase, and consumer’s brand identity to
Pearl River. Furthermore, the further questionnaire is more concentrating on
Pearl River’s brand equity and brand identity, such as the perceived quality and
brand association of Pearl River, which was tested in Questions.
For the purpose of providing a more powerful base for the questionnaire,
demographic sampling, stratified sampling and quota sampling were mainly
applied during the pilot study (pre‐test questionnaires). Firstly, according to
different habits on drinking beer, it segmented the respondents into two groups
– beer drinker and non‐beer drinker; and then applied demographic segment to
divide into different age groups; furthermore analyzed the different preferences,
demands, awareness and associations that Pearl River beer provided. Finally,
designed the questionnaire with the information from pre‐test. Besides, the
research used the observed demographic sampling to ensure the survey was
offered to a representative population of beer purchasers, since over half
(61.8%) responses of the pretest do not drink beer too much (once a month or
less). Observations were taking place in supermarkets, food stalls, restaurants
and karaoke clubs. Moreover, convenience sampling was used, as there are three
colleges near the house of mine. Snowball sampling was adopted as respondents
always reference their friends who drink beer often. Meanwhile, for gathering
more reliable data via the convenience sampling, with the assistance of
relationships, certain responses were surveyed by the supermarket keeper and
some nightclub owners.
38
For keeping respondents’ minds fresh and concentrated, irrelevant questions
were added at times even they are not related to information, and the
questionnaires were designed shortly. At the same time, mixture of nominal and
interval scale questions were used during the survey, majorly adopted in
comparing different brand images, and Pearl River beer evaluations. To avoid the
difficulties and limitations of analysis for open‐ended questions via SPSS, closed‐
ended questions were widely applied. Fortunately, closed questions offered lots
of efficiencies for the data collecting, since most of respondents (beer buyer)
were in a rush to a meeting, party or dinner. All surveys were completed face‐to‐
face (55%), online (25%), video call (5%) and telephone (15%). Nevertheless,
interviews were taking place in order to compensate the lack of open‐ended
questions, since most of the target responses of the survey were rush for sharing
their time with friends (most of responses were drinking beer with friends).
4.2 Secondary Research
Naresh and David (2006) identified the functions and importance of case study,
so the approach was chosen as a secondary research to allow a fully
understanding for the Chinese market and the branding research methods. Yet
due to the limitation of resources for the previous survey‐based studies on beer
industry in China, secondary research was not applied as widely as expected.
Hence, newspapers, magazines, TV programs and some other beer‐related
materials were quoted as secondary research, yet only a few of academic data
was found and achieved.
39
There is a Beer museum in Haizhu Area, Guangzhou, which is built and donated
by Pearl River Group, so it became a part of documentary data source for
secondary research. It gave a further comprehension for Pearl River’s
background.
4.3 Interview (semistructure & indepth)
As considering that qualitative measure would usefully supplement and extend
the qualitative analysis, in order to gather the latest information about Pearl
River Beer’s marketing strategy and brand management, the changing market,
semi‐structure and in‐depth interviews were adopted to describe and identify
the variety of personal experience, behavior, brand awareness (recognition &
recall) and associations towards beer purchase, usage, and evaluation. The
research conducted TWO kinds of interviews with application of stratified
sampling, in‐depth interviews and semi‐structured interviews, one is for the
internal people who are currently working for Pearl River Beer (interview No.1
and No.2), the other is external people who drink beer at least twice a month
(five interviews). Interviews including in person interviews and telephone
interviews, the range reached both southern and northern (interview No.7)
China (see Appendix 9).
Interviews with Pearl River Beer’s banding strategists were related to current
brand equity and the brand extension – SUPRA white beer, including the
functions of launching white beer and how they design the brand identity of
SUPRA. To analysis the beer market more generally, questions about other beer
40
brands were asked as threats of Pearl River Beer. The result of these interviews
will be summarized and transferred into Porter’s Five Forces framework (see
Point 3.1), in order to analyze macro environments.
A method of cluster sampling was implemented to group geographic and
demographic segments during interviews with beer consumers. In order to
reduce the potential for interview bias and keep interviewees’ minds fresh, there
were some initial questions to ask as well as other questions that flowed with the
interview conversations, even if they were not perceived information for data
analysis – since Marton (1994) suggested that interview questions should
neither be made up in advance nor be overly predetermined. Meanwhile, open
coding approach was used with interviews. Every transcribed/summarized
interview was coded with different value that based on customers’ points of
views – functional, emotional and self‐expressive; as well as the value of brand
equity – awareness, perceived quality, loyalty and associations. Afterwards,
according to the different coding rates, the analysis compared the verity value
and analyzed the gap between Pearl River beer and competitor brands.
The interview separated the questions into three main topics following the
consuming behaviors:
Topic 1. Purchase motivation, including information research and
alternative selection and evaluation.
Topic 2. Decision‐making
Topic 3. Post‐purchase evaluation
41
4.4 Artifacts
Organizational artifacts can be assessed to comprehend organization’s values,
such as the name of an organization and its employees, products, buildings,
processes, and contracts, displays certain aspects of an organization that can be
seen in the name of an organization and they represent people, organizations,
and professions (Rafaeli & Pratt, 2005). The artifact the research used was the
brand name of Pearl River and the design of the bottle. Candidates and
respondents were asked to tell their thinking when they heard the brand name‐
Pearl River and saw the bottles; at the same time certain emotions and reactions
from them were elicited. Hence, symbolism was applied to measure beer buyers’
value.
Researches for Pearl River’s brand awareness and brand loyalty gave a better
understanding about how and what customers valued. Candidates were asked to
tell their beer purchasing progress and differences between Pearl River and the
other beer brands. Hence, symbolism approach was applied to categorize
candidates’ emotions and reactions during interviews and focus groups, as well
as responders from questionnaires. Surveyed candidates had certain ideas on the
negative image that Pearl River represents. The research identified such ideas
that whether Pearl River’s brand image matches these characteristics or not, and
then give certain recommendations to Pearl River.
Artefacts within Pearl River is currently entering the stage of decline from
product life‐circle, namely, it is an old brand; besides, it can only be a banal
brand far away from the high‐end/luxury market. Therefore, the study aims to
identify the gap of the brand and customers’ value.
42
4.5 Focus Group & Observation
Demographic and stratified sampling was used when choosing focus group
participators, as the focus group was conducted with two groups of population
with aging 20‐29 and over 35 (with consideration of result from pre‐test
questionnaire). And participants were required to meet the following conditions:
haven’t participated surveys for this research, have a background knowledge of
beer, drink beer usually, neither too talkative nor extremely quiet. Besides,
snowball and convenience sampling was applied to assist in gathering an inter‐
related relationship. In order to avoid embarrassment and out of context, the
focus groups were held at a dinner party for the elder people and karaoke for
younger people. And the location design can refer to the following Figure 4.4.1.
According to the result of pretest survey (see Appendix 6) and the record of
interviews (see Appendix 9), different beer brands were chosen for various focus
Figure 4.4.1, Focus Group design Karaoke Box
Restaurant Private Room
Table
chair
entrance
TV
Table
Table
Chair Chair
Chair
Chair Chair
Chair
Fridge Entrance
Table
43
groups – Budweiser, Carlsberg, Heineken and Pearl River for young group of
people, while Yanking, Tsingtao and Pearl River for elder group of people.
Meanwhile, the locations of meetings are various as young people prefer
drinking beer in karaoke bars and nightclubs, while elder people prefer in
restaurants and at home. By contraries, focus group examined the reliability and
authenticity of collecting data of pre‐test survey.
During the processing of focus group, symbolic method was used to examine the
variety of brand image and identity in the mind of consumers, following the scale
of social classes on clothing brands and automobile brands. As signifier refers to
material object and signified refers to concept (Hansen Anders, 1998), brand
association and brand personality can be presented when candidates were asked
to imagine and tell the characteristics of managers from each beer brand, in
terms of their habits, dress up, favorite sports and vehicles. Meanwhile,
observation technique was achieved to observe the behaviors of recognition,
recall, decision‐making, and purchasing, as well as the brand loyalty, such as to
observe how they ordered beer and what made them change other decisions. To
keep the observation’s data reliable and general, observation was taken within
the focus group but before asking questions and starting activities. In order to
keep a well condition of atmosphere, games were held during the progress.
Video and voice recording were the main applications to keep track of the
activities. Yet, due to the lack of operations on AV equipments and the lack of
upholding knowledge, there were some difficulties and limitations within the
processing, such as the quality of recording. Meanwhile, with the lack of
experience of leading a focus group, there were some times that the meeting was
out of control as arguments were shocking.
44
4.6 Methodology Summary
The research aims to investigate Pearl River’s brand equity, including awareness,
association, loyalty and perceived quality. Combined with the current beer
consuming behaviours and the data, which is gathered from surveys, and then
analysis whether brand extension is Pearl River’s right strategy and whether
Pearl River’s brand equity is strong enough to provide advantages to extend its
sub‐brand.
Research design was based on a mixed method of qualitative and quantitative
techniques (Creswell, 1999), and a mix between using theory and frameworks
techniques (Bailey, Baines, Wilson & Clark, 2010) for data collection and
analysis. As most of researchers favor using a mixed method of them, so this
study followed the same theoretical methods as well. As quantitative research
could not fully show the result of open‐end questions correctly, qualitative
research was used to supplement and test the reliability of the information.
Pilot Study (Pre‐test questionnaire) aims at the overall beer industry in China,
and then builds the base for the further survey that aimed at the particular Pearl
River Beer, mainly focusing on its brand equity, the parent‐brand and sub‐brand
identity.
45
5 Data and Information Analysis
5.1 Pretesting Survey Analysis
As there are seldom studies on Chinese beer market so far, plus Pearl River is
going to stay in southern market, hence, pretesting is aiming to understand the
general southern market of beer. As can be seen in Appendix 6, there are 89
people responded to the pretest questionnaires, which consisting students
(24.7%), self‐employed (26.9%), employed (46.1%), unemployed (10.1%) and
retired (2.2%). For all these responses, beer is not really a popular beverage as
only 35 responses drink beer usually, but unexpectedly, almost all of such
responses are male. However, there are 55 (61.8%) responses drink beer once a
month or less (see Figure 5.1).
46
Figure 5.1 Frequency of drinking beer – pretesting questionnaire
And the premium bottle is the most popular design/standard as 51.7% of
responses preferred. According to the result of the survey, there are four beers
sharing the top of the Guangdong market, and the most popular brand is
Budweiser, 73%, followed by Carlsberg (57.3%) and Tsingtao (47.2%). Yet Pearl
River is listed as the fourth (44.9%) with itslocalization advantages (see Figure
5.2). Meanwhile, responses over age 45 are more likely to choose home made
brands, e.g. Pearl River, Tsingtao, Kingway, Yanking and Snow.
Figure 5.2 Result of preference brands – Question 8, Appendix 5 & 6
In order to understand buyers’ consuming motivation and consideration of beer,
questions about scaling the importance of factors that influence buyers’
consideration on purchasing beer was asked in pretesting (Q6, Appendix 5 & 6),
Budweiser
Carlsberg Pearl River Tsingtao
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
47
and the result is shown on Figure 5.3. It is clear that beer consumers in China are
care about the taste the most as 70.8% responses think it is highly important to
influence their brand consideration, and nearly all of the rest responses (23.6%)
think it is relatively important. It is followed by brand image and word of mouth,
which are equally important with average rating around 4.0 (3.98 and 4.16).
Figure 5.3 Factors that influence your consideration on purchasing beer.
As the result of loyalty measurement from Question 10 of pretesting as Table 5.4,
there are less than 5% responses will absolutely for or against a particular brand.
Hereby, it comes a great opportunity for rivals and new entrants to take the
substitution. So it threats Pearl River’s market development. Yet oppositely,
Pearl River still got chance to rebuild its brand loyalty.
0
1
2
3
4
5 Convenience
Advertising
Brand image
Packaging
Price
Promotional activities
Taste
Physical design
Word of mouth
Young
Table 5.4 Loyalties to preference brand. % N Only preference brand 4.5 4 Preference brand First 57.3 51 No preference brand 33.7 30 Some brand Never purchase 4.5 4
48
5.2 Loyalty to Pearl River
5.2.1 Preferences between Age Categories
There are only 173 out of 187 valid responses1 from the further questionnaire,
and mainly of the responses are from age 18 to 34 (31.8% fro 18‐23, and 42.8%
for 24‐34). Most of responses (89%) had heard about the brand Pearl River Beer,
but all the 6 responses from northern China have completely no idea about what
Pearl River is. As shown with the data from Question 3, which is testing the top of
mind to brand awareness, Budweiser holds the highest rate with 34.1%, and is
followed by Carlsberg (24.9), yet Pearl River is slightly lower but similar to
Carlsberg with 23.7% popularity. Figure 5.5 explains the reason for Pearl River
to stand equally high as Carlsberg that it is due to the affects of Pearl River’s
loyalty customers – as responses above age 35 are mostly the fans of Pearl River.
Figure 5.5 Result of cross table between age Q1 and top brand of mind Q3.
The issue of aging loyalty customer and losing young market for Pearl River is
clearly displayed on Figure 5.6. The younger the responses are, the less the Pearl
1 Invalid responses stand for those questionnaires have not been completed and fake or non-useful answers (e.g. same answer for all questions).
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
18‐23
24‐34
35‐44
over 45 Budweiser Carlsberg Heineken
Pearl River Tsingtao
49
River is preferred; yet responses from age 18‐34 are more likely to purchase
Budweiser and Carlsberg, which are foreign brands, due to only a small number
of responses (15.6%) consider Pearl River is popular and fashionable. However,
there are certain responses from 18‐24 age group prefers Tsingtao rather than
Pearl River, since there are 63% (Q7‐1, Appendix 8) of responses can be defined
as value purchasers with price sensitivity – most people from this age group are
students or low‐income‐people. Furthermore, according to the industrial
analysis of Chinese beer industry (Yu & Wang, 2007), Tsingtao is cheaper than
Pearl River in China.
5.2.2 Loyalty to Various Beer Brands
Table 5.6 Presentation of loyalty to beer in the survey of Focus Group. NAME SEX AGE LOYALTY
Shen M 26 No preference Liang M 28 Prefer Carlsberg and Heineken Chen M 28 No preference Zhou M 33 Prefer Carlsberg Lin M 26 Not accept Pearl River
Karaoke focus group
Huang F 28 No preference Wang M 47 Accept Pearl River Zhu M 50 Very loyal to Pearl River Xie M 55 Prefer Pearl River, drink tea for healthy Ouyang M 48 Very loyal to Pearl River D
inner party
focus group
Huang M 51 Prefer Pearl River
Besides, according to the pretesting (see Point 5.1), there is no absolutely
preference brand in beer industry, since there is no switching cost for customers
to purchase another brand. All the candidates from interview and focus group
50
agree with this view of point, but with an exception of candidates over age 45
(see Appendix 9, 11 & 12, Table 5.6).
Hence, the focus groups give a strong supporting to the result of loyalty to Pearl
River, which are found via questionnaires (see Point 5.2.1). As loyalty customers
of Pearl River are mostly middle‐aged people (from age 40 or above), yet healthy
issue is becoming a present problem to them. And this issue affects their
consuming behaviours to beer directly.
5.2.3 Market Segmentation on Loyalty
Figure 5.7 Relationship between market segmentations
Brand Identity
Consideration Purchase Usually
Yes
Yes
No Brand Stranger
No No Brand Irrelevance
Yes Brand Outer
No Brand Latent
Yes Loyalty Group
Purchase
Frequently
51
The object of relationship marketing, which is the modern and advanced
marketing, is building a steady relationship with customers in order to maintain
and maximize customer share (Kiefer & Steve, 2009). Namely, the importance of
knowing who the customers are is highly significant. Hence, the findings allow
the study to segment the market of Pearl River with various awareness and
loyalty to itself, the relationship between customers and the brand can be seen in
Figure 5.7, and the segmentations shows as following:
The Brand Strangers: refer to the responses that without any recognition to
Pearl River, and indicate that will never ever drink or recommend Pearl River
whether in the future or presently, even though the brand name has been given.
There are a very small number of brand strangers in southern Chinese market,
since only 19 responses out of 173 (11%) had never heard of Pearl River (Q5,
Appendix 8). Such group of people includes all responses from northern China,
as Pearl River is a southern‐based company and has a (20 years) long history
(Xu, 2007).
The Brand Irrelevances: refer to customers have certain awareness of Pearl
River, but formerly purchase the brand not frequently; yet indicate that they will
not choose the brand in the future.
The Brand Outer: refer to responses, which have certain awareness of the
brand Pearl River, that drink Pearl River beer usually before, but show that will
not purchase and recommend the brand afterwards during the survey.
52
However, the further questionnaire is done with the sampling of observation, in
the case of ensuring responses are beer drinkers. Hence, combine with Q5 and
Q6 (refer to Appendix 7 & 8, see Table 5.8), there are 154 out of 173 responses
(89%) knew Pearl River, yet 29 out of such responses will not drink and
recommend it to their friends in the future. Namely, 16.8% of responses can be
defined as one of the group of brand irrelevances and brand outer.
Table 5.8 Cross table of Q5 heard of Pearl River and Q6 recommend friends Recommend friends Yes No Missing TOTAL
Yes 124 29 1 154 Heard of Pearl River No 9 10 0 19 TOTAL 133 39 1 173
The Brand Latent: refers to responses that owns certain awareness of the Pearl
River but not preference on the brand before, but will choose and recommend
the brand in the future. According to Table 5.8, there are 124 out of 173
responses (71.7%) can be defined as brand latent.
The Brand Loyalty group: refers to responses, whom drink Pearl River often,
with strong awareness and loyalty to Pearl River, including chose Pearl River as
the top brand of mind in Question 3 and being able to recognize its Draft beer
(see Figure 5.5); and also indicate to maintain drinking and recommending Pearl
River in the future.
The data of loyalty group can be seen as Table 5.9, there is only 19.6% of
responses can be categorized into the group. Yet over a half of these responses in
loyalty group are above age 45 (53%), which is followed by age 35 to 44 (23.5%).
53
Furthermore, the loyalty group occupied 94.7% of responses in the class of age
above 45, and 32% in the class of age 35‐44.
Table 5.9 Comparison of age category between Loyalty group and overall responses.
Age 1823 Age 2434 Age 3544 Age over 45 TOTAL
Loyalty group
3 (8.8%)
5 (14.7%)
8 (23.5%)
18 (53%)
34 (100%)
Overall 55
(31.8%) 74
(42.8%) 25
(14.5%) 19
(11%) 173
(100%)
5.5% 6.8% 32% 94.7% 19.6%
To sum up, this information presents that the loyalty group of Pearl River is
mainly consisted by elders (above 45), and is assisted by middle age (35‐44).
Young people from age 18 to 34 altogether occupy less than a quarter (23.5%) of
the loyalty group.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
18‐23
24‐34
35‐44
over 45 Loyalty group overall
54
5.3 Perceived Quality to Pearl River
5.3.1 Motivation & Taste
Data from pretesting shows that the factors that influence consumer’s beer
buying behaviours (see Figure 5.3) the most is the taste of beer it. Nevertheless,
the taste and quality of Pearl River is certainly staying low – according to the
result of Q7 (see Figure 5.10), there are 63% responses accept Pearl River’s price
is reasonable, 38.2% responses agree it is tasty and high quality, but there are
only 15.6% and 8.7% perceive it is popular & fashionable, and own a impressive
advertisement; there are around a half of responses (42.2%) are following their
friend’s recommendation. Combine with the information of question 10 (see
Q10‐8 & Q10‐17, Appendix 8), the impression of quality and tasty to Pearl River
is averagely in a lower medium scale.
Figure 5.10 Reason for purchasing Pearl River Beer, Q7, Appendix 7 & 8.
However, a blind test in focus group one with candidates from age 24 to 34 (see
Appendix 11) shows that, the taste of Pearl River is almost the same as Carlsberg
and (slightly higher than) Budweiser, even Carlsberg and Budweiser are the
most popular beer brand in the same age category. Namely, the taste between
Pearl River and the other brands is similar. Therefore, the reason that drags
Pearl River in a lower scale of taste and high quality can be considered as not the
taste and quality itself, but the perceived quality to the brand Pearl River.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
friend's recommendation impressive ad. popular & fashionable taste & high quality resonable price
55
5.3.2 Quality & Productivity
As mentioned during the interview of Michelle and Tian (No.1 & No.2, Appendix
9), who are working for Pearl River – Pearl River is the pioneer to produce the
first draft beer in China and presently planning to launch a new product with its
existing sub‐brand, Supra White Beer. White beer is brand new to the Chinese
beer industry. Besides, evidence emphasises the developed technology and
innovated productivity of Pear River, yet as found from the survey, the perceived
advanced and modern productivity of Pearl River is essentially low (see Figure
5.11; Q10‐8 & Q10‐13, Appendix f8).
Figure 5.11 Scale of high quality and advanced productivity, Pearl River
Around 110 out of 173 responses think that the quality and productivity of Pearl
River is in a neutral standard (about 40% of responses, scale of 3) or even lower
(26.6% of responses, scale of 2). So the perceived quality to Pearl River can be
concluded as relatively low, however, the truth is right opposite to responses’
awareness.
7
46
74
29
17
14
46
67
35
11
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
1
2
3
4
5 high quality advenced & modern productivity
56
5.4 Brand Association to Pearl River
As associations to a brand are boundless and free (Allen and Elizabeth, 1975), it
is difficult to survey via quantitative research, e.g. questionnaires. So qualitative
research, such as interview and focus group, were majorly adopted to verify
Pearl River’s brand equity. At the same time, a method of open coding was
applied to measure the brand association to Pearl River.
5.4.1 Associations to Pearl River from Interviews
As can be seen on Appendix 9, there are interviews for both Pearl River worker
(No. 1 & No. 2) and customers (N0. 3 to No. 7). In order to identify the brand,
associations were coded and sorted into various symbolic categorise, as can be
seen in Table 5.12.
Table 5.12 Association to Pearl River from interviews and coding
Age Association Category Michelle 26 n/a n/a Tian 36 n/a n/a Liang 26 Student II; VI Liu 28 non‐personality, contempt, harmful, low‐end I; II; VI Li 19 Not attractive, Dad, at home, I; II Xie 48 Dinner, nightclub, old friend, unhealthy III; IV; V Jiang 31 Old, 60s‐70s, food‐stalls, childhood I; II; IV; VI
Symbolism I. aging brand; II. low‐social‐class,
III. historical brand, IV. reminiscent
V. unhealthy, VI. cheap
57
There are different symbolisms for different age groups, candidates below age
40, especially under age 30, are easier to bring some negative associations, such
as aging brand, low‐social‐class and cheap (Table 5.12). To the elder candidate,
he positively remembers the past life and his friends. Yet for the healthy issue,
some negative association for beers comes up to him, the associations are not
aiming at Pearl River but overall alcohol beverages – even the candidate don’t
drink beer that often recently for the healthy concern, he would like to consider
himself as a very loyalty customer to Pearl River still (No.6, Appendix 9).
5.4.2 Profile of Manager from Different Brands
Meanwhile, with the comparison of some foreign beer brands, brand associations
to Pearl River are relatively disappointing. As shown in Table 5.13, Pearl River is
a bit out of date and with a comparatively lower social level, because candidates
think that foreign brands are more fashionable and young. Yet Pearl River is
relatively outdated and excessively formal, while the image of foreign brands are
full of energy, fashionable and rich personalities.
Table 5.13 Associations to different beer (as a person), Appendix 11
BRAND APPAREL VEHICLE PROFILE
Heineken DKNY, CK, D&G, Armani, Gucci
Hammer, Landrover, Porsche
Party boy, expansive, talkative
Budweiser Polo, Paul Smith Lamborghini, Bugatti
Fashionable, sporty, funny
Pearl River Seven wolves, ShangHaiTan
BMW 7 series, Mercedes
Smart, powerful, slippery
Carlsberg Polo, Burberry, Armani Benny, Mercedes Tough, Actionable,
Active
Tsingtao Similar to PR, Formal dressing
Red Flag sedan, Lexus
Friendly, sociable, low profile
58
5.5 Brand Awareness to Pearl River
5.5.1 Recall & Recognition with Draft Beer
As mentioned in Point 5.2.1 and shown on Table 5.15, nearly a quarter of
responses (23.7%) are able to recall the brand Pearl River when talking about
beer, and most of them are middle age or even elder (Table 5.5). Yet with giving
notice of draft beer during the survey, over half responses (63%) recognized the
brand Pearl River, even it is famous for its draft beer in China.
Table 5.15 Awareness of Pearl River from Q3 & Q4, Appendix 7 & 8
Top of mind Recognition of Draft Beer
Furthermore, at the beginning of each interview, the question about the fist
producer of draft beer in China was asked, since Pearl River is famous for draft
beer. The answer to this question can be concluded as Table 5.14. There are only
2 out of 5 interviewees 100% sure (worth “XX” score) Pearl River is the first
draft beer producer in China, the other 2 of them recognize Pearl River without
confirmations (worth “X” score); yet the youngest interviewee of them have no
idea of the answer, even certain hints were given.
59
43 4
41
26 25 14 3
109
26 Budweiser Carlsberg Heineken Pearl River Tsingtao
59
Table 5.14 Recognition to Pearl River from interviews First Draft Beer – Pearl River Coding Score
Supra
1 Michelle 26 n/a n/a n/a 2 Tian 36 n/a n/a n/a 3 Liang 26 Known later X X 4 Liu 28 Must XX ‐‐ 5 Li 19 Tsingtao ‐‐ ‐‐ 6 Xie 48 Definitely XX ‐ 7 Jiang 31 Guess X ‐ TOTAL XXXXXX X
In general, the total score of recognition of first draft beer from Pearl River is
equal as expected in a medium scale. However, the awareness to its sub‐brand
Supra is seriously unsatisfactory.
60
5.6 Brand Identity of Pearl River
5.6.1 Impression to Pearl River
The impression that inspired from Pearl River is variable to responses, since all
the “Std. Deviation” factors through SPSS of this question are standing high (over
0.800, descriptive statistics, Appendix 14). The description is displayed as Figure
5.16, all the impressions to Pearl River are averagely in a medium level (scale:
3.0), except the factors of relaxing, suitable to share with friends is relatively
higher, especially the option “leader of beer industry” (scale: 4.40).
Figure 5.16 Result of Pearl River’s impression to responses, Appendix 14
The reason for responses to build such a negative brand image to Pearl River is
measured in further questionnaires. As displayed in Table 5.17, 54.9% responses
0
1
2
3
4
5 conrident
excited active
young
fashionable
good taste
successful people
high quality
have personality relaxing share with friends
popular brand
advanced productivity
worthy
old brand
feel full of energy
tasty
presents good life quality
leader of industry
61
received information of beer via TV adverts, yet combine with the reason that
motivate people to purchase Pearl River, the result of impressive TV
advertisement of Pearl River is extremely low (8.7%). The key to create Pearl
River’s current brand image are friends’ recommendations, since 42.2%
motivation of purchasing Pearl River is because of Friends’ recommendation;
besides, responses usually receive beer information from friends (42.8%).
5.6.2 Effects of Advertisement fro Pearl River
Table 5.17 Result of the way to receive information about Beer
Buy Pearl River for
Impressive Advertising
Buy Pearl River for Friend’s Recommendation
Again, a comparison on impact of TV adverts between TV receiver and Non‐TV
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
TV program
Friend's recommendation
Newspaper & Magazine
Promotional activities
Beer girl
Internet
no; 91%
yes; 9%
no; 58%
yes; 42%
62
receiver verified Pearl River’s weakness of TV advertising communication.
Compare the brand image of Pearl River in different group of responses received
beer information via TV adverts or not, the result between both groups are
similar to the overall Means (Appendix 14). However, there are certain positive
effects from TV adverts still, the impression of “Young”, “Have Personality”,
“Worthy” and “Makes Me Feel Full of Energy” is slightly (1 point higher)
enhanced by TV adverts.
5.6.3 Advertisement and Slogan
Once more, evidence verified the current issue (point 5.2.1) that Pearl River are
presently facing, meanwhile, according to the interview of Michelle (No.1,
Appendix 9), Pearl Rive has already realized the problem and started to rebrand
itself, in order to rebuild a strong identity.
To disseminate the organizational and brand culture of Pearl River, the company
launch two adverts for various target market.
“The 1st Draft beer advert” (since mid of 2009) is aiming at the board market
for core‐brand’s cultural communications, which generally make propaganda for
the productivity of Pearl River and highlight its first draft beer producer position
in China; while “Relaxing” (since beginning of 2010) is more stressing on the
young age group and presents a relaxing life style. During these two adverts,
Pearl River has changed its slogan from “Open Real Feelings” to “Pearl River
Draft Beer, the Real Pure and Fresh Beer ”.
63
A testing of Pearl River’s past slogan was undertaken in Question 8 of further
questionnaire (Table 5.18, Q8, Appendix 7 & 8). There are only 17.3% of
responses heard of the past slogan – “Open Real Feelings”; yet there are 5 of
responses pointed out the new slogan in the comment zone without giving any
information of the slogan.
Table 5.18 Result of identities to Pearl River’s slogan
5.6.4 Comments to the Latest Advertisements
Table 5.19 The negative and positive comments to Pearl River’s adverts
NEGATIVE POSITIVE
The 1st
draft
beer boring, official, no connection, out of
date, no feeling, formal , dark, Chinese style
artistic, strength, …
Relaxing
Not creative, copy,
funny, beautiful, free, like the music, memorisable, relax, friendship, cool, fashionable, active, actionable, motivation, want to try, sexy, good mood, happy…
6 30
3
18
116
Unhappiness not allowed
Open real feeling
listen to yourself
passion everywhere
not sure
64
Candidates in focus group 1 were required to watch both of the two adverts, and
the advertising effects of these adverts were surveyed during the activity
(Appendix 11), and the comments to both adverts are displayed as Table 5.19. It
is obvious that outcome of such adverts are responses are more likely to accept
and even prefer the Relaxing advert.
Besides, as can be seen in one‐way ANOVA analysis (Appendix 14), which
descript the brand image of Pearl River with relationships between age
categories, almost all the elements are related to different age groups, except the
option Old brand (sig. 0,554) and Convenience to purchase (sig. 0.160). That is
to say, people from different age group have different thinking of the brand Pearl
River. And these options can be divided into three themes, like social symbolism,
self‐symbolism and organizational characteristics.
5.6.5 Change of Brand Image After Advertised
Candidates from younger focus group were asked to rate the brand image of
Pearl River after gave comments, and the feedback can be seen as Table 5.20. So
the responses from age 24 to 34 ( Appendix 14) were picked up to compare with
the result from focus group ( Appendix 11), and the research found that the
information before and after watched the adverts is completely changed as the
adverts enrich all the elements of the brand image. At the same time, the result of
65
age group 24 to 34 is slightly lower than the overall result. Namely, elder group
responses have a relatively higher brand identity to Pearl River.
Table 5.20 Pearl River’s Brand Image from Focus Group (Appendix 11)
SOCIAL SYMBOLISM belong to successful people, suitable to share with friends, popular, presents good life quality,
SELF SYMBOLISM confident, excited, active, young, fashionable, good taste, have personality, relax, makes me feel full of energy,
ORGANIZATION CHARACTERISTICS
high quality, advanced and modern productivities, old brand, tasty, leader of industry, convenience to purchase,
0
1
2
3
4
5 conrident
excited active
young
fashionable
good taste
successful people
high quality
have personality relaxing
share with friends popular brand
advanced productivity
worthy
old brand
feel full of energy
tasty
presents good life quality
leader of industry convenient
66
5.7 The Brand Extension Supra
5.7.1 Brand Awareness to Old Supra
Figure 5.21 Physical design of bottles in different beer brands
No.1 Shen (26) n/a Budweiser Heineken SanMig’ Tsingtao n/a Carlsberg
Liang (28) P.R. Budweiser Heineken Tiger Tsingtao n/a Carlsberg Chen (28) n/a P.R. Carlsberg Tiger P.R. n/a P.R. Zhou (33) P.R. Budweiser Heineken n/a n/a n/a P.R. Lin (26) n/a Tsingtao Heineken P.R P.R. n/a Carlsberg
Huang (28) Tsingtao n/a Carlsberg n/a n/a n/a Carlsberg No.2 Wang (47) P.R Tsingtao N/A N/A Tsingtao n/a N/A
Zhu (50) P.R Kingway Foreign P.R Tsingtao n/a Foreign Xie (55) P.R Kingway N/A SanMig’ Tsingtao n/a P.R
Ouyang (48) P.R P.R Foreign Kingway n/a n/a P.R. Huang (51) P.R Tsingtao Foreign P.R Kingway n/a Tsingtao ANSWER
Pearl River
Budweiser
Heineken
Old Supra
Tsingtao
New
Supra
Carlsberg
Cool 9.2 6.9 15.6 22.0 1.7 29.5 15.0 Fashionable 3.5 5.8 23.7 27.7 2.9 23.1 13.3 Luxury 4.0 4.6 5.8 16.2 1.7 61.8 5.8 Preferred 10.4 4.0 12.7 35.8 3.5 20.2 13.3 Confidence 5.8 6.9 12.7 21.4 8.7 36.4 8.1 Special 4.6 4.6 11.6 11.6 1.2 57.8 8.7 Attractive 5.8 1.2 8.7 27.7 2.9 42.2 11.6 Impressive 6.4 8.1 9.8 11.6 1.7 59.5 2.9 Successful ppl 4.6 5.2 5.2 8.7 3.5 68.2 4.6 Young 9.2 4.6 16.2 33.5 3.5 12.1 20.8
AVERAGE 6.35 8.53 12.20 21.62 3.13 41.08 10.41 p.s.
1. The first part is the recognition of candidates through the design of bottles, sort by the name and age as Name (Age).
2. The table apply the percentage of frequency as the score for the design to the symbolism.
67
According to interviews (Appendix 9), there is only one interviewee out of five
(exclude the first two interviewees, whom work for Pearl River) heard of the
brand SUPRA. Besides, with the measurement of focus groups, candidates were
ask to identify the brand via seeing the design of bottles, see Figure 5.21. Yet
none of candidates can realize the bottle for old Supra, but two of them
considered bottle D is Pearl River, which is the parent brand of Supra.
This information presents the tiny brand awareness to Supra. However, compare
with different age categories in focus groups, the elder group has a higher
accuracy rate on identifying the bottle of Pearl River, since younger group has a
foreign beer bias (Appendix 11 & 12).
5.7.2 Preference to the Design of Bottles
Moreover, question 12 of further questionnaires measured responses’
preference on the design of beer bottles with the logo and brand name removed
(Appendix 7 & 8), and the result was displayed in Table 5.21.
Generally, the new design of Supra owns the highest popularity with an
averagely score of 41.80%, and it was followed by its old design (21.62%). After
that, Heineken and Carlsberg are equality the same around the score of 10%.
During the survey, the most significant image that given by the design of new
68
Supra is “luxury” – 61.8%, “special” – 57.8%, “impressive” – 59.5%, and “belong
to successful people” – 68.2%. However, within the factors of “fashionable” and
“young”, the old design is much better than the new one. Besides, candidates in
focus group indicated that, the shorter and thicker design of the bottle’s height
and rough provide a lot of shinning points to new Supra. Yet the see‐through
design of bottle D makes candidates feel younger and more fashionable.
Apart from the design of bottles, a blind test of Supra White beer were held in
both focus groups, the taste of it gains an extremely high favourable reputation
(Table 5.22, Appendix 11 & 12).
Table 5.22 Blind test of Supra White Beer in Focus Groups
Focus Group 1 – Karaoke NAME TASTY HQ LUXURY PREFER TRY DESIGN LOGO
Shen 9 7 8 8 8 9 7 Liang 8 8 8 9 8 9 8 Chen 10 9 7 9 8 9 7 Zhou 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 Lin 8 8 7 7 8 6 6
Huang 10 10 9 9 9 9 8 AVERAGE 9 8.3 7.8 8.3 8.2 8.3 7.3
Focus Group 2 ‐ Dinner NAME TASTY HQ LUXURY PREFER TRY DESIGN LOGO
Wang 10 10 8 9 8 10 10 Zhu 10 10 8 9 9 9 8 Xie 8 10 7 8 6 9 8 Ouyang 10 10 7 8 9 10 9 Huang 10 10 9 10 10 10 8 Averagely 9.6 10 7.8 8.8 8.4 9.6 8.6
69
6 Findings Description
6.1 Strategic Analysis via Frameworks
6.1.1 Porters Five Forces in Southern China Beer Industry
As mentioned in Point 1.1, more and more beer brands are targeting on the
attractive benefits from the base area of Pearl River. Plus the advanced
developing technology and productivity lowed down the margins and
assimilated the quality of beers from different brand. Moreover, as discussed in
point 5.2, there is no exactly loyalty group to any particular beer brands. Hence,
the threat of substitutes by new entrants is standing high, and rivalry among
competitors is increasingly strong.
70
Besides, as Pearl River is based in Guangdong, and it owns manufactories itself,
so that the bargaining power of suppliers is not a risk at all, yet bargaining power
of buyers is overwhelmingly huge. Since there are more choice for consumers,
and the power of the brand Pearl River is recently not strong enough to fight
with foreign famous brands, e.g. Budweiser, Heineken and Carlsberg. Hence,
strengthen brand identity is the main artifice to compete, as brand identity is
fundamental to a brand.
6.1.2 Generic Strategy of Pearl River
The low margin cuts the possibility to launch a cost leadership strategy; hence
differentiation is the only way of competitive strategies for both bored and
narrow market. Hence, Pearl River launched a brand new liquid of white beer
and bottle design, in order to aim at the high‐end market. Again, the strategy
emphasizes the importance of intensifying the brand identity of Pearl River.
6.1.3 ANSOFF Matrix and Brand Extension Mixed of SUPRA
With accordance of the interview upon the Account Executive in Ramsey &
Associates Brand Communication co. (Michelle, No.1, Appendix 9), whom is in
charge of Pearl River’s brand communication project in southern China area,
Pearl River had launched Supra beer for long. Before, it can be seen as a product
line extension (Figure 3.2.1), since the sub‐brand of Pearl River – Supra, which
was produced to aim at high‐end market, it redesigned the packaging of draft
beer without changing the liquid. Yet, the existing brand “Supra” failed to enter
71
the high‐end market as expected with the so‐called differentiation. Hence, the
failure of the brand Supra force Pearl River to differentiate again upon brand
extension. And such differentiation is aim at strengthening the brand identity of
its core brand – Pearl River.
6.2 Findings from Surveys
The current issue that in front of Pearl River can be concluded as the loss of
customers, but not really the aging of the brand itself. As the matter of fact, it can
be seen as a failure of its branding strategy due to a lack of communication
between the brand and beer. Hence, for the reason of these, it lowed down the
brand equity of Pearl River, and the brand identity to young markets.
Upon the aspect of brand loyalty to beer, there are no absolutely loyalty
customers to any beer brands, as the factors that impact the decision‐making of
consumers are variable. To Pearl River, there are almost none brand stranger,
but a increasingly number of brand latent as young people are currently having a
higher preference to foreign brands (Point 5.3). Meanwhile, consumers over age
40, which are a key to Pearl River’s loyalty group, are starting to give up drinking
beer for healthy concerns and some other aging problems. So the loss of
customers is significant serious nowadays.
72
There are confined resources to associate through the brand Pearl River to
consumers. Pearl River can only inspire some comparatively insufficient
associations, such as low social class, lack of personality, lack of self‐expression
and so on. Generally, the reason can be explained as the state‐own position of
Pearl River and the weakness of its branding communications. Candidates may
have certain biases on it since Chinese people are more likely to prefer a foreign
brand in a same product class and social level (Martin, 2006). Besides, such
situation limits the brand recall and recognition level of Pearl River (Point 5.5).
Moreover, the broken link between the brand and customers’ associations cause
the difficulties to gain more young customers. It is a big perplexity for Pearl River
to build a strong identity for wider associations.
According to the pretesting survey, taste is the most important factor that
influences consumers’ behaviours. Yet the results find out that the perceived
taste of Pearl River is relatively not good as other brands, even the evidence of
the blind test in focus group shows that different brands owned similar taste
(Point 5.4). Besides, Pearl River is the first draft beer producer with advanced
and high‐tech productivities in China, as the matter of fact, for perceived quality,
the high quality and modern productivities of Pearl River are blanked by the lack
of brand familiarity and identity.
The brand awareness of Pearl River is average weak since only a few people,
whom are mainly from the age group above 40, are able to recall the brand.
Nevertheless, its brand recognition cannot be concluded as strength in the youg
market, even Pearl River is famous with its draft beer. Compare to the elder
group of people, brand awareness of Pearl River is common low (Point 5.5).
73
According to the report of investing on advertisement in Chinese beer market
(Chenggong, 2006), Budweiser, for example, maintained on top of investing on
advertising in China since 2000. Meanwhile, as pointing out in the report,
advertisements of foreign beer are better and more creative than Chinese
advertising. Furthermore, Budweiser gain a high market position and great sales
volume with the contribution of its adverts. Hence, it is consequently clear that
the brand awareness can be straight linked to the strong effects of successful
advertisements.
As shown from the result of surveys, the main channel for people to receive
information of beer from TV adverts (Table 5.17). However, TV adverts of Pearl
River fail to guide consumers’ mind to aware or associate the brand. Hence, The
brand identity and image of Pearl River is overwhelmingly affected by
consumers’ subjectivities. The organizational culture and brand identity cannot
be transferred to consumers efficiently. The lack of brand communication leads
the brand developing unbalanced. And this brought serious difficulties to enrich
the brand equity of Pearl River; therefore, brand identity became the key to raise
brand assets.
Recently, the brand identity of Pearl River is various upon different age
categories, and the elder age group (above age 45) has a comparatively better
brand identity. Besides, compare with some foreign brands in southern Chinese
market, the recent brand identity of Pearl River is weak, no matter social
symbolism and self‐symbolism (Point 5.8). Yet according to the research, the
adverts of Pearl River had a revolutionary change and acquired lots of favours
from responses. The new TV adverts of Pearl River gave a greater opportunity to
build a strong brand identity, which belongs to strong brands.
74
Furthermore, the successful packaging design of the sub‐brand of Pearl River –
Supra – enhanced the brand identity for itself and its parent brand. Brand
identity of Pearl River can be defined as a person that mature, nice, low‐profile,
while Supra is fashionable, special, high class and luxury. Meanwhile, the design
of Supra gains a huge advantage on popularity. Besides, the taste of the new
Supra White Beer is generally gaining a huge preference.
Pearl River invested to build a beer museum in Guangzhou, in order to
disseminate its corporate culture and raise its value on Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR). An observation was shown in Appendix 13. Namely, it
started to add value to consumers as an organizational identity; plus the effects
of TV adverts, Pearl River is aiming at owning the ability to satisfy consumers’
needs, including functional, emotional, psychological and self‐expressive needs.
75
7 Recommendation and Limitation
7.1 Recommendation to Pearl River
Aaker (1996) and Kapferer (2008) emphasized the importance of building a
strong identity to a successful brand in their studies. According to their theory, it
is important for Pearl River to concentrate on its brand communication in order
to build a better brand identity and attract more new customers, as well as
spread its corporate culture. Advertisement is a key method for communication.
On the other hand, results from focus group – brand association to Pearl River
(Appendix 12) shows that Pearl River is a brand established in 1985 and grew up
with all the local people, it is very likely to have collective memory with the mass.
Therefore, it could be a good way to have the commercial ads filmed in
Guangzhou or get something very authentic involved to satisfy consumers’
76
psychological and emotional needs. On one hand, it would arouse the memories
of growing up with Pearl River. Furthermore, as in Chinese culture, retrospect is
often of among great popularity. Therefore it would be an efficiency approach to
benefit the brand equity via enhancing brand associations.
A memorable slogan is of great significance to raise brand awareness (Alina,
2006), it could be some common words or sentences. Or, it could make people
recall and recognize the brand anywhere when stating such words or sentences;
and on reverse, these common things might inspire more associations much
wider.
Moreover, according to the research (Table 5.21), the brand new design of Supra
is the most popular one among all popular brands in southern China. Yet it is
designed for people from upper class, who enjoy higher income and life qualities.
As a matter of fact, the image of new Supra is not presenting the impression of
the youth, which is a perceived characteristic of transparency bottle (Bottle D –
Old Supra). Therefore, to aim at the younger market, Supra could produce a
transparent version of the new design.
7.2 Recommendation for Further Research
Within Chinese culture, people show their social level via showing off the self‐
representatives. It is important to identify and segment the market into different
life quality and income level, since higher social level contains higher self‐
77
representatives. In China, even in a small region, there will be polarizations of
income level. Hence, demographic segmentations of income are required in
detail when dealing with researches. And this study only roughly concluded the
income level as student, employed, unemployed, and retired.
Additionally, as found from the research, people from different regions in China
have completely different demands of taste, e.g. southern Chinese people prefer
lighter beer, while northern bias on stronger taste. Hence, geographic
segmentations are needed when researching all around China on beer industry.
With the impacts of beer adverts, a massive publicity of the new entrants will
affect consumer’ mind. Budweiser and Carlsberg, for example, a substantial
advertise affects the information and data from researches. Therefore, to keep
responses and candidates’ mind fresh is significant necessary within both
quantitative and qualitative researches. Furthermore, it is the most difficult part
of this study.
7.3 Limitation
Generally, since there are only three months to complete this study, the limited
time confined the opportunity to measure further reliability of the research, such
as evaluations of the new adverts of Pearl River and marketing presentation of
the brand Supra. Meanwhile, changes of brand equity, which affected by the new
TV adverts and the launching of the sub‐brand Supra, can not be measured
78
during such a short period. Actually, the Supra White beer has not been officially
launched in the market yet. So it is impossible to do an extensive research and
analysis for Supra upon broader market.
Furthermore, because of limited research about branding of beer, especially the
Chinese beer industry, there are a lot of difficulties for designing and structuring
the research and analysis. Hence, this paper is completed with following the
structure of Aaker’s (1996) literature – Strategic Brand Management.
For the responses and candidates, who attended the surveys, the significant
geographical cultural differences among any small areas in China have great
effects on their conception and decision‐making, even particular biases. So the
data from research might contain some inaccuracy for the geographical and
cultural biases. Meanwhile, during the second focus group (Appendix 12), it is
very difficult to ask for cooperation and assistance from the elders, for the
reason of expectation and over‐conservative thinking. There are many times
when doing the research, including questionnaires and focus group, the elders
always came up with questions such as the efficiency due to the unknown
marketing, especially branding. Hence, the focus group failed to measure all the
questions as expected.
79
8 Conclusion
Recently, consumers are more willing to pay a higher price to fulfil their
psychological, emotional, and self‐expressive needs, especially in China—such a
high self‐representative country in modern times. On the other hand, upon the
aspect of business, a good way of making money is to have investment on its
brand, just as some prominent scholars of branding studies—such as
Aaker(1996), Kapferer (2008), Keller (1990)—indicated that a brand name
could be conceived as a set of Assets or Liabilities, which includes brand loyalty,
brand awareness, perceived quality and brand association. Brand equity has
direct relation with the value of brand, having the ability to satisfy consumers’
needs to a great extent. Furthermore, such value is created via brand identity
construction. Hence, brand identity is vital for brand equity.
80
Brand identity, created via communication, is able to inspire wider associations
upon the brand, and tightens the relationship with target markets. It could
possess particular personalities like a person, as well as being symbolised as a
symbol. Meanwhile, it could also be seen as organization and product, which
contained rich corporation culture and special physical design. Moreover, a
developed brand identity provides an opportunity to launch brand
differentiation. Combining with the ANSOFF Matrix, which analyses the strategy
of a new or existing product to new or existing market, a mixed framework is
developed aiming at the brand extension strategy. (Figure 3.2.1 in Point 3.2)
With the adoption of pretesting questionnaire, further questionnaire, interview
and focus group, the study seeks to measure the brand extension of Pearl River,
the reason whether its launch of Supra beer is the right way to change for
benefiting Pearl River’s current brand position. At the same time, brand equity
and identity of Pearl River and Supra were tested. Besides, geographic, snowball,
convenient, and stratified (etc.) sampling are applied to gather more reliable
information.
More and more beer companies are targeting at southern Chinese market, since
it owns greater consuming potentials. Therefore, competitions within this area
are obviously intensive. Pearl River, with no exception, is confronting serious
challenging from more and more foreign brands, which are greatly encroaching
its brand equity. There is evidence showing that the general brand equity of
Pearl River is essentially in an upper‐middle stage. Yet from the research during
the study of separating its customers into different demographic segments with
various age categories, it is obviously that brand equity from the elders is much
81
higher than the youths. Consequently, the loss of customers obstructed the
equity developments of Pearl River.
Loss of customers is the main reason of stopping Pearl River’s growth on brand
loyalty. For the reason of worshiping foreign brands, young consumers are in
more favour with foreign beer, although Pearl River possessed equally advanced
productivities. On the other hand, elder consumers enjoy less alcohol beverages
for healthy concerns although they consider themselves as loyalty customers to
Pearl River. Additionally, on the aspect of brand communication, Pearl River’s
previous advertising campaigns were nearly outdated, and some of them were
even beyond the connection with consumers. Thus, the factor lowed down the
possibility of associating, recognizing and recalling, which are essential to brand
equity.
As a result, Pearl River launched a new series advertisement campaign to rebuild
its brand identity through presenting images of relaxation so as to enrich its
association and awareness. Meanwhile, Pearl River restructured its sub‐brand
“Supra” to upgrade its social‐class and self‐expressive class aiming at gaining
more market share. A mixed approach of differentiation and brand extension
were applied. In addition, the new “Surpa” gained a better differentiation both in
its taste and packaging design. So the current advertising campaign gave a
greater opportunity to extend, and benefit both core brand and sub‐brand
through its successful extended identity.
Namely, in the past, the brand equity of Pearl River was strong enough to launch
brand extension. Nevertheless, as the intensive competition was taking place, the
82
extended brand Supra failed to compete with foreign brands. As a result, Pearl
River decided to rebuild the image and identity of its sub brand “Supra” in order
to rebrand itself.
According to some current research, the new Supra comparatively won a higher
competitive advantage on it image and identity rather than foreign brands. With
the assistance of new strategy of brand communications, it ultimately offers a
chance to enhance the brand equity of Pearl River, although evaluation of such
advantages has not be able to conduct further measure by the completion time of
this study.
(word count:14564 )
83
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Appendix 1. STRATEGIC BRAND ANALYSIS Strategic Brand Analysis
Customer Analysis • Trends • Motivation • Unmet needs • Segmentation
Competitor Analysis • Brand image/identity • Strengths, strategies • Vulnerabilities
SelfAnalysis • Existing brand image • Brand heritage • Strengths/capabilities • Organization value
Brand Identity System
Brand Identity
Brand as Product 1. Product scope 2. Product
attributes 3. Quality/ value 4. Uses 5. Users 6. Country of
origin
Brand as Organization 7. Organization
attributes (e.g. innovation, consumer concern, trust worthiness)
8. Local vs. global
Brand as person 9. Personality
(e.g. genuine, energetic, rugged)
10. Brand – customer relationships (e.g. friend, adviser)
Brand as symbol 11. Visual
imagery and metaphors
12. Brand heritage
| Value Proposition Credibility
• Functional benefits
• Emotional benefits
• Self‐expressive benefits
| | |
• Support other brand
Brandcustomer relationship
Brand Identity Implementation System
Brand position
• Subset of the brand identity and value proposition
• At a target audience
• To be actively communicated • Providing competitive advantage
Execution
• Generate alternatives • Symbols and metaphors • Testing
Tracking
Source: David A. Aaker, 1996
87
APPENDIX 2.HOW BRAND EQUITY GENERATES VALUE
Source: David A. Aaker, 1996
BRAND
EQUITY
Brand Loyalty
Brand Awareness
Reduced marketing costs Trade leverage Attracting new customers • Create awareness • Reassurance
Time to respond to competitive threats
Anchor to which other associations can be attached Familiarity‐liking Signal of substance/ commitment Brand to be considered
Reason‐to‐buy Differentiate/ position Price Channel member interest Extensions
Help process/ retrieve information Reason‐to‐buy Create positive attitude/ feelings Extensions
Competitive advantage
Perceived Quality
Brand Associations
Other Proprietary Brand Assets
Provides value to customer by enhancing customer’s • Interpretation/
processing of information
• Confidence in the purchase decision
• Use satisfaction
Provides value to firm by enhancing: • Efficiency and
effectiveness of marketing programs
• Brand loyalty • Prices/Margins • Brand
extensions • Trade leverage • Competitive
advantage
88
APPENDIX 3. THE SIX FACETS OF BRAND IDENTITY
Brand Identity Prism
Souce: Kapferer, 2006
Physiqu
e Personalit
y
Relationsh
ip
Culture
Selfimage
Reflection
PICTURE OF SENDER
PICTURE OF RECEIPIENT
INTERNALISATION
EXTERNALISATION
89
APPENDIX 4. ANSOFF MATRIX & BRAND EXTENSION
ANSOFF MATRIX
Source: Franteractive Inc. 2010
BRAND EXTENSION
Existing Products New Products Existing
Market Market
Penetration Product
Development
New
Market Market
Development Diversification
Existing Products New Products
Existing
Brand Product Line
Extension Brand
Extension
New
Brand
Flanker Brand CoBranding
90
APPENDIX 5. PRETESTING QUESTIONNAIRES
1. What’s your age category? 1) 18 to 23 2) 24 to 34
3) 35 to 44 4) Over 45
2. Gender: 1) Male 2) Female 3. What is your occupation background?
1) Student 2) Business Owner (self‐employed) 3) Employed (Office workers, Police, Postman and etc.) 4) Unemployed (e.g. freelancer, house wife) 5) Retired 6) Other: _____________(please state)
4. What kind of beverage you usually drink? (at least TWO options) 1) Beer 2) House wine (Red wine or White wine) 3) Soft drink 4) Fruit Juice, Tea, Milk and Dairy Products 5) Energy and Healthy drink 6) Other: _______________(please state)
5. How often do you drink beer averagely? 1) More than once a week 2) Once a week 3) Once every TWO weeks 4) Once a month or less
6. What following factors influence you consideration on purchasing beer? Please rate on scale of 1 to 5. (1 as Least important, 5 as most important)
Importance: least 1 2 3 4 5 most 1) Convenience __ __ __ __ __ 2) Advertising __ __ __ __ __ 3) Brand image __ __ __ __ __ 4) Packaging __ __ __ __ __ 5) Price __ __ __ __ __ 6) Promotional activities __ __ __ __ __ 7) Taste __ __ __ __ __ 8) Physical design __ __ __ __ __ 9) Word of mouth __ __ __ __ __ 10) brand ambassador __ __ __ __ __
91
7. Which standard of Beer you prefer?
1) Standard bottle (600ml.) 2) Premium bottle (330ml.) 3) Can (350ml.) 4) Other: ___________ (please state)
8. Please tick FOUR of the following Beer brands you like the best.
(Ordered with initial letters) 1) Anchor Beer 2) Blue Ribbon Beer 3) Budweiser Beer 4) Carlsberg Beer 5) Guinness Beer 6) Harbin Beer 7) Heineken Beer 8) King way Beer
9) Kirin Beer 10) Pearl River Beer 11) San Miguel Beer 12) Snow Beer 13) Tiger Beer 14) Tsingtao Beer 15) Yanking Beer 16) Other:_________(please state)
9. What is your initial expression from Pear River Beer? Please rate on
agreement of 1 to 5, 1 as lowest score, 5 as highest score Strongest disagree 1 2 3 4 5 strongest agree
1) Reasonable Price __ __ __ __ __ 2) Tasty __ __ __ __ __ 3) High quality __ __ __ __ __ 4) Popular __ __ __ __ __ 5) Self‐expression __ __ __ __ __ 6) Impressive advertising __ __ __ __ __ 7) Fashionable __ __ __ __ __ 8) Well packaging __ __ __ __ __ 9) Powerful promotion __ __ __ __ __ 10) Young brand __ __ __ __ __ 11) Other: ____________ __ __ __ __ __
10. What do you consider your loyalty to your preference beer brands?
1) Purchase ONLY preference brand, never consider other brands 2) Firstly go for preference brand, but will consider substitution if
preference brand not available 3) No preference brands, purchase randomly depends on environmental
factors 4) No preference brands, but there will be some brands that never
purchase 5) Other: _______________________________________________(please state)
92
APPENDIX 6. DATA OF PRETEST QUESTIONNAIRES % Response Count
18‐23 22.5 20 24‐34 56.2 50 35‐44 15.7 14
Q1.Age
Over 45 5.6 5 Q2. Gender Male 57.3 51 Female 42.7 38 Q3. Occupation Student 24.7 22 Self‐employed 26.9 25 Employed 46.1 41 Unemployed 10.1 9 Retired 2.2 2 Q4. Drink2 Beer 39.3 35 House wine 22.5 20 Soft drink 43.8 39 Fruit juice, milk, tea, water 75.3 67 Energy & healthy drink 42.7 42 Q5. Frequency More than once a week 12.4 11 Once a week 14.6 13 Once every Two weeks 11.2 10 Once a month or less 61.8 55 Q7. Standard Standard 600ml 18.0 16 Premium 330ml 51.7 46 Can 350ml 30.3 27 Q8. Preference3 Anchor 14.6 13 Blue ribbon 25.8 23 Budweiser 73.0 65 Carlsberg 57.3 51 Guinness 10.1 9 Harbin 23.6 21 Heineken 38.2 34 Kingway 15.7 14 Kirin 3.4 3 Pearl River 44.9 40 San Miguel 23.6 21 Snow 7.9 7 Tiger 6.7 6 Tsingtao 47.2 42 Yanking 7.9 7 Q10. Loyalty Only preference brand 4.5 4 Preference brand First 57.3 51 No preference brand 33.7 30 Some brand Never purchase 4.5 4
2 Water (2), cocktail (1) and Tea (1) was added in the option of “Others” by responders. 3 Stellar Beer was added in the option of “Others” by 1 responder.
93
Q6. Factors that influence your consideration on purchasing beer.
Least important
Normal Most
important Rating average
Convenience 6.7% 6
12.4% 11
39.3% 35
14.6% 13
27% 24 3.43
Advertising 7.9% 7
10.1% 9
41.6% 37
29.2% 26
11.2% 10 3.26
Brand image 5.6% 5
5.6% 5
19.1% 17
24.7% 22
44.9% 40
3.98
Packaging 7.9% 7
15.7% 14
43.8% 39
14.6% 13
18.0% 16 3.19
Price 4.5% 4
7.9% 7
44.9% 40
22.5% 20
20.2% 18 3.46
Promotional activities
7.9% 7
22.5% 20
47.2% 42
13.5% 12
9.0% 8 2.93
Taste 2.2% 2
0.0% 0
3.4% 3
23.6% 21
70.8% 63
4.61
Physical design
5.6% 5
12.4% 11
39.3% 35
29.2% 26
13.5% 12 3.33
Word of mouth
4.5% 4
2.2% 2
19.1% 17
21.3% 19
52.8% 47
4.16
Young 25.8% 23
25.8% 23
36.0% 32
10.1% 9
2.2% 2 2.37
Q9. Initial expression of Pearl River Strongest disagree Normal Strongest agree Average
Reasonable price
3.4% 3
4.5% 4
43.8% 39
19.1% 17
29.2% 26
3.66
Tasty 4.5% 4
10.1% 9
34.8% 31
33.7% 30
16.9% 15 3.48
High quality
3.4% 3
10.1% 9
43.8% 39
28.1% 25
14.6% 13 3.40
Popular 7.9% 7
30.3% 27
38.2% 34
12.4% 11
11.2% 1o 2.89
Self‐expression
20.2% 18
28.1% 25
41.6% 37
5.6% 5
4.5% 4 2.46
Impressive advertising
16.9% 15
28.1% 25
44.9% 40
3.4% 3
6.7% 6 2.55
Fashionable 31.5% 28
23.6% 21
38.2% 34
3.4% 3
3.4% 3 2.24
Well packaging
15.7% 14
19.1% 17
53.9% 48
6.7% 6
4.5% 4 2.65
Powerful promotion
5.6% 5
23.6% 21
53.9% 48
12.4% 11
4.5% 4 2.87
Young 24.7% 22
21.3% 19
40.4% 36
9.0% 8
4.5% 4 2.47
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APPENDIX 7. FURTHER QUESTIONNAIRES
QUESTIONNAIRES
Ladies and Gentlemen: I am Daming Xie (Ace), a postgraduate student studying MSc International Management in Royal Holloway College, University of London. I would very much appreciate it if you could spare a few minutes to complete my online survey questionnaire for my dissertation research.The research is mainly about Brand Equity and Rebranding for a Chinese beer called Pearl River Beer. The survey is anonymous and there is no correct answer. Thank you for you support in helping me with my research. Best regards ____________________________________________________________________________________________
问卷调查
尊敬的女士 / 先生:
您好!
我是伦敦大学皇家霍洛威学院国际行政管理专业的研究生,正在进行一项
关于珠江啤酒品牌形象与重建对品牌资产影响的研究。此问卷调查关于大众对
中国啤酒行业的品牌认知。问卷所收集的资料仅供本研究使用,我们将切实为
您保密。答案无对错之分,请您认真阅读背景说明后,根据自己的真实体验作
答。您的真诚与帮助将对本研究做出直接的贡献!
填写说明:
请按您根据个人的实际情况,对以下问题表示个人看法。只需在问题
的“□”内做出标注即可。
谢谢!
95
1. What’s your age category? (你的年龄是:) 1) 18 – 23 岁 2) 24 – 34
3) 35 – 44 4) Over 45(45岁以上)
2. Gender 性别: 1) Male 男性 2) Female 女性
3. Which one of the following beer brands is the FIRST option you drink the
most in any occasions? Only one answer. (以下品牌中,哪个是你在任何的同场合都饮用得最多的?请选择一个) 1) Budweiser 百威 2) Carlsberg 嘉仕伯 3) Heineken 喜力
4) Pearl River 珠江 5) Tsingtao 青岛 6) Other 其他:_________
4. Which following brands will firstly come to your mind when talking about
Draft Beer? Only one answer. (当谈及纯生啤酒时,以下哪个品牌会首先出现在你的意识中?请选择一个) 1) Budweiser 百威 2) Carlsberg 嘉仕伯 3) Heineken 喜力
4) Pearl River 珠江 5) Tsingtao 青岛 6) Other 其他:__________
5. Have you ever heard of the beer brand Pearl River?
(你有听说过或者了解珠江这个啤酒品牌吗?) 1) Yes 有 2) No 没有
6. Would you keep drinking and recommend your friend to try Pearl River in
the future? (你会考虑以后继续饮用和推荐你的朋友饮用珠江啤酒吗?) 1) Yes 会 2) No 不会
7. What makes you choose Pearl River Beer? Multiple answer (什么因素让你选择珠江啤酒呢?多选题) 1) Reasonable price 价格合理 2) Tasty & High Quality 口味与高品质 3) Popular & Fashionable 多人饮用的,时尚的 4) Impressive ad. 深刻广告 5) Friends’ recommendation 朋友推荐 6) Other其他:__________
8. Which one of followings is the slogan of Pearl River?
(以下哪一个是珠江啤酒的广告语?) 1) Unhappiness not allowed 不准不开心 2) Open Real Feeling 打开真感受 3) Listen to yourself 听自己的 4) Passion everywhere激情无处不在 5) Not sure 不确定 6) Other其他:________________
96
9. Where did you receive information and advertising of Beer?
(你从哪些去到获取有关啤酒的广告和信息?) 1) TV programmes & outdoor advertising 电视,户外广告 2) Friend’s recommendations 朋友介绍 3) Newspaper & magazines 报纸杂志 4) Promotional activities 促销活动 5) Beer girl 啤酒女郎 6) Internet 因特网 7) Others其他:__________
10.Please rank the rate of impression given by Pearl River, from Lowest 1 to
highest 5. (请按照从最低为1,最高为5,排列出珠江啤酒给你的感觉或者印象。)
Lowest最低 Highest最高 1) confidence 使我感到自信 1 2 3 4 5 2) excited 使我感到兴奋 1 2 3 4 5 3) active 有活力的 1 2 3 4 5 4) young 年轻的 1 2 3 4 5 5) fashionable 时尚的 1 2 3 4 5 6) good taste 有品位的 1 2 3 4 5 7) belong to successful people 适合成功人士 1 2 3 4 5
8) high quality 高品质的 1 2 3 4 5 9) have personality 有个性的 1 2 3 4 5 10) relaxing 让我感觉到放松 1 2 3 4 5 11)suitable to share with friends 适合与朋友一起分享 1 2 3 4 5
12) popular brand 是受欢迎的品牌 1 2 3 4 5 13) advanced and modern productivity 使用先进和现代的酿酒技术 1 2 3 4 5
14) worthy 物有所值 1 2 3 4 5 15) old brand 老品牌 1 2 3 4 5 16) makes me feel full of energy 令我充满动力勇往直前的 1 2 3 4 5
17) tasty 口感纯正 1 2 3 4 5 18)presents good life quality 体现优质生活的 1 2 3 4 5
19) leader of the industry 行业领先的 1 2 3 4 5 20) convenience to purchase 方便购买 1 2 3 4 5
11.Which occasion you drink Pearl River beer the most?
97
(你经常在以下哪些场合饮用珠江啤酒?)1) Karaoke Box 卡拉OK厅 2) Nightclub 夜店 3) Food Stalls 大排挡
4) High‐end Restaurants 高级餐厅 5) At home 家中 6) Other其他: ___________________
12.According to the image, please choose the most appropriate word for the
design of these beer bottles. 请根据图片选择出下列啤酒瓶设计当中给你的印象,请在你认为“符合”的选项中打钩。
A B C D E F G 1)Cool 有型的 2) Fashionable 时尚的 3) Luxury/high class 高贵,有档次 4) Preferred 喜欢的 5) Give you confidence 让人自信的 6) Special 特别的 7) Attractive 有吸引力的 8) Impressive 让人印象深刻 9) Suite to successful people 适合成功人士
10) Suite to young people 适合年轻人
13.Which part of China are you from? (你来自中国哪里?)
1) Southern 南方 2) Northern 北方 3) Other其他:___________
Thank you! 谢谢!
APPENDIX 8. GATHERING DATA FROM “SPSS”
As the difficulty and drawbacks of analyzing multi choice questions via SPSS, hence, the study divided every multi choice question into sub questions.
E.g.
What do you think of the product.
A. Good B.bad C. no comments
The study divided this question into Three sub questions as follow
A. The product is good: 1.yes 0.no
B. The product is bad: 1.yes 0.no
C. I have no comments of this product: 1.yes 0.no
Q1. What’s your age category?
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
18‐23 55 31.8 31.8 31.8 24‐34 74 42.8 42.8 74.6 35‐44 25 14.5 14.5 89.0 over 45 19 11.0 11.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q2. Gender
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
male 104 60.1 60.1 60.1 female 69 39.9 39.9 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q3. Which one is the FIRST option you drink the most?
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
budweiser 59 34.1 34.1 34.1 carlsberg 43 24.9 24.9 59.0 heineken 4 2.3 2.3 61.3 pearl river 41 23.7 23.7 85.0 tsingtao 26 15.0 15.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
99
Q4. Which brand will firstly come to your mind as Draft Beer?
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
budweiser 25 14.5 14.5 14.5 carlsberg 14 8.1 8.1 22.5 heineken 3 1.7 1.7 24.3 pearl river 109 63.0 63.0 87.3 tsingtao 22 12.7 12.7 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q5. Have you ever heard the brand Pearl River?
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
yes 154 89.0 89.0 89.0 no 19 11.0 11.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q6. Would you consider recommend your friend Pearl River in the future?
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
yes 133 76.9 76.9 76.9 no 39 22.5 22.5 99.4 1 .6 .6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q71. Resonable price motivate you choose Pearl River Beer
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 64 37.0 37.0 37.0 yes 109 63.0 63.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q72. Tasty & High quality motivate you choose Pearl River Beer
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 107 61.8 61.8 61.8 yes 66 38.2 38.2 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
100
Q73. Popular & Fashionable motivate you choose Pearl River Beer
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 146 84.4 84.4 84.4 yes 27 15.6 15.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q74. Impressive advertisement motivate you choose Pearl River Beer
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 158 91.3 91.3 91.3 yes 15 8.7 8.7 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q75. Friends' recommendation motivate you choose Pearl River Beer
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 100 57.8 57.8 57.8 yes 73 42.2 42.2 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q8. Which is the slogan of Pearl River?
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid Unhappiness not allowed 6 3.5 3.5 3.5
Open real feeling 30 17.3 17.3 20.8 listen to yourself 3 1.7 1.7 22.5 passion everywhere 18 10.4 10.4 32.9 not sure 116 67.1 67.1 100.0 Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q91. Receive information and advertising of Beer from TV program
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 78 45.1 45.1 45.1 yes 95 54.9 54.9 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
101
Q92. Receive information and advertising of Beer from Friend's recommendation
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 99 57.2 57.2 57.2 yes 74 42.8 42.8 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q93. Receive information and advertising of Beer from Newspaper & Magazine
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 165 95.4 95.4 95.4 yes 8 4.6 4.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q94. Receive information and advertising of Beer from promotional activities
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 136 78.6 78.6 78.6 yes 37 21.4 21.4 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q95. Information and advertising of Beer from Beer Girl
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 143 82.7 82.7 82.7 yes 30 17.3 17.3 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q96. Receive information and advertising of Beer from Internet
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 165 95.4 95.4 95.4 yes 8 4.6 4.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
102
Q101. Confident as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 51 29.5 29.5 29.5 2 77 44.5 44.5 74.0 3 34 19.7 19.7 93.6 4 4 2.3 2.3 96.0 5 7 4.0 4.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q102. Excited as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 25 14.5 14.5 14.5 2 91 52.6 52.6 67.1 3 46 26.6 26.6 93.6 4 6 3.5 3.5 97.1 5 5 2.9 2.9 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q103. Active as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 8 4.6 4.6 4.6 2 54 31.2 31.2 35.8 3 79 45.7 45.7 81.5 4 23 13.3 13.3 94.8 5 9 5.2 5.2 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q104. Young as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 12 6.9 6.9 6.9 2 74 42.8 42.8 49.7 3 56 32.4 32.4 82.1 4 22 12.7 12.7 94.8 5 9 5.2 5.2 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
103
Q105. Fashionable as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 22 12.7 12.7 12.7 2 97 56.1 56.1 68.8 3 36 20.8 20.8 89.6 4 11 6.4 6.4 96.0 5 7 4.0 4.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q106. Have good taste as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 25 14.5 14.5 14.5 2 97 56.1 56.1 70.5 3 34 19.7 19.7 90.2 4 9 5.2 5.2 95.4 5 8 4.6 4.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q107. Belong to successful people as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 54 31.2 31.2 31.2 2 77 44.5 44.5 75.7 3 29 16.8 16.8 92.5 4 4 2.3 2.3 94.8 5 9 5.2 5.2 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q108. High quality as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 14 8.1 8.1 8.1 2 46 26.6 26.6 34.7 3 67 38.7 38.7 73.4 4 35 20.2 20.2 93.6 5 11 6.4 6.4 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
104
Q109. Have personality as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 17 9.8 9.8 9.8 2 91 52.6 52.6 62.4 3 47 27.2 27.2 89.6 4 10 5.8 5.8 95.4 5 8 4.6 4.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q1010. Relax as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 7 4.0 4.0 4.0 2 30 17.3 17.3 21.4 3 81 46.8 46.8 68.2 4 42 24.3 24.3 92.5 5 13 7.5 7.5 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q1011. Suitable to share with friends as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 5 2.9 2.9 2.9 2 20 11.6 11.6 14.5 3 38 22.0 22.0 36.4 4 72 41.6 41.6 78.0 5 38 22.0 22.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q1012. Popular brand as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 8 4.6 4.6 4.6 2 53 30.6 30.6 35.3 3 68 39.3 39.3 74.6 4 28 16.2 16.2 90.8 5 16 9.2 9.2 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
105
Q1013. Advanced & modern productivity as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 7 4.0 4.0 4.0 2 46 26.6 26.6 30.6 3 74 42.8 42.8 73.4 4 29 16.8 16.8 90.2 5 17 9.8 9.8 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q1014. Worthy as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 3 1.7 1.7 1.7 2 26 15.0 15.0 16.8 3 60 34.7 34.7 51.4 4 53 30.6 30.6 82.1 5 31 17.9 17.9 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q1015. Old brand as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 5 2.9 2.9 2.9 2 43 24.9 24.9 27.7 3 70 40.5 40.5 68.2 4 40 23.1 23.1 91.3 5 15 8.7 8.7 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q1016. Makes me feel full of energy as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 25 14.5 14.5 14.5 2 87 50.3 50.3 64.7 3 43 24.9 24.9 89.6 4 10 5.8 5.8 95.4 5 8 4.6 4.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
106
Q1017. Tasty as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 5 2.9 2.9 2.9 2 26 15.0 15.1 18.0 3 57 32.9 33.1 51.2 4 65 37.6 37.8 89.0 5 19 11.0 11.0 100.0
Valid
Total 172 99.4 100.0 Missing System 1 .6 Total 173 100.0
Q1018. Presents good life quality as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 11 6.4 6.4 6.4 2 60 34.7 34.7 41.0 3 82 47.4 47.4 88.4 4 14 8.1 8.1 96.5 5 6 3.5 3.5 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q1019. Leader of beer industry as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 7 4.0 4.0 4.0 2 29 16.8 16.8 20.8 3 68 39.3 39.3 60.1 4 50 28.9 28.9 89.0 5 19 11.0 11.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q1020. Convenience to purchase as expression from Pearl River
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
1 1 .6 .6 .6 2 7 4.0 4.0 4.6 3 12 6.9 6.9 11.6 4 55 31.8 31.8 43.4 5 98 56.6 56.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
107
Q111. You drink Pearl River beer the most in Karaoke box
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 132 76.3 76.3 76.3 yes 40 23.1 23.1 99.4 3 1 .6 .6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q112. You drink Pearl River beer the most in nightclub
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 154 89.0 89.0 89.0 yes 19 11.0 11.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q113. You drink Pearl River beer the most in food stalls
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 32 18.5 18.5 18.5 yes 141 81.5 81.5 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q114. You drink Pearl River beer the most in highend restaurant
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 164 94.8 94.8 94.8 yes 9 5.2 5.2 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q115. You drink Pearl River beer the most at home
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
no 116 67.1 67.1 67.1 yes 57 32.9 32.9 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
108
Q121. The design of beer bottles is cool
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 16 9.2 9.2 9.2 B 12 6.9 6.9 16.2 C 27 15.6 15.6 31.8 D 38 22.0 22.0 53.8 E 3 1.7 1.7 55.5 F 51 29.5 29.5 85.0 G 26 15.0 15.0 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q122. The design of beer bottles is fashionable
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 6 3.5 3.5 3.5 B 10 5.8 5.8 9.2 C 41 23.7 23.7 32.9 D 48 27.7 27.7 60.7 E 5 2.9 2.9 63.6 F 40 23.1 23.1 86.7 G 23 13.3 13.3 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q123. The design of beer bottles is luxury
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 7 4.0 4.0 4.0 B 8 4.6 4.6 8.7 C 10 5.8 5.8 14.5 D 28 16.2 16.2 30.6 E 3 1.7 1.7 32.4 F 107 61.8 61.8 94.2 G 10 5.8 5.8 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
109
Q124. The design of beer bottles is preferred
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 18 10.4 10.4 10.4 B 7 4.0 4.0 14.5 C 22 12.7 12.7 27.2 D 62 35.8 35.8 63.0 E 6 3.5 3.5 66.5 F 35 20.2 20.2 86.7 G 23 13.3 13.3 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q125. The design of beer bottles is confidence
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 10 5.8 5.8 5.8 B 12 6.9 6.9 12.7 C 22 12.7 12.7 25.4 D 37 21.4 21.4 46.8 E 15 8.7 8.7 55.5 F 63 36.4 36.4 91.9 G 14 8.1 8.1 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q126. The design of beer bottles is special
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 8 4.6 4.6 4.6 B 8 4.6 4.6 9.2 C 20 11.6 11.6 20.8 D 20 11.6 11.6 32.4 E 2 1.2 1.2 33.5 F 100 57.8 57.8 91.3 G 15 8.7 8.7 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
110
Q127. The design of beer bottles is attractive
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 10 5.8 5.8 5.8 B 2 1.2 1.2 6.9 C 15 8.7 8.7 15.6 D 48 27.7 27.7 43.4 E 5 2.9 2.9 46.2 F 73 42.2 42.2 88.4 G 20 11.6 11.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q128. The design of beer bottles is impressive
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 11 6.4 6.4 6.4 B 14 8.1 8.1 14.5 C 17 9.8 9.8 24.3 D 20 11.6 11.6 35.8 E 3 1.7 1.7 37.6 F 103 59.5 59.5 97.1 G 5 2.9 2.9 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q129. The design of beer bottles is belong to successful people
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 8 4.6 4.6 4.6 B 9 5.2 5.2 9.8 C 9 5.2 5.2 15.0 D 15 8.7 8.7 23.7 E 6 3.5 3.5 27.2 F 118 68.2 68.2 95.4 G 8 4.6 4.6 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
111
Q1210. The design of beer bottles is young
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
A 16 9.2 9.2 9.2 B 8 4.6 4.6 13.9 C 28 16.2 16.2 30.1 D 58 33.5 33.5 63.6 E 6 3.5 3.5 67.1 F 21 12.1 12.1 79.2 G 36 20.8 20.8 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
Q13. which part of China are you from
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
southern 167 96.5 96.5 96.5 northern 6 3.5 3.5 100.0
Valid
Total 173 100.0 100.0
112
APPENDIX 9. RECORD OF INTERVIEWS NO. 1
NAME: GENDER: AGE: OCCUPATION:
Michelle. Xiaoyue. Yu Female 26
DATE LOCATION PLACE OF BIRTH
25th Jun. 2010 Guangzhou Guangzhou
Account Executive, Ramsey & Associates Brand
Communication co.
PROFILE: Assist the Pearl River Beer, Southern China Brand Communication
INTERVIEW: NOTES
As the most prominent local beer brand of Guangzhou, Pearl River Beer earns most Cantonese favour due to its fresh taste and reasonable price since its establishment in 1985.
However, with other imported beer brand from other places, Pearl River Beer is confronting a harsh challenge. When other brands such as Budweiser and Carlsberg expand their market in China, they build their brands as young, fashionable and energetic ones, while Pearl River still maintains its comparatively conservative image. Pearl River draft beer is most welcomed by the consumers, yet more and more young people start to taste other beer of foreign brands that seemingly attained individuality. In order to win back young consumers, Pearl River is planning to do the rebranding by making revolutionary advertisement. So Pearl River launch two TV commercials now, The First Draft Beer and Relaxing. First Draft is aim to tell the organization image and the Relaxing is for customers.
Additionally, Pearl River is promoting “Supra”‐a type of white beer‐to lift up its brand. Mainly it targets at middle age people with high salary and good taste of living. As a matter of fact, Supra is an old brand in France being sold to Pearl River. Pearl River reproduced Supra but it did not succeed among the mass. Therefore, since last year, Pearl River chose us to rebuild the brand. Based on the marketing research, we changed the bottle design, beer liquid, style of advertisement, marketing strategy and etc. in order to achieve the most premium image for the brand.
Pearl River was the first producer of draft beer in great China, and now it became the pioneer of white beer in Chinese market. So we believe that Pearl River Beer can reach the top of beer industry in China. However, as more and more competitors are aiming at the Cantonese market, the main objective of Pearl River is mainly concentrate on retaining the local market share. Hence, Pearl River might delay its northern extension plan.
The overall beer market in China is grown by 8%, lower‐class increased 6%, and higher‐class increased 20%, while higher‐class raise 30% in Guangdong market. So Supra still got potential to perform.
tasty wealthy intensive competitions losing market a.d. rebranding TVC “Supra” target market brand identity Extension Stay in south Beer market
113
NO. 2
NAME: GENDER: AGE: OCCUPATION:
Yuan. Tian Male 36 DATE LOCATION PLACE OF BIRTH
9th Jul. 2010 Guangzhou DaLian,Liaoning
Market extension assistant, Beer Market Group of southern China,
IPSOS Marketing Research co. PROFILE: Evaluate the market and advertisings of Pearl River INTERVIEW: NOTES
Pearl river beer is the fist producer of draft beer, and it is the third beer brand in China by holding a huge market share of Guangdong. Hence, both Chinese beer and foreign beer are aiming at Guangdong market.
Pearl River owns steady brand awareness, however, the sales is decreasing. The main income of Pear River is from its Draft beer, but it is still lack of loyalty customers of the brand. Compare with last year, pearl river have achieved more advertising, however, the advertising effect is not obvious. That is to say, the brand communication is out of connection with consumers’ need. This is the main reason for the breaking down of Pearl River’s brand equity.
Tsingtao invested a lot on Olympic Games, thought the action did not bring any outstanding growth on brand equity in Guangdong market. It only kept the sales, but did not attract more loyal consumers.
Snow is a new brand in Guangzhou, the brand awareness grown from 40% to 80% in a year’s time. So far, Snow holds 10% of market share with a successful distribution channels. However, it spent only a little on advertising. Namely, the brand image is blank still. Hence, the brand equity is much lower than other brands.
Budweiser had started to launch advertising via media in Guangzhou; hence the sales increase 10% last year. The brand image is “individually” and “share with friends”.
Carlsberg hold the most feeling – young, as its brand endorsers are all famous stars. At the same time, it fully launched advertising via different medias. Hence it holds the biggest youngmarket. Carlsberg’s brand awareness is always high and it holds a sum of loyal customers. The brand equity is increasingly high.
Heineken is comparative the highest class beer in Guangdong, as the price is higher. It owns very good brand awareness, but a few loyal customers.
Recognition Guangdong market Awareness Sales down Lack of loyalty Weak ad. Tsingtao Weak ad./ low brand equity Snow High sales No brand identity Budweiser Image High sales Carlsberg Young Endorser High equity Heineken High class High price Awareness Loyalty
p.s. Underline for negative impact to Pearl River, highlight for emphasis
114
NO. 3
NAME: GENDER: AGE: OCCUPATION:
Chuanhui. Liang Male 26 DATE LOCATION PLACE OF BIRTH
11th Jul. 2010 Foshan,GD Gaungzhou
Shareholder & manager, Cash Box Karaoke bar Located in Guangzhou
PROFILE: Work for karaoke bar for 2 years
INTERVIEW: NOTES
The 1st draft beer is from Pearl River; I know this after I became a beer distributor. And I know “Supra” is from Pearl River as well. But customers had never order “Supra” so far; even we have it in store. I have tried Supra before, nothing special, just different packaging of Pearl River draft beer. And I don’t think that design looks elegant, so there were no selling points.
The customers of us are almost from age 1840, including students, employed and business owners. The top sale beer of our bar is Carlsberg and Budweiser; only around 15% of total sales are Pearl River. Almost all Pearl River buyers are students during the promotion. For the employed‐group of people, they prefer foreign brands rather than Pearl River. However, business owners, it depends on whom they are coming with – they drink whisky with business partners but beer with friends.
I strongly agree that, advertising is important. Some times, when people order beer, they don’t tell the beer brand, but the slogan of advertising, e.g. they will name Carlsberg as its slogan “unhappiness not allowed”. I know Pearl River’s slogan is “Open the real feeling”, but from my memory, no one has mentioned it. Once upon a time, there was a boy came with a Liverpool jersey (with a Carlsberg logo), and then he pointed at his jersey to order Carlsberg.
From my experience, customers will purchase different brands of beer every different time. Because when customers buying beer, first of all, they would ask their friends’ preference whom they come with.
White beer? I have no ideas what it is. But I think if they can find out the right marketing position and the right design, it is a way to gain more market share. Nowadays, according to the conversation with customers, people like new, special, and stylish products.
Recognition Failure of Supra No special No selling point Not popular Loosing markets a.d. important slogan recognition loyalty recommend position design special new stylish
p.s. Underline for negative impact to Pearl River, highlight for emphasis
115
NO. 4
NAME: GENDER: AGE: OCCUPATION:
Zhiyan.Liu. Male 28 DATE LOCATION PLACE OF BIRTH
11th Jul. 2010 Guangzhou Zhongshan,GD
Training Administrative Assistant, Guangzhou
Department, China Quality Certification Centre
PROFILE: Graduate in UK, work 2 years, income 8000 RMB/year
INTERVIEW: NOTES
Beer? The first draft beer of China must be made by Pearl River for sure, as the name of Pear River beer on my mind is Pearl River Draft Beer. And I am not sure what is Supra.
I go to nightclub usually once a week with friends and companies, but I don’t usually drink beer. We always drink Chivas, Vodka and Johnny‐walker, there will be some times we drink beer, but they are all foreign brands, such as Heineken, Carlsberg, Budweiser and etc. Because, in my age, we go nightclub for knowing more new friends, especially beautiful girl. Foreign beer gives me feeling of cool, handsome and has a good taste. The most important thing is, if I order Pearl River in nightclubs, it cannot show my socialclass and personality; and then girls will never come back to me again. That’s hamful!
There is not preference beer brand to me, but there will be some brands that I will never drink outside, I mean, in the high‐class place like club. Think about that, suppose a business partner invite you to a feast, and then he order Pearl River – I think that is really a shame and it is not a way of respect. Since Pearl River is not presentable and acceptable in luxury place. During the aspect of beast in business in China, taste and price of a drink is not a thing, the most important is the impressive style, ostentation and extravagance.
I don’t really care about the ads of beer, since many ads in China is really bad. However, there will be some impressive ads anyhow. But they are all foreign brands, like Heineken and Budweiser. For example, every time when people talking about Budweiser, I will associate to musical; Heineken – funny. But I got nothing from Pearl River thought.
“Special” is the thing what we, I mean in our age, want to be; special design of the bottle and packaging is the key ‐ they make me feel special as well. So if Pearl River is really want to extend to the highclass market, special design and packaging is needed. At the same time, it has to focus on it marketing positioning.
Recognition Not cool not handsom bad taste lack of self expresses not loyalty shame no respect can not show socialclass advertising brand association required special design positioning
p.s. Underline for negative impact to Pearl River, highlight for emphasis
116
NO. 5
NAME: GENDER: AGE: OCCUPATION:
Zhihong. Li. Male 19
DATE LOCATION PLACE OF BIRTH
13th Jul. 2010 Guanghzou Shaoguan,GD
Student of Guangdong University of
Foreign Studies
PROFILE: Major in Spanish
INTERVIEW: NOTES
The first draft beer of China, I think should be Tsingtao. I am not sure. And I have never heard “Supra” beer.
I drink beer averagely 12 times every week with friends; always drink in weekend or holidays’ evening or night. But we don’t specific on only one brand, it depends on the service or appearances of beer girls – as we are still young, we like beautiful girls. If there is beer girls, may purchase randomly; or maybe will make decisions with accordance of some advertises, especially friend’s recommendation.
The beer brand I might recommend my friend should be (think over 30 seconds) Budweiser or Carlsberg. But it is really hard to tell the different, may be the taste is different. We drink Pearl River when in food stalls, but I never drink Pearl River in nightclub and karaoke bar, because friends don’t like drinking Pearl River. And I buy Pearl River in supermarkets or stores nearby. And in my opinion, Pearl River doesn’t suit to us, but my dad drink that brand at home sometimes.
I cannot remember any advertise of Pearl River, but Budweiser and Carlsberg. I think advertising is important, at least you shows me know the brand, like Budweiser, we would like to order Budweiser following the way people scream “Budweiser” in ads.
Actually, I don’t really care about the price, but the atmosphere we drink beer. Budweiser makes us feel fun and full of energy.
I strongly agree Pearl River Beer is a strong brand, and I would like to purchase Pearl River if it produces beer with a better image or popularity.
Recognition Beer girl Not loyalty behavior not loyalty low class old brand effect of ad. image not fun & energy
p.s. Underline for negative impact to Pearl River, highlight for emphasis
117
NO. 6
NAME: GENDER: AGE: OCCUPATION:
Yaobiao. Xie. Male 48
DATE LOCATION PLACE OF BIRTH
21st Jul. 2010 Guangzhou Guangzhou,GD
Businessman. A small business owner, Located in Guangzhou
PROFILE: Own a business over 20 years, getting ready to retired.
INTERVIEW: NOTES
The first draft beer? Definitely Pearl River, and I believe Pearl River beer is the best beer, it is fresh and tasty. What is “Supra”, never heard this brand. But, now I don’t drink beer that often, for healthy problem. Like others whom in this age, we drink Tea for always, and spend more money on Tea. And some times drink red wine for instant. Still I would like to consider my self as a very loyalty customer to Pearl River.
I drunk beer nearly every day, mostly after dinner, usually in a nightclub when talking business with other businessman. I drink Pearl River only no matter in which place, which situation. I had tried some other foreign beer with the recommendation of friends and maybe my son, but the taste is not the same. I preferred Pearl River still.
It is not because of the social class or the some other reason about personality. I have drunk it for over 20 years, just like an old friend.
From my memory, I can only remember the ad of “1st Draft Beer of China”, that’s all. However, I think the ad is quite bored, cannot catch consumers’ mind. Same, I don’t think Pearl River is the right thing for young people; as I recommend it to my son, but my son dares to ask me try Carlsberg and Budweiser.
If Pearl River launches a higher‐class beer, I would like to try. And also I will certainly ask all my friends go for it.
Anyway, people in the age like me, they will more care about healthy. That’s the main reason why I left Pearl River.
fresh tasty substitute loyalty Personality Ad. Losing young market Not health
p.s. Underline for negative impact to Pearl River, highlight for emphasis
118
NO.7
NAME: GENDER: AGE: OCCUPATION:
Yongkang.Jiang Male 31 DATE LOCATION PLACE OF BIRTH
6th Aug. 2010 Guangzhou Gaungzhou
Editor, Contest Department, 163 Netease Internet communication ltd. Co.
PROFILE: Work for Netease for 6 years in both Beijing and Guangzhou
PHONE INTERVIEW: NOTES
I don’t know which manufactory produce the 1st Draft Beer; I guess it should be Pearl River. And I have never heard of the name Supra. Pearl River is an old brand, and I think people whom born in 60s70s will prefer pearl river better.
I drink beer averagely once every two week, and actually I think I will choose different beer for different occasions, for example, Budweiser or Carlsberg in nightclubs and karaoke bar. But first come to my mind when talking about Pearl River is having night snack in food stalls. In my opinion, the socialclass of these beers is different.
You know, my first time know Anchor beer is because of a friend’s recommendation – look at that beer girl, how beautiful, why not have a try Anchor. When we order beer, actually, there would not be any fixed brand. As long as one person suggests one brand, we would follow and order that brand of beer.
From my memory, when I was in Beijing, there were very few foreign beer brands, either Pearl River. And I believe there are no obvious differences of tastes between different beer brands. People will more care about the price, but not the taste. But I don’t like the Pearl River original beer since the taste is too strong.
The design of the bottle will definitely affect my purchasing of beer, especially in a quiet and highend occasion. People will not care about any thing of beer when they are in club, what then need is just alcohol.
I won’t associate the Chinese basketball team when you mention Pearl River beer, but it might inspire my childhood’s memory. It is not because of the aging of the brand, but experience. I had heard Pearl River for over 20 years.
Recognition Old Frequency Lowclass Drink in food stalls Recommendation Beer girl No fixed brand local brand protection in northern same taste care price design highend association childhood
p.s. Underline for negative impact to Pearl River, highlight for emphasis
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APPENDIX 10 MEANSURES OF BRANDBUILDING BLOCKS
I. Salience
• What brands of product or service category can you think of? (Using increasingly specific product category cues)
• Have you ever heard of these brands? • Which brands might you be likely to use under the following situations? • How frequently do you think of this brand?
II. Performance
• Compared to other brands in the category, how well does this brand provide the basic functions of the product or service category?
• Compared to other brands in the category, how well does this brand satisfy the basic needs of the product or service category?
• To what extent does this brand have special features? • How reliable is this brand? • How durable is this brand? • How easily serviced is this brand? • How effective is this brand’s service—does it completely satisfy your
requirements? • How efficient is this brand’s service in terms of speed, responsiveness,
etc.? • How courteous and helpful are the providers of this brand’s service? • How stylish do you find this brand? • How much do you like the look, feel, and other design aspects of this
brand? • Compared to other brands in the category in which it competes, are this
brand’s prices generally higher, lower, or about the same? • Compared to other brands in the category in which it competes, do this
brand’s prices change more frequently, less frequently, or about the same amount?
III. Imagery
• To what extent do people you admire and respect use this brand? • How much do you like people who use this brand? • How well do the following words describe this brand?
o down‐to‐earth, honest, daring, up‐to‐date, reliable, successful, upper‐class,
o charming, outdoorsy
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• What places are appropriate to buy this brand? • How appropriate are the following situations to use this brand? • Can you buy this brand in a lot of places? • Is this a brand that you can use in a lot of different situations? • To what extent does thinking of Pearl River bring back pleasant
memories? • To what extent do you feel you grew up with Pearl River?
IV. Judgments
Quality
• What is your overall opinion of this brand? • What is your assessment of the product quality of this brand? • To what extent does this brand fully satisfy your product needs? • Does this brand offer good value?
Credibility
• How knowledgeable are the makers of this brand? • How innovative are the makers of this brand? • How much do you trust the makers of this brand? • To what extent do the makers of this brand understand your needs? • To what extent do the makers of this brand care about your opinions? • To what extent do the makers of this brand have your interests in mind? • How much do you like this brand? • How much do you admire this brand? • How much do you respect this brand?
Consideration
• How likely would you be to recommend this brand to others? • Which are your favorite soft drinks? • How personally relevant is this brand to you?
Superiority
• How unique is this brand? • To what extent does this brand offer advantages that other brands
cannot? • How superior is this brand to others in the category?
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V. Feelings
• Does this brand give you a feeling of warmth? • Does this brand give you a feeling of fun? • Does this brand give you a feeling of excitement? • Does this brand give you a feeling of security? • Does this brand give you a feeling of social approval? • Does this brand give you a feeling of self‐respect?
VI. Resonance
Loyalty
• I consider myself loyal to this brand. • I buy this brand whenever I can. • I buy as much of this brand as I can. • I feel this is the only brand of this product I need. • This is the one brand I would prefer to buy/use. • If this brand were not available, it would make little difference to me if I
had to use another brand. • I would go out of my way to use this brand.
Attachment
• I really love this brand. • I would really miss this brand if it went away. • This brand is special to me. • This brand is more than a product to me.
Community
• I really identify with people who use this brand. • I feel like I almost belong to a club with other users of this brand. • This is a brand used by people like me. • I feel a deep connection with others who use this brand.
Engagement
• I really like to talk about this brand with others. • I am always interested in learning more about this brand. • I would be interested in merchandise with this brand’s name on it. • I am proud to have others know I use this brand. • I like to visit the website for this brand. • Compared to other people, I closely follow news about this brand.
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APPENDIX 11. FOCUS GROUP DATA 1– KARAOKE BOX Candidates:
NAME SEX AGE OCCUPATION
Jianfu Shen M 26 Supervisor of Jinri cinema Zhebo Liang M 28 Technician in GZ Water Company Yongliang Chen M 28 Doctor of Chinese Traditional Medicine Shaoning Zhou M 33 Self‐employed with a small business Chunyao Lin M 26 PG student in Zhongshan University Huanxin Huang F 28 Sales of Honda Vehicle, Guangzhou Observation: (Recognition) Zhou, Shen and Huang went to the counter to order some drink. In the counter table, there is a menu stand with a slogan of Carlsberg Chill Beer – “unhappiness not allowed”. Shen pointed at the stand and turned to Huang said, “Hey, unhappiness not allowed!”
Huang: You too, unhappiness not allowed! Me: What we gonna drink? Shen and Huang said nearly in the same time: unhappiness not allowed, Carlsberg Chill!4
Hence, we ordered 65 Carlsberg at the beginning. … (Loyalty) The first round was finished and I went out the room and back again,
Me: hey, what you guys wanna drink? Carlsberg is out of stock? What about Budweiser or Pearl River? Someone, “No Pearl River, please, no one drink Pearl River in Karaoke” Lin: whatever, but no Pearl River. Huang: I don’t mind, up to you guys. Zhou: oh, come on, how come no Carlsberg? Chen: how about Budweiser? Liang: what? Carlsberg is better than Budweiser, if not, Heineken. Shen: Tsingtao, please…(everyone feel surprising)… Just kidding, I don’t really mind…
…
4 Carlsberg’s slogan of advertisement – “Unhappiness not allowed, Carlsberg Chill” 5 As planning to test the brand loyalty afterward, so ordered only 6 beers at the beginning.
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Candidates were ask to assumed the profile, apparel and vehicle of CEO and customers from Pearl River, Budweiser, Carlsberg, Heineken and Tsingtao6.
Imagine profiles of CEO from different Brand. BRAND APPAREL VEHICLE PROFILE
Heineken DKNY, CK, D&G, Armani, Gucci
Hammer, Landrover, Porsche
Party boy, expansive, talkative
Budweiser Polo, Paul Smith Lamborghini, Bugatti
Fashionable, sporty, funny
Pearl River Seven wolves, ShangHaiTan
BMW 7 series, Mercedes
Smart, powerful, slippery
Carlsberg Polo, Burberry, Armani Benny, Mercedes Tough, Actionable,
Active
Tsingtao Similar to PR, Formal dressing
Red Flag sedan, Lexus
Friendly, sociable, low profile
Imagine profiles of Beer Drinkers.
BRAND APPAREL AGE ASSOCIATIONS
Heineken levi’s, izzue, Polo, G2000, Cat 25‐30 Playboy, party, middle‐class,
green, sexy,
Budweiser Nike, addidas, gap 18‐30 Music, screaming, ants, USA, karaoke,
Pearl River Baleno, S&K, Anta, LiNing, 25‐40 Guangzhou, family, dinner, food
stalls, summer,
Carlsberg Kentex, levi’s, Lee 18‐30 Unhappiness not allowed, beer girl, green, club,
Tsingtao Baleno,No brand, or cheaper brand 30‐40 Spring water, mainland‐China,
labourer, grassroots
When asking Pearl River’s associations, everyone kept silence for around 30s at the beginning, as long as Zhou said: ”recollection of the past.” And then, people gave associations as above.
6 According to information of the pretesting, Carlsberg, Budweiser, Tsingtao, Pearl River and Heineken is the most popular brand in Guangdong market.
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Pearl River’s Advertisements
There are two various TV commercial of Pearl River currently, hence, candidates were asked to share the comments after watching both of the commercial in the focus group. And all the candidates indicated they preferred the No.2 ad. No.1 The First Draft Beer
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47O9Op‐MK_g
Comments: boring, official, no connection, out of date, no feeling, formal , dark, artistic, strength, Chinese style…
No.2 Relaxing
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwGwDhiyZ74
Comments: funny, beautiful, free, like the music, copy, memorisable, relax, friendship, cool, fashionable, not creative, active, actionable, motivation, want to try, sexy, good mood, happy…
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Brand Image of Pearl River
Candidates were asked to rate the impression that from Pearl River after
finished watching the two commercials, following the type of Questionnaire 10,
Further Questionnaires. Every candidate had to give a mark to the elements of
impression, with lowest 0 to highest 5.
Shen
Liang
Chen
Zhou
Lin
Huang
OVER
ALL
confidence 4 4 3 4 3 5 3.8 excited 4 5 4 4 4 5 4.3 active 5 5 5 5 4 5 4.8 young 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 fashionable 4 5 4 4 4 5 4.3 good taste 4 4 4 5 3 5 4.2 belong to successful people 3 3 4 3 2 4 3.2
high quality 4 4 5 5 4 5 4.5 Have personality 4 3 4 4 3 4 3.7 relaxing 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 suitable to share with friends 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
popular brand 4 4 4 4 3 5 4 advanced productivity 5 4 4 5 3 5 4.3
worthy 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 not aging brand 3 2 2 3 1 5 2.7 makes me feel full of energy 4 3 4 5 3 3 3.7
tasty 4 4 5 5 4 5 4.5 presents good life quality 4 3 4 4 3 4 3.7
leader of the industry 4 4 4 5 3 5 4.2
convenient 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 OVERALL 85 82 85 90 72 95 84.9
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For measuring the different tastes of beer in southern market of China, a blind test of Budweiser, Carlsberg and Pearl River was hold within the focus group, as well as the new product of Pearl River – Supra white beer. Every candidate was asked to try three little glasses of beer, which there is no mark and no way to identify the brand.
Taste of different beer (Full mark: 10) NAME Budweiser Carlsberg Pearl River Shen 6 8 8 Liang 8 8 8 Chen 8 8 8 Zhou 10 10 10 Lin 8 10 10
Huang 8 8 8 AVERAGE 8 8.6 8.6
Blind Test of SUPRA (Full mark: 10)
NAME TASTY HQ LUXURY PREFER TRY DESIGN LOGO
Shen 9 7 8 8 8 9 7 Liang 8 8 8 9 8 9 8 Chen 10 9 7 9 8 9 7 Zhou 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 Lin 8 8 7 7 8 6 6
Huang 10 10 9 9 9 9 8 AVERAGE 9 8.3 7.8 8.3 8.2 8.3 7.3
Candidates were asked to identify different brands via seeing the design of bottles.
“P.R.” for Pearl River
A B C D E F G Shen n/a Budweiser Heineken SanMig’ Tsingtao n/a Carlsberg
Liang P.R. Budweiser Heineken Tiger Tsingtao n/a Carlsberg
Chen n/a P.R. Carlsberg Tiger P.R. n/a P.R.
Zhou P.R. Budweiser Heineken n/a n/a n/a P.R.
Lin n/a Tsingtao Heineken P.R P.R. n/a Carlsberg
Huang Tsingtao n/a Carlsberg n/a n/a n/a Carlsberg
ANSWER P.R. Budweiser Heineken Old Supra
Tsingtao New SUPRA
Carlsberg
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APPENDIX 12. FOCUS GROUP DATA 2– DINNER PARTY Candidates:
NAME SEX AGE OCCUPATION SEAT Wang Wei M 47 Manager of Taxi Company 1 Zhu Zhimin M 50 Owner of a clothesing manufactory 2 Xie Jintao M 55 Retired 3 Ouyang Qu M 48 N/A 4 Huang Zhiqiang M 51 Manager of China Post Office 5
(Me) 6 The tested beer of this focus group was following the result of pretesting, and they are Pearl River, Tsingtao and Yanking. And there were 2 bottles of each brand on both table A and B, and the 5 more bottles were in the fridge F.
Blind Test of Supra (full mark 10)
NAME TASTY HQ LUXURY PREFER TRY DESIGN LOGO
Wang 10 10 8 9 8 10 10 Zhu 10 10 8 9 9 9 8 Xie 8 10 7 8 6 9 8 Ouyang 10 10 7 8 9 10 9 Huang 10 10 9 10 10 10 8 Averagely 9.6 10 7.8 8.8 8.4 9.6 8.6
Side Table B
Table
Chair 5 Chair 4
Chair 3
Chair 6 Chair 2
Chair 1
Fridge F Entrance
Side Table
A
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OBSERVATION:7 As everyone had settled down, Zhu (2) took a bottle of Pearl River from table B and asked: hey, you guys want some Pearl River? Xie agreed and at the same time asked waitress for: just give me Tea. The rest, Ouyang, Wang and Huang accepted, Pearl River is OK, whatever. … As the 2 bottles on B were finished, Zhu asked Wang to get another Pearl River from table A… …The other 2 Pearl River beer on A were finished, and then I took a Tsingtao from table A, and asked for agreement… Zhu and Ouyang stopped me, and Ouyang went to for ordering. Me: Actually, there is some more Pearl River in the Fridge Hence, Ouyang went to F and pick up 3 more Pearl River … … Xie was avoiding every drink of beer, when the rest people cheering for the round, Xie just raised his hand and take a lick only.
Every time he said, “ohh, im getting old…don’t like before when I am young…” (Means he cannot drink too much due to the healthy issue, even I drunk a lot when I am young.) …
Candidates were asked to identify different brands via seeing the design of bottles.
“P.R.” short for Pearl River
A B C D E F G Wang P.R Tsingtao N/A N/A Tsingtao n/a N/A Zhu P.R Kingway Foreign P.R Tsingtao n/a Foreign Xie P.R Kingway N/A SanMig’ Tsingtao n/a P.R Ouyang P.R P.R Foreign Kingway n/a n/a P.R. Huang P.R Tsingtao Foreign P.R Kingway n/a Tsingtao
ANSWER P.R. Budweiser Heineken Old Supra
Tsingtao New SUPRA
Carlsberg
7 Ps. Limitation of party dinner focus group, as china is under a high power distance culture, it is difficult to make elder people to offer a well cooperation, and it is impossible to force their concentrations. So games were holding not so well as expected. And sometimes, the situation was out of control. Therefore, observation was the main approach to record this focus group activity.
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APPENDIX 13. OBSERVATION TO GUANGZHOU BEER MUSEUM Guangzhou Intl. Beer Museum
Guangzhou Beer Museum was build by Pearl River Group Address: No. 118, Mo Die Sha Av. Xin Gang Est. Rd. Tianhe Tel: 0086‐20‐ 85583910 Video of observation to Beer Museum8
8 The video was taken by mobile phone, and have been uploaded to YouTube as the following address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTeBq6s8en0
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APPENDIX 14. RELIABILITY, DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS & ANOVA
Scale: ALL VARIABLES
Case Processing Summary
N % Valid 172 99.4 Excluded(a) 1 .6
Cases
Total 173 100.0
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha N of Items
.791 54
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha Part 1 Value .752
N of Items 27(a)
Part 2 Value .774
N of Items 27(b)
Total N of Items 54
Correlation Between Forms .185
Spearman‐Brown Coefficient
Equal Length .313
Unequal Length .313
Guttman Split‐Half Coefficient .288
(a) The items are: age, gender, first option, draft beer, heard of pearl river, recommend Fds, resonable price, Tasty HQ, Popular,Fashion, impressive ads, fds' recommendation, slogan for Pearl River, TV programmes, Fd's recommendation, News paper+Mgzine, promotion, Beer Girl, Internet, confident, excited, active, young, fashionable, good taste, belong to successful people, high quality, have personality.
(b) The items are: relaxing, suitable to share with fds, popular brand, advanced & modern productivity, worthy, old brand, makes me feel full of energy, tasty, presents good life quality, leader of beer industry, conenience to purchase, Karaoke box, nightclub, food stalls, high‐end restaurant, at home, cool, fashionable, luxury, preferred, confidence, special, attractive, impressive, successful, young, which part of CN.
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Q10. Please rank the rate of impression given by Pearl River, from Lowest 1 to highest 5.
Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std.
Deviation confident 173 1 5 2.07 .974 excited 173 1 5 2.28 .858 active 173 1 5 2.83 .903 young 173 1 5 2.66 .966 fashionable 173 1 5 2.33 .922 good taste 173 1 5 2.29 .940 belong to successful people 173 1 5 2.06 1.021
high quality 173 1 5 2.90 1.021 have personality 173 1 5 2.43 .916 relaxing 173 1 5 3.14 .930 suitable to share with fds 173 1 5 3.68 1.033
popular brand 173 1 5 2.95 1.013 advanced & modern productivity 173 1 5 3.02 .997
worthy 173 1 5 3.48 1.009 old brand 173 1 5 3.10 .968 makes me feel full of energy 173 1 5 2.36 .958
tasty 172 1 5 3.39 .970 presents good life quality 173 1 5 2.68 .849
leader of beer industry 173 1 5 3.26 .998 convenience to purchase 173 1 5 4.40 .833
Valid N (listwise) 172
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Receive information from TV or not
Ps. Highlight is the different means between different groups of responses.
Over all
Not from TV
Mean
From TV
Mean
Focus group
confident 2.07 2 2 1.93
excited 2.28 2 2 2.15
active 2.83 3 3 2.73
young 2.66 2 3 2.49
fashionable 2.33 2 2 2.22
good taste 2.29 2 2 2.18
belong to successful people
2.06 2 2 1.92
high quality 2.9 3 3 2.85
have personality 2.43 2 3 2.36
relaxing 3.14 3 3 2.93
suitable to share with fds 3.68 4 4 3.49
popular brand 2.95 3 3 2.78
advanced & modern productivity
3.02 3 3 2.89
worthy 3.48 3 4 3.34
old brand 3.10 3 3 3.18
makes me feel full of energy
2.36 2 3 2.16
tasty 3.39 3 3 3.26
presents good life quality 2.68 3 3 2.53
leader of beer industry 3.26 3 3 3.05
conenience to purchase 4.40 5 5 4.26
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One way ANOVA
20 options of Q10 (expression to Pearl River) by Q1 (age category)
Oneway ANOVA
Sum of Squares df
Mean Square F Sig.
confident Between Groups
40.552 3 13.517 18.631 .000
Within Groups 122.615 169 .726 Total 163.168 172 excited Between
Groups 24.063 3 8.021 13.209 .000
Within Groups 102.619 169 .607 Total 126.682 172 active Between
Groups 23.790 3 7.930 11.518 .000
Within Groups 116.349 169 .688 Total 140.139 172 young Between
Groups 33.702 3 11.234 14.967 .000
Within Groups 126.853 169 .751 Total 160.555 172 fashionable Between
Groups 24.153 3 8.051 11.146 .000
Within Groups 122.067 169 .722 Total 146.220 172 good taste Between
Groups 36.425 3 12.142 17.760 .000
Within Groups 115.540 169 .684 Total 151.965 172 belong to successful people
Between Groups 45.291 3 15.097 19.022 .000
Within Groups 134.131 169 .794 Total 179.422 172 high quality Between
Groups 32.421 3 10.807 12.432 .000
Within Groups 146.909 169 .869 Total 179.329 172 have personality
Between Groups
31.094 3 10.365 15.467 .000
Within Groups 113.253 169 .670 Total 144.347 172 relaxing Between
Groups 16.324 3 5.441 6.948 .000
Within Groups 132.346 169 .783 Total 148.671 172
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suitable to share with fds
Between Groups 18.124 3 6.041 6.173 .001
Within Groups 165.391 169 .979 Total 183.514 172 popular brand
Between Groups
55.037 3 18.346 25.519 .000
Within Groups 121.495 169 .719 Total 176.532 172 advanced & modern productivity
Between Groups 30.210 3 10.070 12.092 .000
Within Groups 140.738 169 .833 Total 170.948 172 worthy Between
Groups 15.553 3 5.184 5.489 .001
Within Groups 159.627 169 .945 Total 175.179 172 old brand Between
Groups 1.979 3 .660 .700 .554
Within Groups 159.350 169 .943 Total 161.329 172 makes me feel full of energy
Between Groups 38.785 3 12.928 18.361 .000
Within Groups 118.996 169 .704 Total 157.780 172 tasty Between
Groups 22.003 3 7.334 8.871 .000
Within Groups 138.898 168 .827 Total 160.901 171 presents good life quality
Between Groups 25.474 3 8.491 14.584 .000
Within Groups 98.399 169 .582 Total 123.873 172 leader of beer industry
Between Groups 24.838 3 8.279 9.554 .000
Within Groups 146.456 169 .867 Total 171.295 172 convenience to purchase
Between Groups
3.585 3 1.195 1.742 .160
Within Groups 115.895 169 .686 Total 119.480 172
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Acknowledgements
Firstly, I am highly appreciated and grateful to the guidance and patience of my dissertation supervisor Dr. Rob Stevenson and International Marketing course tutor Dr. Michael Heller, throughout the course of this assignment. With the kindly help and supports from them, it made the progress of this dissertation more smoothly and efficiently. Secondary, I would also like to acknowledge those who kindly joint the survey, interview and focus group, especially the first two interviewees, Michelle and Tian (No. 1 & 2, Appendix 9), whom are working for Pearl River. They gave me a lot of information and background knowledge upon the beer industry and useful information of Pearl River. Finally, I would like to thank students from MSc. International Management whom offered assistance for the dissertation, as well as the well‐structured facilities of Royal Holloway, University of London. Meanwhile, I have to appreciate my parents who provide such a great opportunity to study in RHUL.