More Bitter Than Sweet
Mar 22, 2010
Thanks to Roger for keeping me up to date on the BitterSweet Partnership. I’ve been glad to have had a few emails with one of the women involved in the is project driven by Molson Coors UK.
The thing is – they still don’t seem to get it. Here’s an excerpt.
“The
researchers quizzed 2,000 men from across the UK
about their thoughts and opinions on women’s drinking habits. “
Men? Why are they asking men? It’s the women they are supposedly focused on – so why are they not asking the women? This totally mistifies me. Of course you’re not going to get accurate information when you don’t ask the proper source.
Someone tell me what I’m missing, help me understand how this project will help educate and serve the beer community, cause now I don’t get this projects purpose at all.
p.s. the “girls” on one of the website pictures isn’t helpful at all either….
Tags: BitterSweet Partnership, misguided effort, wrong direction
March 22nd, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Hi Ginger – Kristy here from BitterSweet Partnership. Just wanted to leave a comment to hopefully answer some of the questions you’ve raised.
Rest assured we do regularly ask women what they think, several thousand of them in fact. We’ve completed two research surveys around women’s attitudes and feelings about beer (the results of the second survey are being released in the next month or so, we’ll send you through the results when we have them). We also regularly talk to women and communicate via our website to learn more about attitudes towards beer.
Our research showed that there are many cultural reasons why beer is less popular in the UK, where only 13% of beer serves are to women as opposed to 25% in the United States. The reason we asked men their opinions in this instance was because culturally, UK women clearly care about how others perceive them, particularly when it comes to the opposite sex: only 6% of women would drink beer on a first date, as opposed to 33% at a music festival. So we asked for men’s opinions with the intention of finding out men’s attitudes to beer to demonstrate that they aren’t as negative as many women think.
To answer your question about the purpose that BitterSweet Partnership serves – we aim to ignite a love of beer in women by several means. One of them is by dispelling the myths that exist in the UK surrounding beer consumption, such as female beer drinkers being manly, or beer being more calorific than other alcoholic drinks, as we know from our research that these kinds of misconceptions prevent women from enjoying beer. Another purpose is to encourage new initiatives, such beer and food matching, or to tackle glassware by creating a new half-pint glass. The short answer might be that we are serving the beer community by expanding the market and addressing the negative stereotypes that surround beer.
Thanks for taking the time to blog about BitterSweet Partnership and I’d love to discuss it more in the future
March 22nd, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Thanks for chiming in Kristy – all the info you shared with us is helpful in finding out where the project is coming from. Clearly we have many cultural differences either way across the pond. I still am concerned with the use of “girl”on your site and lots of overtly feminine pinking of beer, unless that appeals to English women.
Per your glassware – did I read an article correctly that a design contest was held for a drinking vessel? If so, can you tell me if there is any science behind designing the glass for the beers sake? Or was it simply based on design only per aesthetics? Let me know when you have time. Thank you.
Stay in touch. Ginger
March 24th, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Hi Ginger, thanks for your reply. To answer your question, our research found that the aesthetics of beer glassware are very important to women: a third of women in the UK are put off by beer packaging, thinking that it’s ‘ugly and manly’, and nearly a fifth of women who don’t currently choose beer said it’d be more of an option for them if it had a better image. We collaborated with a leading fashion design (Amy Molyneaux from London fashion label PPQ) in order to design a new half-pint glass as a way of providing a more stylish experience and offer variety and choice to women who are currently put off by existing beer glassware. Thanks, Kristy
March 25th, 2010 at 7:37 am
Hi Kristy – All well and good – and still seems to be missing the educational piece. Does the research involve focus groups with the everyday non-industry woman? How much education is being provided to help grow the market authentically and accurately? I’m very sure several of us here would be interested to know precisely how Molson Coors UK is carrying this initiative forward. While asking men may be helpful – and I am unsure of the cultural facets as I am not a UK’er – still does not get at the core of what the women think. And designing a glass without the performance of the beer in mind seems slightly negligent for the beers sake. Design – fine. Does the designer know anything about sensory science? But it does not get at the educational facet of what kind of glass a beer should be properly served in for best taste, etc. to develop female market share. Women Enjoying Beer starts with education and research – then jumps into the concentric circles headed outward. At the core it’s about education for all – two sides of the conversation have to be engaged with the first participation being the one under the microscope. Let me know when BitterSweet wants to fly me over to have some real in depth conversation – I know the research data, info that the everyday American Woman has provided – can help. It’d be my pleasure to be at your – and the women of the UK’s – service. Cheers – Ginger