Impact Of Marketing On Young People

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

The impact of marketing on young people requires an understanding of the full range of influences on their behaviour in the current environment. Like adults, young people are affected by the level of accessibility of alcohol beverages and the price at which they can be bought relative to other (Babor et al., 2003; Academy of Medical Sciences, 2004). Marketing plays a synergistic role in relation to these influences. Many places where alcohol is sold provide an opportunity for the use of marketing materials which produce a visually significant impact on the physical environment. Similarly, an effective marketing strategy for some groups of the population is to provide information about price of beverages; in some countries print media and sales outlets promote alcohol beverages based on price (Stockwell et al., 1992;Casswell et al., 1993).

Beer as a sub category among alcoholic beverages proves to be important among the demographic of young adults. It ticks all the boxes in terms of use by the demographic such as accessibility and affordability across all segments. It is belatedly catching on to the importance of flavour innovation – particularly sweeter variants which are proving hugely popular among younger consumers in the cider and vodka categories; and the increasing importance of drinks categories positioning themselves as relevant to in home drinking occasions such as mealtimes, plus relaxing, social and sharing occasions. It is also heavily marketed with young adults as the target market.

Since, no other sub category of alcoholic beverage provides such advantages as beer does among young adults in the current market, we will use it as our concentration for research for the purpose of comparability and use it as significant and indicative of alcoholic beverages.

The Online Environment

Social networking platforms continue to grow in leaps and bounds. According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2009) and Zhang, Mattila & Cranage (2010), these sites act as mediators in the procedure of letting users to connect and share material through utilising personal profiles.

Although prior research has looked at how advertisers use social networks as platforms for their brand communications (Mabry,2010), little research addresses how customers notice their use as contributing to brand image (Zhang et al., 2010). This is challenging as substantial funds are spent on social networking campaigns, often with mixed results.

Recently, alcohol researchers have started to consider digital marketing, arguing it is ‘critically important that we understand the dimensions and implications of [this] new marketing paradigm’ (Chester et al., 2010: 3; see also Jones and Jernigan, 2010: 4; Gordon et al., 2010: 477). The bulk of published research focuses on conventional ‘dotcom’ websites (e.g. Center on Alcohol Marketing, 2004; Hastings, 2009), while research into marketing on social media remains ‘in its infancy’ (Leyshon, 2011: 9). However, the emergence of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter has fundamentally changed the nature of digital marketing. Whereas ‘dotcom’ sites allow some interactivity, they remain primarily unidirectional; social media marketing, by contrast, hinges on the promotion of interaction and conversation among potential consumers.

Alcohol companies have responded to the rise of social media by repositioning their marketing focus. In January 2011, Bacardi announced it would ‘shift up to 90% of its digital spend to Facebook as it no longer deems dotcom sites relevant’ (Shearman, 2011). In 2011, the Head of Digital at Diageo stated that ‘the days of lavish £200,000 websites are over’, and later that year Diageo announced plans to ‘step up their multi-million dollar partnership with Facebook’, reporting that their Facebook fan base had increased from three and a half to 12 million in the preceding year (Derrick, 2011; Diageo, 2011a). By September 2011, alcohol brands had the third highest consumer ‘engagement rate’ on Facebook after automobiles and retail (Socialbakers, 2011a). Furthermore, between March and September 2011 ‘likes’ for the Smirnoff GB page increased by 39.18% to over 629,000, while ‘likes’ for the global Bacardi page increased by 289% to 1,889,789 (Socialbakers, 2011b).

Advertising regulators have also responded to these changes. In March 2011, the UK Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP, 2011) extended its regulations to cover digital communications, and in September 2011, the UK drinks industry self-regulator, the Portman Group, released a consultation on its marketing Code of Practice, which included proposals to tighten existing guidelines on social media communications (Portman Group, 2009, 2011). In the same month, the American spirits industry self-regulator, DISCUS, released an updated code of practice for digital marketing (DISCUS, 2011). These codes focus on preventing brands from targeting underage drinkers (Portman Group, 2009: Codes 21, 2.2 and 2.3), while requiring better moderation of user-generated material that potentially breaches existing regulations (Portman Group, 2009: Code 2.4). As such, they seek to better apply existing regulations to the online environment, rather than addressing unique features of social media that present new challenges.

The Beer Market

The beer market has seen a marked decline from £17.7 billion in 2006 to £15.5 billion in 2011. Its volume sales have plummeted from 5.6 to 4.3 billion litres over this period.

Lager dominates the category and has therefore seen a greater loss of actual revenue over the past six years, down from £12.7 billion in 2006 to £11.4 million in 2011 – a 10% decrease which looks a lot better than it is due to above-inflation price increases. In 2011, ale was worth £3.3 billion and stout £855 million.

While lager has seen a greater actual revenue decline (£1.3 billion) than ale and stout put together, the latter two markets have seen a steeper decline in volume sales. For beer in general, volume sales are a much more accurate measure of performance as the above-inflation ‘tax escalator’ – introduced in 2008 – has meant that beer prices have risen exponentially each year and will continue to do so until at least 2014 (when the escalator will be reviewed).

The effect of such price rises and diminished consumer spending capacity has meant that beer’s on-trade sales have fallen 15% from £14.5 billion in 2006 to £12.3 billion in 2010. While the off-trade sales have risen 1.6% from £3.2 billion in 2006 to £3.7 billion in 2010 this has not been nearly enough to plug the profit gap and off-trade beer revenues still account for less than a quarter (23.2%) of total UK sales in 2010.

After a shift towards standard-strength beer sales between 2003 and 2007, there has recently been a shift back to premium beer – especially in 2010. This is likely to have been driven by increasing interest in quality over quantity (and this high strength sector as the name indicates has been the subject of premium positioning) and consumers looking to get more value for money – with higher ABV meaning that it is essentially cheaper to get drunk.

Market Factors

There are a number of reasons for beer’s dramatic decline: the UK population has been drinking proportionately less alcohol since 2004, duty increases have made alcohol much more expensive particularly in the on-trade, and low consumer confidence and squeezed incomes mean that many people have cut back on drinking alcohol. However, a key question is why has beer been so badly hit compared to rest of the alcohol industry? For example, (still) wine may have seen these factors erode its user base but has grown its revenues by 15.3% over the past six years and maintained its volume sales.

Key to beer’s troubles lie in the fact that it is – more than any other alcohol type – hugely reliant on the on-trade, and pubs in particular. The economic downturn and rising differential between on- and off-trade beer/alcohol prices has hit pub trade heavily and led to more and more UK consumers migrating to in-home drinking. More than two in five (44%) on-trade drinkers now see drinking out of home as too expensive and it has meant that a once regular night out occasion has become more of an occasional luxury.

FIGURE 1: Annual % change in price index (RPI) of beers, by on- and off-trade, 2005-11

* 2011 figure is a monthly average of January – October 2011

** Inflation measured in RPI for all items excluding housing

SOURCE: Office for National Statistics/Mintel

While beer has grown its revenues slightly in the off-trade in recent years, due to this consumer migration its volumes are down over the past six years, and it is the recipient of heavy discounting activity from the supermarkets, not to mention enormous competition in probably the best-branded sector within alcohol.

Beer suffers from being perceived as less suited than its competitors for in-home drinking. This is because its male user bias makes it less of a compromise choice for couples than wine or spirits, and it is less associated with food matching and/or relaxing occasions than either of those drinks categories.

The beer sector has also not helped itself by being slow to respond to the decline of the market – and for too long thinking (or hoping) that falling numbers was just a blip. This means that the industry has been ‘late in the game’ in adjusting its offering and image to changing consumer wants and expectations such as people wanting less to be part of the crowd and drawn more to premium, heterogonous products, flavour innovation and particularly sweeter variants proving hugely popular among younger consumers in the cider and vodka categories, and the increasing importance of drinks categories positioning themselves as relevant for in-home drinking occasions such as mealtimes, plus relaxing, social and sharing occasions.

Companies, Brands and Innovation

There has been increased consolidation of the increasingly powerful global beer companies over the past ten years and currently AB InBev is looking at a possible merger with SAB Miller, which itself is in the process of buying out Foster’s beer division.

Another feature of recent company activity is that the major beer multinationals are increasingly looking to develop stronger ties in emerging economies as the UK and Western Europe sees diminishing returns. A recent example is Heineken’s recent purchase of Mexican brewer Femsa Cerveza as well as two breweries in Ethiopia.

Lager companies are increasingly – and belatedly – looking to attract a broader audience than primarily young men in order to bring new consumers into a declining market. Molson Coors believes there is a £396 million untapped market of UK female beer drinkers and has created the Bitter Sweet business unit to better target females in the UK.

This has led to recent female-friendly innovations such as Carling Chrome, brewed to give lower levels of bitterness and carbonation – two main barriers to entry for females. Molson Coors has also launched Animée, a 4% ABV lager, which is lower in calories and less carbonated than standard beer. It is also sold in three flavour variants: clear filtered, crisp rosé and zesty lemon.

AB InBev is taking a different tack to Molson Coors. Rather than try and target women specifically, the company is looking to broaden the appeal of beer to this demographic by no longer focusing specifically on men. This has led to the release of low calorie lager Budweiser 66.

In the take-home sector, the fierce competition for brand share in the off-trade means that only two brands, Stella Artois (14.9%) and Foster’s (10.7%), have a double-digit percentage value sales share of the market. Own-label sales are negligible, while world lagers such as Tuborg and Peroni are performing particularly well, but Artois 4% has seen a dramatic 30% fall in sales after its highly successful introduction into major multiples in 2009.

FIGURE 2: Top beer brand values sales and share in the off-trade, 2010

SOURCE: Mintel

The Consumer

Over two in five (44%) of UK consumers have drunk lager in the past six months compared to a quarter (25%) who have drunk ale and just under a fifth (18%) who have drunk stout.

The main consumer for lager is 18-54-year-old men, however Mintel’s consumer research illustrates how the sector has struggled to attract the key 18-24-year-old consumers that have been its bread and butter in previous years and decades of growth. In contrast, cider has proved highly attractive to this younger generation, a result of not just its more competitive price-point but mainly due to its sweeter flavour and flavoured innovations (eg pear cider and other fruit flavoured extensions of the traditional apple cider concept).

Much of lager’s appeal is due to a strong dual proposition of being refreshing and affordable as well as reinforcing masculinity among younger male consumers. However, the younger 18-34-year-old cohort actually see it as less refreshing than their older counterparts do, recognition of increased competition for this mantle from the likes of cider on ice which means the lager sector would benefit from a renewed drive towards ‘extra cold’ lager innovation.

Figure 4: Key factors when deciding which brand of lager to drink, October 2011

Base: 841 internet users aged 18+ who have drunk lager in past 6 months

Source: GMI/Mintel

There are also clear differences between the 18-34-year-old generation and older cohorts. The former view lager much more flexibly and are interested in more interesting and sweeter flavour profiles, premium bottled varieties and are highly aware of beer’s calorie content. In other words, innovation is key to re-stimulating sales among this younger generation.

FIGURE 5: Net difference in attitudes towards lager, 18-34-year-olds versus 35+-year-olds, October 2011

Base: 841 internet users aged 18+ who have drunk lager in past 6 months

SOURCE: GMI/Mintel

Consumer research shows that ironically, the economic downturn has led to consumers not downgrading but prioritising quality over quantity. This is likely to be behind the swing from standard lager sales to premium and has led to the likes of mainstream brands Foster’s and Carling looking to realign themselves as slightly more upmarket.

Consumers are nevertheless highly price sensitive, meaning they are paying particularly close attention to the price of lager brands in comparison to each other. The implication is that a failure to play the discounting game is likely to lead to a major loss of brand share particularly within supermarkets, of which the demise in sales of Absolut vodka compared to Smirnoff offers a cautionary tale.

While lager drinkers are keen on the idea of drinking quality lager, in reality they prefer an easier, less complex taste. For example, 42% of lager think a lager being is extra cold is an important factor when choosing a brand, even though this seriously diminishes the lager’s taste profile, while 45% like it to be smooth.

Ale’s strengths compared to lager lie in the fact that it is seen as the opposite of a homogenised, ‘one fit for all’ mainstream product – especially cask ale. Compared to lager, ale is seen as more interesting (64% of ale drinkers), better quality (51%) and having a better variety of types and tastes (62%), all of which give it a cachet in a market that is increasingly moving towards premiumisation.

Bridging the gender divide

The UK beer market has made real strides in recent years in broadening its appeal to female users, evolving its image away from binge drinking and the strong male orientation of drinking pints.

While men remain the more likely beer drinkers, women are showing signs of growing enthusiasm towards the market, with ales boosting their appeal to women through flavour innovation and a focus on craft brewing. Men are particularly likely to drink pints in pubs, an unsurprising finding considering that 60% of male beer drinkers think that draught beer tastes better than beer in bottles/cans (compared to just 44% of women).

FIGURE 16: Purchase of different types of beer, by gender, October 2012

Base: 1,916 internet users aged 18+

Note: Any lager/beer refers to a net of all categories excluding ale/bitter and stout

Source: GMI/Mintel

With women being more likely to drink wines and cocktails in the on-trade than beer, making beer brands more accessible through innovation such as new flavours and more sophisticated glassware offers potential to expand usage.

However, it is worth pointing out the failure of Molson Coors’ Animée beer, the withdrawal of which was announced in autumn 2012, little more than a year after its launch. The brand’s approach of treating female beer drinkers as ‘different’ from male drinkers has been speculated as having played a role in its struggle to gain momentum. Instead, a better approach may be to focus on the premiumisation rather than feminisation of beer to appeal to women.

The increasing appeal of beer to women is attributable in part to the progress made in improving its image, aided by rising prices reducing the availability of ‘cheap booze’, while the craft movement has helped beer to develop more sophisticated and connoisseurial connotations.

Budweiser

"Budweiser is a medium-bodied, flavourful, crisp and pure beer with blended layers of premium American and European hop aromas, brewed for the perfect balance of flavour and refreshment" (Anheuser - Busch Inbev, 2011).

In the years prior to 2009, Budweiser had a very difficult time experiencing decreasing sales and market share. To gain shares back and to attract target consumers, Budweiser launched a new marketing campaign switching from their famous animation based commercials to a completely new style.

After the merger with Anheuser – Busch in 2008 Budweiser´s sales and market share both increased by 19%. They sponsored the last FIFA World Cup and by 2010 the company had the highest worldwide market share in the last eight years.

Budweiser portrays itself as " a great brand, known and loved by consumers, as a young brand, a fun brand, and a brand that represents the best elements of American heritage" (MacFarlane, 2010). Budweiser itself stands for quality and good taste.

It tries to reach its target group, which consists of male consumers between the age of 21-34, through communicating to their activities and hobbies. This is one of the reasons why Budweiser focuses strongly on sport events and acts as a sponsor of several events.

TITLE

Brands are key assets, offering firms a chance to exploit the value within and, ultimately, allowing them to own a position and image in the customers’ minds (Martinez, Chernatony & Polo, 2004). Unlike brand identity, which originates from the firm itself, brand image is the customers’ perception of the brand and the positioning of that brand in their minds (Nandan, 2004).

Marketing influences on young people are more penetrating than those experienced by many adults. Exposure to the mass media has increased since the 1960s (Signorielli, 1990) and with it exposure to marketing of all sorts. Increased exposure to alcohol advertising has followed in many places in the world over the last two decades. The advertising to sales ratio for the alcohol industry is ∼9% compared with 3% for the average advertising to sales ratio (Schonfeld & Associates, 1999). In less developed countries there is also increasing exposure to global marketing through internet access, video recordings and television channels accessed by satellite.

In addition to the central role of the mass media there are other aspects of the environment in which young people are growing up which are also relevant to the likely impact of alcohol marketing. Changes in the structure of societies and the values behind everyday life have reduced the influence of family, community and nation state (Giddens, 1979, 1991; Miles, 2000). The growth of consumer goods and the increasing dependence of the economy on their consumption has helped the marketing of consumer goods as expressions of lifestyle and personality (Elliott and Wattanasuwan, 1998; Klein, 2000). There has been an increase in the value that youth culture attaches to brand labels and symbols. Alcohol beverages play an important role in this, with brands of alcohol communicating social status and desires (Jackson et al., 2000).

The Digital Environment

Whilst there is considerable consensus on how firms can build a strong brand image using mass media platforms (Aaker, 1991;Keller, 1993; Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2000; Kapferer, 2008), there is little research regarding building brand image via modern interactive platforms (Keller, 1993).

The authors considered brand image to be the end point in the analysis and set about to determine the factors which influence this particular construct.

Park, Jaworski and MacInnis (1986) argue that brand image is positively influenced by brand attitudes, which help to position and differentiate a brand’s products from competitors. Additionally, Hoyer and Brown (1990) found that when consumers lack sufficient product information, brand attitudes are used as a guide for brand image formation. When consumers form positive brand attitudes, greater consideration is given to that brand, resulting in positive brand image (Lane & Jacobson, 1995). Low and Lamb (2000) believe that brand attitude is not only an indicator, but rather has significant effects on brand image development.

Aaker and Keller (1990) found that brand attitude is a significant influencer of consumer brand evaluations, and these evaluations lead to brand image formation. In the context of this study, this means that a consumer’s attitude towards the brand and web pages affect their perceptions and guide the formation of the brand’s image.

Activities of Note within the Online Environment

Real-world tie-ins: the Nightlife Exchange Project

‘Real-world tie-in’ refers to an actual branded event (club night, sporting event etc.) promoted wholly or in part via social media. The most prominent of these was the Smirnoff ‘Nightlife Exchange Project’ (hereafter ‘NEP’). The NEP involves themed nightclub events across the globe. These are promoted via both social and conventional media channels and represent the biggest marketing outlay in the history of Smirnoff's parent company, Diageo (Sweney, 2010). During the period of this study, an NEP event took place in London. Of 35 posts on the Smirnoff GB Facebook wall, 24 were either pre-event announcements or links to related Youtube videos, or post-event photos and videos documenting the party. At the event, attendees received key rings allowing them to upload photos to Facebook, many of which appeared on the Smirnoff GB Facebook photo album in the following days. This blurred the distinction between user-generated material and brand promotion as fan photos mixed with official images and videos. On Twitter, Smirnoff actively encouraged followers who had attended to share images, posting tweets such as ‘Were you at the Nightlife Exchange? We want #stories. We want #pictures. Go!’ (14th) and ‘As the #SmirnoffXChange wraps up can you guess what we want? Hint: PHOTOS.’ (13th) (A single number given in brackets following a cited post is the day in November 2011 on which it appeared. Hashtags in the original tweets have been retained. Numbers in brackets separated by a forward slash represent the number of relevant posts out of the total on the wall for the month of November 2011.).

The NEP represents a sophisticated integration of real-world and online activity: not only was the branded event promoted online, but subsequent photos and user comments depicted Smirnoff as intrinsic to the success of the event. As discussed below, this arguably contravenes a regulatory code (BCAP 19.4; CAP 18.3) banning the suggestion that ‘the success of a social occasion depends on the presence or consumption of alcohol’ (Committee on Advertising Practice, 2010). In terms of social media marketing strategies, however, what matters is that the event (and the promotional media activities surrounding the event—both online and traditional) generated social media content which potentially reinforced brand identity. Here, the expected relationship between media promotion and real-world events is reversed: rather than media simply promoting attendance, attendance served to provide material for the social media site.

The Smirnoff NEP represented the most sophisticated social media/real-world tie-in; however, other brands engaged in more conventional event sponsorship. WKD ran a competition for tickets to a sponsored darts event (the Grand Slam of Darts) and the Together Winter music festival, while around half Echo Falls wall posts (14/26) advertised a sponsored Clothes Show Live event. However, in both cases posts only contained announcements and ticket competitions. These represent extensions of conventional event promotion, albeit exploiting the potential of social media for daily reminders, while the integrated cross-media strategy of the NEP marks a step-change in techniques.

Interactive games: the ‘Construction Experiment’ and the ‘Last Word’

Facebook surveys and quizzes were commonplace, especially among wine brands. Over a third of Blossom Hill wall posts contained questions such ‘Which of our reds is your favourite?’ (19th) and ‘If you were a Blossom Hill wine, which would you be?’ (29th). Quizzes also accounted for a substantial number (7/17) of Hardy's Facebook posts. Interactive games played a substantial role in the Facebook activities of two cider brands—Bulmers and Magners. Bulmers ran a daily ‘Construction Experiment’ inviting fans to upload photos of comical, homemade objects as well as suggesting humorously experimental things to do (such as putting soap in a microwave) and inviting comments on the results. ‘Experiment’ posts accounted for almost all (13/15) of Bulmers wall posts. Strongbow ran a ‘Last Word’ competition inviting fans to suggest alternative endings to a commercial video. Each weekday, a Youtube link to the winning entry was uploaded. ‘Last Word’ updates accounted for the majority (30/42) of Strongbow wall posts.

Six brands used giveaways and competitions of some form. These included free haircuts (Blossom Hill); drinking glasses (Stella Artois); music compilations (Stella Artois) and bottles of wine (Echo Falls) as well as tickets to sponsored wine-tasting events (Hardys); nightclub events (Smirnoff); music and sporting events (WKD) and fashion shows (Echo Falls). Giveaways are by no means unique to social media environments; however, while giveaways often require purchases, no purchase was necessary in any of these cases. Instead, the goal was to encourage users to ‘like’ the brand page and to stimulate user activity on the wall.

Sponsored online events: ‘Foster's Funnies’

Foster's sponsor a range of television and live comedy, and ‘Foster's Funnies’ extends this into the social media arena through resurrecting cult shows and characters. In November 2011, exclusive new episodes of the popular sketch show, The Fast Show, were released on Youtube and most Foster's wall posts (16/26) were either links to, announcements for or invitations to comment on these.

The @fostersfunny Twitter feed promotes the Youtube series and produced an average of just below eight tweets per day. From 8 November onwards, all but two tweets were either links to ‘Fast Show’ clips or comments on sketches and characters. While this was, by some distance, the most active social media feed, over the whole period no tweets mentioned Foster's lager, drinking or alcohol. Unlike the Foster's Facebook page, which was interspersed with references to drinking, the @fostersfunnies timeline was solely directed towards stimulating online conversations about comedy, but within a branded environment. However, users following links back to the main Foster's website could also watch videos of conventional Foster's lager adverts.

Stella Artois adopted a comparable technique on its Facebook page. Five links were uploaded to humorous new adverts for Stella Cidre, and invited comments. This stimulated humorous conversations while raising awareness of (and garnering audience reactions to) new advertising material. As with the Strongbow ‘Last Word’ competition, it encouraged repeat viewings of otherwise conventional adverts and promoted online conversations about brand products.

Quality of Digital Activity

The literature survey conducted identified two key variables which appear to influence brand attitude, namely interactivity (Jee & Lee 2002; Sundar, Kalyanaraman & Brown, 2003; Wu 1999; Zhang et al., 2010) and media richness (Zhang et al, 2010). These have been found to have an effect on brand attitudes in an online environment and are, hence, influential factors in this context (Hoogeveen, 1997; Sundar, 2000; Zhang et al., 2010; Steuer, 1992).

Interactivity

Heeter (2000) defines interactivity as a replication of face-to-face interaction, whilst Bucy (2004) sees interactivity as a reciprocal communication exchange via communications technology. Interactivity is an extensive ely researched construct (Ferber, Foltz & Pugliese, 2005; Jensen, 1998), especially online (McMillan & Hwang, 2002; Zhang et al., 2010).The interactive nature of web pages are having a profound positive effect on the levels of consumer engagement online (Ferber et al., 2005) and has created a many-to-many channel of communication (Hoffman & Novak,1996).

This study looks at the interactivity of digital mediums and whether bilateral exchanges are facilitated. Fan pages facilitate brand interactions in an attempt to understand consumers’ needs via feedback mechanisms, active walls, regular status updates, and discussion forums (Wiley, 2008) and it is thus important that bilateral exchanges are possible.

Interactivity is said to exert a possible influence on consumers’ attitudes towards a brand online (Zhang et al., 2010). The relationship between interactivity and brand attitude is further explored below.

The Relationship between Interactivity and Brand Attitude

Fortin and Dholakia (2005) conducted research that found that Facebook interactivity is vital in influencing consumers‟ brand attitudes. Similarly, Synder-Duch (2001) found that interactive channels are viewed to be more personal than traditional channels, and thus have a profound effect on attitudes towards advertising. Interactivity affects brand attitudes onlinethrough increased conversational value and dialogue between the brand and consumers as well as an on-going flow of information, adding to brand perceptions online (Sundar et al., 2003; Zhang et al., 2010).

Media Richness

Media richness is vital to Facebook fan pages as it considers the intensity with which a mediated environment is able to present information to the consumers‟ senses (Zhang et al., 2010). Media richness is essentially the representational richness of an environment as defined by its features" (Steuer, 1992:74) and has been proven to enhance a brand’s level of online presence (Fortina & Dholakia, 2005). In a practical sense, media richness includes elements such as audio, static images and video (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009; Simon& Peppas, 2004)

Messages transferred online that are of a high quality, in other words have a high degree of richness, are considered more effective than those messages which lack media richness (Fortin & Dholakia, 2005; Zhang et al., 2010). Hoffman and Novak (1996) found that increased levels of media richness positively affect brand attitudes, and thus media richness is seen as an important construct of Facebook fan pages affecting brand attitude.

The Relationship between Media Richness and Brand Attitude

Attitudes are learnt over time (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2009), thus it is important that media richness improves consumer learning by presenting information in a variety of media forms (Zhang et al., 2010). Li et al. (2002) found that media richness increases the quality and effectiveness of messages.

Hopkins et al. (2004) revealed that media richness has a lasting impact on generating positive brand attitudes. Simon and Peppas (2004) found that media rich websites have a positive relationship with brand attitudes, particularly when product involvement is high, while the results were less significant for low involvement products, such as beer (Bendixen, 1992).

Hopkins et al. (2004) propose thus that consumers’ brand attitudes will be stronger in a media rich environment as opposed to one composed of informational, mediated communications. In line with this, websites with multiple forms of media such as text, images, sound and video are more likely to affect brand attitudes than websites which lack media richness (Cook & Coupey, 1998; Jiang & Benbasat, 2003).

Cultural Influencers

Peer influences are a powerful determinant of late adolescentdrinking behavior (Borsari & Carey, 2001; Jacob & Leonard, 1994; Morgan & Grube, 1991). Two distinct types of social influences, "active" and "passive," have been observed to relate to late adolescent drinking (Borsari & Carey, 2001; Wood, Read, Palfai, & Stevenson, 2001). Active social influences refer to explicit offers to use a substance. Examples of such influences include being offered a drink, having a drink refilled without asking, or being bought a drink. In contrast, passive social influences (Graham, Marks, & Hansen, 1991; Oostveen, Knibbe, & De Vries, 1996) relate to an individual’s perception and interpretation of the drinking and reinforcement patterns of others and have been further classified to include two dimensions, social modeling and perceived norms. Social modeling refers to modeling and imitation of drinking behavior of others such as close friends (Maisto, Carey, & Bradizza, 1999); perceived norms relate to beliefs about how much and how often "typical" college students drink (Baer & Carney, 1993; Baer et al., 1991; Perkins, Meilman, Leichliter, Cashin, & Presley, 1999). Perceived norms are examples of descriptive norms (Cialdini, Kallgren, & Reno, 1991), which refer to perceptions about others’ drinking behavior. These norms have demonstrated relations with heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems in college student samples (Borsari & Carey, 2001; Perkins & Berkowitz, 1986; Larimer, Turner, Mallett, & Geisner, 2003) and have been observed among students soon after matriculation into college (Read, Wood, Davidoff, McLacken, & Campbell, 2002). However, little information exists as to whether perceived norms are related to alcohol use and problems prior to matriculation.

Parental Nurturance

Parental nurturance, or support, has been identified as a salient influence on early adolescent alcohol use (Barnes, Reifman, Farrell, & Dintcheff, 2000; Jacob & Leonard, 1994; Rollins & Thomas, 1979; Steinberg, Lamborn, Dornbusch, & Darling, 1992). Parental nurturance is characterized by parenting behaviors that demonstrate caring and acceptance of the child and may include such things as encouragement of the child’s activities and being actively involved in the child’s life. Deficits in parental support have been linked both cross-sectionally and prospectively to number of problem behaviors in adolescents, including adolescent substance abuse (Barnes & Farrell, 1992; Barnes, Farrell, & Banerjee 1994; Barrera & Li, 1996; Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992; Windle, 1992).

Parental Monitoring

Parental monitoring may be defined as the extent to which parents may attempt to attend to, track, or control their children’s activities and whereabouts (Kerr & Stattin, 2000). Such parenting behavior is thought to be a protective factor in guarding against alcohol misuse and problems in adolescence. Parental monitoring has been shown both cross-sectionally (Barnes & Farrell, 1992; Chassin, Pillow, Curran, Molina, & Barrera, 1993; Dishion & Loeber, 1985; Dishion, Patterson, & Reid, 1988) and longitudinally (Barnes et al., 2000; Barnes, Reifman, Farrell, Dintcheff, & Uhteg, 1995; Barnes, Reifman, Farrell, Uhteg, & Dintcheff, 1994; Chassin, Curran, Hussong, & Colder, 1996) to be a strong correlate of alcohol use in early adolescents, with higher levels of parental monitoring being associated with lower levels of alcohol use (Barnes & Farrell, 1992) and reduced odds for onset of heavy drinking (Reifman et al., 1998).

Parental Attitudes

Parental attitudes toward drinking represent a means of indirect social modeling (Jacob & Leonard, 1994; Wood, Vinson, & Sher, 2001) and may be communicated either overtly or tacitly through the implementation of limits or by the expression of values regarding alcohol use by parents. Parents’ permissiveness regarding alcohol use may be particularly influential in determining adolescent alcohol initiation and the transition into heavier drinking.

Parental permissiveness has been associated with greater alcohol and drug involvement in early adolescence in several studies (Barnes & Welte, 1986; Dielman, Butchart, & Shope, 1993; Hyatt & Collins, 2000). Explicit parental disapproval of substance use also has been suggested to be a protective factor, yet this construct has not been widely studied (Petraitis, Flay, Miller, Torpy, & Greiner, 1998; Welte, Barnes, Hoffman, & Dintcheff, 1999).

Research Methodology

In order to reach the objectives that were set out to achieve, a multi-pronged approach was used. Focus groups and in depth interviews are used in order to analyse customer perspectives, the results of which will be applied to various consumer behaviour models while a survey was conducted in order to reach the objectives that deal with online consumer perceptions.

Secondary research

Secondary research is essential to understand the nuances of the market in which

Budweiser operates. Understanding the consumer’s behaviour and perceptions are crucial to conduct a thorough buyer behaviour analysis of Budweiser. The secondary research information presented in this report is acquired from industry reports and released information from Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch InBev. Further information comes from newspapers, magazines, trade publications and websites.

Primary research

Once a clear understanding of the market was got from the secondary research conduted primary research could be conducted to anylyse data in order to gain insights into consumer behaviour. It was decided that in order to tackle the scope of the objectives defined In depth interviews as well as focus groups would be used to attain data which would be used to gaqin consumer behaviour insights by using the data to be applied on important and well established buyer behaviour models. This analysis would form the basis of us judging how successful Budweiser has been in invoking its image as well as finding out key differences in perceptions of male and female consumers. For the objectives defined which concern digital communications of beer brands however it was decided that the best way to answer those questions would be to use online surveys. Online survey site surveymonkey.com was used in order to execute this part of the research. Participants were selected based on the qualifications mentioned in the Sampling and Data collection section below.

Sampling & Data Collection

Surveys

Surveys are made in order to examine the order of importance for each segment from the consumers’ perspective. In particular surveys were made in order to gauge the demographics perceptions toward beer brands online activities and the influence these activities had on the impressions of the brand.

The survey was designed particularly in order to answer three major hypotheses

There is a positive relationship between brand attitude and brand image in the context of social network fan pages.

Interactivity has a significant and positive relationship with brand attitude in the context of social network fan pages

There is a positive relationship between media richness and brand attitude in the context of social network fan pages

This part was essential to understand brand position of beer. To sum up, problems and recommendation made by the participants will be also useful to make a relation with primary and secondary data

Research Analysis and Findings

In order to portray a clear and concise understanding of all the research findings, the findings are portrayed in the following consumer behaviour models. The Wheel of Consumer Analysis forms the basis for all other models that will be analysed in the following pages. Chart 1 illustrates which models were used within the Wheel of Consumer Analysis. The information that is used to fill in the models comes from secondary (Appendix E) and primary research findings. (Solomon, Bamosy, Askegard, & Hogg, 2010).

Chart 1: Wheel of Consumer Analysis

Affect & Cognition

FISHBEIN MODEL:

As mentioned before, the Fishbein Model has been applied to analyse participants’ attitudes towards beer. Tendencies and differences between both gender groups have been identified.

Male Participants

Answers

Attributes

Final weight

Stella Artois

Foster's

Carling

Carlsberg

Budweiser

Good Taste

+3

7.4

7.1

5.1

6.6

6.0

Brand awareness

+2

7.9

7.4

5.9

7.6

7.6

Package

+1

6.9

6.0

4.9

6.6

6.4

Price

0

8.0

8.1

8.0

7.9

7.6

Good for socialising

+1

7.9

7.4

5.3

6.1

6.9

Strengths

+1

8.4

7.1

7.3

7.0

5.7

Final score

 

61.1

56.9

44.6

54.6

52.1

Place:

1

2

5

3

4

Table 1 Average Male

Analysis showed that among the analysed attributes, taste is the most important characteristic for male participants (Appendix C, Table 1). Another strong attribute that influences the purchase of beer is the brand name. According to the tables in which participants have ranked attributes, price is one of the least influential factors (Appendix C, Table 2).

Analysis of the evaluation of the suggested attributes in the 5 beer brands (Appendix

C, Tables 2) showed that Stella Artois undoubtedly has a leading position in male participants’ minds. The majority of the participants ranked Stella’s attributes with a high score, close to an ideal score. Fosters and Carlsberg have middle ranks. In average (Table above) Budweiser got the forth position, followed by Carling.

For male consumers Budweiser loses in every attribute – taste, brand awareness, package, price social role and strength. Considering the taste, Budweiser is far behind Stella (Table 1 shown). In brand awareness, which is less important for the male participants, Budweiser is 0.3 points behind Stella Artois. In social benefits and package Budweiser achieves the third place, with Stella as a winner again.

Attributes

Final weight

Stella Artois

Foster's

Carling

Carlsberg

Budweiser

Good Taste

+3

6.7

6.4

5.7

6.4

7.1

Good Price

+1

7.4

7.3

7.1

7.1

7.7

Brand

+3

8.3

6.1

5.3

7.9

7.1

Colour

+2

7.1

6.6

6.1

6.6

6.7

Origin

+2

4.9

4.1

4.1

5.4

5.3

% of alcohol

+2

7.0

6.7

6.3

7.0

7.9

Final coefficient

 

90.4

79.9

73.3

88.0

90.3

Place:

1

4

5

3

2

Similar to males, female participants see taste and brand name as influential attributes of purchase. (Appendix D , tables 2). Furthermore, they consider colour, country of origin and percentage of alcohol as attributes they pay attention to. Price once again comes up as the least influential factor.

According to the female participants, Stella Artois is their first choice followed by

Budweiser, while Carling occupies the lowest position among the five beer brands from their perspective. The analysis shows that female participants don’t seem to have strong preferences towards any beer brand.

According to female answers, Budweiser was ranked to have the best taste. It also ranked third in Brand name, the second most important attribute of beer, with Stella in first place. Furthermore, Budweiser wins in percentage of alcohol and achieves second position in attributes of colour and origin.

Thus, the analysis of the Fishbein model helps to understand weaknesses and strengths of beer brand position.

MEANS – END CHAIN

The Means – End chain model is used to understand the consumer’s knowledge and perception of the product involved. (Solomon, Bamosy, Askegard, & Hogg, 2010).

Chart 2: Means -End Chain

The graph above shows attributes consequences and values applied in general to beer. Based on the findings of the primary research, brand position of beers from the consumer perspective can be described follows:

By starting the analyses of the first stage of the Means-End Chain Model, concrete attributes of Budweiser such as the shape and the size of the glass bottle were well conceived by the participants. Whereas for the can opinions differ completely. The male participants dislike the design and appearance of the can. For them it does not stand out compared to the other beer cans.

The research shows that female participants like the classical look of the can, which represents tradition and quality and stands for reliability. However, by reducing the amount of text on the etiquette Budweiser would attract even more female customers. Among the five analysed brands, Stella Artois appeals to men and women and is considered to have the best concrete attributes.

Considering the abstract attributes, the majority of male participants consider the quality of Budweiser as low. While the female are satisfied with it. Although Budweiser sponsors and supports several sports and entertainment events, UK target consumers do not consider the brand as being either sporty or fun. Another issue raised during the primary research is the advertising that targets mainly male consumers, making women feel outside the Budweiser’s focus.

The consumer perception of most beers outlined during the in-depth interviews and focus groups stops on the functional consequence, i.e. satisfaction of thirstiness. The commonly accepted idea of beer as a drink for socializing and relaxing, spending free time in good company and self-estimation, does not seem to consider Budweiser as a tool for all these psychosocial consequences. Also the outcome of the focus group shows that Budweiser is definitely not seen as a quality beer, which contradicts Budweiser’s perception of itself as a premium beer, with deep psychosocial benefits.

This contradiction creates a significant gap in the desired status and the status in consumers mind. Because of the fact that beer is a FMCG, with low to medium involvement, instrumental or terminal value can hardly be achieved. The majority of analysed beer brands can be categorized as lying somewhere in between functional and psychosocial consequences. Carling has, similar to Budweiser position, concentrating on the functional values. While Stella Artois, Foster’s and Carlsberg have more.

ATTITUDE FORMATION & CHANGE

Chart 3: Attitude Formation & Change

Positive perceptions in the beer industry can be achieved by communicating positive brand attributes through effective communications such as logo, package, etc.

Most beer brands regard themselves as contributing in most part to consumers’ psychosocial consequences. The brand categorizes itself as part of the affect segment of the Attitude Formation & Change model and is considered as a low to medium involvement product, depending on the consumer’s cognition.

From the outcomes of the focus groups and in-depth interviews, participants seem to

have more knowledge of the attributes of Stella Artois and Carlsberg. They develop

stronger relationships through positive feelings and beliefs for these brands,

perceiving them as high quality and trust-worthy. Whereas Budweiser on the other

hand lacks in communication of positive brand attributes. Their image is perceived by a high number of participants as "cheap" and "low-quality".

A large proportion declared that the advertising campaigns and promotions are not effective. It was stated several times that Budweiser’s image fit lower social classes and cannot be considered to be consumed by white-collar workers. Participants did not in any way express positive comments regarding Budweiser’s image and attitudes.

Budweiser was perceived as an alternative depending on the social environment. It was not the first choice in any case, and participants did not express any positive comments in regards Budweiser’s image and attitudes.

ABC MODEL

Beliefs

Behaviour

Affect

Chart 4: Low involvement hierarchy

The ABC model of Attitudes emphasises the interrelationships between knowing, feeling and doing. In the case of beer we can see that affect, behaviour and cognition are highly differentiated depending on gender of the consumers. (Solomon, Bamosy, Askegard, & Hogg, 2010).

From the research conducted we notice that buyer behaviour toward beer follows the low involvement hierarchy of effects. Consumers are not motivated to process a lot of complex brand related information. Instead, they are swayed by principles of behavioural learning, such as the simple responses caused by conditioned brand names, point of purchase displays, and so on. Consumers act on the basis of limited knowledge and form evaluations after the product has been bought or used. The attitude is likely to come about through behavioural learning, in which consumer’s choice is reinforced by good or bad experiences with the product.

Beer brands have attempted to make the most of this knowledge in their communications by including highly emotional imagery and jingles. However, from the interviews conducted we find that their campaigns have had a limited effect on consumers. Consumers within the UK are not very well disposed toward Budweiser (an American beer) and the abilities of Americans to brew a good beer. Furthermore, they consider Budweiser to be socially unacceptable and not particularly trustworthy.

An interesting aspect from the perspective of a market researcher is that most subjects indicate that when trial of Budweiser does occur these perceptions seem to be reinforced. This provides remarkable insights into the beer market, indicating perception of product quality seems highly influenced by marketing communications and social reference groups even though product experience has occurred.

Behaviour

CONDITIONING

According to the outcomes of primary and secondary research, the perception of beer brands can be described in terms of conditioning.

Possible classical conditioning can take place by seeing the brand´s logo, name, slogan and colours, creating a certain image and matching it unconsciously with the quality, price perception and possible behaviour towards the product. The personal experience (expressed during the focus groups and in-depth interviews) and the reputation of the country of origin became a condition for mainly negative perception towards Budweiser, especially among the male consumers. It leads to the negative opinion about the taste and quality. This tendency has negative consequences for two reasons: the unconscious perception stays for a long time and it prevents the behavioural changes; personal behaviour influences close social environment, i.e. his family and friends, who also can obtain the same perception.

Even in terms of the outlined negative response to the Budweiser’s taste and quality, the package should be analysed. As already mentioned the package was criticised by male consumers and accepted in a more positive way by females. However, even though both gender groups made comments concerning the name "Budweiser" written vertically on the can, this is a clear demonstration of classical conditioning. This particular type of writing psychologically distracts the consumer conscious which draws more attention.

Instrumental conditioning is responsible for the consumers’ actions towards the product or service. Considering the fact that consumer’s behaviour can be influenced by a set of certain techniques, the following reinforcement mechanisms were analysed as a part of instrumental conditioning to provide a positive response.

According to the outcomes of the focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, participants responded in a positive way on the continuous reinforcement and fix ration schedule. Participants already have a strong perception, negative in most of cases, towards Budweiser. Thus, the reward for a positive behaviour is necessary in order to provide every purchase with a good association. This will be remembered and will lead to a similar behaviour in the future. A Fixed ratio scheme is useful in order to motivate large volumes of purchases more frequently. A Variable ratio schedule will have a strong effect on the beer consumers because absence of benefit of current purchase psychologically increases the potentiality of benefit in the next purchase of Budweiser.

Environment

SEGMENTATION AND POSITIONING

In general the environment a person lives in influences someone´s drinking habits. Family and friends, culture, work and personal social habits have a great impact on the behaviour. Some cultures for example forbid alcoholic beverages at all. Furthermore it depends whether a person only drinks occasionally or sees a drink as a daily product. In some companies it is a common matter to meet at the end of the week or day for a drink with all colleagues in the next pub. Also the own attitude influences the drinking habits. If someone cares about the own health or is a professional sportsman drinking alcohol probably does not fit this person’s lifestyle.

Gender focused segmentation

Attitudes towards beer appeared in different ways between males and females. Taking into consideration that men rely on the left part of the brain (cognitive) and women on the right part of the brain (Affect), a different approach must be applied.

According to the primary research beer must clearly improve the way of reaching the female target group. Research outcome shows that male consumers tend to select beer brands according to the favourite country of origin (Germany), taste and quality, which they analyse in a logical and analytical manner. Women tend to get influenced more by the product appearance, which implies creative images and emotional factors. Therefor the beer evaluation criteria for the two genders are different, and the approach used by the company must take both aspects into consideration.

Age-range segmentation

Based on the interests and trends in different age groups, various attributes must be taken into consideration. Symbolic values tend to become less important as the older the customer gets. Values such as the beers’ quality, price and personal preferences related to taste become fundamental criteria.

Psychographic segmentation

In psychographic segmentation, buyers are grouped according to variables such as social class, lifestyle, or personality (Businesswise LTD, 2010). Besides the income and family background, the social status can be identified by the purchases and product consumption. Therefor identifying an individual’s lifestyle and interests can reveal at a lower grade, aspects of his personality.

The participants of this research belong to the´ target group beer brands, but it can be concluded that the brand does not manage to attract their attention.

Survey Findings

From the survey conducted we can form the following conclusions based on the data collected:

Most survey participants found that there is a positive relationship between brand attitude and brand image in the context of social network fan pages and that Interactivity has a significant and positive relationship with brand attitude in the context of social network fan pages

However when questioned regarding the relationship between media richness and brand attitude in the context of social network fan pages most participants did not show the same level of acceptance.

Conclusion

The association of brands with special events and occasions (e.g. NEP), with humour (e.g.‘Foster's Funnies’) or with respite from work (e.g. Strongbow's ‘Bowtime' slogan) are familiar features of alcohol marketing across the board, as is the sponsorship of music or sporting events. However, social media marketing adds a new dimension: not only does it allow marketers to stimulate conversations about brands, it allows them to observe, analyse and direct those conversations in real-time. It allows marketers to embed brand-related activities in the routines of social media engagement for large numbers of people, and to use social media to encourage a more routine approach to alcohol consumption.

Conversations about Alcohol

Evidence that exposure to alcohol marketing increases consumption is mounting (Anderson et al., 2009; Smith and Foxcroft, 2009). However, this is not a simple dose–response relationship (Atkinson et al., 2011: 9), but one in which contextual factors impact on behaviour, including perceived social norms and levels of active engagement with marketing stimuli. The marketing industry has always sought to develop the right ‘marketing mix’ to stimulate active engagement in any given product or brand. Social media presents a distinct opportunity in this regard. In particular, it has facilitated ‘social influence marketing’, in which ‘conversations about brands, products and services are increasingly woven into the interactions among the users of social networks’ (Chester et al., 2010: 6).

According to a key figure in the development of Diageo's social media strategy, the goal of social media marketing is to ‘observe, facilitate and participate’ in ‘positive conversations about the brand’ (Van Bellegham, 2011). Because the goal is to encourage brand-centric conversations more broadly, social media messages do not need to refer directly to alcohol consumption; indeed, less than 1 in 10 of all wall posts (23/282) and under a quarter of all tweets (42/189) explicitly suggested consuming alcohol. Conversations can be about alcohol generally, about the brand specifically or about other subjects—so long as they occur in a branded online environment.

Facebook facilitates branded conversation but also, crucially, provides marketers with access to the profile data of users who ‘like’ pages. The consumer analytics provided by Facebook are critical to designing social media marketing strategies on the basis of this. Indeed, Diageo have stipulated that future social media campaigns must begin with analyses of known fan profile data, as opposed to more impressionistic consumer segmentation used in conventional marketing (Van Bellegham, 2011). In the press release announcing their multimillion dollar deal with Facebook, Diageo explained that it would ‘work closely with Facebook teams from concept development, through campaign development to execution’ in order to maximize its marketing impact (Diageo, 2011a). Achieving these outcomes requires extending the range of conversational subjects with which the brand is associated and developing interactive material that draws users back to brand pages—in addition to product promotion and carefully timed exhortations to drink.

Brand-facilitated conversations can also reinforce conventional advertising. Strongbow's ‘Last Word’ competition sought to stimulate interest in a new screen advert, as did Stella Artois’ invitation to comment on Cidre adverts. Furthermore, social media can provide quantifiable measures of audience response to campaigns: among tweets with the #smirnoff hashtag, around one quarter (86/320) were direct comments on marketing promotions. While marketers are less able to access user profile data on Twitter than on Facebook, such material still provides a source of audience response data at little or no cost to campaign agencies.

Interactivity & Media Richness

This study empirically examined the impact of interactivity and media richness, in the context of Facebook fan pages, on brand attitudes and how this impacts young professionals‟ perception of brand image of beer brands.

The relationship between brand attitude and brand image has been critically evaluated and discussed in previous research (Aaker, 1991; Aaker & Biel, 1993; Keller, 1993; Low & Lamb, 2000; Nandan, 2004) and this study confirmed this relationship in the context of Facebook fan pages for UK beer brands at the five percent level. This makes a significant contribution to academic literature by testing this relationship in a social media environment, which is growing in strength and popularity with regards to online marketing and customer communications (Blakeman & Brown, 2010; King, 2008). This finding was also important to identify whether brand image can be improved online for the beer category which is differentiated based on its brand, rather than its functional characteristics (Pettigrew, 2002).

This study found that the levels of interactivity on digital fan pages have an effect on brand attitude as found by Fortin and Dholakia (2005), Synder-Duch (2001) as well as Sundar et al. (2003). This study confirms this and concludes that increased levels of interactivity on Facebook fan pages of South African beer brands will improve the user’s attitude toward the brand. Thus higher levels of interactivity will lead to better brand attitudes and a better brand image

This study identified media richness as another potential success factor of Facebook fan pages in improving brand attitude and thus brand image. Media richness has been previously proven to enhance brand attitudes; in both advertising (Hopkins et al 2004; Park & Young 1986) as well as on websites (Fortin & Dholakia 2005, Jiang & Benbasat 2003, Simon & Peppas 2004). This study found that the relationship between media richness and brand attitude was not significant. The reason for this could be that brand attitudes are influenced through consumers‟ memories of and past experiences with the brand (Olson, Kanwar & Muderrisoglu, 1979; Mitchell & Olson 1981). Attitudes, which are difficult to influence (Ajzen & Fishbein 2005) will not be significantly influenced merely by rich media displayed on fan pages, as these interactions are no longer memorable, but rather more commonplace, because as Kaplan and Haenlein (2009) found, media richness is consistent across any particular channel.

Recommendations

The analysis of the findings and the elaboration of different buyer behaviour models lead to several conclusions, that directly correlates to the objective of the research.

Firstly, there are huge diff