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01.26.2004

“HartBeat” is The Hartman Group's FREE online newsletter, providing insight, analysis, information and strategy to give business leaders the knowledge and vision to build sustainable brands.

This issue of HartBeat is an excerpt from our latest Pulse Report, Connecting Beverage Consumption & Consumer Moods.

the language of indulgence:
Consumers use a variety of words and phrases to indicate what "indulgence" means to them. In the context of beverages, consumers say that indulgence means:

Decadent
Thick
Sweet
Spicy
Distinctive flavor
Fattening
High calorie
Rich
Guilty
Forbidden
Falling off the wagon
Bad for you
Naughty
Irresponsible
Throw caution to the wind
Satisfying
Pleasure
Passionate
Happiness
Positive
Special occasion
Treat
Necessary

For information on Hartman Group reports on BEVERAGES...

"Pulse Report: Connecting Beverage Consumption and Consumer Moods" "Healthy Beverages: A Wellness Interactive Survey"

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Choosing Beverages

It's Not Just About Thirst

The notion of "indulgence" as it pertains to consumer behavior proves challenging. This is due, in part, to the numerous possible dimensions through which consumers can express or seek indulgence, dimensions that vary with one's overall position in a given domain or world of activity. In other words, those most oriented toward the core of a given activity will often express indulgence quite differently than those oriented toward the periphery. Whereas a serious automobile enthusiast may seek to indulge a taste for design and comfort by seeking out the "authentic, road feel" of a turbo-charged Saab, a periphery auto enthusiast might entertain such an indulgence with the "floaty, air-cushioned ride" of a late '80s Cadillac.

Among beverages, some might consider expensive imported bottled waters to be indulgent, if not downright decadent, while others consider it a practical necessity when out of reach of their home's multi-stage, reverse-osmosis water filtration system. In a similar vein, coffee might be an indulgent end to a fine meal or an essential start to battling the morning rush hour. Complicating matters further, we note that certain beverages suffer a health stigma that makes them simultaneously objectionable to health-conscious consumers, at least so far as regular consumption is concerned, and a source of "guilty pleasure." A coffee lover cutting back on caffeine, for instance, might well consider the occasional full-strength cup, indulgent precisely because it is ordinarily denied.

Indulgence is Multi-Dimensional
What might be merely enjoyable becomes indulgent when its enjoyment is tinged with guilt or at least implies a temporary suspension of self-control. It is the act of relinquishing control and giving in to impulse or desire that makes something indulgent and not merely the fact that it brings pleasure or is otherwise special. Special celebrations, for instance, do not necessarily conform to a consumer's idea of indulgence because people are given license to enjoy themselves at parties. Indeed, it is only when we break the unwritten and largely unspoken rules of etiquette that set the boundaries on such enjoyment that the notion of indulgence ever arises. Thus, when consumers tell us they have to "watch out for" or "cut back on" sugar, caffeine, alcohol, etc., they are also telling us that drinks with these ingredients are the stuff of indulgence. This is why consumers in an indulgent mood are much more likely to select regular CSDs than diet CSDs, but will select either when looking for enjoyment. Diet drinks evidently provide much of the enjoyment of their non-diet cousins, but come guilt free.

Indulgent choices, while satisfying our individual tastes for things we feel the need to avoid, also represent a momentary release from culturally imposed constraints on behavior. In different situations, society tells us what is and what is not acceptable. We learn what is proper and what is inappropriate under different conditions, and we use these conditions to define specific choices as indulgent or not indulgent on an occasion-by-occasion basis. Those choices that break with social convention, insofar as they symbolize giving in to personal wants, smack of indulgence. The sparkling wine at brunch was an indulgence because alcoholic beverages are not the norm at breakfast. An ordinary glass of wine served with the evening meal, on the other hand, would not qualify as an indulgence because it is not especially unusual and would not signify a social impropriety.

Awareness of what is acceptable and what is not in any given context helps us differentiate the beverages consumers choose to gratify an indulgent mood. We know that consumers will choose beer, wine, coffee and CSDs to indulge in their tastes for sweets, alcohol, caffeine and other treats. That alone, however, does not fully explain the choice made on a particular occasion because those tastes are always present (potentially, at least). To make use of indulgence as a marketing tool, we also need to place it in context. In other words, indulgence, in the abstract, can sell coffee and wine as well as soft drinks, but if the business is selling CSDs, we don't want our marketing efforts diluted by generalized associations with other beverage categories. More specifically, presenting the indulgence message in a context that makes other beverages less indulgent and, thereby less compelling, succeeds on two fronts: First, it guards against inadvertently "selling away" by clarifying and limiting the sense of indulgence to a particular beverage. Second, it actually strengthens the association between the product and the mood by enriching it - compare the typical coffee advertising campaigns that focus on waking up in the morning to the stories promoting General Foods International Coffees as pure indulgence. The association between waking up and coffee is indeed powerful, but it represents necessity more than indulgence. The General Foods International Coffee campaign, in contrast, use nostalgic references to non-conventional coffee occasions in order to convey the message that drinking these coffees is not simply about jump-starting the day, but about indulging yourself. Thus, adding context produces a more powerful message by making the indulgent nature of the beverage choice more apparent.

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