Spirits Marketing Machine: Sales Through the Power of Suggestion

George F Manska, CR&D Arsilica, Inc.

Power of suggestion plays a significant role in the sale of alcohol spirits, influencing consumer choices and perceptions. We seldom take time to step back and note the many ways we are influenced to purchase.  Here’s how the well-honed spirits brand marketing machine utilizes the power of suggestion to promote and sell product, stretching the limit of truthful information. 

Branding/Packaging: Spirits brands invest heavily in branding and packaging. Bottle design, label art, and packaging materials suggest quality, tradition, or uniqueness, targeting consumers’ individuality or role identification.  The use of scientific symbols or imagery is used to imply an unsupported connection to scientific principles.  Taller, slimmer bottles imply premium product and higher alcohol content, even if that is not the case are serious.

Flavor Profiling: Use of terms like “complex chemical interactions,” and “unique molecular composition” imply a scientific production advantage or validate the technical aspect of a specific flavor profile. 

Production Techniques: Terms like special filtration, secret processes, distilled 12 times, imply enhanced product quality.

Awards/Accolades: • Awards suggest quality and excellence, which can influence consumer perceptions. Competitions are the source of most medals and reiterate quality and praise. 

Age Statements: Prominent display of age implies age and quality go hand-in-hand and older is better, both falsehoods.

Alcohol Content: Terms similar to “cask strength” along with high ABV numbers are prominently displayed to imply the consumer gets more value for his money, higher alcohol is better, higher alcohol is higher quality. “Direct from the barrel” implies the spirit is uncut, in its purest state. 

Misleading Ingredients: Special ingredients such as spring water, natural grains, imply that the brand is healthier or purer than the competition. le:

Limited Editions and Rarity: Limited-edition or rare expressions create a sense of exclusivity and urgency among consumers. Limited quantities fuel demand and excitement. How special are those barrel picks?..

Celebrity Endorsements: Collaboration with celebrities creates a mental association with a lifestyle or personality, suggesting an acquirable image to consumers who admire them

Tasting Notes and Descriptions: Detailed tasting notes and flavor descriptions guide consumers. Phrases like “notes of caramel and oak” or “smooth finish” suggest specific flavor profiles and qualities.

Social Media: Social media and online reviews play a significant role in suggesting a spirit’s popularity and quality. Positive reviews and user-generated content sway potential buyers

Atmosphere/Experience: Portrayal of the “ideal” drinking environment, suggests enjoyment of the spirit in a particular setting (e.g., a cozy lounge, by a fireplace, at the beach) to enhance the overall experience.

Customization/Personalization: Personalized or customized names or messages on bottles suggest unique and thoughtful gifts, commemorated occasions, or personal indulgences. 

Accessories:• Glassware, shakers, muddling sticks, stirrers, flight boards, bar mats, tasting placemats, koozies, tote bags, thermal cups, sweaters and any number of personalized accessories get the name out as consumers proudly and somewhat unconsciously use logoed items which imply their support of the brand.

Public Tasting Events: Face-to-face distiller direct to consumer is a tool to build loyalty, sales, and repeat business by introducing the brand ambassador, distiller, or key personality to influence purchasing decisions. 

We have only scratched the surface.  The power of suggestion leverages psychological cues and associations to shape consumer perceptions and influence purchasing decisions. Spirits marketers use a combination of these tactics to create a compelling narrative around their products, making them more appealing to a broad range of consumers with different tastes and preferences, often targeting specific demographics

We tend to readily accept all of this as matter of fact, after all, everybody everywhere is trying to get their hands in our pockets, and that may never change.  Yet somewhere in the back of the consumers mind, memory of and exposure to all these things just may add up to future purchases and brand loyalty, without a single consideration for science, truth in marketing.

The end results are that consumers are emotionally distracted in so many ways that the prime reason for the spirits purchase has been forgotten, if not placed way down on the list of priorities; that purpose originally being to find a desirable sensory experience in taste, aroma, and finish.  Do spirits buyers really know what they are doing?  We think not, for the vast majority, as many cannot even get beyond the word “smooth” to describe sensory characteristics of  their favorite brand. The well-oiled marketing machine chugs along continuously and unrelentingly motivating our purchases by deflecting our original objective.

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Bio:  George F Manska, CR&D, Arsilica, Inc.

Qualifications:  Published sensory science researcher, entrepreneur. BSME, NEAT glass co-inventor