Focus groups: malted drink consumers, UK

A returning client of ours got in touch hoping to speak to young Londoners for a two-hour taste testing and discussion session featuring their malt drink products. We were delighted to help, given how enjoyable our previous focus group with them was. Our mission this time was to discover what drew customers towards choosing a malt drink, what brands they gravitate towards, and their thoughts on the taste of our client’s malted drinks.

Participants were required to live in the UK and already be purchasers of malted beverages. They were to represent a mix of genders, be young people aged between 18 and 40 years old, and be from a range of different household compositions (from students to those married with children, to multi-generational households). Our client also wished to focus mainly on those from a Jamaican or Nigerian background. As this community tends to be the largest consumers of malted drinks, their opinion of our client’s product was especially valued.

FieldworkHub engaged a full group of excited participants for each session, with expert moderation to ensure each focus group was conducted to a high standard. We arranged for each session to take place in a central London facility and included catering and careful storage of the malt drink products. Topics of discussion included what participants favourite malt drink brand was, and the significance of malted drinks in their community and cultural expression.

Finally, we delivered a full report within days of the project closing. Interestingly, both the participants and the client commented that they had learned something new from the research. Some of our participants had never heard of the client’s brand, but preferred the taste to more well known brands. Our client also commented that they had never realised the warm childhood feelings their drinks could evoke in their intended audience. They were very pleased with how well recruited our participants were and how keen they were to share personal anecdotes relating to their products. The research helped inform their current brand position and how to appeal more successfully to their target audience, including packaging improvements and shelf positioning recommendations.