ZEVIA Target Market: Frat Boys?
When marketing a product, the first question is usually “who is your target market?” Business people who want to sound smart will have an answer to that question prepared, even if pulled from thin air. Companies with a real budget will usually spend money on formal focus groups, hire consultants, and engage marketing experts to define the target market.
For ZEVIA®, we meet regularly to discuss who is our target demographic, and how best to reach that person. We know the obvious: ZEVIA® customers like soda, usually diet soda, and crave a great tasting version that is all natural and calorie free. We believe the target consumer is an adult (probably between 25 and 50 years old), mostly female, relatively sophisticated and educated.
However, even though we try to apply science, visceral instinct, empirical data from the field, and feedback from customers – do we really know who you are? We receive email on a daily basis from people across America who love ZEVIA®. They come from all walks of life, every state in the union; they are male, female, young, old, wealthy, low income, health nuts, and people who don’t care much about health but love the taste of ZEVIA®. We have a huge following in the diabetic community, and kids love ZEVIA®. We’ve heard from retirement communities who buy ZEVIA® in bulk and have replaced all soda with it.
The photos above come from the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity at the University of Washington. They love ZEVIA®, serve it at fraternity parties, and drink it before classes. They mix it with alcohol, and enjoy a refreshing ZEVIA® after playing sports.
I wonder whether we’ll ever really know our target market, or whether it is as important to know as marketing professionals insist it is. Whoever you are, thank you for supporting ZEVIA® and telling everybody you know about it.
-Derek
August 8th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
[...] who is drinking ZEVIA®. Whether you are an R&B superstar, rock star, athlete, mom, or frat boy — thank you for drinking ZEVIA®. Chill & [...]