Consumer behavior analysis and marketing communications strategy development: the case of Tuborg

Efes Pilsen and Tuborg have enjoyed an oligopolistic market stiiicture m the Turkish Beer Industry for decades. This has caused the companies to adopt a sales and product orientation and exert little effort on marketing. However, the market conditions and competition have begun to change recently, by the recent introduction of a new brand, feasibility studies of world giants to enter the Turkish market, and the Customs Union which will decrease the customs tax on import beer. On the other hand, Efes Pilsen has entered into market development efforts in foreign markets. The above competitive moves in the industry by various actors have changed the long-prevailing competitive structure in the industry, especially for the disadvantage of Tuborg. Thus, in this thesis, it is argued that the study of the consumer behavior in the Turkish Beer Market, that has long been underestimated by the agents in the industry, is crucial for Tuborg to compete the changes in the market and find differentiation points that are significant in the eyes of the consumers. It is also discussed that the adoption of a consumer orientation, which takes the current needs and perceptions of the consumers into consideration, is crucial for the success of the communications strategy, which is a sustainable differentiation factor. Therefore, a marketing research has been conducted for the beer market (taking Ankara as a pilot region for application) in order to better understand the needs of the consumers, to find out significant differences as well as similarities among the consumers. Depending on the marketing research conducted, a communications strategy has been suggested for Tuborg . This strategy has been designed to serve to differentiate the brand in the market through communications and also to constitute an entry barrier against the new entrants. On the other hand, the necessary adaptations in the organizational structure of Tuborg to the suggested consumer orientation have also been discussed within the thesis.