Brand Awareness and Brand Preference for Carbonated Soft Drinks: Evidence from Cadbury Schweppes Ethiopia Research Evidence from Life Experience

When Schweppes entered the Ethiopian soft drink market viable competitors were Pepsi and Coca Cola. However, its entry into the soft drink market was largely meant to realize its potential to serve a large chunk of the Ethiopian soft drink flavor market which was under-served by the two giants. Whether this market niche provided sustained and superior returns was dependent on the business environment. It was in this environment that Schweppes had carried out a series of promotional campaigns to increase the sale of its wide range products in the market. The research on the effectiveness of the promotional campaign showed that quite significant number of potential consumers was exposed to the brand advertisement. The research result also indicated the awareness rate as measured by the frequency of exposure to the media within a short span of time. The analysis highlighted the rate of brand recall, brand trial and favorite brand usage. The method used in this sample testing survey sampling 2171 consumers made no pretense of being exhaustive. Commercial recall testing was carried out in different outlets by interviewing a random sample of consumers using a standard questionnaire. Consumers were sampled from groceries, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, clubs, crowded streets and Mercato depot area. The survey was carried out in 2000. The author developed this research in his capacity as marketing development manager for Schweppes-Summit International.