Mark Daniels: I'd Want My Name On It!

I was curious to know their response, having just read a report on Carlsberg's latest customer survey that apparently shows 37 per cent of their customers are happy to pay extra for drinking from a branded glass.

The long-and-short of it is this: 100 per cent of my customers said no.

Yes, it's nice to have a drink in a nice glass and it's easier for the bar staff when a customer says "same again, please" because they know exactly what the customer wants. But it seems that it wouldn't faze any of my customers at all if they were to have their drink in a simple, plain glass - especially if they thought they were getting the drink for less because they weren't paying for the brand.

Many people are prepared to spend £40 on a Liverpool football shirt that advertises Carlsberg for them but none, it seems, are prepared to do the same with their pint glasses.

I have to wonder where some of these surveys come from - and just who do they actually survey? I, for one, have never been asked the question: "Would you pay more for your drink to be served in a branded glass?" Because, speaking as somebody who has spent most of their adult life on one side of the bar or the other, I would also answer no. And it's the same with so many other surveys I read or hear of conducted on our industry.

It is worrying to think that many surveys are done by Internet-based consumer groups, who offer financial incentives to people who respond to them. They attempt to weed out the people they don't want answering by asking qualifying questions such as "do you or any of your family members work in retail, alcohol sales, insurance..." and so on before moving on to the more pertinent questions, like "would you pay more for your beer if it were served by Angelina Jolie?" I suspect, in the male contingent at least, there would probably be a very high percentage of yeses.

These surveys are also very easy to trick. All you've got to do is tick 'no' next to the box that asks if you work in a pub, and you're on to the next level. (Note: you can change this depending on whatever industry it is you're trying to foil.) These companies then offer product and monetary incentives for completing the whole survey, so you just answer the questions in the way you think they want you to. And it also means that the surveys are being answered by bored housewives trying to get a free bottle of shampoo who, very probably, haven't ventured in to a pub in some time and therefore don't actually understand the ramifications of what they are answering, nor how much a pint of draught lager really costs.

And that, unfortunately, leads to some very skewed data - and some worrying changes in industry practice and philosophy.

Surveys are all well and good if they are aimed at the right audience, conducted in the right environment, and if the correct questions are asked. So, even though I don't have Carlsberg on draught in my pub thanks to my beer tie, I asked the question on their behalf, terming it generically for the brands I do serve: "would you be prepared to pay extra for your pint of (insert brand of beer here) if it were served in a branded glass?"

Amidst the resounding "no"s and random profanities one customer, who actually works in marketing, summed it up perfectly for me: "If I've got to pay extra to have my drink in a branded glass, I want my f*****g name on it!"