Bartenders ‘Make or Break Spirits Brands’.

Bartenders nationwide will be interviewed extensively on-camera and on-location, for the purposes of providing insights to beverage and bar product manufacturers. Why are bartenders of interest?

“Bartenders interact with consumers more intimately than nearly any other profession,” says Edward Bikales, president of Snippies, the company initiating the study. “They’re sought after for advice and companionship. They steer customers’ choices. They choose whether to champion or ignore a brand’s promotion. To put it plainly: They can make or break a spirits brand.”

The use of video as an on-location tool is a departure from the more common practice of bringing research subjects – including bartenders – into focus group rooms. “By sending video cameras to the bars instead of bringing the bartenders to a room we get more natural responses and – importantly – more visual clues,” says Bikales. “For example: What does the bar look like? What kind of patrons are there? How are products displayed? Plus, of course, researchers can see the facial expressions and hand gestures of the interviewee.”

A total of thirty bartenders drawn from five metropolitan markets will be interviewed for over an hour. Each will be asked a series of baseline questions. Participating companies will have the opportunity to add their own questions, or even ask for demonstrations – like how bartenders whip up a whiskey sour, for example. “Companies might want to know how their drinks are stored, dispensed and measured, for example. We can show them, right on location.”

Snippies, a company that specializes in collecting “video data” from multiple markets, has teamed for this study with Technomic, a longtime leader in spirits, food and beverage research and consulting, to offer clients a summary analysis of the interviews. Snippies, with its network of video journalists in over 85 markets, considers themselves expert in effectively collecting videotaped interviews quickly and efficiently.

Interviewing begins in June and the study will be sent to clients July26.