Victoria. K. Wells

Introduction: The project aims to evaluate the impact of introducing alcohol‐free (AF) beer using three behavioural ‘nudges’ designed to encourage consumer uptake. Nudges are subtle changes to the choice environment that encourage particular behaviours without restricting consumer choice. Methods: We conducted a sequential mixed‐method approach incorporating an exploratory quasi‐experimental, non‐randomised study of intervention with a before‐and‐after design in a field setting to gather temporal insights, collecting daily sales data over a 9‐month period in three different pubs and qualitative interviews. All three pubs received the same three interventions sequentially. The interventions included, first, introducing AF beer cans into the fridge; second, displaying posters; and third, offering AF beer on tap, which were followed by interviews with publicans and pub staff. Results: The introduction of AF beer was associated with reduced revenue from wine and spirits, while leaving pubs' overall drinks revenue unaffected. NoLo sales were influenced by weather, with higher temperatures increasing demand. Consumers showed a preference for AF beer on tap, often choosing it over canned alternatives. Hence, offering AF beer in pubs is a way to cater to diverse consumer preferences, maintaining profitability. Discussion and Conclusions: This study provides unique insights into the revenue and consumption patterns associated with introducing AF beer, highlighting its potential benefits to pub managers as well as policy makers.

As quintessential institutions, Public Houses (pubs) are deeply embedded within the social and cultural landscape of the United Kingdom and Ireland, traditionally serving as establishments for the ...

Globally, approximately one in three people (32.5%) drink alcohol equating to roughly 2.4 billion people (Griswold et al., 2018). Behind this consumption, there are a range of brewers, distillers and winemakers who produce alcohol and suppliers and retailers of various types who bring the product to the consumer. Statista (2025) highlights the revenue of the alcoholic drinks market in 2025 at 69.7 billion US dollars highlighting the significant size of this industry. Through this special issue, we examine the current state of the industry and consumers within it from the perspective of marketing management and consumer behaviour. The editorial and the special issue itself can be broken into five sections highlighting the contemporary interests of researchers in this area. These are (1) Drinking and alcohol; (2) Drinking places and spaces; (3) Manufacture; (4) Marketing and Product Development; and (5) Diversity and Inclusion. In addition, we have also included a conversation, which brings the views of practitioners to the forefront and will be discussed further below.

This book provides contemporary perspectives on marketing management with regards to drinking behaviour, drinking spaces and places, brewing, product

Most academic research still takes place within a bubble more often than not separating itself, in a number of ways, from the ‘real’ world. Academic projects are often designed without engaging with practitioners, theory is often more valued than usable solutions and publications are written in complex, dense and inaccessible language. There has been much written about the resulting academic practitioner divide, also noted as a theory-practice divide and that ‘this dominant model has come under increasing scrutiny and criticism on the basis that it is increasingly divorcing the research conducted in business schools from the realities of practice’ (Hughes et al., 2008, p. 223). The academic-practitioner gap has been explained by different styles and motivations for sharing and dissemination of research, where academics are focused on accuracy and theory and practitioners on simplicity (Bansal et al., 2012). Excuses such as talking different languages and having different time horizons (Bartunek, 2007); Bansal et al., 2012) are given as reasons why the relationships do not work and institutional motivation and reward are given as reasons for academics not to pursue this route (Hughes et al., 2008; Nyilasy & Reid, 2007).

Chinese consumer demand for ivory threatens vulnerable African elephant populations, despite long‐standing efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade. Behavioural science approaches have been proposed to address these systemic behaviours. However, their robust use remains uncommon in demand management interventions. A culturally nuanced, psychological and sociological understanding of the behaviours driving ivory consumption is essential for effective behaviour change. We conducted a qualitative systematic literature review in English and Chinese to understand the drivers and barriers of Chinese ivory consumption. We sought to understand ivory acquisition, possession and disposal behaviours through purchase, gifting and inheritance practices. Our final review included 13 articles from the academic and grey literature. After inductive thematic analysis, we deductively applied UNICEF's Behavioural Drivers Model to support practitioner applications. Building on the limitations highlighted, we additionally deductively explored ivory consumption through a Consumer Culture Theory lens to assess ivory subcultures and market identities. Ivory consumption is driven by a mix of social, cultural and economic factors, and the degree to which each influences consumption behaviour is not well understood. Better understanding of Chinese social norms that affect individual and collective gifting behaviours could lead to more effective strategies to change behaviour. Most research focuses on purchase and does not address the underlying motivations for gifting and personal collecting to an extent that establishes actionable insight for behavioural interventions. Moreover, inheritance and bequeathing of ivory are not explored in the literature. This limits our understanding of the importance of familial and sentimental values and evolving generational values of ivory for consumers. Effecting demand for wildlife products requires diverse interventions aimed at different consumer groups to target different underlying motivations that shape consumer behaviour. If behaviour change interventions do not integrate evidence‐based behavioural insights into their design, it is unlikely they will successfully achieve their aims. Understanding social and cultural determinants of different consumer groups' behaviour is a critical component of designing effective behaviour change interventions for conservation outcomes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Consumer demand for ivory perpetuates the unsustainable and illegal killing of African elephants and other wildlife species. Interventions that aim to change consumer behavior are increasingly recognized as a crucial element of demand management. However, poor design and implementation have limited their effectiveness. We evaluated how ivory demand‐management interventions in China and neighboring Southeast Asian countries align with best practices from the behavioral field of social marketing. Through a literature review, we identified 55 interventions conducted from 2008 to 2022. We used 2 social marketing frameworks to assess each intervention's capacity to influence behavior. We conducted semistructured interviews with 5 intervention practitioners to provide contextual grounding for our review findings. From 2018 to 2022, social marketing principles were more frequently applied and interventions were of a higher quality ( n = 26) than interventions conducted from 2008 to 2017, reflecting a growing adoption of consumer‐insight‐driven strategies. Since 2018, 7 interventions applied no social marketing principles, and 9 interventions, to varying degrees, included monitoring and evaluation. Although 13 interventions contained some theoretical considerations, these were often vague and superficial. Despite identifying a shift from experiential practices to evidence‐based approaches over time, the shift was largely restricted to communications‐based social and behavior change approaches. This left the wide range of social marketing approaches underused. Ivory demand management must improve the breadth and depth of social marketing used to contribute to long‐term elephant conservation. We suggest all consumer approaches tackling demand for wildlife meaningfully consider integrating behavioral theories in intervention design, undertake primary or secondary research to enable evidence‐led decision‐making, conduct systematic monitoring for evidence‐based learning and adaptation, and use impact and process evaluation methods to understand the mechanisms and magnitude of behavioral change following interventions.