Steffen Timmer went to O’Rourke’s Public House for trivia night and was faced with a decision about what beer to get.
Date: 3/6/2017
Type: Analogous Immersion
Location: O’Rourke’s Public House
Team participants: Only team member immersed, but had non-team members facing the same decision with me.
User Characteristics: Notre Dame business student
Male
Likes to save money
Generally enjoys darker beers
Immersion:
At O’Rourke’s for trivia night and was faced with a nightly special of a $4 beer with 4 beer options to choose from
- Guinness
- Past Experience with Guinness
- Irish Dry Stout
- Smithwicks
- Irish red ale-style beer
- Never had before
- Harps
- Euro Pale Lager
- Never had before
- Magners
- Irish Cider
- Had once and enjoyed it
The Decision
Price was not an issue in this situation so the four beers were on a level playing field in that instance, much like how public schools all compete at about the same price level. I really like darker beers but a nice cider to relax with also sounded promising. The waitress on this night did not provide me with an opinion, which disappointed me. In the end I chose to go with Guiness because I had the most previous experience with it and knew it would be a reliable option to have.
Top 3 Learnings:
- When making a decision, familiarity is a major player. With respect to choosing a high school, a person is much more likely to choose a school if they have heard good things about it in the past or knew someone who went there. Choice of school is a decision a person makes for four years generally and a person would not want to have much risk with the school they are choosing.
- Name recognition is big. Guinness has the most recognizable name out of the four beers mentioned above and that name recognition is key to it being chosen. If Clay is the first name that comes to mind when people think of South Bend public schools it can gain an advantage.
- The description says a lot about a brand. Clay has school is branded as a performing arts school and that turns a lot of people off. In this beer choice I faced I saw that Smithwicks was an ale-style beer and because I am not a big fan of IPAs when I saw ale-style I decided not to go with that option.
Key Insight – (1) Sometimes there is not much depth in a decision. If a person is familiar with an option and does not have much information or recommendations on the other options than they will go with the familiar choice. (2) Both uniqueness and quality is key in this decision. If the option can differentiate itself and do so at a high level than it will set itself apart. (3) Appearance helps. Guiness is always served in a nice glass and that plays a roll in people enjoying the product. If Clay looks like a good school then people will see it as one.