Marketing alcoholic ice cream in Norway: consumer context and geography

Marketing Alcoholic Icecream in Norway

Geography

Norway is part of the Scandinavian Peninsula located in the Northern part of Europe. The Norwegian territory also houses the Arctic Archipelago and Jan Mayen of Svalbard. Most parts of the nation share a border with Eastern Sweden, to the South is Finland and Russia to the East. The extensive coastline of Norway faces the Barents Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. With 323,802 square kilometers (Great Britain 1986), the country has a total population of five million people. It is the most sparsely populated European nation. Its population is spread throughout the mountainous and narrow landscape. It is a democratic and vibrant economy. Drawing from global per capita, Norway is one of the wealthiest economies in the world. This is attributable to its position as the world's sixth largest crude oil exporter and second largest natural gas exporter. The even distribution of income makes the entire population consumers. Interest rates and unemployment rates are extremely low.

Education, Religion, and Language

Norway has a compulsory education system. This system is based on national 20-year curricula with three levels. They are the lower primary, upper primary and lower secondary. Due to the country's sparse population, half of the lower secondary and primary are small. These forces lower secondary and primary pupils to be combined in classes. The most recent education reform in lower secondary and primary education was carried out in 2003 (Int'l Business Publications, USA. 2012). Upper secondary education teaches all courses that lead to academic qualifications above lower secondary level. In Norway, all people between 16 and 19 years are constitutionally mandated to attend upper secondary education for three years. This serves them vocational qualification, partial qualification or higher education certificate. Besides English, a second foreign language is mandatory in theoretical education. However, it is not mandatory for admission to higher education. Higher education comprises of studies in colleges and universities. Normally, entry is gained based on the completion of secondary education. Currently, higher education is undergoing a reform process known as "quality reform" aimed at improving the quality of higher education. In Norway, educational opportunities and lifelong learning are viewed important principles. The competence reform seeks to fulfill the need for changed or new competence in the society, for individuals, and in the workplace. The objective is to make Norway a workplace that promotes learning.

From a geographic perspective, Norway has extremely few immediate neighbors. It shares short borderlines with Russia, Finland, and Sweden. Denmark is as well viewed a neighbor because of fast ferry links between the two nations. Because Danish, Sweden, and Norwegian are inter-comprehensible languages, the learning and teaching of neighboring languages are not an issue (Int'l Business Publications, USA. 2012). This excludes Finnmark and Troms, which are northernmost countries. There are two official languages in Norway; Sami and Norwegian languages. The majority of the people speak Norwegian, and the indigenous Sami population speaks the Sami language. Language is diverse Norway with Nynorsk and Bokmal as related but different dialects. At school, both are compulsory subjects students chose one variant when starting school. As the children attain twelve years, they are taught the other variant. Norway has imposed laws that regulate the use of both variants in public organizations. The use of a variant varies between regions and municipalities across a region. Minority languages are often introduced to Bokmal as it is widely used in the news, national newspapers and in the national media. In Norway, the most widely practiced religion is Evangelical Lutheran. The next largest is the Roman Catholic Church.

Promo-Sales

When opening a business in Norway, it is advisable to seek the services of an advertising agent. They provide support in terms of the most appropriate channel to market and advertise Alcoholic Icecream to the Norwegian population. All types of advertising media are available in Norway. Apart from the government-owned Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and TV stations, advertising on radio and TV is fully developed (Bly, 2009). Press advertising is highly ranked, and companies are using the most sophisticated methods. The country records a high degree of newspaper readership. Norwegians read the newspapers more often than the other nationals do. However, the English is the international business language, which makes the two biggest tabloids to be purchased Countrywide. In Norway, people speak and read English.

Consumer Behavior of this product in the United States

In the United States, Alcoholic Icecream is part of the eating culture but it is also a means of boosting social gatherings. With changes in the consumption and improvement in living standards of Americans, consumption of Alcoholic Icecream is transferring from the previous luxury to daily life necessities. More Americans are choosing Alcoholic Icecream as their main consumption instead of other beverages. Some factors explain this phenomenon. Great changes are occurring in the consumers' purchasing behavior. The first factor is a culture change. With the changing consumption and value of consumer, more are opting for Alcoholic Icecream (McKinney, 2003). Natural regression, healthy and natural is becoming the major consumption trend that Americans are seeking. The reason Alcoholic Ice-cream intake is rising is that its consumption meets the standards of a modern way of life. The impact of consuming Alcoholic Icecream promotes social contact and stimulates a mutual sense of well-being. Most situations where people take Alcoholic Icecream include a range of rituals that have varying associations for people based on their diverse cultures. The intake of Alcoholic Icecream is widespread and integrated into the American culture. As such, it tends to develop naturally because the culture itself changes gradually. Throughout the United States, diverse populations have established patterns of behavior and belief with respect to Alcoholic Icecream (McKinney, 2003). Additionally, they have derived different sorts of dissatisfactions and satisfactions from consuming Alcoholic Icecream. A cross-cultural analysis based on this product reveals that Alcoholic Ice-cream conjures different meanings at a party, dinner, wedding or cocktails after work. The cultures of consuming Alcoholic Icecream are many and diverse in the U.S. The intake of Alcoholic Icecream regularly takes the form of ritualistic behavior related to the circumstances of consumption. The offering of Alcoholic Icecream at weddings, parties and cocktails is viewed as a ritual to stimulate a feeling of togetherness.