Perspectives on Drinking, Manufacture and Drinking Spaces and Places (Key Issues in Marketing Management)

This book provides contemporary perspectives on marketing management with regards to drinking behaviour, drinking spaces and places, brewing, product development and inclusion. Globally, approximately one in three people (32.5%) drink alcohol equating to roughly 2.4 billion people. 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. Marketing management, advertising, communications and consumer behaviours play a role in the brewing, distribution and drinking of alcohol across different contexts.

The chapters in this volume examine patterns of drinking, followed by an assessment of the role and style of drinking in different contexts, both commercial (the pub, bar, off licence) and personal (the home). The role of collaborative marketing practices is highlighted as well as the important role of product development especially related to no and low-alcohol products and increased moderation of drinking. The book also covers the area of inclusion, in terms of gender within the beer scene. Finally, the book offers a perspective from brewers and publicans and their contemporary struggles and hopes for the future.

This comprehensive resource is designed for students, professionals, practitioners and researchers in consumer behavior, marketing management, consumer psychology, hospitality and tourism studies, business strategy and social sciences.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Marketing Management.

Victoria Wells is a Professor at the University of York, UK. Victoria’s research focuses on pub consumer behaviour. She has examined consumer cooperative pubs, pub locations and pub crawling as well as no and low alcohol products. She shares her pub thoughts on X @ProfessorPubUK and Bluesky @professorpub.bsky.social.

Nadine Waehning is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of York, UK. She has published in International Journal of Hospitality Management, Regional Studies, and Marketing Letters. She has led funded projects and joined the International Beeronomics Society Board in 2025. Her research explores hospitality, craft industries and consumer behaviour in no/low-alcohol; follow her on Instagram @nolowproject.

Robert Bowen is a Senior Lecturer in International Entrepreneurship at Cardiff University, UK, with specialisms in rural enterprise, sustainable growth, and food and drink SMEs, having published in a range of international journals, and presented his research at the Welsh Parliament, House of Lords and European Commission.