Breaking With Bottle Fires Up Absolut Sales

http://adage.com/article?article_id=125137

In May of last year, Absolut Vodka made the bold decision to change its well known advertising strategy and it has paid off tremendously. TBWA/Chiat/Day, who is Absolut's creative agency, decided to move away from the well-known print advertisements "which merged its iconic bottle with equally iconic art-world figures" and went in a whole new direction. They decided to launch "a global multimedia approach last year themed, "It's an Absolut world."" By doing so, their "global case shipments jumped 9%, and Absolut gained market share in the crowded and increasingly competitive U.S. market" They also broke the 5 million case mark for the first time, last year. Only four other spirits have ever done that before.

This feeling of a need for change was brought on by an outdated campaign that no longer matched Absolut's place in the market. When Absolut was first sold in the U.S. it was virtualy the only "superpremium vodka" and was marketed as such. The print ads with only the bottle and the artwork showed that the brand was made for the upper class. However, since its launch in 1979, many pricier vodkas have been introduced into the U.S. market and have dropped Absolut down to "midshelf status." Their print advertisements were so famous that there was a lot of skepticism in changing them. "We almost looked at [change] as heretical," said Rob Smiley, creative director at TBWA/Chiat/Day, "but consumers really needed to see something fresh."

In May of 2007, the "It's an Absolut world" campaign was launched. This featured spots on tv where police officers had to fend off criminals with pillows for weapons and print ads that showed Times Square filled with classical art work and pregnant men. They also used other creative one time advertisements such as an ATM that dispensed free money and airport taxis that were actually Porshes. They also wrapped Las Vegas's Luxor casino pyramid in an banner that read, "Welcome to Vegas. You are now in an Absolut World."

This type of eclectic approach to advertising broke Absolut out of the shell that they were in as only having upscale print advertisements and really rejuvinated the brand. The brand had been repositioned by the marketplace over the years and the advertising campaign truly needed to be repositioned to match. With this new "Absolut world" approach, they were no longer marketing themselves as the "superpremium brand" that they no longer were and are now using all sorts of different types of media to promote their new brand image. Changing the campaign was a bit risky, but it was done in a smart way and proved to pay great dividends in the end.