Do you believe that Absolut vodka is an idea whose time has come and that nothing can stop its success?

One of the reasons for the success of Absolut was the innovative way of marketing contrasting to that of the established brands. Also innovative was how Absolut Vodka created a whole type of advertising that stretched the boundaries between advertising and art. Today that type of advertisement is well accepted by the public and it is the main reason for people to buy the product. No matter how unique and with high quality it is, vodka can always be substituted. However the approach to people can’t. From now on the already well established brand of Absolut can only “go ahead” by keeping their traditions. There is only one thing that can stop Absolut’s success – if they stop using art and try to find a different approach to the customer.

The present approach have proved to be effective. Absolut Vodka's advertising has been honored in the advertising industry. Absolut Vodka is the only product in history to have won both the most coveted prizes in the US advertising business – the Effie and the Kelly awards. To top it all off, Absolut is to date one of only three brands inducted into the American Marketing Association's Hall of Fame. The other two are Coca-Cola and Nike.

Vin & Sprit’s European campaign uses ads in the same style that has been

So successful in the United States. Do you think the US approach will work in other regions?

Although compared to the United States the European market is slow growing, fragmented and conservative, people in Europe like to rest, to party and to have fun with friends. The vodka market is only 4% in Europe, but that doesn’t mean it is not a good market to start work in. No matter how different and specific the European market is, it’s a market ready to accept new ideas such as Absolut. I think that Europeans will like the US approach because in it you can find the advertisement “created for me”. One of the most important features of the Europeans is that they expect to be treated personally. Well, the Absolut “something” ads can reach to anyone – each can find the ad which states what he/she “Absolute” is of.

Since Absolut Vodka is such a lifestyle product, would you recommend that Vin & Sprit should extend the brand into other markets in the same way as Virgin has extended into video games, PCs, cola and vodka?

The Absolut Vodka brand differs a lot from other vodka brands as well as from other Swedish brands. The recognition of the bottle is crucial for the success of the product itself. It was considered “a masterpiece in glass design, timeless shape with fine lines and the exceptionally clear glass that distinguish Absolut from all other premium vodkas”. It is hard enough to keep people think of you as the “Absolut” between all the established vodka brands, but trying to convince them of something else being “Absolut” seems quite impossible.

The product which the brand represents right now is too specific and one of the reasons I would prefer it is that they are specialized only in it and nothing else. Also important in the case with Absolut is that if they need to innovate in some way they still have enough opportunities for product modification, which I think would be much better accepted by the public and won’t damage the customers’ confidence in the product they know.

Absolut’s successful advertising has benefited greatly from the publicity it generated. Can advertising campaigns be designed to create such media attention or is their success just good fortune?

Absolut Vodka was a hit with the public from the very beginning. Today it's a media sensation. People talk about Absolut Vodka ads the way you would talk about the latest movie or novel; the creativity of their advertising regularly makes the evening news. Absolut Vodka gets coverage in every medium. It gets thousands of articles and countless sound bites of free exposure on TV.

Maybe at the beginning it was just good fortune when Absolut Vodka’s advertisement made the evening news. The most important is that the people who make Absolut’s advertisement campaigns have noticed the power that such publicity can give and began using it. Today it is pretty sure that each Absolut ad is created in order to attract media attention. The Absolut approaches become more and more creative. For example in 1992 a Christmas tree imported from Sweden and cut to the shape of the Absolut Vodka bottle, was seen in London's Covent Garden. For more than a week during the holidays it was shown on every TV station in England.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1798