Alcohol ads on social media

Hello dear followers,

As you know restriction on alcohol advertisement is big, especially in Europe. The big names of the industry always try to find new ways to advertise their product in order to increase the brand awareness.

Social media such as Facebook became the new place to be for alcohol companies adding hype content with videos and photos that highlight their products but there is a big issue.

Indeed, the majority of social media users are either young or very young people and the main objective for the advertisement regulation authorities is exactly to keep minors away from alcohol ads.

Recently in France, the final court of appeal came down against the very fast propagation of alcoholic beverages on social media, the company Ricard launched a big communication campaign called "Un Ricard, des rencontres" with a smartphone app. which required a Facebook account and allowed to share cocktail mixes and videos about the drinks with other Facebook users. A french national association applies for summary judgement to put an end to this campaign and succeed.

Source : http://www.legalis.net/spip.php?page=breves-article&id_article=3826

Baptiste

Strategy and vodka

Vodka refers to parties in a lot of people’s mind. And it is thought that, that vodka brands are making their strategies.

Some of them are link to crazy parties, some of them are link to more soft parties, some of them are link to very chic parties and some of them are link to headache or blank, but that is not because of their marketing.  What is important, is that vodka brands are decided their strategy on how vodka is seen, and how they want their consumer to see their vodka brand.

For example, Absolut has an accessible price and his image is funny, dynamic, and it is made for everyone. That explain the strong color on a lot of bottles, it creates a desire in people’s mind who want to party, to have fun and to discover new tastes. Even costumers are now starting to keep to bottles that they find pretty to create a collection.

On the contrary, Belvedere who means “Beautiful to see” according to LVMH shows that they are more linked to chic and fashion drinks. That explains their positioning, their cost, their design and their partnership. The brand is present in almost every after party for Fashion Week, but it can be shown as well in the partnership between Matthew Williamson, a very famous stylist, and Belvedere, when the fashion guy create a limited edition of kaftans for the new taste of Belvedere : Grapefruit.

Laure

Source:
http://www.belvederevodka.com/press/belvedere-vodka-collaborates-matthew-williamson-create-limited-edition-design-inspired-pink-gr
http://neatdesigns.net/36-cool-unique-vodka-bottle-designs/

Absolut’s new campaign

Absolut Vodka is very popular for its ads, which always involve art as the leading character. In the past Absolut has had creative collaborations from artists such as: Andy Warhol, Louise Burgeois, Damien Hirst, Spike Jonze and Swedish House Mafia. This time is launching a new campaign following the same artistic path by showing how does art can transform the younger generations (millennials) and the world around them.

This campaign is called Transform Today Campaign choose four creative and talented artists of art, design, music and technology. Rafael Grampá is a Brazilian comic book artist, Aaron Koblin is an American digital media artist, Yiqing Yin is a French fashion designer and 'Woodkid' is a French illustrator, musician and director.

VP of Global Marketing Jonas Tahlin, said “young adults can break free from the idea that anything is predetermined and take control of their future”, according to MediaPost.

So far I think this campaign is a great choice that goes according to the personality of the brand and at the same time still within the interests of the brand's target. For this reason I think they will obtain excellent results in subject of sales.
This is the video of the campaign.

This is the first phase of the campaign, after this Absolut plans on adding more artists. Transform Today has already being launched in the United States, Brazil and Germany. Over the next six months it will spread out to other countries in the world.

Source: http://monchitime.com/www/absolut-presenta-su-nueva-campana-transform-today/
Mónica

Absolut vs Belvedere

For this article I decided to give a look into what these two brands are doing for their marketing campaigns while doing a comparison of them. All of this, to analyse the possible reasons why consumers pick one  of these brands over the other.

If you are a person that enjoys drinking vodka or knows about this market, I have no doubt you know usually these two brands are competing in the same category on the market; even though they are not since they are very different from each other.

When one person thinks about the main Vodka brands Absolut or/and Belvedere are always on top of the list. Still both are targeting different markets. Belvedere is more focused on being a high quality drink while Absolut is targetting a younger market by investing a lot on its advertisings, from which this brand is quite famous.

If you compare their tastes. Absolut is known for being a good vodka for mixing but not to drink as shots. And I think this is the reason why it’s such a popular brand amongst young people and even more in the United States. While Belvedere Vodka is more of a pleasing taste vodka.

The publicity of Absolut usually has the bottle to be the main element in many artistic ways. Belvedere is not quite positioned on one kind of advertising, like Absolut, sometimes evoking to sex and others for being more of a luxury vodka.

So even with all of the arguments that point to Belvedere for being a better Vodka than Absolut it’s interesting that still has more success in sales? My personal opinion, as many others, is that Absolut is very well positioned on the market. The consumers identify the brand, recognize it’s ads and better yet, they remember it and this leads to make them choose Absolut over Belvedere or other Vodka brands.

 

http://leecustodio.hubpages.com/hub/Vodka-Advertising-Campaigns

Mónica

The bottle: the marketing image of the brand

The first thing that we can observe is that all those three brands are different from all the other ones in the market; and they all choose a very unique style of bottle that create a specific idea that can’t be referred to any other brand.

In fact, in the vodka market, usually brands choose a generic style of bottle that links to the idea of vodka, very classic, like Smirnoff.

But when the brands target a higher level of consumer, they need to differentiate themselves to justify the price and the desire to buy the product. And, in our market, it comes also by the bottle.

There are no muse, no big slogan, no celebrity endorsement; the only thing that helps knowing the brand and learns something about it is the bottle. Each one means something, and can be transformed as many times as the brand wants, but it is still the best spoken-person or representative of it.

There is still some common points, we can see that the basic style of the bottle is every time transparent, with black and blue front. It represents the clarity, the purity and quality in people’s mind. And for all their different products they always keep the same style of bottle and change de design on the packaging because the bottle is the center of the brand and the image.

Grey Groose choose a long and thin bottle, with traditional design the sea, goose, the French flag, mountains; no extravagant or fancy approach. It is their way to represents the quality, elegance and the tradition of the spirit. Since it is longer than the other bottle it helps the brand to be more attractive in a display. Also in a club, the transparent bottles catch light.

Belvedere choose a bottle design that is close to Grey Goose, very long and very thin but with more original details, even if it stays very chic, strict and classic. Two important details are more attractive, the huge castle/house from where the vodka is distillate and the tree that brings a heritage and respect to the brand. With that three, Belvedere is now playing in the club where they serve this vodka with LEDs (putted at the bottom of the bottle) so there is light on the three. 

Absolut choose a less elegant bottle, that as the design of a medicine bottle, it is larger so it gives a stronger and more impressive look. Besides, Absolut also use its bottle to communicate because the brand change often their packaging for limited collection just to make their bottle more creative and attractive. Absolut consumers are also collectors, and they like to have new designs, taste news flavors and news ingredients.  







Source: 
http://www.lvmh.com/the-group/lvmh-companies-and-brands/wines-spirits/belvedere 
http://www.absolutad.com/absolut_about/history/story/ 
http://www.greygoose.com/en/us/our-craft 

Laure

Marketing strategies: 3 different competitive advantages

High competition in the vodka market: different flavors, ingredients, and origins

Each one wants to have the best brand awareness, market share, but also always attract new consumers, keep the old ones, and earn the most money they can.

To express a unique and specific difference, the different brands need to make the right choice for marketing strategy and communications link to their products and identity.

To create impact on consumer choices, every company try to define the best the consumer’s needs and expectations, so they can create a more precious link between the company and the customers: the competitive advantage

For it to be shown, the company can use different channels depend on the target, and the message they want to communicate.

The aim of our three brands: Grey Goose, Belvédère and Absolut, is the same; they want to create a strong marketing that stays in minds, that people like and talk about.

Grey Goose choice a specific positioning by presenting the products as the best quality vodka in the market. With this differentiation, Grey Goose avoids the equivalence between its brand and any other one. Its main characteristics is the French lifestyle with elegance and perfectionism, the innovative techniques and flavors with the real taste of vodka but without the old-fashion point of view.

By its communication, Grey Goose wants to stick in the consumer’s mind that it is a premium quality, so they use only channels like magazines, international airports or their own website, to keep to privilege and rarity aspects of the product. With black and white ads, very chic, in fancy places, during dinners or cocktail parties with just the color on the bottle, Grey Goose continue to increase its high quality and respectful image on consumers mind. Also they make sure that VIP places, like fancy hotels, has their new products by creating partnership, and their make private event in Grey Goose name for sporting or celebrities.

Belvedere is the direct competitor for Grey Goose, both are high quality vodka, with special flavors and targeted un higher population and type of buyers. Belvedere knows that it has to find a way to make the brand different from Grey Goose in people’s mind.

They propose vodka tasting to make people see that it is more than a simple vodka, that the taste make all the difference, and that their taste is the better. They insist on the real vodka spirit, since it is distillate in Poland.

But for the communication, Belvedere decides to strike big. For them, to increase the popularity of the brand we have to talk about it, even if it is not in a good way, Belvedere wants to be provocative and surprising. That’s why they create a new communication campaign with provocative message that will chock people, for example one about rape that had really bad follow up, but we talked about them.

Absolut is making an important difference by the big and impressive campaign it creates every time by attractive advertisements, promotions and narrowed products on women needs, but also by creating original added values to ads, like headphone in a bus station. Absolut knows how to create a buzz and how to stick in people’s mind with color, dynamism and young attitude. Indeed, Absolut decide to target everyday young people, not VIP or very chic people; the image of the brand is simpler and more accessible.

The company’s website is another way of communicating with the audience throughout the creation of web programs that enable the viewers to create their own mini movies.

Absolut also differentiate the brand by been associated to diverse causes: charitable events, or gay events. 

 

Laure

Sources:
http://www.absolutad.com/absolut_about/history/advertising/
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/belvedere-vodka-apologizes-rapey-ad-facebook-139162
http://www.greygoose.com/en/us/advertising

Vodka is a popular spirit in France, but what brands do French drink?

In the article of this week, we will discuss about the French market of vodka, so that we have a better idea of what we will talk about but also to state main hypothesis about the consumption of vodka, the power of branding and the spirit market in general.

According to IWSR data, Vodka is the third most consumed spirit category in France. It accounts for 13% of the whole spirit consumption (in 2011) whereas whisky is the dominant category, topping the list at an outstanding 68, 2%, and rum comes second at 13,4%.

Vodka is a popular spirit in France, but what brands do French drink?

Top 5 vodka brands in France in 2011

Poliakov is the most consumed brand in France. It is also the cheapest one. For the French market, vodka consumption is therefore mostly based regarding quantity/price rather than quality. Moreover, Poliakov isn't the only one cheap vodka making it into the top 5 : Sobieski comes third in terms of volume (although it is 5th in terms of value).

Market shares are also very centralized and brand driven, with the top 5 brands doing 70% of the total market in both volume and value.

This leads us to our first assertion: French people don't know many vodkas, and with the clear domination of cheap vodkas in the top 5, we can safely say that most of the consumption is done off-trade, which means that French buy most of their spirits at the supermarket in order to consume it at home, rather than in bars/nightclubs (on-trade).
In fact, the only time Frenchs choose their spirit is at the supermarket: when they are in bars/nightclubs, they rarely ask the barman about what spirit he will mix in their cocktails.

image by LSA Conso

If the market is off-trade, influences and personal drive are taken to a whole new level: as it is not likely that the consumer will drink alone (as opposed to his/her glass he/she’d have personally drunk in a bar), the choice of the category will be strongly decided by the group rather than by one person. It’s alright if there is that one person who can’t stand tequila. Brandy/Cognac is out of the question, and gin is non-existant. So the choice remains between one of the three main categories: whisky, rum and vodka.


And it is then that branding comes into play ...

Mathieu

Grey Goose amazing commercial

Hello followers! 

Today we are going to speak about the last campaign launched by Grey Goose with an amazing commercial made by Nicolas Winding Refn no less (Drive, Only God Forgives...)

The video that last 1 minute and 21 seconds tells the story of Grey Goose creator Francois Thibault and communicates the provenance of Grey Goose vodka in such a nice way that in 2 weeks it obtained more than 400 000 views on Youtube.

Bacardi which own the french luxury brand wanted that the commercial appeals to “sophisticated consumers” who “care deeply about where their products some from”.

The effort they put on making this commercial a success has no limite, it has a 30, 60 & 90-second version and even 3D technology will be use for New York & Las Vegas.

If you didn't hear about this already, this is because Bacardi decided to launch it first in the US but don't worry it will soon be spread globally.

Source : http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com

Baptiste

Belvedere & (RED)™

Happy sunday everyone! Let's talk about one of the most beautiful partnership in the vodka industry, Belvedere & (RED).

The polish brand announced in February 2011 its collaboration with the world’s leading financer of programs to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. Belvedere contribute with 50% of profits from the sale of  (BELVEDERE)RED Special Edition to the Global Fund. 

Moreover, the well known artist Usher help the company to raise awareness for the issue of HIV/AIDS. In addition, the artist, Carsten Holler has created a piece especially for this initiative, entitled Double Sphere Hanging that has been auctioned at Art Basel Miami, with full proceeds to The Global Fund (TM).

Source : http://www.belvederevodka.com/newsevents

Baptiste

Welcome!

Good morning everyone! We’re Msc International Marketing and Business Development students from Skema Business School in Sophia Antipolis France) and we want to welcome to our blog. In this space we will be discussing things related to the vodka market such as: marketing trends, advertising campaigns and product innovation. We will be focusing mainly in three brands: Absolut, Belvedere and Greygoose.

We will begin by explaining a little bit of the history of each Brand.

In the 19th century drinks similar to vodka were popular in Northern Europe and vodka was arelady consdered to be the national drink in Sweeden. Lars OlsonSmith introduced the original Absolut Vodka, by showing his first product in 1877 into the market, this was called “Tiodubbelt Renadt Brännvin”, which means Tenfold Purified Vodka. Back in that time time they didn’t use the Word vodka in Scandinavia but they called it brännvin, this ter mis translated as burn-wine. After two years, Smith created innovative distilation technology, this is still used today. The need of a new name raised up to show the advanced technology and product he had. Until 1950’s the Word vodka was introduced into the scandinavian dictionary.

Sources:
http://highnames.com/absolut-vodka-name-origin/

Belvedere hails from the small polish town of Zyrardów in the Mazovian plains. Polmos Zyrardów destilery has been producing exceptional vodka since 1910.

In 1993 the first bottles of Belvedere Vodka were produced in accordance with over 600 years of vodka making, tradition and heritage.

Belvedere Vodka is named after The Royal Belvedere Palace in Warsaw and it means beautiful to see. Belvedere goes through 4 destilation processes that gives the product a perfect balance of elegance and character. It’s filtered twice: once through Premium cellulose and once more through activated charcoal.

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1FEjSEnTic

http://edwarddillon.com/our-brands/belvedere/history?verified=1

Greygoose it is not a Brand with very large history, Grey Goose was made for the US market in 1997 by Sidney Frank. He wanted to créate a Premium vodka for americans.  He took advantage of the french high quality technique in manufacturing and developing the recipe, by giving attention toevery detail of the process. Grey Goose uses French Winter wheat from the South of Paris. Is supplied by three forming cooperatives chosen for their

high standards and seat selection sustainable farming methods. It goes through 5 distilation steps

Sources:

http://www.squidoo.com/greygoose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aenU2Ry1ss

Mónica