Having worked on Seagam from the time the company began operations in India decades ago at Ogilvy Delhi, I was quite intrigued by what the company (now Pernod Ricard) would do having acquired Absolut in 2008. I was already of the view that Absolut needed a fresh brand strategy and creative idea to take them forward and that the old campaign had run its course, and for a long time too.
While I believe the Absolut brand has plenty working for it, including the international credentials it has managed to build for itself, I also think that the brand needs to clearly stand for something and that is the differentiated strategy that will take the brand forward. Its main competitor is Smirnoff Vodka from Diageo and other vodkas, but also other white spirits like gin and white rum, as well as whiskies and wines which most vodka drinkers move up to, eventually.
You can read my new brand strategy for Absolut Vodka as well as the brand campaign ideas for it in the document below.
Since TV adverts will lead the campaign – the idea and script for which are in the document above – I am sharing a mood board for the TV advert below.
Advertising in the print medium and digital are equally important for the Absolut target audience. I am not a designer or art director, but I have attempted creating layouts for the print campaign for Absolut, which you can view and read by clicking the link below.
Below is an example of the digital campaign, where I have adapted one of the print adverts into a gif for social media. I have already explained a little about the customer engagement programme on a special landing page on Absolut’s website, in the strategy and ideas document.
Then, the website itself for Absolut. As I have written in the document, I think the website ought to combine brand information with company information and I have suggested page/tab headings that can organise the content a little better. Below, you can view my layout for the website’s home page as well as the text for it.
Finally, I have a branding recommendation to make for the club of Absolut consumers that ought to be formed for the direct marketing programme. The club will simply be called Absolut Icebreakers, with the branding design you see below.
Here’s hoping Absolut will continue to bring people together across the world. Skal! Now, let’s go break some ice!
The stock images used in the Absolut campaign ideas are from Pixabay, Unsplash, Wikimedia Commons and from Absolut’s website, while the stock footage of the water splash is from Videezy and the Absolut logo is from Wikimedia Commons and I am grateful to all of them.
Peripatetic Perch 