Spare a thought for vodka marketers in an age when agave spirits seem to hog the headlines. Despite being much smaller than vodka in travel retail in volume terms and far less geographically spread, tequila has captured the hearts and minds of many duty free buyers. Tequila in-store ranges are expanding and moving upmarket, while the bigger brands are investing in exclusive expressions and high-profile activations.
Don’t write off vodka just yet, however. As well as being the base for many classic cocktails, it remains easily the second-largest spirit category in travel retail after Scotch. Moreover, premium-plus vodkas are set to post a healthy CAGR of 11% over the next three years, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, ahead of both standard-priced lines and the overall spirits category. The vodka premiumisation trend has yet to be derailed.
The big players can also still spring a surprise or two. Look no further than Pernod Ricard-owned Absolut. Last month, the French multinational unveiled a new limited-edition bottle in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Absolut Warhol bottle is inspired by the recent discovery of a lost ‘blue’ painting by the US pop artist, created for the Swedish vodka in the 1980s.
Absolut is widely credited as revolutionising spirits marketing in the 1980s, ditching traditional product imagery for a series of bold artistic collaborations. Andy Warhol’s pop art interpretation of the bottle in 1985, which featured the brand’s apothecary-style bottle decorated with bright colours against a black background, marked the beginning of a long-lasting partnership.
Yet for decades, a second Absolut Warhol painting had been rumoured to exist. The rumours remained just that until it was rediscovered at an auction in 2020. The ‘blue’ painting’s provenance was ultimately confirmed and it will now go on sale at Stockholm’s Spritmuseum from October this year as the centrepiece of a new exhibition entitled Andy Warhol, Money On The Wall.
Broad campaign
The new limited-edition Absolut Warhol bottle will be a travel retail exclusive for two months before a wider rollout to over 50 markets worldwide. Priced at around $24 for a 1-litre bottle, the launch commenced with a gallery-inspired pop-up at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. A broader immersive campaign to support the launch featuring 3D media, in-store promotions and eye-catching display units will extend to key hub airports such as Dubai, London Heathrow, Sydney and Madrid.
At a special pre-launch event in London last month at Ryan Chetiyawardana’s Lyaness cocktail bar, Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail vice president global marketing Liya Zhang commented: “The nature of the [travel retail] channel allows for a moment of self-reflection and discovery, creating a deeper understanding of our place in the world. By offering this edition to the traveller first, we plan to inspire passengers to transcend boundaries and connect better with the world and themselves.”
It transpires the famously weight-obsessed Warhol had somewhat faddy eating and drinking habits. He consumed very little food and had a passion for cornflakes, sweet treats and, perhaps unsurprisingly, canned soup. “All I ever want is sugar,” he once quipped. The eccentric artist was also a teetotaller, which made creating a Warhol-inspired cocktail to support the launch of the limited edition a tricky task.
Nonetheless, the Absolut team came up with Absolut Warhol’s Milk Punch: a blend of Absolut vodka, banana liquor, lemon juice and cornflake-infused milk, which pays homage to the artist’s love of the breakfast cereal and his lifelong sweet tooth. Travellers purchasing Absolut Warhol can access the recipe for Warhol’s Milk Punch via a QR code on the bottle.
Pernod Ricard GTR has revealed that around 2 million bottles of Absolut Warhol have been created, which some might say is pushing the boundaries of what is a ‘limited-edition’. Yet there is little doubt that, due to Warhol’s continuing popularity and influence worldwide, this release could well prove one of the most successful annual limited-edition bottles the vodka brand has launched in many years.
In the marketing vernacular of the age, Absolut is not the only vodka aiming to ‘disrupt’ the attention of travellers with something out of the ordinary. For instance, in May this year, fast-growing Swansea-based Au Vodka, launched by childhood friends Charlie Morgan and Jackson Quinn and now co-owned by DJ Charlie Sloth, placed the world’s biggest bottle of vodka on display at London Stansted airport.
Standing over 2m tall and containing 250 litres of vodka, the bottle set a Guinness World Record. The fun, larger-than-life activation was a selfie magnet, perfect for the British brand’s 18 to 35-year-old customer demographic and its celebrity lifestyle positioning – Au has paid sporting stars such as Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho and boxing star Floyd Mayweather to promote its products.
Au Vodka, which is now distributed in travel retail by GMAX Travel Retail, gained its first listing in the channel with low-cost carrier Easyjet last year. Further listings have followed at UK airports and onboard cross-Channel ferry lines such as DFDS and P&O Ferries. German travel retailer Gebr Heinemann, cruise retailer Harding+ and Bahrain Duty Free have also picked up the brand.
Au Vodka and Absolut Warhol might be isolated examples, but they do prove that if NPD and promotional activity are carefully planned and executed, vodka brands can still make travellers sit up and take notice.
