ABSOLUT Success: Here’s how one campaign reached the hearts and minds of millions of consumers in 1981!

Thursday: Gorillas of Guerilla Marketing FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: Hello! We’re excited to talk about today’s topic. Each Thursday, we feature the gorillas or the giants of Guerrilla Marketing—an unconventional, engaging, impactful, and easy-to-execute marketing strategy. Campaigns of this type trigger emotional reactions from consumers so they can effectively remember a brand. For today’s article, we will discuss a good example of Guerilla Marketing. Keep reading below to find out how one brand used a simple silhouette to captivate and connect with people of different cultures from around the globe! CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

ABSOLUT Success: Here’s how one campaign reached the hearts and minds of millions of consumers in 1981! Wine, beer, and soda bottles—all of these usually have the same shape. Think about this: When you come across a shelf of bottles, all you see are the same objects holding liquids. The only aspect distinguishing them are their printed labels. Because of this, beverage brands would rather market their products by putting emphasis on their ingredients, or partnering with popular figures who could easily entice consumers in a matter of time. Though these tactics were tried and tested, they lacked much of the essence of CREATIVITY. One company saw this as an opportunity to play around the silhouette of a bottle to stand out from a conventional industry. That company was… Absolut! Absolut is a Swedish company that produces vodkas and distributes them in many parts of the world. Lars Olsson Smith, a Swedish politician and manufacturer of spirits, established the brand in 1879 and instilled uniqueness and quality service within the brand’s objectives. At first, Absolut only sold its products, especially their Absolut Vodka line, within Sweden. It was only in 1979 when the brand decided to enter the global market. During the production shift, the company knew it was going to compete with some of the well-established vodka manufacturers at that time. The problem? Absolut Vodka barely stood out from the pack due to not being recognized outside Sweden, and because its bottle design was mediocre at best! As a result, the company had to find an effective way to make a name for itself in a world full of established alcoholic beverage brands. Guess what it did? Guerrilla Marketing! The Absolut Bottle: A Single Silhouette That Empowered Millions In 1980, Absolut was just entering the U.S. market. It was also during that time when New York advertising agency TBWA was still fairly new. That year, Absolut approached TBWA to help create an advertising campaign that was “smart, stylish, contemporary, creative, unexpected, witty, and of superior quality” so the company could make a breakthrough in the foreign market. Absolut Vodka’s request for an unconventional campaign was mostly due to being surrounded by prominent brands like Gordon Vodka, Wolfschmidt Vodka, and Smirnoff, which used typical marketing tactics such as using celebrities or emphasizing on specific lifestyles to advertise their products. Absolut Vodka didn’t want to be like another one of these brands so TBWA formulated an unconventional way to promote the brand’s offerings. How? The marketing agency had adman Geoff Hayes sketch the first version of the ad containing a bottle and the tagline: “Absolut. It’s the perfect vodka.” This led to the debut of the ABSOLUT PERFECTION ad. This event gave birth to a campaign that saw 1,500 different Absolut Bottle ads following the same art style and ran for 25 years until 2006. The campaign had one purpose in mind: To depict a MASSIVE silhouette of an Absolut Vodka bottle in different artistic styles while accompanied by a strong tagline written according to the theme of the ad. These themes varied greatly. During one Christmas event, an ad portrayed a man carrying a large bottle while walking on snow. The tagline read: “Absolut 24th,” pertaining to Christmas eve. What’s more? The ad caught the interest of American visual artist Andy Warhol who created one of the most iconic Absolut print ads in 1986 (as shown on the photo below). This triggered a domino effect and inspired many other designs to focus on putting creativity and perfection within the figure of the Absolut Bottle. Absolut knew its products can be a significant part of many people’s lives. The only thing the company had to do was use the silhouette of its bottle and taglines in its ads, and splash a background showing different cultures and areas such as the one shown below: Genius, right? By doing this, Italian consumers who saw the ads felt deeply connected with Absolut’s campaign! Prior to the debut of the marketing stunt, Absolut only held a 2.5% share of the entire U.S. vodka market and sold 10,000 cases annually. 25 years later when the campaign ended and after the creation of 1,500 bottle ads, Absolut had imported an average of 4.5 million cases per year and had taken a hold of 50% of the total imported vodka in the U.S. market. Absolut also went on to become the top vodka brand in America and the 4th largest spirits brand in the world. Numerous fanatics continued the trend of the bottle ads, and limited editions of Absolut Vodka bottles were manufactured for a short time in 2021. All these were thanks to making one bottle the STAR of the show! How Did The Bottle Find Absolut Success? Eventually, these consumers realized Absolut is more than just a vodka manufacturer but a promoter of big events as well. Though simple, the Absolut Bottle campaign had countless possible ideas. Artists took Hayes’ ABSOLUTE PERFECTION design and modified it to their own will. These modifications included a bottle and a tagline displayed in front of a background that’s designed with various demographics, geographical locations, seasonal activities, current events, and known figures. Absolut utilized current events or trends to reach out to a wider audience. The taglines always consisted of two words–the word Absolut followed by the name of an event. By pairing the term, “Absolut” with another event, people were able to visualize the main idea within the ad. Examples: Absolut 19th - This pertained to the golf slang, “nineteenth.” Absolut 24th - This pertained to Christmas eve. Absolut Kick-off - This pertained to the 1998 World Cup. Eventually, these consumers realized Absolut is more than just a vodka manufacturer but a promoter of big events as well. Absolut delved deeper into the importance of the humanistic aspect of life. By prioritizing the more human aspect of life, such as friends, emotions, and family, rather than focusing on the features and benefits of its vodka products, Absolut was able to establish a strong consumer-brand relationship. Absolut created ads that essentialized culturalism. Absolut created ads that covered regions like Paris, Manhattan, Norway, London, Naples, and Vienna. The brand knew that by targeting those areas, it was capturing the attention of consumers belonging to different cultures. In turn, these individuals felt correlated with one another. — Absolut’s guerilla marketing stunt was simple yet effective. Rather than taking advantage of popular figures or basic advertising strategies, the company knew the importance of standing out from the crowd. By using a simple bottle and a tagline to reach the minds and hearts of consumers, Absolut was able to create a product that’s unique and powerful. The next time you see a dull bottle lying on the floor, remember that’s the same object that made Absolut one of the biggest vodka brands in the globe. So, strive to be a one-of-a-kind brand too by doing something that’s not normally done by other brands. Take this opportunity to be DIFFERENT! Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn.     Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing! Do you want to learn how one Greek chocolate brand raised social awareness about what love is NOT in 2021? See it in next week’s article!