Absolut Fun!

What does a marketer do if it wants to sell a product that:
1) has no odour, taste or colour by itself
2) is just another product in an already crowded market
3) whose country of origin has no credibility in the making of this product, and
4) has to build the entire business from scratch

Would you believe if I told you,
that this brand is the largest selling imported brand in the US in its category?
Or that it sells at a premium much higher than other brands in the market?
Or that its bottles have become collectibles over the years?
Or that it still runs that same advertisements that marked its launch almost 3 decades ago?

That is the fascinating story of Absolut Vodka, a name that was invented just 3 decades ago, but claims to continue a tradition that's centuries old.

The book 'Absolut, Biography of a Bottle' written by Carl Hamilton presents a wonderful account of how the business and advertising of Absolut started.

The writing style too is commendable - one that makes the reader think he is tracing a scandal of sorts right from its origin to its launch and success in the United States. Throughout Carl demonstrates the power of advertising in building a brand, and the apparent disrespect the advertising world has to ethics. Overall a fun read, though.

The essence of the advertising campaign behind Absolut Vodka can be summed up in this paragraph taken from the book.

In Germany, several brands had been beaten into extinction when Allied bombers blew the factories to rubble in World War II, halting production for several years. After the war, they rose like a flock of Phoenixes from the ashes, and qucikly regained their previous market shares. Brand names had an iron grip on the people. This was a problem for new products, like instant coffee and frozen food. Simply put, they had no history. Such products were as scary as a person with no past. The only solution, Dichter said, was to invent a past.