Absolut: Let's turn the bottle upside down
Okay, we all know the story about Absolut vodka: A hip ad campaign that plays off the shape of the bottle turns an unkwown product into a brand superstar with a 150-fold increase in sales -- one of the truly unambiguous success stories of print-based brand advertising.
Now vodka, by definition, is a neutral spirit: odorless and tasteless. I'm willing to believe that, were you to drink pure shots of the stuff, you might be able to distinguish one vodka from another. Yet most Americans drink vodka in cocktails where, honestly now, there's no way you can taste the difference.
But as the president of Aboslut once said, "You don't taste the vodka; you taste the advertising."
I suspect that's true. Which gets me to thinking: Maybe this is one case where we should turn the advertising paradigm upside-down. Usually the ads exist to encourage us to consume the product. But with Absolut, the product (a neutral, tasteless substance) exists so that we can consume the advertising.
Or maybe that's what contemporary culture has been all about for years and I'm just slow on the uptake?
Now vodka, by definition, is a neutral spirit: odorless and tasteless. I'm willing to believe that, were you to drink pure shots of the stuff, you might be able to distinguish one vodka from another. Yet most Americans drink vodka in cocktails where, honestly now, there's no way you can taste the difference.
But as the president of Aboslut once said, "You don't taste the vodka; you taste the advertising."
I suspect that's true. Which gets me to thinking: Maybe this is one case where we should turn the advertising paradigm upside-down. Usually the ads exist to encourage us to consume the product. But with Absolut, the product (a neutral, tasteless substance) exists so that we can consume the advertising.
Or maybe that's what contemporary culture has been all about for years and I'm just slow on the uptake?
2 Comments:
It's as old as "Sell the sizzle. Don't sell the steak!"
We don't sell products. We sell fantasies.
What to you say about it, now that the legendary advertising has just been shelved, in favor of a new idea?
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