Absolut

First I feel as though I am obligated to start this blog by discussing one of my most favorite alcohol ad campaigns to date—Absolut Vodka. Absolut Vodka was first introduced in the United States in 1979. Their first ad was published in 1980, Absolut Perfection. Since then there have been over thousands of amazingly creative ads published. Being an avid collector of these ads, their attraction stems from their creativity and originality. The campaign started by using creative two to three word captions starting with ABSOLUT, such as ABSOLUT GENEROSITY (1985) as seen below, and the basic and now highly recognizable bottle.

As the ads became more popular and more recognizable ABSOLUT branched out and began using the shape of the bottle rather than the bottle itself in creative situations, such as ABSOLUT PARADISE(1994) seen below.

As the ad campaign’s popularity grew even the fashion business signed on to be featured.

Always seeking to reinvent the creativity of their ads Absolut then tackled popular cities throughout the world to be featured in their ads. Below is one of my favorites ABSOLUT MANHATTAN.

Absolut’s ad campaign became so popular that they made a compilation of their ads in a book. Indeed, nineteen ninety-six brought about the publication of Richard W. Lewis’ Absolut Book which gives insight and examples of the success of the Absolut advertising campaign. This book had fifteen editions and over 300,000 were sold. Last month, October, Richard Lewis did it again, and came out with Absolut Sequel covering the past decade. Equally filled with stories, history, and ads, this book is just as entertaining as the first.

Absolut’s popularity is so renowned that some website featuring the ads even include spoof ads made by advocates. The funniest one featured below is ABSOLUT AA.

However, competition such as Grey Goose and Smirnoff Vodka is threatening Absolut’s market and may force Absolut to take a new take on their advertising strategies. No matter what, this original advertising campaign will not soon be forgotten.