Absolut

In an Absolut World

I had a presentation on Absolut Vodka this week, which was good as I had been meaning to do something for the old blog about Absolut and their creative approach to advertising. I’ll touch on that next week maybe. For now I want to focus on a particular ad I found on Youtube.

One of the many problems facing marketing people is originality, breaking through the clutter to register in the mind of the consumer. The problem is once something original has been created get ready for it to be imitated to death. Imitation is not flattery, its lack of creativity, when you clearly have nothing to add to the discussion. As for the brand with the original idea, it is only as good as its last original idea. Ad’s I’m digging at the moment include the Cadbury’s ‘Eyebrows’ ad, its interesting. Better than the trucks ad , but not as good as the Gorilla advert which has spawned loads of mashup’s on Youtube.

What I have been impressed with is the amount of talk about the brand it has generated. Everybody has a comment on it. My parents, my friends, my lecturers, its been spoken about, like it or not, the ad has achieved its objectives. The ‘Glass and a Half’ productions is now a brand. The consumer will look for the next advert, it will break through the marketing ‘noise’, we will discuss its merits and the brand. This investment by Cadburys will probably generate much more interest than their decade long sponsorship of Coronation Street. Cadbury’s embrace of social media is commendable, the bring back Wispa campaign started out online, as did the Gorilla ad and I know Cream Egg has a popular bebo page. Its been a two way street between the brand and the consumer. One of the Gorilla mashup’s on Youtube with Bonnie Tylers Total Eclipse of the Heart was shown, as an ad, on TV last summer. Wispa created an advert made entirely of items donated by their Facebook friends which was also shown on TV in December. If chocolate bars can create an online buzz, certainly any product can in the right marketing hands.

So back to Absolut, and my idea to break through the marketing ‘noise’. Watch this ad, the most recent one for the brand entitles ‘In an Absolut world currency will be replaced with acts of kindness’

It’s an interesting concept in a well crafted advert. So why end there? Why not do something unique that would generate reams of free publicity, engage the public with the brand.

Why not have an ‘Absolut World’ for one day, on one street, in one town. On this day all products and services are paid for with acts of kindness (and Absolut sponsorship of course). It highlights a lot about ourselves and how we deal with one another, sometimes foregoing the odd pleasantry because we have something else on our minds. It’s almost a social experiment, the opposite of big brother. We’re not aiming for our 15 minutes of fame with people we don’t know, but a more pleasant life experience for everybody. Would the acts of kindness from this one day Absolut World experiment carry into the next day for its participants? Would this Absolut World become the framework of a new society, free of rapid paced short-termism that has placed Ireland on its knees for the foreseeable future?

And, of course, it gets us talking about the brand.

Related posts:

1. 23 Best Absolut Ad’s
2. Find 81 Absolut Vodka Bottles
3. The History of Absolut Vodka
4. Cadburys Social Media Success Story (Part 2)

© 2009 LAB: Luke Abbotts Blog.