Absolut: The Power Of Advertisement
INTRODUCTION
Ever heard of Absolut Vodka? Well, of course you have. Unless you’re amish, super-religious, or ignorant, there’s a high chance you’re familiar with one of the most popular brands of vodka on the market. Of course, even though Absolut is a strictly adults-only product, the amount of recognition it has worldwide is remarkable. But why is that so? Why is it so widely and easily recognized? Well, in 1980, Absolut Vodka (a Swedish company) released an advertisement campaign called “Bottles in the Wild.” At the time, Absolut had little to no recognition, and a rather humble reputation (Especially compared to its renown today). But the campaign in question, “Bottles in the Wild;” was the one that changed it all. This particular 1985 campaign focused on the distinguishable silhouette of an Absolut Vodka bottle in different parts of the world.Although it doesn’t sound as groundbreaking, groundbreaking is exactly what it was. The premise was simple: A beautiful scene in Paris, London, Los Angeles, and the like — with the silhouette of an Absolut bottle incorporated into the natural scenery. Still though, common knowledge would say that the success of good liquor depends solely on the product quality, right? Well, the success of Absolut Vodka is enough to challenge that knowledge in its entirety. By releasing “Bottles in the Wild,” this unprecedented and unparalleled 1980 advertisement campaign, Absolut showed us once and for all, that great success can be achieved just as easily by a stellar ad campaign to pull the masses.
Ad Campaign Explained
Let’s take a look at Absolut before ”Bottles in the Wild.” Until 1979, Absolut Vodka was just a small, relatively unknown Swedish vodka company with almost no global recognition. It was the desire for popularity around the world that ultimately motivated Absolut to launch this campaign. Come 1985, Absolut was ready, and they launched their “Bottles in the Wild” advertisement campaign. These print ads were designed by leading pop art pioneer Andy Warhol, who also happened to be a longtime friend of Michael Roux (President of Absolut Vodka). According to digitalmiccrop.com (Herlin, “the bottle of booze that lasted 25 years, 2017), this 25-year uninterrupted campaign, consisting of a total of no less than 1,500 unique ads, is the world’s longest running ad campaign of all times. Not only is that statement a major feat in itself, but its booming success speaks volumes as well. Some of the locations targeted by this ad campaign were: Absolut Paris (paying homage to the French capital city’s metro stations by having a bottle shaped metro station), Absolut L.A. (having a bottle shaped pool), Absolut Chicago (showing that Chicago is a windy city), and Absolut Geneva (having a subtle addition of a bottle in the inside of a watch, since this swiss city is known for making watches). Truth be told, the mere shape of an Absolut Vodka bottle isn’t even that distinctive. But that’s the power of a great ad — even a simple shape of a generic bottle can be enough to scream “Absolut Vodka” in the public’s mind. Making a generic bottle one of the most widely recognized silhouettes just goes to show the stellar advertising strategies used by Absolut at the time.
Why Was it Effective?
Upon analysis, one may find that there are three distinct characteristics of the campaign that really drove it to success.Firstly, by showing locations across the globe, Absolut expanded its target audience. Now that more people could relate to these advertisements, they were able to form a more emotional connection with the brand. After all, aren’t you more likely to notice an advertisement if it has your city’s name on it? Thus, this increased the sales of Absolut Vodka in nearly all the targeted locations for the 1980 ad campaign. According to blog.hubspot.com (Oetting, 2018), the most viral ads each year are the ones which heavily rely on emotional content. This ad was no different. “Bottles in the Wild” called out to the people of particular cities, showing those people that they recognized their city. By tugging at these heartstrings, Absolut created a positive image of themselves in people’s minds, leaving a memorable impact. People were just more likely to purchase a product that recognized their hometown or their city’s culture, rather than one who didn’t. This fact was one of the main contributing factors that drove up the sales and popularity of Absolut Vodka during this time period. Additionally, the subtle addition of a bottle silhouette was an ingenious advertising tactic. In a time where most brands preferred to build recognition through catchy slogans or jingles, Absolut broke the monotony in the best way possible. By using a simple shape rather than a drawn out slogan, Absolut gained the best of brand recognition all over the world. In fact, according to scholars J.R. Rossiter and L. Percy, “The main brand recognition tactic is to emphasize the package and the [brand] name visually in the advertising.” And that’s exactly what Absolut Vodka did. They emphasized just the silhouette of their bottle, and by focusing on that, they ensured that their audience would get visually familiarized with an Absolut bottle, thus being more likely to notice and purchase it in a store. Hence, the focus on a simple and elegant silhouette really helped to boost the success of Absolut Vodka.Lastly, “Bottles in the Wild,’’ stood out against its advertisement contemporaries through its simplicity, and elegant appeal. Rather than going for the conventional flashy, bold and shimmery look designed to forcefully grab attention — this ad went the other way. These Absolut Vodka ads were clean and simple, with no unnecessary elements, and no eye-grabbing test or flashy colors either. This lack of flashy elements is what helped this campaign stand apart in the sea of bold and colorful ads. According to flauntmydesign.com (Flaunt my Design, 2015), “A package design that helps the buyer to easily differentiate with other brands in busy surroundings becomes very important.” This elegant use of subtlety and finesse was the primary differentiating factor that set apart this campaign from all others at the time.
Rhetorical Devices: Logos, Pathos and Ethos
All effectiveness aside, Absolut’s entire ad campaign can be seen from a different angle. When considering the rhetorical devices involved in this campaign, the results are quite interesting.For instance, the way that Absolut targeted specific cities was a clever way to pull at the heartstrings of the people living there. The aim was to establish a sort of emotional connection with each resident of their target city who saw their commercial. After all, if one notices their own city being represented in an ad, they are far more likely to remember the brand afterward. This emotional connection put forth by Absolut Vodka’s ad campaign is a great testament to the way pathos was incorporated and utilized to the company’s advantage.In addition, the brand did a stellar job at persuading their audience of their credibility through this ad campaign. By targeting cities all over the world, they put forth an impression of a well-known and globally renowned brand. This, in turn, led to the subconscious belief in people’s minds that established the credibility of Absolut Vodka. Thus, by creating a (somewhat) illusion of popularity, Absolut’s ad campaign utilized ethos to boost their brand success and ethically appeal to their audience.However, as mentioned earlier, this campaign was minimalistic, simple, and elegant. There was no theoretical or abstract language, no factual evidence, and no historical or literal analogies either. Due to this complete lack of any constructing logic or theoretical appeal, it’s quite evident that this ad campaign didn’t need to utilize any element of logos in their quest for brand success. In fact, their very lack of logos, that is, their simplicity and quiet elegance, is what ultimately pushed the brand to heights it rests at today.
Conclusion
According to digitalmiccrop.com (Herlin, “the bottle of booze that lasted 25 years, 2017), in 1985, when the ad was launched, Absolut had a measly 2.5% share of the vodka market in the US. When the campaign ended in 2000, Absolut sold about 5 million cases per year in the US alone, which was about 50% of all Vodka imported into the US. Advertisements in general were meant to catch the attention of the public. Using bold colors and flashy text along with loud music has always been a common attention-grabbing tactic for the same reason. However, Absolut Vodka gained brand recognition with subtle and effective advertising. A huge contributing factor to this was thus the relatability and simplicity of the campaign. So tell me, which of the two bought you, the product quality or the ad? Chances are, you’re all here because of the lasting impacts of this groundbreaking 1980 campaign as well.
Works Cited
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www.flauntmydesign.com/how-graphic-design-boosts-brand-reco
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