What can vodka do to revive its flagging fortunes?

Vodka is waiting impatiently backstage for its star turn, but gin and Bourbon are hogging the limelight. What could vodka brands do to turn around global sales? asks Tony Enoch.

Vodka hasn’t got many reasons to celebrate at the minute (Photo: Flickr)

Tapping into the demand for craft

While craft vodka in the UK is still in its infancy, this category could do well if distillers step up to the table. Consumers want brands with locally sourced ingredients, artisan production methods and interesting stories to sell. There are already some good examples of this on the market but we need more. Blackdown Silver Birch Vodka is made in West Sussex from 100% British wheat. It is finished with a hint of Sussex Silver Birch sap to add a subtle sweetness, and what is more the sap is sourced from woodland around the village of Blackdown. The emerging UK craft vodka sector has a lot of untapped potential.

Flavoured vodkas look set to fall out of favour with the general public, but there is still potential for craft, big brands and premium to tap into the artisan trends and the desire for products to be locally sourced. England boasts numerous local producers making ingredients which could be used to flavour vodka. The quality of ingredients and the fact they are locally sourced could be a big selling point for consumers with flavoured vodka going into the future.

Everyone loves a good story

The big brands need to focus more on their history, authenticity and provenance. It seems some of them have lost their way, amongst them Absolut. Sales of Absolut were down by 200,000 in 2014, having experienced a disappointing year in its key US market. When it first started appearing in US bars, Absolut was trendy and the gatekeepers of these establishments deemed it fashionable. But once a brand becomes available in the supermarket, suddenly the fashionable crowd lose interest because everyone knows about it. In some ways the big brand becomes a victim of its own success. If we were to tackle Absolut’s flagship vodka, we would be tempted to emphasise its purity through design and highlight the fact it is made in Ahus in Sweden, boasting real provenance and history. Absolut, just like many other big brands has a compelling story. But big brands should feature these stories more prominently to benefit from the trend for all things historic, craft and artisan.

The halo effect

By creating a premium or super premium product within a range, brands can create a halo effect, where the luxurious nature of the new product trickles down through the rest of the brand. Absolut is doing just that having launched a premium vodka into the market called Absolut Elyx. The bottle shape and attractive design is a world away from the recognisable Absolut brand. When engaging in a redesign, brands should insist designers visit the place where the product is made so they can glean local knowledge and make the brand feel like it truly connects with the local area.

When we worked on The Glenlivet’s The Winchester Collection, a 50-year-old, a super-premium whisky which would retail at £18,000, we spent several days visiting the area and the result is a better informed and more authentic design. A “Cairngorm Stone” was inserted in the stopper and inspiration for the flowing lines of the hand blown bottle was taken from the nearby River Livet.

Looking ahead to trends for the super-premium market, there has been a tendency for this category to be very showy and we forsee a gradual pulling away from gold and silver embellishments towards a more restrained and classic look to communicate elegance, authenticity and more genuine brand and product truths.

Tony Enoch is creative director at Nude Brand Creation.