Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/4337
UP If there's one thing that SVEDKA is not, it's boring. Everything about the brand—from its dynamic marketing campaign, to its sleek and modern packaging, to its vibrant, fun-loving de- mographic—oozes cool, a factor that has not only helped shape the young brand into one of the hippest vodka calls on the market today, but is also propelling SVEDKA's astronomical sales towards a self-pro- claimed, yet not unrealistic title as "the number-one vodka of the year 2033." When SVEDKA launched seven years ago, the Swedish import was a young upstart edging its way into an already crowded marketplace. With vodka after vodka touting its origin, distillation process, base ingredients or packaging as distinguishing features worthy of shelf space, the SVEDKA team saw an opportunity to break away from the mold. "We decided to zig when everybody else was zagging," explains Marina Hahn, Chief Marketing Offi cer at SVEDKA. "There was a sense that there was a missing link in the vodka category, and this big, empty white space was called fun." SVEDKA boldly sailed into un- charted waters, steering away from the buttoned-down marketing that dominated the industry and mov- ing toward the future. "Everyone was treating vodka like something so serious, and we just wanted to reclaim vodka as something it should be: fun," says Hahn. "We wanted to challenge the estab- Future Shock SVEDKA propels vodka-lovers to the year 2033, where fun is front and center 6 / the tasting panel / november 2009