• Ad Age, Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:15 AM

The Absolut vodka bottle ad campaign may have been one of the most effective brand-building efforts ever in the booze business, but the company has pretty much kicked it to the curb. When introduced in 1979 with the "Absolut Perfection" print ad, the brand had a lot of cachet -- and no real competition. But with today's multitude of pricey alcohol in fancy bottles, Absolut has fallen to No. 2 behind Grey Goose and perhaps become the Bud of vodkas.

As Tim Murphy, vice president-marketing for Absolut, puts it, "When people think of vodka in the generic sense, they think of Absolut in a specific sense. One bartender told me that 'Absolut is vodka before the plastic surgery,' and that's the authenticity we're trying to convey."

Thus the new effort, "In an Absolut World," features scenes from a place where everything is as ideal as the brand supposedly is, with pregnant men and their beaming female spouses and protesters and cops fighting with pillows, etc., all intended to show Absolut as the ideal vodka in a crowded landscape. "With all the super-premiums, perfection as a proposition became a little bit unattainable," says Jamie Gallo, managing director of TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York, which has handled the brand since its start.

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