So this is my final blog post everyone, it will certainly feel odd not writing a post every week from now on! I thought I’d finish my blogging with a post that I’m sure most people (especially students) can relate with…
Alcohol!
I was triggered to write this post by a couple of things. Firstly, I was looking down the alcohol aisle in my local super market just the other day, thinking to myself of what drink to get for my flat Christmas dinner, and I saw ‘Absolut Raspberri’, on offer for £15 instead of £19. Secondly, the design of the Absolut bottle reminded me of the unique advertising posters and print ads that the company has produced over the years.
We all recognise the adverts, the iconic slogans and signature bottle shape.
Above is an example of some of the advertisements which Absolut have produced. There is in fact an entire website dedicated to Absolut adverts, www.absolutad.com if you are interested! I feel like it would be interesting to discuss the affect these adverts have had on the image of Absolut and the psychology behind the adverts. Personally I feel that Absolut adverts are witty, effective and sometimes glamorize their product. These factors obviously have an effect on the prospective buyers of the product as well as the impression the brand presents itself with.
Absolut is the third largest spirit brand in the world after Smirnoff and Bacardi. It is thought that Absolut’s advertising fame is due to their distinctive and recognizable designs. The adverts are designed by the advertising agency TBWA worldwide.
All the Absolut adverts run with the slogan,
‘Absolut _______’
For example the first Absolut ad was ‘Absolut Perfection’, and this was the start of the longest running advertising campaign, with more than 1500 adverts to date.
Example of the first Absolut advert
The adverts cleverly use repetition, as all the adverts are of the same style. Campbell & Keller (2003) suggested that if an individual is familiar with a brand it would influence the effectiveness that the use of repetition has. In brief, if a product is more familiar to a person, the repetition through advertising would not ‘wear out’ on them.
It could be argued that in the case of Absolut, as it is a household alcohol brand name it could be thought as already familiar with its customer base. Moreover, it could be thought that the sort of person who buys Absolut vodka is one that is already well acquainted with vodka brands. This is because Absolut markets itself as a ‘high’ quality drink, and is priced to reflect its quality.
Like with all products, brand familiarity is important for creating loyal customers. As stated in my blog two weeks ago, a familiar brand increases customer confidence in buying a product. Making memorable advertising even more important.
A selection of the Absolut flavours which are currently available
Back to Absolut advertising specifically. Kenyon & Hutchinson (2007) carried out a research case study on the visual and verbal images used in advertising for Absolut. Their research clarified that Absolut has a clear target audience, and that their adverts are directed clearly at one audience.
‘Absolut Marilyn’ advert, almost glamorises the brand and the drink
Naturally exposure to advertisements will often increase sales, but it terms of age-restricted products such as alcohol, there has to be some boundaries. There are of course negative connotations with having such clever and attractive advertisement campaigns. There are many research studies that suggest that alcohol advertising can increase drinking and the associated issues of drinking with younger people. Snyder et al (2006) tested whether the exposure of alcohol adverts would increase the amount of alcohol consumption by youths. It was found that in individuals aged 15-26 who saw more adverts for alcohol would on average drink more alcohol than those who had not been exposed to the adverts. Moreover, when the results were examined of participants exclusively under the legal drinking age, it was still found that the advert exposure correlated with drinking. Naturally underage drinking should be handle as a health concern as well as the anti-social effects which often run along side excess drinking.
What I think is particularly clever and iconic about Absolut ads, is that they create an element of exclusivity to their products, with their one of a kind bottles and artist collaborations. In fact their adverts have become so popular that they are almost collectors items in themselves!
Example of ‘Absolut Unique’ bottles which ran in a campaign earlier this year, here are two of the bottles I purchased, which are apparently ‘one of a kind’.
‘Absolut Hirst’ an example of an Absolut campaign using famous artists.
Hope you all enjoyed my final post, t has been a good three months of blogging! Thanks to all who have read and enjoyed my blog!!
Merry Christmas!
continuouslyconsuming 