Absolut auction (update)

The Swedish government said on Thursday it had contacted more than 30 potential bidders this week ahead of a planned auction of Absolut vodka maker Vin & Sprit (V&S) [VSG.UL] next year.

"On Tuesday morning a number of letters, more than 30, were sent to those who had notified us of their interest already, as well as others which Morgan Stanley had identified as potential participants," Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell told Reuters.

Odell would not say how many of the potential bidders had responded so far.

Absolut bidders on the starting block

The anticipated $7bn auction for Vin & Spirit, the maker of Absolut Vodka, was formally launched today, kicking off what could be one of the biggest and most fiercly contested corporate auctions of 2008.

The auction will be led by four of the world's biggest drinks groups: Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, Fortune Brands, and Diageo. All four companies have retained their advisers and are waiting for financial details on Vin & Sprit.

The Swedish government is selling V&S, which makes Absolut Vodka, as part of a $31bn drive to privatise six state-owned companies. The group, which is one of the world's 10 biggest alcoholic beverage companies, is valued at between $5bn and $7bn. As well as Absolut, V&S owns the Level Vodka, Cruzan Rum, Plymouth Gin and FRIS Vodka brands.

Pernod Ricard, which two years ago acquired brands from Allied Domecq, the British maker of Ballantine's whisky and Beefeater gin, has hired JP Morgan to advise on its bid for Absolut.

The French drinks group will face fierce competition from Bacardi, the privately-owned Bermudan group, which has hired NM Rothschold to advise on its bid for Absolut.

Bacardi, which already owns the Grey Goose vodka brand, would overtake Pernod to become the world's second biggest spirits company behind Diageo if it acquired Vin & Sprit.

Fortune Brands, which has hired Credit Suisse to advise on its bid, may have a competitive advantage over its rivals in the auction because it is the US distributor of Absolut.

Diageo, which already owns the Smirnoff vodka brand, has also signalled its interest in the auction and is using UBS and Greenhill as its corporate adviser.

Absolut fashion

Absolut vodka is in fashion. Literally. Rajesh Pratap Singh, a leading fashion designer, is all set to promote it. “We are going to have three major events in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi where Rajesh will be showcasing his creation of the brand,” says Siddharth Banerji, director of Kyndal Plc. The company is the importer and distributor of some of the finest liqueurs like Absolut Vodka, Remy Cointreau and Lous XIII.

Absolut has had a long relationship with the world of fashion, which spans almost 20 years. “That is how we have John Galliano, Stella McCartney and Manolo Blahnik.” Other examples of high fashion co-branding that the company has indulged in are Absolut Newton, Absolut Versace, Absolut Tom Ford, Absolut Gucci and Absolut Gaultier.

Absolut vodka's flavours

Absolut Vodka offers currently 12 differents flavours for his drink.
In february 08, it will be the new 13th flavour : Mango !
The company said that the mango flavour will be available in local markets going forward but specific details were not available.

Absolut Mango is reportedly made from natural ingredients without added sugar or sweetener, and is packaged in an asymmetrical transparent glass bottle contoured with mangos.

“We are confident in the high volume potential of Absolut Mango,” said V&S VP of marketing Matthias Aeppli. “Not only because mango is a commercially under-explored flavour, but also since mango has a strong global appeal. It is widely accepted but still perceived as exciting, exotic and different.”

About the others flavours, In 1986 there was Absolut Peppar, two years later Absolut Citron, in 1992 was launched Absolut Kurant, in 1999 Absolut Mandrin and finally last year, Absolut Pears was launched. The big seller is still Absolut Vodka but interest in flavoured vodka is increasing rapidly and Absolut Citron is selling particularly well.

On the 17th April 1979, the first bottles were filled with Absolut Vodka in Sweden for export to the USA. Since then, sales have explosed and today Absolut can be found in 125 different countries. Absolut is currently the world’s
second best selling brand of vodka.

The Absolut design

In the past two decades, ABSOLUT has established itself as a creative brand, not only through its advertising but also through its close relationship with the worlds of art and fashion.

Absolut focused on the bottle design, they launched their famous advertising campaign, using humour to reach out to their customers. They decided to target bars and restaurants and strongly focussed on the “hot spots”. Absolut became quickly a hip vodka thanks to this image brought by their fashion designed bottles.

The "Absolut World"

What is this "Absolut World" ?
In fact, it's the name of a relative new campaign of the brand where Absolut imagines how a perfect world could be ? How an ABSOLUT world could be... ?
To promote this campaign, Absolut created a website, TV spots, guerilla marketing and invested lot of money on web and outdoor ads.

The new ads are decidedly optimistic and cheeky. In a spot called "Protest" a tense clash between protestors and police officers erupts into a pillow fight.
Here you have this very nice TV spot :

In an Absolut world - Manifestations
envoyé par yom_

In a print ad, art replaces flashy billboards in Times Square; in another, bar patrons wear buttons stating their dating status and mind-set. Guerrilla efforts will include offering free manege rides, Metro cards and music downloads in different neighborhoods of New York.

Moreover, on this website : http://absolut.com/en/iaaw , you can submit your vision of what could be an absolut world by including a short text and a photography of your own.
Absolut will continue this campaign with some new stuff on the website and new TV spot will come later...

Absolut Ad

This time it’s an ad regarding the new limited edition disco bottle. It belongs in the new “In an Absolut World” campaign and shows the statue of liberty dancing under an Absolut disco ball/bottle. This ad can be found in Greece in BIG FISH magazine 4th November 2007. And probably this ad can also be found in the US in Instinct magazine November issue. This ad respects the Absolut ad tradition. That is too say differenciation, luxery and the traditionals "ABSOLUT" letters.
You have a small ad video too for the launching of this new limited edition bottle : Click Here

The ad is placed in magazines because pictures are more easily remembered than text and language. The ad isn’t specific to a gender so it could be presented in male or female magazines.

To see more ads of Absolut, you can visit this very complete website : http://www.absolutads.com/gallery/view.php?letter=0

Absolutdrinks.com

Just a little post to introduce you the cool and funny website http://www.absolutdrinks.com/
Here you can make your own cocktails and share them with a large community.
Ok let's try it !
Of course I went classy ang picked the cocktail glass and you can have your choice too what to use either the champagne glass or whine glass something like that.
Then you can select what method to use in mixing your drink and I chose the shaken,then add the ice of my choice and decided to have crushed ice. Along the way they will also give you a bit of info about what your making like the cocktail.
It's so cool to know that 90% of cocktail contain base spirits (one or two),flavor agent (liqueur,syrup,juice)and garnish.
So I had cranberry flavored vodka as my base spirit and got blackberry syrup as my flavor agent and mixed it up with apple juice as my filler and lemon lime as my garnish.

Finally I had so much fun playing with my vodka drinks. And this is exactly what Absolut wants !! Enjoy the website in order to enjoy the brand ! You discover the cocktails trough a flash application, you want to taste, you want to create your own...you are ABSOLUTly under the temptation !

The company I chose

Hey, no more time to wait, here is the company I chose for the presentation :

ABSOLUT Vodka Product of Sweden