Iconic brand increases its presence with innovative campaign featuring a Chinese-only Web site to define ‘cocktail culture’ throughout region
ABSOLUT announced today a major commitment to the Chinese market, seeking to expand upon its dominance as the premium spirits brand throughout Mainland China.
The campaign, known as ABSOLUT NEW YEAR, represents the first time ABSOLUT has created a Web site specifically for a non-English speaking audience, filled with a wealth of information created entirely in the local language. The site aims to educate and inform visitors about the brand’s heritage, and celebrate the Chinese New Year – the Year of the Rooster.
Although ABSOLUT is the leader in the Chinese premium spirits market, it remains unfamiliar to the vast majority of Chinese, who are used to local spirits and styles of drinking. The ABSOLUT NEW YEAR campaign will blaze a trail, addressing these consumers directly to forge a relationship and expand upon a growing market for cocktails and premium spirits.
“ABSOLUT is known and respected around the world for inspiring creativity, and this campaign aims to expand upon this heritage with an entirely new group of people.” said Michael Persson, Senior Director Marketing. “As with all campaigns, we undertake meticulous steps to ensure all efforts are relevant to the localized region, while staying true to the ABSOLUT brand.”
The Chinese New Year
The launch coincides with the New Year festivities taking place February 9-23. Integrated with the Web site, the offline campaign features a billboard, print advertisements and online advertising – all specifically designed for a Mainland Chinese audience.
The theme of the campaign is ‘fortune and blessing’, a concept central to Chinese culture in the celebratory weeks of the New Year. The Chinese character (‘fu’) offers wishes of ‘fortune, blessing and happiness’. When turned upside-down, the character symbolizes ‘welcome’, and is a common tradition for people to put this sign on their front door for the New Year.
ABSOLUT NEW YEAR will include advertisements featuring an ABSOLUT bottle emblazoned with the character, specially designed by famous calligrapher Mrs. Tong Yang-Tse. The bottle will be used on innovative rotating billboards and print ads, allowing it to be turned either direction to communicate both meanings.
Beyond advertisements and the Web, a limited edition lantern has been created in observance of the traditional Chinese festival, falling on the last day of the two-week observance of the New Year.
A centerpiece of this campaign will be a dedicated new Web site that builds off the success of www.absolut.com. Located at www.absolutvodka.cn, it is written entirely in the simplified Chinese characters, which are standard on the Mainland. Estimates suggest that 80 million Chinese have Internet access, with this figure rapidly growing. For these people, many of whom are in an emerging Chinese middle class, www.absolutvodka.cn will be an enlightening window on the global approach to drinking and cocktails.
The new site features three sections. The first section celebrates the Chinese New Year and its numerous customs and traditions. The ABSOLUT bottle rotates, prompting the visitor to select either ‘fortune/blessing” or ‘welcome’. ‘Welcome’ offers New Year drink recipes, and downloads such as a fireworks screensaver and print advertisement as wallpaper. In ‘blessing,’