VODKA | AMERICAN MADE
continuing its multi-year boom , while others surge as well . Most of the volume increase in 2016 came from relative newcomer premium brands - Tito ’ s , New Amsterdam , Platinum 7X and Deep Eddy . Meanwhile brands like Skyy , Burnett ’ s and Seagram ’ s maintained their places near the top of the heap . And volume is shifting from value brands to premium-plus .
And then there ’ s Smirnoff , the Russian-sounding vodka with 80 year American roots , which dominates the domestic market at more than 9.4 million cases .
Pricing is notoriously savage in the vodka category , and with consumers now more educated , their willingness to spend is being tempered by awareness about quality . “ As good as imported vodkas are , consumers have learned that they don ’ t need to spend $ 30 for a really good vodka ,” says Michael Sachs , director of marketing for E & J Gallo and its New Amsterdam brand . “ I think a lot of the American brands , starting maybe 20 years ago , started the trend so that people could recognize that American vodkas can be really great vodkas .”
Newer efforts are gearing up as well . Pernod Ricard has two in early stages , including the city-centric Our / Vodka project . The brand now includes international variants made in London , Berlin and Amsterdam , and two in the U . S . - Detroit and Los Angeles ( with Miami and New York coming soon ). Targeted primarily off-premise , the brands at least initially will be hyper-local and sold only within the marketing areas , although Our Vodka Detroit has a presence in Chicago Whole Foods units .
“ The idea was to create a brand that ’ s global and local at the same time ,” says Our / Vodka business development director for the U . S ., Sebastian Tondo . “ The branding is the same , but each city is marketed a different way because we partner with local entrepreneurs tied to the identity of the city . No large investment on marketing , but building brands from the ground up by building a direct connection with local consumers .”
And the company also launched in 2016 Smithworks in partnership with country star Blake Shelton , a brand with imagery and presentation that clearly signals “ American-made .”
Retailers can expect that the newer vodkas from small and
large American producers will continue , says Richard Black , VP marketing for vodka and cordials for Campari Americas .
“ We ’ re obviously seeing a proliferation of American-made vodkas , and a few are emerging that are doing incredible things in terms of market share gains . We see the vodka category ripe for disruption with a lot of micro and craft distillers coming onboard .” Black says local pride resonates at retail , which for Skyy means focusing on its American entrepreneurial roots .
“ There ’ s a lot of great vodka out there now , which is awesome , because it means people have more choice ,” says Nicole Portwood , VP of brand marketing for Tito ’ s . “ Since the recession of 2008 , American entrepreneurialism and the stories of makers have become a true movement .”
FINDING NEW CUSTOMERS Titos ’ continued penetration ( it was up more than 36 percent last year to become the second best selling domestic vodka ) has sometimes benefited from aggressive market introductions . At Jubilation Wine and Spirits in Albuquerque , New Mexico , spirits manager Joslyn Hidalgo says it ’ s now the leading brand at her store . The growth was built on a major sale started last year for the brand , knocking import Svedka into second place .
Sales are important as ways to increase sampling , she says . “ With vodka , it ’ s kind of hard to explain to people the real differences ; you can talk about water sources and what it ’ s made of , but the differences are subtle to a lot of our customers . They need an attractive price .”
Those connections have shifted attention somewhat among American consumers , but the category is still a hard-fought battlefield . “ The vodka category is extremely competitive right now for domestic and global players ,” says Matthew Pechman , vice president marketing at Heaven Hill ’ s Deep Eddy . “ There ’ s a lot being invested into the category and it ’ s becoming more competitive from a pricing standpoint as well . The important point now is creating differentiation for consumers compared to the big players .”
Reid Hafer , senior brand manager in charge of Deep Eddy ’ s
28 StateWays | www . stateways . com | September / October 2017