Legendary Brands are Built, not Born: 3 Tactics that Work

Lessons from the 141 yr old brand

Photo by Lukas Bato on Unsplash

Cosmopolitan, martini, bloody mary, sex on the beach: sound familiar?

Whenever you reach out to grab them, you can see a glimpse of an Absolut behind the bar.

The point I’m trying to make is: Absolut is among the world’s most famous and premium Vodka. A world with more than 50% alcohol drinkers, Absolut is a household name like Coca-Cola. How did we come to this?

I. Window of Opportunity

In the 19th century, Swedish vodka generally contained fusel alcohol, which could be hazardous to health. For L.O. Smith(founder of Absolut), this meant a great business opportunity.

He started researching the subject and travelled abroad to learn more. In France, he found a company, Savalle that had found a way to remove impurities from alcohol.
Once Smith was convinced that the method worked, he bought a factory at Reimersholme in Stockholm and started producing his own vodka.

There are numerous things which L.O. Smith did in his life as an entrepreneur to make his Vodka business feasible, least of which are two great vodka…