Absolute is Swedish vodka, made with continuous distillation. It was created by L.O. Smith known as the “King of Vodka”. Its original name was Absolut Rent Branvin which means absolutely pure vodka in Swedish. After changing the name to Absolut he registered
the brand name in 1879. With a bottle that was originally dismissed by the test markets, Absolute continued to grow and was being exported by 1979. Five short years later they were in 18 countries and by 1985 it was the #1 import. They are currently the #2 Vodka in the world right behind Smirnoff. The company has used competitive advertising to achieve this. Last year they broke the 5 million case mark for the first time the only companies to do this are Bacardi, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan and Jack Daniels in the spirits sector.

In addition to their year round flavors like Citron, Mandarin, Pear, Berry Acai, Vanilla, and Ruby Red Absolute also have Limited Edition flavors that come out through the year.

An example is Absolute Greyhound. The company collaborated with a Swedish music group called Swedish House Mafia. The commercial shows a futuristic fantasy world where three
groups of people in weird looking costumes come to meet in the middle of a desert.

While they are drinking Absolut cocktails that are served by a masked waiter, the guests are listening to the song “Greyhound” by the members of Swedish House Mafia. The members of
the music group turn into robotic greyhounds. The beat of the song sets a pace for them as they chase a floating glob, the guests are watching from afar with binoculars.

The dogs finish the race and a Final close up of the Vodka is shown again.
A part of the campaign has been Facebook with a site where you can watch the video, hear the song and mix it yourself. While the overall concept was innovative, some bloggers were not as excited by the depicted scene in which Greyhound dogs were being raced.

Another Promotion being run was ‘An Absolut World’. This promotion boasted an ATM that gave out free money in New York and Taxi lines filled with Porsches in Germany.