Vodka Clout, Pinky Out: BRIGADE Helps Launch SVEDKA Rosé
The industry juggernaut expands its product lineup to disrupt the rosé movement.
SVEDKA Vodka is an industry icon that continues to evolve. After successfully helping our long-term partner expand into the competitive ready-to-drink category, we worked closely with them to launch their first vodka brand extension: SVEDKA Rosé. The new beverage blends SVEDKA Vodka with rosé wine and will be available nationwide in February 2019. We concepted, designed, and produced packaging for the product (the first vodka line extension in the brand’s history), and developed a strategy for go-to-market at off-premise.
Bringing the brand’s very first vodka brand extension to market required a robust strategy rooted in understanding the audiences who could be drawn to it. Packaging and retail support had to educate consumers about the relatively new world of rosé vodka, attract wine enthusiasts as well as vodka loyalists, communicate that Rosé is from SVEDKA, and provide consumers with insight on how to consume the product and how the product is made.
Our design for the SVEDKA Rosé bottle is at once a bold departure and a loyal reinterpretation. Fearlessly, the brand okayed removing ‘SVEDKA’ from its iconic white band, where we replaced it with ‘Rosé’ in hand-drawn script. SVEDKA branding has moved south on the bottle, and is now locked up with the word ‘VODKA’ to help consumers understand that this bottle of rosé belongs in the spirits aisle after all. Meanwhile, premium rose gold metallics infuse the bottle with the air of a fashion accessory, and compliment the beautiful liquid color resulting from the blend of vodka and actual rosé wine.
“SVEDKA Rosé is a rare ‘shots fired’ moment in the vodka aisle,” said Robert Parker, Director of Creative Strategy at BRIGADE. “We saw the product packaging as an incredible opportunity to innovate, but it was also a huge responsibility to make sure that every element was communicating the right thing in an engaging way. The bottle brings drama to an aisle known for sameness — and that’s really exciting for us.”
We leveraged our expertise with retail activation and consumer experience to devise an impactful go-to-market strategy for SVEDKA Rosé. From the redesigned bottle to the packaging, posters, and in-store displays, our Rosé creative commands attention and encourages consumers to engage. This holistic approach utilizes the innovative product as a canvas for a thrilling expansion of SVEDKA’s aesthetic.
Working in close collaboration with Constellation Brands and SVEDKA team leaders — Chief Marketing Officer Jim Sabia, VP of Marketing Carl Evans, Spirits Brand Director Vicky Arcos, and Spirits Brand Manager Jerime Black — we payed off the overall tone of the Bring Your Own Spirit masterbrand campaign to capture new audiences and offer loyal followers something fresh and provocative.
We are experts at navigating the unique communication challenges inherent to retail, but since this project was a hybrid of wine and vodka categories there were additional communication priorities to consider. Ultimately, we landed on a headline that strategically educates consumers on the specifics of the product — it’s vodka that looks like wine — while remaining true to the tone of the new ad campaign. “Vodka with a wine fetish” runs in bold black type and tosses away the delicate, frilly expectations of traditional rosés. White space allows the product to breathe and also allows SVEDKA Rosé to engage a broader, more gender-neutral LDA millennial audience.
“SVEDKA was built in the off-premise, and we continue to dominate in that channel,” said Carl Evans, Constellation’s Vice President of Marketing. “Based on the rosé movement in the on-premise, we’re confident this SKU will flourish there as well. We’ve been laser-focused on programming for the on-premise and have seen tremendous potential for SVEDKA Rosé within the cocktail culture.”
Armed with vivid creative, SVEDKA Rosé is ready to spark conversations and transform the rosé movement everywhere consumers bring their spirits in 2019.
Learn more about our work here.
