February, 2012 | Booze Business: A Blog Dedicated to the Business of Spirits and Wine

Stupidity Follow Up

February 24, 2012 1 Comment

Buffalo Trace Newsletter ran the following story this morning:

NYC Vodka Billboard Pulled After Uproar

Community Leaders Call ‘Escort Quality, Hooker Pricing’ Ad Insensitive

Source: KXLY

February 23, 2012

A controversial Wódka Vodka billboard hung up in New York’s Bronx borough was taken down after drawing the ire of community leaders intent on cleaning up the area’s image.

The “Escort Quality, Hooker Pricing” ads were posted around the city, but community leaders in Hunts Point said the billboards didn’t help their efforts to shed the area’s reputation as a prostitution hub, the New York Daily News reported.

When Stupidity Overtakes Creativity

February 22, 2012 No Comments

Wódka vodka, the inexpensive import trying to become the next Svedka, stepped on it’s you-know-what again with an outdoor message it obviously (but mistakenly) thought was cute and clever.

Back in December they ran a billboard in New York City with this sophomoric content – “Christmas Quality, Chanukah Pricing.” That ran into a firestorm of criticism and they had to literally pull the ads down.

You’d think they would have learned and moved forward in a number of new ways to get their message across. Get a new creative team, hire a new agency, and/or get internal marketing and advertising folks who know what they are doing. There are dozens of ways to get the quality-low price message across in a fun, even shocking way without being offensive.

Listen Wódka, you may think that putting a lampshade on your head is funny but trust me, after the 5^th grade it loses some of its appeal.

Cider, The Next Big Thing…Really?

February 11, 2012 No Comments

Ad Age, Buffalo Trace Newsletter, Wine and Spirits Daily, Shanken News Daily and others have all had stories about Cider and its potential as the next “craft” brew.

At first I thought – no way. Cider (Hard Cider that is) has been around for centuries and never caught on. Most people I know who have come here from the UK, sooner or later miss Cider and wonder why Americans don’t drink it. I don’t know why that is – no acquired taste for it; perceptions that it’s too sweet; dislike of apple juice; confusion about what it is; just because it’s not in consumers’ frame of reference. There are lots of reasons.