The word combination “Russian vodka” is an established brand abroad and a national product in Russia. The history of branding and naming of the well-known “Russian vodka” dates back to Soviet times. At that time there were about 20 vodka brands and 50 wine brands. The most popular vodka brand of the USSR was the notorious vodka“Stolichnaya” – whichsuccessfully migrated from one era to another! However, already in the post-Soviet space“Stolichnaya” for the first time met with tough competition….
Against the background of the variety of names in the vodka segment there is fiercecompetition, which is not typical for other industries. That is why it is very important not only to come up with a vodka name, but also to develop the positioning of the new brand, while not forgetting to frame everything in a beautiful and modern design.
With the collapse of the USSR, two or three successful vodka brands appeared on the market every year, and all the others either masqueraded as them or tried to parody them (for example, Stolichnaya vodka / Excellent vodka).
At the time, vodka brands were focused on 5 main themes:
- Family theme (the name of the owner of the company or a well-known person in the union was put in the title, which created an image of the person responsible for the quality of this vodka);
- Environmental (referring to the purity and naturalness of the product);
- National-state (some national values and patrimony come to the fore);
- Local (the name of the vodka brand emphasizes or translates the color and peculiarities of the area where the vodka is produced or distributed);
- Nostalgic (a person’s nostalgia for the era of the Soviet country is played).
Family theme
In the USSR, it was not customary to give brands names associated with the surnames of famous personalities. Streets, districts and entire cities – yes, but brands “no”. So in Soviet vodka naming, the emphasis was on premiumity (“Stolichnaya”, “Moskovskaya”) or on flavor (“Limonnaya”, “Pertsovka”, “Wheat”).
Immediately after the collapse of the USSR, vodka producers decided not to go too far and emphasized state values and nationality in branding. It was such vodka brands as “Yuri Dolgoruky”, “Peter the First”, “Slavyanskaya”, “Kuzmich ” that became market leaders in the mid-90s. The name not only pressed the state values, but also clearly marked the price segment, because earlier the consumer bought vodka at the same price.
At the end of the 90s , Dovgan vodka came on the market, and together with it a whole range of consumer products – tea, oat flakes, chocolate, mayonnaise, etc. – were released under the Dovgan trademark. The name of the trademark came from the surname of its owner Vladimir Dovgan. It is worth noting that the success of the vodka brand directly depended on a well-planned advertising campaign, which was based on such values as protection against counterfeiting and high quality products. At a time when there was a mass poisoning with low-quality “fallen” vodka in Russia, this was especially important for the consumer.
In 1997, Dovgan vodka had a serious competitor – Smirnoff. This brand had a solid history and consumer confidence in the surname, which brought the brand to the leading positions. In the future, the game with the surnames of famous personalities only expanded. Thus, vodkas “Myagkov”, “Nemiroff”, “Putinka” appeared on the market, and the vodka brand “Zhirinovsky” was registered in 1994, but the name was put up for sale only in 2007 for 3 million. dollars. This is a record value for a vodka name that has had no popularity in the marketplace.
Then came the vodka named Putinka. And after it, a new – bear – theme came to the peak of popularity. This is how the trademarks“Medvedka”, “Tsar Bear”, “ Volodya and Bears” appeared.
Nostalgic theme
The main consumers of vodka today are those who were born or grew up in the USSR. Or the generation that has firsthand knowledge of that era. The post-psy generation, having reached adulthood, takes something brighter and more interesting in design from the shelf. Older consumers can still be satisfied with just a nostalgictheme in the naming.
It is based on this trend that the vodka“Glavspirttrest – Green Brand”, which was recently released on the market, has gained popularity. Nevertheless, the theme of nostalgia for the Soviet era, or rather to say a certain… simplicity and understandability of things of that era… proved to be close not only to the older generation, but also to the youth. Before that, no vodka brand speculating on the Soviet theme has managed something similar.“Green Brand”nostalgically elegantly and simply entered the TOP-5 of the best-selling Russian vodkas!
Environmental theme
The theme of ecology, clean production, absence of preservatives and GMOs is close to the majority of consumers and is always popular among them. The leaders in the economy and medium price segment at the moment are: ” Five Lakes” from Alcoholic Siberian Group (former Omskvinprom),“SV – On birchboles ” from “Soyuz-Victana” and“Belaya Birch ” from “Regata” company.
At the same time, the ecological theme is no less dominant for premium vodka. However, vodka of this segment more often uses the termorganic to present its environmental friendliness, i.e. it presents itself as a product made of natural ingredients grown exclusively on organic dobrievas, i.e. without the use of chemical agents at all. Such products belong to the premium class – Kaufmann vodka, Nemiroff Lex Ultra and others.
Local topic
Experts also note the growing success of those vodka brands that directly relate their product to the regional producer and, accordingly, to the regional consumer. Thus, such vodkas as “Sabantuy” (Tatarstan),“Levsha” (Tula) and similar vodkas are gradually capturing regional markets. In the conditions of the crisis and post-crisis period “native” names, which directly correlate with the small homeland or region of residence, become closer to the consumer.
The key to success of a vodka brand
According to experts, to which we dare to include ourselves, the success of a brand directly depends on the degree of promotion, originality and modernity of design, as well as theinitial positioning in the market.Brand name is no less important component of a successful brand image, so the brand name should be strong both phonetically (sound) and semantically (sign, meaning)!
KOLORO company is experiencedin creating brands-leaders of the vodka market. Therefore, we can say that today vodka brands do not appear with the same frequency as they did 7-10 years ago. This tendency is connected with the fact that the consumer trusts more and more the old, i.e. proven, vodka brands, and treats new ones with a certain distrust, not always willing to invest money in “esperimentation” with the testing of new products. That is why leading alcoholic beverage companies are increasingly investing in line extension or rebranding and restyling of established vodka brands.
It should not be forgotten that the vodka market is alreadysaturated with various brands, and therefore it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from them. In order to create a vodka brand fromscratch you will need a whole team of specialists: designers, marketers, copywriters… and not only.KOLORO Company has a full staff of specialists who have repeatedly created successful long-lasting vodka brands. In any case, we can help you with finding a successful brand name and optimal design, but, when contacting us, keep in mind what is said above. Perhaps your name is already good and doesn’t need to be changed. In that case, we can help you to complement the successful name visually and positively!
To see for yourself our expertise check out some of our work in the portfolio section of ourwebsite.olioYou can contact us by e-mail: info@koloro.ua or by phone: +38-(057)-760-26-05, +38-(099)-618-87-50.
