Smirnoff Vodka - Well They Said Anything Could Happen

Describes the evolution of the Smirnoff Vodka campaign during the 1970s, a time when vodka's share of the spirits market was growing fast at the expense of gin.
Agency: Young & RubicamAuthor: Bruce Haines

Smirnoff Vodka

'Well They Said Anything Could Happen'

INTRODUCTION

This is a story of the vodka brand that was first marketed in this country in 1953, built the market and still dominates it.

Surprisingly, for the first seventeen years the brand made only modest, though respectable, progress and it was only when Young & Rubicam were appointed advertising agents in 1969 that the brand began to increase sales at a remarkable rate.

The growth of vodka as a sector of the liquor market is perhaps not too surprising. After...

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