Marketing Makes Products Unique

To All Presenters:

In 1997 self-made billionaire Sidney Frank introduced a new brand of vodka designed specifically for success in the American marketplace. An experienced brand-builder, who acquired the North American import rights to Jagermeister and turned it into a mainstream success, Frank saw an opportunity to reinvent the concept of "top-shelf" vodkas. Market research had proven that a perception existed amongst the target population that French made products were perceived as high-end and quite desirable. So Frank, went to France.

The end product was produced from French Winter Wheat which is grown in an area south of Paris, then distilled in a column still using a particular variety of alpine spring water. This water had been gathered after self-filtering through the limestone plateaus of the Massif Central - a volcanic region in South-Central France. Final distillation of the vodka takes place in Cognac, France.

The packaging for this product was unique as the bottle's aesthetic blended images from the exterior front with images etched into the interior rear of the vessel. The result is a seemingly holographic image magnified by the liquid in the bottle. Rather than employ the traditional twist-top common among competing vodkas, Frank's vodka used a cork to conjure wine experiences and thus reaffirm for the consumer that this was indeed a high-end French product.
The advertising was aligned with singular events called the "Discerning 5" - a stay at a top hotel, dinner at a fine restaurant, sailing a yacht or exotic travel opportunities that would appeal to high society participants, or those who perceive themselves as such. Partnerships were established with the best night clubs and eateries in the marketplace - at it's launch Sidney Frank's vodka had exclusive domain over its beverage category at VIP tables across the U.S.

So . . . given the United States government declares any beverage retailing as "vodka" must be an "odorless, colorless, tasteless liquid with a proof between 78 and 103" one must be impressed that Mr. Frank sold his Grey Goose brand for $2 billion to Bacardi in the largest single brand sale ever.

Sidney Frank himself net nearly $1.6 billion from the sale, having successfully created a new product class through tangible differentiation in a beverage category characterized as having almost no physical properties whatsoever.

THE POINT: Creativity in marketing can be the genesis for product differentiation, and differentiation drives sales.