Absolut Vodka, an iconic brand to many, was in a rough spot at the end of 2019.

While the US vodka market had been growing at an average of 1.4% per annum, Absolut Vodka had been experiencing consecutive year-on-year volume declines of 4%-5% for each of the past 6 years.

Over that time, it had fallen from #2 to #5 player in the market.

In the three years 2017-2019, all of the major vodka brands had been upping their advertising spend significantly with 73% of that on TV advertising.

Over that same period, Absolut had reduced year-on-year advertising spend and was spending 40% less than the market leader.

In addition to this, it hadn’t run a single TV commercial in over 3 years.

The writing was on the wall: in a fiercely competitive category, stem the decline and turn Absolut’s fortunes around, all without an increase in media spend.