Stoli Re-Orients Marketing To Reach Younger Audience

Stolichnaya, the Russian vodka better known as Stoli, is changing its marketing approach in an effort to target a new audience. "We wanted to reach the 25-to-34-year old urban professional, and we had to take a very radical step to do it," says Andrey Skurikhin of SPI Group, the owner of the Stolichnaya brand.

This "radical step" includes some market initiatives that might make an otherwise staid, 63-year old Russian brand seem out of character. Stoli is co-sponsoring such events as the Victoria Secret's Fashion Show and Maxim's 10th Annual Hot 100 Celebration.

In September, the brand launched its tenth flavor, Gala Applik, in gala fashion: It created the "Moskova Affair" tour of 14 US cities that included performances with the Vau de Vire Society with everything from acrobats and contortionists to dancers and fire-performers. Of course, Stoli hasn't overlooked social media, either; a new Stoli Facebook page appeared this year.

The brand now positions itself as representing the "intrigue, mystique, adventure" of Russia, says Skurikhin. "But you don't have to travel there to have a taste of that life," he says. "That's how we came up with 'Russia of your mind.'  The emotional aspect of adventure and desire can be captured by a bar in Manhattan."

Clearly, this is a very different Stolichnaya from the brand imported to the US in 1946. It became widely available in the 1970s. That's when SPI Group decided to promote it as a "true Russian vodka" made only in Russia, unlike competing brands (Smirnoff, for example) that might be produced in different countries. By the 1980s, consumers had shortened the vodka's name to "Stoli," and it stuck.

Stoli remains the leading Russian vodka, but 2009 sales in the US have slowed. Its ultra-luxury brand, Elit, is being battered by the economy because of its $60 per bottle price tag. That's why consumers will continue to see Stoli using as many media channels as possible -- print, broadcast, online, and in the street -- to get its message out and keep the brand fresh.

And don't forget the Stoli girls: "We still send out 'Stoli Girls' armed with blindfolds to do taste tests at local bars," says Andrey Skurikhin. "That's always gotten a great response."