This is what I would call "100% proof" Jaffe Juice validation of the rise of new marketing and the need for brands to recognize that unless they embrace a new way of thinking (idea/strategy) and acting (execution/tactics), they will be placing their brands directly in the path of risking being made redundant, irrelevant or even extinct.
ABSOLUT - the brand that made its name through their ownership, creative differentiation and dominance of the back page of magazines - announced that it is swearing off print in favor of the Internet.
Not only did ABSOLUT put itself on the map through its print advertising, but I would even go as far to say that it defined the print medium as well in the process (kind of like Apple's 1984 and the Super Bowl/mass media TV)
This is huge news for a bunch of reasons. It is the clear recognition of the Web as a strategic imperative; it is the stark concession by a marketer that in order to evolve, stay relevant and top of mind with today's consumer, a new frontline mix of approaches and alternatives to traditional advertising will have to be employed and deployed; it is also of course the admission that the existing subset WAS NOT WORKING.
I worked on ABSOLUT's foray onto the Web in 2001/2, so its use of the Web is nothing new, however the positioning of the Web as the lead medium/communicator is ABSOLUTly new. ABSOLUT will now spend 20% of its budget online.
Here are some key sound bytes:
"Online plays a more important role than print. Print is not the key media anymore," said Patric Blixt, communications manager for new media at Absolut in Stockholm, Sweden. "We're evolving the iconic advertising, making it more inclusive and modern with the same wit and creativity we used in our offline advertising."
The architect of the brand's growth in its glory years, Michel Roux, said change is inevitable. "You can't be staying in the same seat all the time," said Roux. "You can only do so much of the same advertising. Consumers say that [ad's] sort of cute, but enough is enough."
