(HU) Magazin: Öt rész vodka, egy rész COVID!

The market

Dénes Szántó
senior brand manager
Brown-Forman

We learned from Dénes Szántó, Brown-Forman’s senior brand manager that premium vodka sales surged by 22 percent in the off-trade channel in 2020. He added that the popularity of flavoured spirits is growing. The company is market leader in premium vodka sales, for instance Finlandia sales were up 24 percent in the off-trade channel.

Sára Palcsó, marketing director of Zwack informed that vodka is the second best-selling spirit in volume in the domestic market, behind bitters. Zwack is the manufacturer of Kalinka – this 10-times filtered vodka is one of the top products in the VFM category. Plus Zwack is the distributor of three premium vodkas: Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One.

Temporary or long-term

Annamária Benke, category brand manager of Roust Hungary talked to Trade magazin about the transformation of the market. Their sales fell in the HoReCa channel but off-trade sales compensated for this. The company is market leader in the vodka market. They distribute Hungary’s No.1 mainstream spirit Royal vodka and Zubrówka Biala. Their premium products are Bols, Russian Standard and Zubrówka Bison Grass, while their superpremium vodkas are Kauffmann and Russian Standard Imperia.

Molnár Viktor
Bacardí-Martini portfolio
brand manager
Dunapro

Viktor Molnár, group brand manager of Bacardí-Martini Portfolio revealed: cheap and standard vodkas probably sold well during the pandemic, and the premiumisation process hasn’t slowed down either. From the company’s products Eristoff is a premium vodka at affordable price, while Grey Goose is competing in the ultra-premium category.

Csaba Mosonyi, marketing director of Pernod Ricard broke the news that sales of Absolut vodka dropped, because premium vodka sales are primarily realised in the HoReCa channel and these units were forced to close by the pandemic. Despite this fact Absolut is one of the top brands in the market.

Communication

Annamária Benke
category brand manager
Roust Hungary

Annamária Benke: ‘There has been no major change in marketing communication. However, BTL activities suffered, as various festivals and programmes were cancelled, just like in-store activities.’

Sára Palcsó
marketing director
Zwack Unicum

Sára Palcsó: ‘It is of utmost importance for vodka brands to differentiate themselves from competitors. With our premium vodkas we are focusing on top gastronomy. At the moment we can reach the most people in e-commerce.’

Dénes Szántó: ‘ATL and digital communication are increasingly important in our brand strategy. We celebrated our 50th birthday in 2020, so a campaign was built on this and on our Finnish traditions.’

Viktor Molnár: ‘From the two brands the emphasis was more on Grey Goose in the pre-pandemic period. Since this product targets the HoReCa channel, we had to switch to online activities when the pandemic broke out.’

Csaba Mosonyi: ‘We are building the Absolut brand in bars and restaurants, at events and in digital media. We also cooperate with groups of artists and influencers.’

Vodka will not vanish from the scene after the reopening of the HoReCa  and will be used as a popular cocktail ingredient

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