Cal State Long Beach - Absinthe Advertising Campaign Project

[Alan]

No. I said that absinthe is less than 1 million bottles. I didn't specify the quantity. Let's say somwhere between 100,000 bottles and 900,000 bottles. Sorry, but the figure is difficult to find out and confidential!

The total spirits market is approaching 2400 million bottles.

Which makes absinthe somewhere between 0.004% and 0.036% of the total spirits sector. Like I said "very very small." Is that good or bad ... in your view?

[CSULB-ads-mktg-group]

(11-11-2009 03:13 AM)homebrewnorcal Wrote:  haha you are lucky I am a marketing minor up at chiiiiii-cooooo and know what its like...you kids know a guy named Andy from tke (my bro)?...anyway you have the entire foreign market that has been selling to the US way before it was legal...I'm not sure on the numbers but I'm sure the foreign market share is still up there...a lot of bars are beginning to carry absinthe: la salles in Chico, legends in Morgan hill, crush in Chico...liqour stores too (when it first started my local corner store was telling me only X amount of establishments could carry it in the area)...I'm sure SF and LA have a lot too...your target market for that brand might be Alcohol consumers 21+ who are new to the concept of absinthe and have a low information about the product or who simply don't care about information...ie people who drink for the feeling or hype...yahoo finance absinthe market share and maybe check to see if la fees website has a stake or shareholders section...Being a psychology major advertising related mental processes are what I plan to study in graduate school...there are few routes in what you want to accomplish with advertising...you get neurotransmitter dopamine firing on the receptors on the motivation/addiction pathway (nucleus accumbens) best way to do this is the experience of something new and different...then for memory you have emotional event which works with your limbic system to help you remember, scent also goes straight to the limbic system which is awesome! (I want to market labels that smell or are scratch and sniff : ) i know I'm a lil off my rocker)...then you have the concept of people who exert mental effort which allows a person to better remembered something (such as covering the parts of some letters in the title with a logo)... then you have to positively reinforce a behavior because there will be an increase in that behavior (thanking football fans for drinking bud during the super bowl)...then you have classical conditioning like pairing the five dollar foot long song with seeing a subway logo....that is mainly what effective advertising is...but for your class you have a low involvement purchase and word of mouth is dismissed because of bad reviews...I might go with sponsoring events like local festivals, TV ads that exploit some of the things I mentioned previously...haven't seen an ad on tv out here for absinthe might mention that...once you are the first to advertise no one else can be the first...I'm sure if some of the people would stop bickering they may help you...I've done 2 market analysis, 1 industry analysis, currently doing a value proposition and another retail industry analysis for supermarkets (we have to work with a sponsor/consultant out of the Midwest...pretty intense)....anyway best of luck! let us know how you all do...I'll read what you have when I find some time....

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o and get a better team name. maybe the "silver spoons" and get an absinthe spoon for your intro pp

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Alan: Market share is expressed in percent just an FYI ...ex absinthe sales/ Alcohol sales or absinthe sales/ spirit sales and a target market is who will be that key 20% of customers that buys 80% of the product.

thank you homebrewnorcal!
We took about a half page of notes just from your post!
if we have any questions we will be contacting you soon

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(11-12-2009 03:35 AM)Alan Wrote:  No. I said that absinthe is less than 1 million bottles. I didn't specify the quantity. Let's say somwhere between 100,000 bottles and 900,000 bottles. Sorry, but the figure is difficult to find out and confidential!

The total spirits market is approaching 2400 million bottles.

Which makes absinthe somewhere between 0.004% and 0.036% of the total spirits sector. Like I said "very very small." Is that good or bad ... in your view?

ohh thats right sorry just reread your previous post.

yeah that is a pretty small amount but we would say that from a marketing and advertising stand point its a great opportunity. would you agree?

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(11-11-2009 04:34 AM)Alan Wrote:  Ben called you Pat once in a reply to one of your postings. So I just guessed that it was .... Pat. Plus you have a certain way of expressing yourself which is quite recognisable!

Here's the NV release for the students:

http://www.drinks-business-review.com/ne...rte_091109

hi alen i dont think the link is working... could you try copying it again or let us know where we could find it?

thanks!

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(11-11-2009 04:10 AM)Alan Wrote:  And are you really set on doing La Fée? You'd get a lot more input for some other brands.

You'd get enormous input from me if you changed to doing La Clandestine! Although I might want to take it more private!

thank you alan but unfortunately we believe its to late to change the brand :/ If we had a choice we would be very pleased to switch to La Clandestine.

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(11-11-2009 01:26 PM)Brian Robinson Wrote:  To butt in on the question you asked to Alan, part of their marketing plan involves advertising absinthe as a 'new high' based on thujone. Given the fact that the TTB is watching absinthe advertising like a hawk, that type of spin would be a good way to go down the road of banning it again.

CSLB, I saw you did a bit of a price comparison on your worksheet. You might want to check out the absinthe cost comparison that I put together at the WS. We update the prices based on currency fluctuations a couple of times a year. It was last done around 6 months ago, I think. I plan on updating it again over the holiday.

Oh perfect! just checked out the price comparison! Do you know which ones are available in the US? Since this is our market we really only need to compare those.

thanks!

[homebrewnorcal]

I slightly disagree because the the spirit market is pretty well established. The honchos are the honchos and the ponchos are sol. Great if you are focusing solely on the absinthe US market though because it is still in its early stages. Basically anyone's game. I need to get in the game lol fuck grad school! I need me a license to booze or if Alan wants too hook a brotha up with a job. joking I don't see how anyone could hire me if they have read any of my drunken debauchery rambling on here...haha

group the problem with a shitty product is the leaders and reference groups won't adopt it. in fact they usually talk shit about it every time it is mentioned...This is one reason why craft brews are getting so popular. You have snobby ass people like my self who refuse lower their standards to drink budwiper. All of my friends either drink homebrew or micros like dogfish head, speakeasy, north coast, stone, lost coast and stone. Keep in mind that's about 20 less people for inbev and I'm sure that's the same for just about every other homebrewer or home distiller in the US. I ideally you want to be early in the market and be on great terms with the reference groups. Alan has both and he is fairly well established. Lucky SOB lol but so are a few other companies. Basically the task is easy if you know how to market, advertise, finance, and exploit the weaknesses of other competitors.

[Alan]

(11-12-2009 03:53 AM)CSULB-ads-mktg-group Wrote:  yeah that is a pretty small amount but we would say that from a marketing and advertising stand point its a great opportunity. would you agree?

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Maybe. Maybe not.

How successful is absinthe in other countries as a % of the spirits market?
How successful has La Fée been in such countries?
Have they/anyone else successfully used mass media advertising in other countries?

Some say that the US is very different from other countries because the US market was kick-started by high quality distilled absinthes, as opposed to lower quality, artificially coloured products as in UK, Canada, etc. What are the implications of that for La Fée?

(11-12-2009 03:53 AM)CSULB-ads-mktg-group Wrote:  Here's the NV release for the students:

http://www.drinks-business-review.com/ne...rte_091109

hi alen i dont think the link is working... could you try copying it again or let us know where we could find it?
[/quote]

Same story:

http://ca.sys-con.com/node/1177192

List of US approved absinthes/"absinths:"

http://realabsinthe.blogspot.com/2008/07...or-us.html

[Brian Robinson]

(11-12-2009 03:53 AM)CSULB-ads-mktg-group Wrote:  Oh perfect! just checked out the price comparison! Do you know which ones are available in the US? Since this is our market we really only need to compare those.

Technically all of them are 'available' in the US, since they can be purchased online. Although they aren't necessarily approved for sale in the US, they most certainly need to be considered competitors, since that's where everyone was buying absinthe prior to 2007.

If you'd like to go a bit more myopic and focus solely on those approved for sale in the US, I'd be happy to send you a list of which of those are US approved.

I also noted you mentioned something about there only being about a dozen brands in the states. I think Alan can give you a more exact figure, but I know there's around 60 approved and something around 3 dozen or so that are in circulation right now.

[Alan]

Personally I think CSULB is right to focus on the US-legal brands. From the figures I'm aware of, online sales from the EU were much less than 10% of the US total consumption of absinthe last year and are going down fast.

My post had a link to the US-approved list. Yes, around 62 approvals and I'd say that about 41 are actually available.

[Absinthe is Benjamin]

Hey group, have you confirmed a deadline date yet?

(11-11-2009 01:09 PM)homebrewnorcal Wrote:  I realize absinthe is nascent at the moment but, I run into people every weekend that still believe it is illegal! PR at bars is fine but in a bar it costs $5.50-$10 for a single

I've had reports claiming a few bars have charged as much as $20 an OUNCE. Exploitation at its finest.

[homebrewnorcal]

they claim you pay for the atmosphere. lol

[CSULB-ads-mktg-group]

Hey everyone just want to let you know our project is not due this week! whoooo! it will be due a week or 2 after thanksgiving
thank you for all your help!

[homebrewnorcal]

How is progress? do you need us to clarify anything for you? Its funny how much time we spend learning about something we enjoy drinking. We are probably the most odd ball combination of knowledge you will ever find.

[homebrewnorcal]

Alan what 20% consumers make up 80% of your Net Sales?...this may help CSULB with identifying a target market even though your TM is different from the company they are using

[Alan]

Good question ... and if I had the answer I'm not sure I would want to publish it here for the world to see.

But let's say (for argument's sake) that my high volume consumers are NY and CA based, 30 years and older, connoisseurs of spirits generally (especially single malts and cognac). Maybe La Fée would go younger .... but I'm sure they would focus on the same States.

[Absinthe is Benjamin]

Could the group give us an update on where you're at and what you have fleshed out so far?

[CSULB-ads-mktg-group]

(11-14-2009 04:26 PM)CSULB-ads-mktg-group Wrote:  Hey everyone just want to let you know our project is not due this week! whoooo! it will be due a week or 2 after thanksgiving
thank you for all your help!

our project is now officially due on Dec 3rd.

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and heres is what we have as of Nov. 20. The group is now focusing a little more on the ads and presentations section of the project. This paper section we are attaching here, should be finished in a week.

thank you again for your input and help!

[Alan]

So you want to focus on the Eye, it seems. Is there a possible risk of confusion with the Lucid eyes? Is that good or bad?

It seems you are still struggling with the USP. Is Parisian a USP? If so, is it a valid USP to promote? What other possible USP's have you considered?

Currently, if I may say so, much of your document looks like a lot of copying and pasting from their website and from the forums. You should try to summarise and put it all more in your own words, drawing your own conclusions too.

[homebrewnorcal]

I beg of you to remove the reverse psychology lol...use operant conditioning or shaping...operant conditioning positively reinforcing a behavior directly after that behavior occurs...causes a increase an behavior everytime...this is great for bar promotions...advertise...have them buy an absinthe cocktail then positively rienforce the shit out of that behavior...by giving them a free sample after....free merch...magnets, shirts, hats, bottle openers, absinthe spoons with business cards...then they buy another give them a thank you..if you have models...hugs and pictures lol...sex appeal is very positively reinforcing to your target market....then shaping involves you making a list of steps that involves a customer buying your product and have little reinforcers on the way to the ideal behavior and then positively reinforce the shit out of that...highly contraversial but yeah there is your first lesson in behavior modification...I would never give out the free sample before the actual purchase of the drink...if you need to reference me Patrick Mor if you need a better source bf skinner...lol

[Absinthe is Benjamin]

(11-21-2009 06:11 AM)Alan Wrote:  Currently, if I may say so, much of your document looks like a lot of copying and pasting from their website and from the forums. You should try to summarise and put it all more in your own words, drawing your own conclusions too.

CSULB Group, obviously this is information that needs to be cited, so I expect you will want to copy and paste initially, but I would have to agree with Alan, as it doesn't quite sound like your own words yet. If you have to give this as a presentation, it's going to be especially important if you want it to sound natural and fluent. I'd have to agree with many of Pat's points as well, you'll need to detail what part of your plan is going to make first-timers into REPEAT customers. Work at it until you believe it yourself and you'll know you have a convincing marketing plan.

If I have time tomorrow I'll try to go through the document more carefully and provide more specific suggestions.

[homebrewnorcal]

I need an advertising internship!

[Zzzfilesk1]

dont have the software for .docx

[Absinthe is Benjamin]

Did we ever heard back from these guys? They were e-mailing me, so I suppose it's possible I missed the response. In any case, I'm curious what kind of grade they received.