Why I'm leaving Absolut to join the little guys

I joined Absolut back in 2015 to make an impact, it’s the driving force for the far majority of any of us in the generation of narcissists.

An iconic brand as Absolut is the wet dream for anyone in the search to create an impact, the legacy of the brand is in the walls. You work with brilliant agencies and colleagues, all this in a global context where your brand is one of the leaders in the industry, you are the convention, the what and how, you have the foundation to make an enormous impact.

I’ve loved every second of it. Until more wanted more; is there a way to have a greater impact?

Leaving a global position in Absolut to join the nobodies, is probably the best chance to have the greatest global impact.

At a first glance, this sounds stupid. At a second glance, things might clear up. Well, at least it did for me.

Preserve status quo simply makes sense

Taking a step back, one could say that my main job at Absolut was to preserve the status quo rather than changing it.

I’ll walk the dog with you on this one;

Absolut’s marketing will try to funnel you to purchase their Original Vodka in brick and mortar establishments such as bars and liquor stores.

Why? It’s where the far majority of sales come from today and the Original Vodka is the largest in the portfolio. Naturally, the majority of the investment and efforts will be placed there. This makes all the sense in the world, it’s the right business decision.

And it goes on; route to market, new products, customer segmentation, communication, price- and portfolio strategies. All engineered to gain market shares and keep challenger brands away. Just like all leading brands in any industry.

But here's the problem

Everything made right. Yet, independently owned Tito's passed the spirit industry giants in US and became the top selling spirit brand, with record of tripled volume in three years.

It's nothing new. Industry leaders get caught off guard by challenger brands all the time.

When the home audio industry built better and bigger 5:1 stereo systems to your living room, Sonos made smart speakers for every room in your house.

When the razor industry developed quadruple blades, Dollar Shave Club made it accessible and cheap.

When the car industry developed more gas efficient cars, Tesla made an electric sportscar.

They all came and changed the convention. As a leader, the convention is worth doing until someone change it.

Leading brands are screwed

Is this the sad silver lining; all the leaders will slowly die? Nah. To quote good ol’ Mark Ritson;

“Shit very rarely dies, it moves and evolves. It makes room for the next player to come in, and the mix gets more complex.”

The convention will change, and when it does usually will the leaders;

Sonos competes with every speaker company worth mentioning to produce the best smart home speaker system. Unilever simply bought Dollar Shave Club for $1 Billion, and the car industry? Well, Tesla are getting serious competition;

- Ford develops all-electric and hybrid vehicles, with 13 new modelsslated for release by 2023. General Motors plans for 20 all-electric vehicles by 2023. Mercedes-Benz outlined a plan to electrify their “entire portfolio” by 2022. Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi plan to release 12 all-electric models by 2022. Jaguar Land Rover plans to electrify its entire vehicle lineup by 2020. Volvo will electrify its entire vehicle line by 2019. VW Group plans to offer electric and hybrid versions of 300 vehicles by 2030. The list goes on.

So who are the leaders of the future?

Challenger brands challenge, leader brands lead. Sure there will be exceptions, worn examples such as Uber and AirBnB. Another worn out example is Tesla, but I will make a subtle 'rest my case' based on above. You can call me an idiot in 2023 if the rest of the industry haven't caught up by then.

So when asked who will be the leader of future conventions, I put my bet on the leaders.

Absolut then? For those who know your Absolut-story, you would know that Absolut was the challenger brand that brought the premium vodka segment to the world. Then, 2008, Absolut was bought by Pernod Ricard, one of the industry leaders.

Under the umbrella of a leader, I believe that Absolut will continue to be one of the industry leading brands for several years. Well, until there is a new kid on the block challenging the category to the extent of a Pernod Ricard acquisition. To escalate my opinion to Pernod Ricard, I have no doubt that they will be industry leaders in the future as well.

Yet, I've decided to spend my close future together with challenger brands through a newly started challenger brand focused agency Company & Co. For me, it appeals too much to change the convention together with likeminded, even if it means that industry leaders will come and steal the steering wheel when we succeed.

At a first glance, I lost my opportunity to create an impact. At a second glance, I left to be able to create one.

/ Oscar Danielsson

Former Global Brand Manager Communications, Absolut Vodka

New partner for Company & Co.