Joe Salvatori
Suzy Marigold
Intro to Sales Promotion
October 23, 2008
Case Study Analysis of Smirnoff
The drinks market is constantly evolving, with product innovation, as well as brand strength, at the heart of its growth. Smirnoff Vodka has continued to remain successful in this market because of the consistently high standard of Vodka that has been produced over the years. As the market constantly changes, so does the Smirnoff brand. With a wide variety of flavors and pre-mixed drinks, Smirnoff is successfully supplying the demand for new products that will target the ever-growing younger, style conscious adult drinker.
The Smirnov family is believed to have made their start in Moscow's wine and vodka business during the early 1800s. But it was in 1864, following the abolition of serfdom after the Napoleonic wars, that Piotr Arsenyevitch Smirnov founded his own vodka distillery near the Chugunny Bridge, achieving rapid success on a national and international scale. By the time Smirnov died in 1898, his company employed over 1,500 people, produced over 4,000,000 cases of wines, spirits and liqueurs and was generating the equivalent of $20 million a year in revenues, making the Smirnov family one of the richest in Russia.
Disaster then struck the Smirnov family after the 1917 October Revolution, which led to the Bolsheviks confiscating all the private industry in Moscow, and ultimately shutting down the Smirnov distillery in 1919. One of Piotr's sons, Vladimir, was determined to carry on the family business and fled Russia for Paris where he was cut off from his roots and fortune. Adopting the French version of his family name - 'Smirnoff', Vladimir then began his struggle to make a success of the business in Europe. The new product w ...