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Vodka Brand Champion 2018: Prestige

Prestige vodka is back in the million-case selling territory

If The Brand Champions had an award for ‘comeback king’, it would more than likely go to Stock Spirits’ Prestige vodka brand. The 2018 Vodka Brand Champion has made an impressive return to pass the million­-case mark after two years sitting tantalisingly close to the threshold, growing its volume sales by 54.4% last year. Its huge leap in sales means the brand is not only back in million-­case selling territory, but is vastly outselling its 1.1m cases reported five years ago.

Richard Hayes, group sales and marketing director at Stock Spirits, says: “Prestige’s growth has been driven by sustained, consistent awareness and trial­-building. This is converting an increasing number of consumers who have ever tried the brand into regular drinkers overtime. Its appealing packaging design and exceptionally smooth high-quality liquid, coupled with its premium international positioning, have strong appeal to the growing number of Polish drinkers who are prepared to pay more for superior quality as their disposable incomes rise with economic recovery.

“Significant work on improving on­ and off­-shelf positioning of the brand at the point of purchase, pack-­size range availability, combined with incremental trial through limited edition activation at seasonal peaks all contributed to growth.”

These initiatives were also bolstered by stabilisation in the Polish market. A 15% excise tax increase that was introduced in 2014 heavily affected Stock Spirits’ sales in previous years. The group has worked hard to implement strategic investment, realign its products’ prices in the market and conduct additional operational initiatives – and its endeavours appear to be paying off. To continue the brand’s success in Poland over the coming year, Hayes says that Prestige’s focus will be “to ensure that our price positioning remains competitive compared with the other major players”.

Overall, the vodka category experienced marginal volume growth of 0.2% in 2017, according to Euromonitor. Though volumes may be growing relatively slowly, value sales are rising much quicker – up from US$64.61bn in 2016 to US$67.49bn in 2017 – suggesting continued premiumisation throughout the category.

Looking across the rest of the Brand Champions vodka table, and notable gains were made by Smirnoff (2%) and Absolut (2.7%) last year, with both brands returning to growth after declining or stagnant sales in 2016.

Last year’s Vodka Brand Champion, Heaven Hill’s Deep Eddy, reported strong double-­digit growth again in 2017, but ultra-­premium brands Cîroc and Grey Goose both experienced double-­digit declines.

*The Brand Champions data is listed to one decimal place for ease of reading, but the percentage changes are based on the full data supplied. All brand data is supplied in millions of nine-­litre cases.

Vodka (figures: million 9l case sales)

BRAND OWNER 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 %+/­-
Smirnoff Diageo 26.1 25.6 25.8 25.5 26.0 2.0%
Absolut Pernod Ricard 11.5 11.1 11.0 11.0 11.3 2.7%
Khortytsa Global Spirits 6.3 7.0 7.3 7.5 8.1 7.9%
Żubrówka Roust 4.4 5.2 6.2 7.1 7.9 11.3%
Hlibny Dar Bayadera Group N/A 6.6 6.3 6.9 7.1 2.9%
Svedka Constellation Brands 4.0 4.2 4.1 4.3 4.5 3.2%
Pyat Ozer Alcohol Siberian Group 6.3 5.5 4.2 4.2 4.3 1.9%
Skyy Gruppo Campari 3.8 3.9 4.0 3.9 3.8 -2.1%
Morosha Global Spirits 3.3 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.8 9.8%
Magic Moments Radico Khaitan 2.9 3.2 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.0%
Krupnik Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 5.0 3.5 4.0 4.4 3.7 -15.9%
Stolichnaya SPI Group 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.8%
Soplica Roust 2.0 2.0 2.5 3.1 3.5 12.9%
Grey Goose Bacardi 3.9 4.0 4.0 4.0 3.5 -13.3%
Russian Standard Roust 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.0%
Belenkaya Synergy 6.1 4.7 3.5 3.7 3.4 -8.7%
Medoff Eastern Beverage Co N/A 3.4 3.2 2.9 3.1 7.3%
Finlandia Brown-­Forman 3.5 3.2 3.1 3.0 3.0 1.0%
Burnett’s Heaven Hill Brands 2.4 2.6 2.9 2.9 2.9 -1.1%
Žołądkowa Czysta De Luxe Stock Spirits Group 4.9 4.2 3.5 3.5 2.6 -26.1%
Pinnacle Beam Suntory 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.6 2.5 -4.1%
Ketel One Diageo 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 0.0%
Green Mark Roust 5.8 4.2 2.5 2.2 2.2 0.0%
Gosudarev Zakaz Synergy 1.6 1.6 1.8 2.4 2.2 -8.4%
Cîroc Diageo 2.2 2.6 1.8 2.4 2.0 -16.7%
Żytniówka Roust 0.8 1.3 1.6 1.8 1.9 5.6%
Sobieski Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 2.2 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.8 -5.3%
Talka Roust 2.8 2.8 1.8 1.6 1.8 12.5%
Bulbash Bulbash 1.5 1.7 1.3 1.5 1.7 9.7%
Wyborowa Pernod Ricard 1.9 1.4 1.6 1.7 1.6 -5.9%
Eristoff Bacardi 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 -4.8%
Khaoma Asia Waters 1.6 1.8 1.4 1.5 1.6 4.7%
Poliakov La Martiniquaise 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.5 2.1%
Gorbatschow Henkell 1.2 1.4 1.3 1.4 1.4 0.6%
Prestige Stock Spirits Group 1.1 1.1 0.9 0.9 1.4 54.4%
Kozatska Rada Bayadera Group N/A 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.2 0.0%
Tsarskaya/Imperial Collection Gold Ladoga 0.6 0.6 0.7 1.0 1.2 14.9%
Deep Eddy Heaven Hill Brands 0.2 0.5 0.7 1.0 1.2 15.0%
Pervak Global Spirits N/A N/A 0.8 1.0 1.0 0.0%
Orloff Pernod Ricard N/A N/A N/A 1.0 1.0 0.0%

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