Building Sobieski

Building Sobieski An Interview with Chester Brandes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Imperial Brands, Inc. Editors’ NotE Chester Brandes Are your current efforts fo- sobieski vodka can go head-to-head on is a wine and spirits industry vet cused solely on Sobieski vodka? taste against competitors that charge double eran with 34 years of experience sobieski is certainly the number- or triple the price for vodka. i think we’ll get in both the U.S. domestic and in one priority, but we’ve got a lot of some people trading down and a fair number ternational markets. Before join other things in the pipeline. of people trading up. For instance, we might ing Imperial Brands in January In a crowded market with new have a person who is fed up with paying a lot of 2007, Brandes was Vice President, brands and new flavors, and a lot money for vodka, who realizes price doesn’t al- International Markets, at Cruzan, of marketing dollars behind many ways reflect quality, and we might get as mirnoff where he conceived and executed of them, how can you differentiate drinker trading up to an import. the strategic plan for launching and get your message out? Many brands, such as Grey Goose and Cruzan Rum internationally. From we’re debunking a lot of myths, Absolut, have large marketing campaigns. 1988 to 2000, Brandes worked for such as “my vodka is filtered through Are you doing advertising around the brand the Altia Group, and was appointed Chester Brandes diamonds,” “we’re using water from or is it really more about personal selling? President and CEO of Finlandia underground wells that are 6,000 feet we have launched an integrated market- Vodka Americas (Altia’s U.S. subsidiary) in 1989. deep,” etc. our message is simple: “you don’t ing campaign, which includes advertising, pub- Previously, Brandes was Managing Director of have to pay astronomical prices to get great lic relations, and promotions. there’s been a Sempe USA and Western Division Vice President vodka.” sobieski is a real brand with tradition lot of below-the-line spending to motivate our for Glenmore Distilleries Co. Before he joined and authenticity. it is made from 100 percent distributors and salespeople to get the brand Glenmore, Brandes worked at Monsieur Henri dankowski rye in a distillery dating from 1846. out. we did a fairly large outdoor campaign in Wines (PepsiCo) where he helped in the launch recently, sobieski was ranked the number-one november and december 2007 – that was our of Stolichnaya Vodka in the Midwest. Brandes premium vodka in a blind tasting of 108 vodka first major consumer exposure, but this year received his BA from Boston University. brands – the largest in u.s. history – by the we are launching a multi-million dollar adver- beverage testing institute. it was also ranked tising campaign. on the public relations side, CompaNy BriEf An importer and marketer number two overall and the only other brand we launched a “truth in vodka” campaign that of premium spirits and wines, Imperial Brands, to score marginally higher in the tasting was an asks consumers to look at what’s inside the Inc. (www.ibrandsinc.com), is a wholly owned ultra-premium vodka selling at more than five bottle rather than at the price, which resulted in U.S. subsidiary of Belvédère S.A.,one of Europe’s times the retail price of sobieski. so it reinforces a multi-year partnership with madison square largest producers and distributors of white spir our entire positioning. sobieski has also earned garden and other entities. its and wines. Its key imports include Sobieski a gold medal and “best buy” award for its ex- After many years in the spirits business vodka (www. vodkasobieski.com), Poland’s ceptional smoothness and incredible value. with numerous high-end, quality brands, number-one premium vodka and the world’s Do distributors get that message? Is what excited you about this opportunity? numberseven best selling vodka, with sales of there an understanding that price doesn’t i love building brands. it becomes unin- 2.6 million cases annually, making it the fast necessarily mean quality? teresting once a brand is big; getting it to the estgrowing international vodka brand in the yes. our distributors and sales force find it first million cases is exciting. the challenge to world. Headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, extremely refreshing that this brand offers not differentiate the brand in this category was just Florida, Imperial Brands also owns Florida only premium quality and great value, but also too great for me not to jump at. Distillers Co., which has two production facili marketing support. that’s what differentiates us Looking a year to two into the future, ties located in Florida. from many other brands. we come in at reason- what are you most focused on, to continue able price points and we give the distributors the impact and growth? How did the development of Imperial good margins. a huge focus for us this year is chain au- Brands come about? With a worldwide brand, is there close thorizations, getting sobieski vodka into big we started our company in January 2007 coordination of messaging? markets like california and Florida and having with three people, basically no sobieski vodka the u.s. vodka market is much more seg- chain-store operators fall in love with the brand, brand awareness, and no distribution. when mented than in europe, for example. we’ve got the profit they can make on it, and the value we started shipping sobieski vodka in august standard, premium, super premium, and ultra they can offer to their customers. there’s defi- 2007, we didn’t think we’d be in a position to premium. in europe, it doesn’t get any higher nitely a financial element that needs to be ad- get first-tier distributors, but we ended up being than absolut. brands like grey goose and Ketel dressed in order to motivate retailers and we’ve approached by one of the leading distribution one aren’t factors there. so the segmentation done that. while sobieski vodka will remain a companies. we now have representation in 48 message that we’re using here would not neces- critical component of our portfolio, importing states. our goal is to be the fastest vodka brand sarily resonate, because nobody is spending an marie brizard liqueurs and the upcoming launch to reach sales of one million cases and we con- equivalent of $30 for a bottle for vodka. of our wine portfolio in 2008 will also be key for tinue to move closer to achieving it. sobieski Does your market range from people us moving forward.• sales in the first five months broke all records for looking for the finest in taste all the way to a new spirit introduction in the industry. those looking for a good price? Sobieski vodka 136 leaders posted with permission. copyright © 2008, leaders magazine, inc. volume 31, number 3.

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