United Distillers is taking its Silent Sam vodka brand to the movies.
A new 90-sec. spot for the beverage alcohol will run in Cineplex Odeon movie theatres in Ontario and Alberta for the next three months.
The cinema advertising is part of an integrated campaign for Silent Sam by United Distillers’ agency, Communique Group of Toronto.
The new campaign, which launches August 2, is designed to reposition Silent Sam as a trendier brand.
The vodka, introduced by Montreal-based United Distillers in the early 1980s, is virtually a Canada-only brand, although small quantities are exported to other markets.
Hasan Imam, vice-president of marketing for United Distillers says the company decided to go ahead with a campaign because the brand had stagnated at about 5% of total market share.
‘We decided to try cinema because it is much more targeted in the sense that it reaches our audience, 21 to 35 year-olds, and hopefully it will do the job,’ he says.
Cinema advertising is not new to the distilling industry.
A spot for Southern Comfort, from FBM Distilleries, ran in Toronto in April 1993 and, last winter, Gilbey Canada ran a commercial for J&B Scotch in Ontario and Quebec theatres.
The Silent Sam spot, called Shadowlands, is silent until the end of its 90-seconds when a women whispers, ‘Shhhh. Silent Sam Vodka. The Silent Partner.’
Chris Stavenjord, Communique vice-president and creative director, says the spot has been designed more like a movie trailer than a commercial.
‘It’s the story about a shadow that travels across the city, and a group we call the shadow people.
‘It has got more entertainment than a commercial. It’s got present tense, past tense and all these wonderful nooks and crannies like mystery and intrigue.’
Stavenjord says the same theme is going to be continued in pos and licensee material, posters and print.
Print ads will run in alternative magazines Now and Vox in the Toronto and Vancouver markets respectively.
Some non-traditional media will also be used.
Posters will be put up on construction hoardings throughout Toronto and Communique has hired a troop of sidewalk chalk artists to do chalk drawings of ads on sidewalks outside cinemas and anywhere there is traffic, provided it is not prohibited to do so.
Vodka is the second largest beverage alcohol category after rye.
According to Imam, Silent Sam has about the same market share as its Seagram competitor Absolut vodka while Gilbey’s Smirnoff controls the largest piece of the pie with one-third of the total market.
Imam says United is not positioning Silent Sam against Smirnoff as a traditional brand.
‘What we’re trying to do is position Silent Sam so that it continues to be in vogue, the fashionable white spirit, as opposed to marketing it as another traditional brand against Smirnoff, a mainstream brand.
Although Canada’s distillers have been able to advertise legally on tv since late last year, Imam says not to expect to see the brand there any time soon.
‘Television is out of the question simply because of the spending required. The profit in the Canadian industry is just not there because of taxes,’ he says.
‘Really, our revenue is 17 cents for every retail dollar. From that, we have to deduct our cost of product, our marketing and promotions to make a few cents.
‘Given the tax situation right now in Canada, it’s almost an impossibility that somebody would come onto tv and have a sustained campaign.’
In the u.s., Seagram caused controversy in June when it launched a series of 30-sec. tv spots for Crown Royal whisky, created by Grey Advertising of New York. There is no law against distillers advertising on tv in the u.s., but since 1948, the industry has followed a self-imposed code banning tv advertising.
Seagram has no plans to do any tv advertising in Canada.
Advertising spending for beverage alcohol products declined by nearly 49% between 1990 and 1995, according to A.C. Nielsen.
The industry spent $22.3 million in 1990 and put 80% of those dollars into magazines.
In 1995, total spending was $11.9 million with magazines getting 62% and out-of-home increasing to 22% from 9%.
Imam explains that ad spending has declined because total industry volume is declining.
He says a big part of beverage alcohol consumption in Canada is through illegal smuggled products.
‘Our estimates indicate there’s a difference of 20% to 25% between consumption and legal sales. When numbers grow that large in term of illegal sales, it has an impact on profitability and infrastructure.’
‘Because United Distillers is part of an international company, a certain level of profitability is expected and the easiest place to cut is marketing spending,’ says Imam.
‘That’s really what all the distillers did over time.’
