John D. Higgins

USA Today - It shows that the writers of those new programs have a finger on the pulse of what's going on, says John Higgins, America's brand director for Brown-Forman's Finlandia vodka.

"We want to take more ownership of upscale accounts so people will be talking about our events around the watercooler the next day," says John Higgins, Finlandia's national brand manager.
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"Go to a trendy hotel and look around," says Higgins.

John Higgins, U.S. brand director says, "The red product caused some consumers confusion in thinking it was more of a liqueur, so we created the clear cranberry."

Higgins also says a package update is planned for September, and it sounds worthy of a primetime makeover show."We're going to get a little taller and slimmer.Our competition has changed.The new entrants have been driven by appearance and packaging."

As the brand, which already sells over 2 million cases a year worldwide, migrates from populist to party people, you'll also see dynamic on-premise programs and even some television promotion according to Higgins.

As John Higgins, marketing director for Finlandia, points out, beverage consumers want fresh and light."Look at consumer trends," he says.
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"People are looking to try exotic new things and they challenge us to come up with new flavors, to challenge consumer's palates," says Higgins.

The theme is "natural purity," said John Higgins, brand director for Finlandia Americas.It grew out of what he called the most in-depth consumer research Brown-Forman has done for the brand in six years.

"Our brand lover is somebody who's not chasing that 'bling,' isn't looking for status.They're looking for a brand that's as real as they are," he said.
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Higgins said then that the company did not want to "just have a picture of a bottle and put some clever words below it."

That's pretty much what the new campaign has.

Although U.S. volume sales of Finlandia have grown at a double-digit rate in the past two years, the old campaign wasn't authentic, Higgins said."We were chasing the style consumer and trying to follow a lot of the other brands instead of being true to our brand and being about 'real' and about substance."

The selling points were the brand's use of glacial spring water and "emotional refreshment," Higgins said.

"We were on track.It's just the way we delivered the message to the consumer wasn't true to the brand."

In global markets the new image communicates a message of natural purity, Higgins said, and the minimal copy translates easily.

In areas such as Eastern Europe, where Brown-Forman hopes to gain a bigger share of the huge vodka market, the "Naked Vodka" tag line is replaced by "from a purer place."

Vodka drinkers there are "very knowledgeable about where vodka comes from, and they understand Finland as a pure place," he said.

The "Naked Vodka" slogan has some edge to it, Higgins said, but Brown-Forman was careful not to use it in a sexual context.That could violate industry advertising standards.

"We were cautious to make sure we didn't take it down that path," Higgins said.
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It was important to develop an image easily understood everywhere because a global brand's advertising and message should be consistent worldwide, Higgins said."We've proven that with Jack Daniel's."

They have a common theme, said Finlandia national brand director John D. Higgins."It's emotional refreshment, changing the weather inside of you."

The TV spots will run after 10 p.m., mostly on cable but on local broadcast stations in some markets.The demographic target of the TV spots is male.To balance that, female-oriented magazines such as Vogue, Style and Elle will run most of the print advertising.

Both print and TV ads will run in the United States from October through the end of the company's fiscal year in April, Higgins said.
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"The one thing we knew we would not do is just have a picture of a bottle and put some clever words below it," Higgins said.

John Higgins, director of Finlandia Americas for Brown-Forman, said the company isn't worried that bartenders will walk away from Finnishing School with a preference for a different brand of vodka.

As long as a consumer can be persuaded to "trade up" to the premium category, he's confident that Finlandia will get its share of the larger market.

"Their aim is to say that, even in a busy environment, you should take time with what you're doing," Higgins said of the school's instructors."It's about the art of cocktailing."

DeGroff's background includes more than a decade as beverage manager at the Rainbow Room in New York City.He also wrote a book, "The Craft of the Cocktail."

John Higgins, director of Finlandia Americas for Brown-Forman, said the company isn't worried that bartenders will walk away from Finnishing School with a preference for a different brand of vodka.

As long as a consumer can be persuaded to "trade up" to the premium category, he's confident that Finlandia will get its share of the larger market.

"Their aim is to say that, even in a busy environment, you should take time with what you're doing," Higgins said of the school's instructors."It's about the art of cocktailing."

DeGroff's background includes more than a decade as beverage manager at the Rainbow Room in New York City.He also wrote a book, "The Craft of the Cocktail."

But it's not just women fueling the cocktail culture, said John Higgins, Brown-Forman's national brand director for Finlandia vodka.