Storyboard: Personal touch vital at 42 Below

A New Zealand vodka company is using a personal approach to break into the US market.

The problem: Americans may be keen on vodka - they drink 40 million cases of it a year - but without a multinational-sized marketing budget at its disposal, New Zealand spirits company 42 Below knew breaking into the US market with its super premium-priced product - about US$30 ($51) in bottlestores - would not be easy.

The point of difference: 42 Below founder and managing director Geoff Ross says vodka is associated with purity, so associating the product with New Zealand made sense. "People don't know a hell of a lot about New Zealand but they know it stands for purity." Also working in Ross' favour was that the super premium sector of the market has been growing at 10 per cent a year for the past six years.

The execution: Not wanting its brand to be lost in the portfolio of a large liquor distributor, the company decided to put its own sales staff on the ground. A key focus has been Los Angeles, where the company has worked on getting its vodka into a handful of influential bars. Ross says acceptance in that exclusive environment (where customers can pay US$350 for a bottle of spirits) makes selling into the next 100 bars easy. 42 Below sales staff arrive at a bar carrying seethrough briefcases and backpacks containing the product. The company also has a tank-like vehicle labelled the Vodka Rescue Unit and has established the Vodka University, a day-long course for bar staff wanting to improve their knowledge of the spirit.

The result: It is early days, with 42 Below having sent only 2000 cases of vodka into the US in the past two months. But Ross says initial results have been encouraging and he expects US sales soon to top domestic sales of 700 to 800 cases a month.

The lessons: While 42 Below has won critical acclaim - it was voted second best vodka in a world taste test last year and was served at an after-Oscars party - Ross says making an impression at elite bars where the opinion leaders drink was vital. Hence part of the strategy: "You make the managers and the bar tenders at those bars your best mates."

42 Below