Ny strid, Ny svid : En fallstudie av Absolut Vodkas visuella kommunikation med avseende på målgruppspositionering.

Title: A new battle, the same bottle: A case study of the visual communication of Absolut Vodka and how it’s positioned towards different market segments. Author: Anna von Friedrichs Grängsjö & Niklas Svanlindh Tutor: Jessica Gustafsson Purpose: To overview the visual communication of Absolut Vodka and how it’s positioned towards different market segments. Absolut Vodka is a brand that reaches a vast range of consumers through a single consistent marketing strategy. The hypothesis was that one can reach many different market segments with the marketing of a product by constantly keeping some components of the communication the same while constantly changing others. Key questions to be answered are: How do Absolut Vodka address their target audiences in their visual communication? Which market segments does the visual communication of Absolut Vodka seem to address? Method/Material: The research was conducted through a qualitative research study in which four Youtube videos by Absolut Vodka were analyzed. Only videos where the original product was presented in collaboration with a third party were used. The analysis was made through semiotic and rhetorical analysis and the results were then compared to the market segments of SRI VALS to conclude which market segments the different videos appeared to address. Main results: The videos were mainly directed towards two market segments of the SRI VALS-model: Innovators and experiencers. These two have a lot in common with the official target audience of Absolut Vodka; Urban Creative Millennials. This audience also works as opinion leaders influencing others to follow their lead. The hypothesis mainly proved true. However one of the constant components, the theme of creativity, appeared to be far more important than anticipated. Since the theme of creativity is tightly connected with the main target audience it also limits the possibility to address other audiences directly. Number of pages: 69 Course: Media and Communication studies C University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala University Period: Fall 2013 Keywords: Absolut Vodka, Visual communication, marketing, SRI VALS, The STP process, ESP