Most Kyivans must have noticed one of this winter's eye-catching outdoor ad campaigns – a two-part teaser project featuring a bottle of Kosatska Rada, with its name first obscured by chains and then with the chains broken and the name revealed.
In fact, only seven of the ads were placed, and Kosatska Rada producer Ukrainian Club/MDMT Group proudly claims that the ad was its brainchild.
'Ukrainian Club/MDMT Group uses the creative potential of its staff to generate creative ideas,' said Vlad Galayda, senior vice president at the Ukrainian Club/MDMT Group. 'There are 10 full-time and 40 part-time employees in the marketing department working upon achieving the company's marketing and advertising goals.' But ad agency Desyatka also claims credit for the ad.
'The agency also contributed to the shaping of the creative idea and handled the production issues,' said Olena Railko, the agency's client service manager.
Desyatka attributes the effectiveness of the ad, in part, to the teaser strategy.
'A lot of alcohol manufacturers use teaser ads because they grab viewers' attention and excite their curiosity,' said agency president Dmytro Desyatnykov.
Galayda said the ad campaign was a huge success, with sales of Kosatska Rada three times higher during the winter than in the same period last year.
The first part of the teaser ad featured a chained up vodka bottle with the word 'Courage…' The second showed the chains broken, the name revealed and the sentence 'Courage is worthy of freedom.'
'We wanted to get across the message that vodka is for freedom-lovers who want to disentangle themselves from different constraints,' Galayda said. 'That's why the ad was made up of two parts – with and without the chains – to reflect two conditions in a person's life.'
The Kozatska Rada outdoor ad campaign was supported by a radio competition, in which listeners were asked three questions, 'What was put in chains?', 'What slogan was written on the billboard?' and 'How many billboards were there in the city?' The winner was given a box set of Kozatska Rada to celebrate the victory.
The ad also benefited from the product's image as part of Ukraine's cultural heritage, according to one foreign expert in the Ukrainian ad market.
'At this time in Ukraine's market development national pride and heritage associations have specific gains in the market against many global approaches and messages from international brands,' said David Payne, advertising director at TWG/Young & Rubicam.
Olena Nikolayenko can be reached at [email protected].
