The New York Times covered the Icelandic Reyka Vodka’s advertising campaign in its media section on Friday, which was described as both quirky and original. The campaign, run by William Grant & Sons, can only be found online.
“There are erupting volcanoes, enigmatic puffins, ‘fun facts’ about Iceland and comely women dressed for the cold rather than as they typically appear in liquor ads,” NYT’s Stuart Elliot wrote in his article.
Elwyn Gladstone, new-brand marketing director at Grant in New York, said they had decided to advertise on sites like nerve.com, theonion.com and thrillist.com (apart from their own reykavodka.com) and be original to set them apart “from all the other vodkas.”
Not everyone is pleased with the development of online advertising. George A. Hacker, director for the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy organization in Washington, said “it’s more or less a challenge for young people to come on.”
Hacker did admit, however, that the “wry” humor of the Reyka website “was such that it wasn’t particularly adolescent.”
