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Finlandia Breaks 3M Annual Case Sales Milestone |
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Tuesday, 13 January 2009 |
LOUISVILLE, Ky.: Finlandia Vodka has broken the 3 million annual case sales milestone, according to Brown-Forman.
"Since Brown-Forman wholly purchased the Finlandia Vodka brand four years ago, we have seen double-digit growth each year," says Maureen Brekka, managing director for Finlandia Vodka. "It took Finlandia 23 years to reach 1 million annual shipments, 12 years to reach 2 million and only three years to break 3 million. This is an incredible achievement for the Finlandia Vodka brand and its parent company, Brown-Forman."
The most impressive growth for the Finlandia Vodka brand has come from Central and Eastern Europe.
"Our tremendous growth in Eastern Europe, specifically Poland and Russia, is fuelled by the consumer's appreciation for the naturally pure ingredients found in Finlandia Vodka," she adds.
In Russia, Finlandia Vodka surpassed the largest vodka importer by selling more than 169,000 annual 9-litre cases as of February 2008, making Finlandia Vodka the No. 1 imported premium vodka in Russia, according to Russian government import statistics.
"Being the top-selling imported premium vodka in Poland and Russia speaks well for the quality of Finlandia Vodka as Eastern Europeans are well known for their appreciation of fine vodkas," says Blaine Rowlette, director of Finlandia Europe/Africa.
Another contributing factor to Finlandia's growth is the success of its flavored vodkas.
"We experienced more than 30 percent growth in our flavors last fiscal year," says Brekka. "Our flavor growth has been consistently strong over the past few years and at the same time our Classic Finlandia Vodka has continued to show dynamic growth."
Finlandia Vodka was one of the first premium vodkas to introduce flavors from nature in 1994 with the launch of Cranberry Fusion. Since then, Finlandia has introduced more flavors to the portfolio: Finlandia Lime Fusion (1999), Finlandia Mango Fusion (2004), Finlandia Redberry (2004—limited distribution in Eastern Europe), Finlandia Wild Berries Fusion (2005) and Finlandia Grapefruit Fusion (2006).
One of the brand's most successful flavors is the all-natural Finlandia Grapefruit Fusion, according to the company. |
