Absolut Pours Good Chunk of Marketing Dollars Into 'Drag Race'
Will Use RuPaul-Hosted Logo Competition Series to Launch Mango Flavor, Reach LGBT Audience
by Andrew Hampp
Published: January 26, 2009
http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=134092 (http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=134092)
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Coke and "American Idol." Cover Girl and "America's Next Top Model." L'Oreal and "Project Runway."
'RuPaul's Drag Race' is a significant marketing investment for Absolut this year.
Brands and competition reality shows have gone hand-in-hand for years now, but few marketers have hitched their wagon around an entire show quite like Absolut Vodka has with "RuPaul's Drag Race," a drag-queen competition series premiering on Logo Feb. 2 at 10 p.m.
The Pernod Ricard spirit brand is using the Logo show as an integrated launchpad for a new flavor, Absolut Mango, as well as a multimillion-dollar TV and event-marketing campaign, taking "Drag Race" on the road to bars and nightclubs in major markets and even some of the drag queens' hometowns. Although Mango will be introduced via a broader print, TV and web campaign, "Drag Race" will be the new flavor's biggest marketing vehicle in terms of ad spending.
Target market?
so they want to get a bunch of drag performers drunk, do they?
That would imply that the good ladies are sober when they show up, not a likely prospect.