Data shows that UK vodka shoppers have increased their searches of brand origins, according to a media marketing agency.
New data from Mediavision and Kingston University has shown that UK vodka drinkers have increased their online activity to find out exactly where their favourite brands come from, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Louis Venter, CEO at MediaVision, commented that even though the import of Russian vodka brands has been sanctioned by the UK, drinkers were doing their research from the moment Russian troops set foot in Ukrainian.
He said: “The data suggest that vodka is still a popular drink amongst UK consumers, but they want to be seen as doing the right thing while also enjoying their favorite tipple.
“This will benefit the non-Russian vodka brands, and it will be interesting to see if this is a long-term trend or a moment driven by emotion.”
According to Mediavision data, in the past month since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the online searches for the term ‘vodka brands’ have soared by 490.83%.
On the same level, the online searches of the ‘Russian Standard vodka,’ a Russian-owned brand that is now on the UK boycott list increased by 412.85%.
‘Searches for Stolichnaya vodka’ and its new moniker ‘Stoli’, a useful rebrand to water-down any perceived ties with Russia, jumped by 117.48% and 90.45% respectively.
At the same time the Vodkas of international origin, such as ‘Smirnoff vodka’, owned by Britain’s Diageo, have risen by 177.74%, Sweden’s ‘Absolut vodka’ risen by16.25%, while ‘Polish Vodka’ searches have risen by 86.41% in the past month.
The analysis was carried out by online search expert MediaVision, using its proprietary Digital Demand Tracker tool that analyses search data from AdWords and Google Trends.
Mediavision also found that searches for ‘vodka cocktails’ are down by 59.75%, while online interest in ‘sunflowers’ the national flower of Ukraine has risen by 19.10%.
Featured image credit: Justus Blümer via Flickr under cc-by-3.0 license
