Ekulo Group of Companies, one of the largest indigenous manufacturers and distributors of quality goods in West Africa, recently unveiled the new cap-design bottle of Flirt Vodka to drive market penetration, the company says.
“Prior to the bottle change, Flirt Vodka has had a good drinking bottle and good design but, we want a sharper look of a bottle. The new bottle represents a bottle culture for the brand, whereby there is the same bottle shape and design, internationally and nationally,” Emeka Andrew, category manager, Ekulo Group stated during the unveiling.
According to Andrew, the new attractive bottle, which is synonymous with the brand name, Flirt, is launched to reflect the bottle culture of Flirt Vodka. He stated that the brand is changing the bottle to reflect the Flirt Vodka global bottle culture.
“We want that sameness globally unlike some other brands that have different bottle shapes and sizes in every country. We want Nigerian consumers to have that same brand experience – in taste and look and feel that consumers in Europe, South America and Asia have with Flirt Vodka,” Andrew stated.
The category manager, however, debunked insinuation that counterfeiting could be responsible for the change in Flirt Vodka bottle. “In fact, the first bottle was very difficult to fake, because it has a cap in design; so counterfeiting is never a challenge for the brand. What we are after is the uniqueness and global culture of the bottle, whereby anywhere you travel to, you will have the same experience in taste, bottle and design,” Andrew stated.
Read also: Nigeria’s brand value hits $241bn, highest in 3 years
Apart from launching a new globalized bottle for Flirt Vodka, Ekulo also used the opportunity to announce an incentive package for partners, distributors and customers on Flirt Vodka. The company would be rewarding customers who purchase Flirt in three categories- gold, silver and bronze.
Highlighting the package mechanism, Andrew stated that for the gold category; any customer who purchases over 1200 cases and above within the period of three months would receive a 3 percent rebate, while the silver category of 100 cases to 1999 attracts 2.5 percent.
In the bronze category, the category brand manager revealed that customers who purchase 500 cases to 799 cases within the three months stipulated time will earn a two percent rebate.
“We believe that our distributors are well capable of delivering on these targets in one month, but because we are a partners’ friendly organisation, we have given everyone an equal opportunity to participate and earn some percentage that could be helpful to their businesses,” Andrew stated.
While speaking on market acceptance of the brand, Andrew revealed that in 2021, “We sold over 72,000 cases, a case has 6 bottles, which is estimated at about 43.2 million bottles, and the region that recorded the highest volume of sales is Lagos. The reason for the success is because Flirt Vodka is premium vodka and at the same time affordable,” he stated, disclosing the company is confident that the brand will sell even more with an improved look and feel.
