I would like to identify the reasons for the success of Russian
Standard Vodka (brand name)in Russia?

Also if it has entered and been succesful with the US consumer Market,
and if so, what entry mode have they used

Hello Sillypott,
I found this study floating around:

Russian Standard Vodka: Strategies for Global Branding and Expansion
into the US market (Adobe PDF file, 1.6 MB in size)
http://faculty.insead.edu/chandon/Personal_Page/Documents/Russian%20Standard%20dnc.pdf

I have quoted text from it below that may answer your questions:

"There were two reasons for Russian Standard's Early Success:

1. First and most critically, Russian Standard Vodka was the first
domestic brand to create a rich mosiac or imagery (product, packaging,
pricing, merchandising, media communications) as opposed to the
traditional one-dimensional image of "quality" associated with
existing vodka crands which was strictly confined to the image of the
producing distillery....

2. Secondly, the Roust organization had already developed strong and
commanding merchandising skills and relationship with the trade, both
off-trade (supermarkets) and on-trade (bars, clubs, restaurants)...."


I have only found these references to how the introduction of Russian
Standard Vodka into the US market will be done, so I'm not certain if
the product has already been introduced. But it is certain to be one
of these methods:

"...Tariko (the executive in charge of Roust company, which owns the
Russian Standard Vodka brand) wondered whether Russian Standard vodka
should be launched in the US, the biggest premium vodka market in the
world, and, if so, which expansion strategy to follow:

1. Should the successful positioning of the brand and marketing mix
used for Russia be directly applied to the US market?

2. Should a global branding strategy be pursued - one that preserved
the key sources of equity of a potentially global brand but also
included local market adaptations as needed?

3. Should a custom approach to the US market be used to win this key
market regardless of the implication for the brand in other global
markets?"

This is more or less the summary of the answers, you may read through
the complete report for more information.

Google search terms used:
"russian standard" vodka success reasons
"russian standard" vodka us market

I hope this has been a most helpful answer. If you need anything else,
or have a problem with the answer, do please post a Request for
Clarification before rating and I shall respond as soon as I can.
Thank you.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by sillypott-ga on 02 Feb 2004 15:18 PST

Many thanks! Your answer is very good and clear but I just want to
clarify on one point. That document you cited from was done in the
year 2000.You have already given me on some possible methods they
might use in entering the US market. But I would really like to know
if they have entered the US market and how(more up to date info.) and
if so have they been succesful? Is it possible to find this out??
thanks
sillypott

---

Clarification of Answer by techtor-ga on 02 Feb 2004 22:09 PST

Hello again Sillypott,
Thank you for your clarification. I have looked for more online
resources that may state the current status of Russian Standard in the
US market, but there appears to be none. It is my assumption that
penetration of the US market hasn't been done on a full scale, or may
not yet be done at all. With some changes happening in Roust company,
based on the articles below, the company does not seem intent on
penetrating the US market soon. If they are trying now, we may not
know until some time later how it was done and how it is doing.

Anyway, I decided to mention some articles that may contain
information useful to you.

Here's one article about Russian Standard, but it about the product's
status in the year 2000:
The Russia Journal: Business - Hoping to set new Russian standards
By Vyacheslav Kuzmin
(login required to access)
http://therussiajournal.com/index.htm?obj=3768

2002 - #1-2 (309) Expert - Russian economics - All Hail Crisis!
http://eng.expert.ru/economics/krizis.htm
- This is an article about Russia's state of economy in 2002, and it
mentions the vodka brand as still hanging on to fame.

PetersburgCity.com Business News
First foreign top manager in Russian alcohol business quits
03/12/2001
http://petersburgcity.com/news/business/2001/03/12/news51/

Google Search terms tried:
"russian standard" vodka us sales
"russian standard" vodka us penetration

I'll leave you with this for now. Thanks for the compliments and we
hope to serve you again here.

a very good and clear answer! I need just a little more information to
get a complete answer! thanks a lot. keep up the good work!!