Absolut Tales

<p>This is the time of year when we used to meet with distributor management to discuss the previous year and how we looked over the holidays. It reminded me of a story about a candid assessment of a new vodka product from V&amp;S (Absolut owners at the time) called Sundsvall. Let me set the stage [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Now for something totally different and unrelated to the booze business… My last posting on vodkas from around the world stimulated a lot of conversation about Americans doing business internationally. My friend Ernie Speranza, a toy industry executive and former head of marketing at Toys R Us told me the following story that I want [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The Gulfstream took off from Stockholm’s Arlanda airport with a full load of executives, all of whom had the satisfaction of knowing that the global distribution rights to Absolut were signed, sealed and delivered. If you’ve ever flown on a corporate jet, you know how great it is. You board quickly and easily, take off [&hellip;]</p>