FINLAND. Anora Group has shared plans to make Koskenkorva Vodka a globally-recognised brand by targeting environmentally-conscious travel retail consumers.
The Moodie Davitt Report is on location in the Finland countryside to discover at first hand the sustainability credentials of the brand, which is the country’s biggest-selling spirit.
Koskenkorva is distilled in the village of the same name in Southern Ostrobothnia, on the banks of the Kyröjoki river, some 355km from the capital Helsinki. The distillery – a forerunner in the circular economy – runs mostly on bioenergy generated by its own power plant. It uses 100% of every single barley grain – what cannot be used for vodka goes into making animal feed and barley starch. The rest is used as fuel to run the bioenergy power plant.
Opened in 1941, the distillery – which produces pure, flavoured and liqueur Koskenkorva vodkas – is aiming for its production to become fully carbon-neutral by 2025. Anora Group is pressing on with its mission to have the distillery’s products recognised as the most sustainable in the world.
The brand – which is currently sold in 30 domestic and 26 travel retail country markets – uses 15% of all barley produced in Finland for its vodka, underlining the importance of its focus on sustainability.
Speaking to The Moodie Davitt Report about why he considers Koskenkorva a strong fit for travel retail, Anora Group Duty Free & Travel Retail Director Bo Madsen said: “First of all, because it really is an amazingly good vodka that we can see is being recognised by the increasing number of consumers buying it.
“Operating in the travel retail channel, which in many ways by its nature, has several barriers and long-term challenges to be considered fully sustainable – I think it is super important that we as producers take responsibility and do our utmost to help the channel and operators in every aspect [of sustainability] we can. Koskenkorva is already a world leader in this respect.”
He added: “As an industry, we need to have a high focus on better and more environmentally-friendly brands, products, and consumer offerings. Koskenkorva Vodka has for many years been advocating honesty and transparency in our production methods, and sustainability has been a natural aspect for us – not just recently, but for many years. In the village of Koskenkorva, we are forerunners of the circular economy.”
Discussing potential travel retail growth, Madsen, whose company also owns other strong Nordic spirit brands including LINIE, Larsen, Xanté and Skagerrak, said he considers any environmentally-conscious spirits consumer as the target for the Koskenkorva brand.
He explained: “In terms of target groups, we do not work towards very specific age groups. For Koskenkorva, we work towards consumers sharing our mindset and respecting sustainable brands true to their genuine voice and originality.
“Koskenkorva is a brand for those who do make a conscious choice. If you are 20 or 55 years of age, that is not important for us – it’s the mindset of the consumer that matters.”
Sharing his thoughts on the long-term ambitions for the Anora Group with Koskenkorva in travel retail, Madsen said: “Our mid- to longer-term ambitions are to grow the Koskenkorva Vodka brand outside the Nordics, and to become an internationally known and relevant brand for consumers, as well as a recognised leader on the sustainability front within global travel retail.
“We are assessing our route to market model in the different GTR areas, in close collaboration with our international business unit and our export team, to optimise our efforts and investments. We all have a super exciting time ahead of us.”
Read the full account of Mark Lane’s Koskenkorva experience here.
