05 Apr 2021 SA’s marketing man steering Absolut vodka

SA’s most valuable export is its amazing human capital – here’s news of another Saffer making good on the global stage: Charl Bassil, Global Vice President Marketing for the Absolut brand in the Pernod Ricard stable.

As a kid, he wanted to explore space and as an adult he has made it a mission to make the world a better place. Through marketing, inclusivity and meaningful communication, Bassil has set an example on how to use the power of a brand to create positive change.

Here’s an interview with the expat South African, living in Stockholm, on the Absolut website

The Absolut Company is working hard to foster and retain an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit within the company. How do you work with innovation in your team?

– I genuinely believe we need to create a shared vision of the future. To really get to terms with why and how the future will be better than today. Once you know where you want to go, it’s much easier to plan the journey. And if you are all on board the ride, you can start to find shortcuts or devise a better route as you go. But it all starts with the vision.

Coming from South Africa, I have seen the transformation of our own South African society and I take a lot of inspiration from Nelson Mandela and how he constantly worked with getting people to share his vision of inclusivity. Getting a buy-in from the people helped him achieve so much during his five years as a leader for South Africa. Just amazing.

If you want to encourage and nourish an innovative culture you need to figure out what the consumer needs, look at and be inspired by what others are doing – as my father used to say, there is no shame in stealing with your eyes – and always try to have a collaborative mindset. The pieces of the puzzle need to fit together to create a full picture, right.

What other innovative companies, brands and entrepreneurs inspire you?

– There are so many great examples, but if I have to name one company that I think has had an incredible journey, I’d say Coca Cola. They’ve successfully managed to move from being a soft drinks manufacturer to a complete beverage company.

Another great example is the craft tonic water company Fever Tree, who now make a range of mixers. I think that they’ve really mastered the art of finding and exploiting a niche in the market. There is a saying in our family that when gold gets discovered, don’t just be another miner, but rather be the one who sells the mining equipment. To me, that’s what Fever Tree has understood.

And then this answer would not be complete if I didn’t mention Elon Musk. As South Africans, we don’t always have examples of innovators from our own country who are globally renowned. But Elon is one of them and I admire his willingness to try things without the fear of criticism.  He has made massive strides to help break the myth that great thinking does not come from smaller places. And even though he can come across as little crazy at times, I think he is great.

What value does Absolut bring to a world where no one drinks vodka?

– Throughout our history, Absolut has focused on three very important things. The first thing is our dedication to inclusivity. We embrace diversity and we are no strangers to welcoming outsiders into our community.

When Absolut collaborated with Andy Warhol, the brand became one of the first major brands to truly engage with the LGBT community at scale. This mindset of inclusivity goes back all the way to our founder LO Smith, who always worked hard for social inclusivity – especially for worker and women’s rights.

And this way of conducting business really attracted me to the brand. As the son of immigrant parents (coming from Lebanon), I can easily relate to the feeling of being an outsider in your community.

You mentioned three key points. What’s number two on your list?

– Absolut has in so many ways been defined by its progressiveness. There’s a constant will and ambition to move forward and to make things better. The Absolut Company has Passion for Progression as our mission statement, and I think it rings true when you think about all the past and present initiatives that have been or are about to be implemented.

For example, LO Smith reformed the production process to be able to offer good quality vodka at a reasonable price. Another proof point is the fact that Absolut Peppar and Absolut Citron were the very first flavoured vodkas ever introduced on the market. 

Currently our operations teams are doing some fantastic work at our production facility in Åhus to reduce our environmental impact that has been incredibly progressive.

Third and last?

– Absolut has always embraced creativity. Not just in the sense of modern art, but in a much broader way. It is well known that our first major collaboration was with the artist Andy Warhol, so the bar was set very high from the start.

But we have also worked with graffiti artists and with street art, and also with entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and many Gen Z-artists and creatives, who are doing amazing things just using their mobile phones.

Creativity is core for how we bring our brand to life and that mindset has fostered a unique openness to trying new things. That’s part of the reason we have the creative platform of “Create better together” built into in all our briefs…..

The Absolut Company: Read the full article here