Nicole Portwood, Vice President of Brand Marketing for Tito’s Handmade Vodka,
will be taking the stage in the JW Marriott’s, Lone Star Ball Room, as one of the first speakers kicking off the General Session at the 2018 Geopath/OAAA Out of Home Conference (GO2018). The Outdoor Advertising annual event takes place May 7–9 in Austin, Texas.
Ms Portwood, is scheduled Tuesday, May 8 for the morning session, which gets underway at 8:30 AM. She will share how Out of Home fits in Tito’s marketing strategy, success stories and creative executions with Outdoor Advertising.
Here is something Ms Portwood stated, which you may consider preparing for:
she is “really interested to see if there are some (OOH) success stories out there that used limited resources to break through.” OOH Today recommends you prepare to answer with your own great breakthrough solutions. More on that in a separate post. We know of at least two OOH Buying Agency Presidents who only drink Tito’s and would love to place their business. Here’s your opportunity.
GO2018 SPEAKER PROFILE: Nicole Portwood, Tito’s Handmade Vodka
Tell us a little about Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
Tito’s Handmade Vodka is a corn-based, naturally gluten-free vodka made in Austin, Texas. The company is the realization of one man’s entrepreneurial dream. Tito’s is available in all 50 states and about 125 countries outside of the United States, to varying degrees. But you can also find Tito’s in duty-free shops in airports around the world.
Can you talk a little about your marketing philosophy for the brand?
If I had to sum up our marketing approach, I would just say, “We love everyone.” That’s really the best way to explain how we communicate with our fans and how we embrace them. A big question I always get asked is why don’t we have flavored vodkas. The answer is that we don’t want to put things into the bottle that Tito didn’t want there in the first place, like sugars, stabilizers and things you have to add to make flavored vodka. For us, we just make great vodka, and however, you want to drink it is totally up to you. When we provide cocktail recipes and things, we keep them simple, because we really just want people to enjoy themselves. Our philosophy is: we make great vodka, and if you want to come hang out with us, you’re invited.
How does out-of-home fit into your marketing strategy and approach?
OOH is a huge part of our marketing strategy and tactics. It all started about five or six years ago when we began working across the country to increase visibility in markets where our distributors were becoming active. Our business works in a three-tier system – we’re the supplier that manufactures the goods, and then we have a distributor network that distributes and sells to the retailer, which can be either a liquor store or a bar or restaurant, which then sells to the consumers. So there are a lot of places to go between us and actually getting the vodka to our fans. In working with local distributors and trying to leverage what we were doing in local markets to gain greater visibility, billboards became a really important part of that mix. We use them in conjunction with radio in a lot of markets to supplement the storytelling piece with visuals. So, I would say OOH is a big part of what we do.
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