The Absolut App Channeling Your Inner Bartender.

Liquor brands create apps? What are they for? Are they useful? I will try to answer these questions and many more whith this post where I will focus on the brand Absolut Vodka and their mobile application experience! Once again, I never thought I would be downloading apps for liquor brands but here we are, deep diving into Absolut Vodka’s Drinkspiration App!

Get inspired with Drinkspiration

Drinkspiration is Absolut Vodka’s only available app and, as the name suggests, it confuses on mixology and creating different cocktail recipes. At first glance, the app is clean, aesthetically pleasing, the colors are white and deep blue, just like the colors of Absolut, corresponding with the brand's identity and not letting the user forget that the app is created by Absolut. There is a fixed navigation bar at the bottom of the page, allowing user to switch between pages: “drinks”, “search”, “collections”, “learn” and “favorites”. The top right corner is where you find the information symbol with a call-to-action to sign up for weekly drink recipes that will be sent to the users’ email. The app is simple, easy navigation with a great use of whitespace, not overcrowding any of the pages and enabling easy manipulation.

Is the App Useful?

Using the search function, there around 3,500 different cocktails to choose from and after clicking on a selected drink, a page appears with a picture of the finished cocktail, and for most drinks, a YouTube video showing an Absolut bartender preparing the drink. The page includes a list of ingredients which can be displayed in ML, FL. OZ or Parts, as well as directions on how to mix the cocktail and in which glass to serve the particular drink. People might be overwhelmed by the number of cocktails to choose from, that is why the app includes a “collections” tab, where one can find cocktail ideas, for example: 11 Summer Mocktails, Salsa Party, 20s Era Cocktails and more! This makes for a better experience when the user might be unsure which cocktail to create, themed selections makes the decision easier.

The “learn” tab is separated into beginner, average and advanced, and includes explanations and videos about important aspects of mixology. For example: the importance of ice, glassware, using a muddler, stirring cocktails etc. Not only does this app contain cocktail ideas, but it can also teach the user more than just how to make a good G&T. However, I did not find any direct link to the Absolut official website, or a link where one could possibly purchase Absolut online. I think that could further improve the interconnection of this app and the Absolut brand as well as potentially bring in more sales.

Is the App Innovative?

While searching for an interesting application to write about, I came across a few apps such as The Patron Experience, where the brand uses augmented reality to enhance the user experience which is definitely an innovative and unique way to approach an alcohol app. However, after downloading, playing around with the app and going through the experience where they use AR to explain the flavors of the Patron tequila (takes about 5 minutes), there is not much else to do.

On the other hand, Absolut Drinkspiration has yet to utilize gaming or AR, however, it is a useful app which serves a purpose and the user can reuse it over and over. I can imagine that many people, including myself, who downloaded the Patron app and finished the experience, later deleted it because they knew they will probably never use it again. It is important to be innovative, but also to create apps with purpose that people will continue reopening, using and not deleting after one use. The retention of customers is what brands should strive for with apps, as innovate and exciting as the app is, if it doesn’t provide new information or a continuous source of entertainment, it won’t be able to retain customers.

Apps as Advertising

Apps are a great way of advertising. Even though Drinkspiration offers hundreds of cocktails that do not use Absolut Vodka, due to the distinctive design of the app and the logo of the brand always visible in the videos, it is a subtle way of promoting the brand non-intrusively. The user will not immediately think of it as direct advertising as it seems more natural. This type of marketing boosts the recognition of Absolut and works towards building customer loyalty for the brand. Through the option of sharing on each recipe page, it is made easy for users to send a message/share a specific cocktail on different social platforms which allows reaching many new potential customers and increasing engagement with the brand as a whole.

Should you download Drinkspiration?

I think that anyone who enjoys mixology, likes trying out new things, likes to host parties or even people who like to watch the videos of the bartenders mixing up the cocktails would enjoy this app and find it useful! Only taking up less than 100MB of space on your smartphone, this application offers a limitless supply of cocktail ideas. As I am writing this post, the last app update was 2 months ago, demonstrating that updates are regular, keeping up with the latest smartphone models. Overall, even on app store, Drinkspiration has a 4.8-star rating. Personally, I will most definitely be keeping the app installed and might even be sharing some of my favorite cocktails with friends!

Thank you! :)