Bottled spirits brands are sick of watching canned cocktails have all the fun, and continue to add their own challengers into the mix. Svedka is the latest to enter the market with its own spirits-based ready-to-drink (RTD) offering: Svedka Vodka Water, packaged in clear 12 oz. cans and available in Strawberry, Peach, Lime and Pineapple.
Things that stand out:
- The clear skinny cans are certainly eye-catching, letting you see exactly what the liquid looks like. The effective packaging move also gets across that this clear liquid is truly as simple as its name: vodka and (flavored) water.
- Svedka is also transparent with the contents of the product. Each can features a nutritional label, which isn’t required for alcoholic beverages. Curious consumers can check out the panel and see there are only 90 calories per can, with zero carbs and zero sugar.
- “Non-carbonated” is front-and-center on the cans; for consumers suffering from hard seltzer fatigue, Svedka Vodka Water can be a welcome solution.
- The liquid itself is fruit-forward. There’s no immediate vodka burn that might be associated with an at-home vodka water creation. Additionally, the “natural” fruit flavors rest front and center, and are able to hold up against other flavor-forward competitors in similar spaces, such as spirits-based hard teas.
Things to consider:
- The flavor is sweeter than may be expected for something marketed as “real vodka + natural spring water.”
- The clear cans are effective to get consumers’ attention, but paired with colorful copy, the cans can be hard to read, making it difficult to find key stats, such as ABV (4.5%). The product may benefit from a similar small colorful panel section, like the “Svedka” label around the top of the cans.
- The Lime flavor leans into the bitterness of a lime peel, rather than the sour citrusy nature of the fruit itself, missing some of the fruity brightness Strawberry, Peach and Pineapple have.
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