NEFT is a premium vodka with a genuinely distinctive package and a category problem: vodka buyers were taught to shop on price and nightlife familiarity. As CMO and then Global CMO, my mandate was to move the brand into the sipping-spirit conversation and give it culture to stand in.
A premium vodka in a category trained to compete on price and nightlife volume needed to be understood as a sipping spirit — a different occasion, a different buyer, a different room.
Premium vodka has to earn a sipping occasion; without one it defaults to a mixer and competes on discount.
Global markets needed one recognisable platform rather than a different campaign per distributor.
Experiential spend only pays back when the ecosystem around it is coherent — cars, food, art and music had to feel like one brand.
Rebuilt the brand argument around how the liquid is actually enjoyed — neat, slow, in company — and priced and packaged the story to match.
Raise It Up gave every market, partner and activation a single line to build against instead of a folder of local one-offs.
Automotive, culinary, art and music programs put the brand physically in front of the buyer, then digital carried the footage.
Motorsport and lifestyle partners formed a recurring activation ecosystem — context for the brand rather than a list of sponsorships.
A single global platform and positioning carried across markets and culture verticals, with the brand present in motorsport and lifestyle ecosystems rather than fighting on the back bar.
Global positioning and the Raise It Up platform deployed across markets.
Experiential and digital programs running across automotive, culinary, art and music.
A documented motorsport and lifestyle activation ecosystem spanning automotive, culinary, art and music culture.
Role, dates and context on this page trace to the sources below.