Caap fits

Åsa Caap is the mastermind behind the Our/Vodka brand concept. Christian Davis Caught up with her in London to get the lowdown on how it all started

Åsa Caap is best described as a force of nature – one of those people you come across from time to time who seems to have more hours in the day, more days in the week.

The 45-year-old Swede is the mastermind behind the Our/Vodka ‘local brand’ concept, which is backed by drinks giant Pernod Ricard. It started in Berlin in 2013, London opened recently and there are four more planned, all in the US, for 2016.

She first emerged in the drinks industry at Absolut, Pernod’s premium vodka brand, having previously studied marketing and then worked at advertising agency McCann in Sweden.

She’s an ideas person. She had two ideas – one for a tray with a sun shade and the other a device for tracking medication. She left the agency to start a distribution company for some international design brands, with the primary purpose of funding the development of those products.

“I get these ideas in my mind and I have to get rid of them. I never like to keep the status quo, I like to keep pushing and get things turning.”

Caap’s husband is a CFO for the big Swedish clothing retailer, Tiger. With all this going on, they have still managed to raise three children.

Then in 2010, Caap got a call from a headhunter. He asked if she knew anyone who would be interested in joining Absolut’s marketing team and, by the way, was she interested?

“I was like… (she makes a face as if shying away from a nasty smell), but it was Absolut, the pride of Sweden, a global brand. I was, like, super-tempted. But the idea of being ‘employed’ and having to go to the office every day…” That was not Caap’s cup of tea or coffee, let alone vodka.

“Then I was offered the job. It was a big chance, it was a wild card. It was so different. I did not know ‘employment’.”

Caap joined Absolut and discovered it had an innovations department. It was like a magnet to this Swedish inventor/entrepreneur.

“We had a smorgåsbord of possibilities. We were using the best agencies, everything was there. It was like heaven,” she says.

It was during this time that ‘local’ hit her. “Everything was about local. It was so…(she sighs). I had to put it to one side. It was not something for Absolut. But I started to think of a global brand truly relevant to local senses. You cannot cheat on local.”

Caap’s simple idea was to develop a local vodka brand, using local ingredients and involving local entrepreneurs so that it is grounded in its environs. The problem was seed investment.

She developed the Our/Vodka concept with co-founders Kalle Söderqvist and Mattia Nyström. “I met Kalle at a workshop and we just ‘clicked’. He was an art director and Mattia was at the same agency. Then he came on board.

“But we had no money, no back up. Pernod Ricard was not engaged. It took two years to convince it,” she says.

“For me, it was like a new baby. It was beautiful. I had accessed all the information from Pernod so I gave it first chance. But I was a bit naïve about big companies. There were a lot of questions. They were right but they were also scared.

It became Project Tioli, which was an acronym for ‘take it or leave it’. That summed up her frustration with Pernod. Finally after about seven months, the company agreed.

“In the end I said (to the Pernod people): ‘I cannot produce more details’. It is about a gut feeling. If you do not feel it is right, you should not do it.’

“Berlin, our first, took one year, three months and 33 meetings. When it finally opened in Berlin, I knew my opening speech by heart because I had written it two and a half years earlier.”

Asked about the individual vodkas, Caap says the abv varies from city to city depending on what works best for each product. “Doubt kills more ideas than failure,” the ideas lady states.

“Our/Vodka has the same formula in all our cities but we source the ingredients as locally as possible. This means that they are all made from different crops,” say says.

“They’re not all made from grain. We have grapes in LA and hopefully sugar cane in Florida. Our/London is made from wheat. We want to use the crops that are the most ’local’ in each state/country.

“Since the quality of the ingredients we use has such a big impact on the quality of the final product, the global production and sensory team (at Pernod) help the partner with sourcing all ingredients locally,” says Caap.

Asked why the abv for London is 37.5%, Caap replied: “The difference between 37.5 and 40% has nothing to do with the quality of a vodka. The quality of a vodka is defined by the quality of the alcohol, ethanol, you use and this is reached through the right equipment, knowledge and distillery process.

“When you have the right quality of your alcohol, you dilute it with water to the most suitable abv level.

“When we elaborated the Our/London product we found 37.5% to be the perfect abv level for that particular product. It simply brings out the best in that product. It brings out the smoothness and makes it perfect for both cocktails and for drinking it neat.

“If you’re only after a quick result, I assume you would drink any 40% vodka but if you’re truly after smoothness and quality, you would need to understand more about the company, the people behind the vodka and their knowledge of the craftsmanship that it takes to make a good vodka,” pronounces the Swedish wonder woman.