Absolut Vodka is the ultimate triumph of style over substance. Its marketing campaigns read like a Who's Who of the arts and fashion world: Absolut Newton, Absolut Versace, Absolut Tom Ford, Absolut Gaultier, Absolut Warhol, Absolut Hirst and Absolut Stella.

The Absolut ad campaign, which created an icon out of an antique medicine bottle, has been running for nearly 25 years. Its premise is simple: an Absolut bottle in an unusual setting with a pithy line beginning with the word Absolut. The marketing has stylishly and successfully differentiated a clear alcoholic liquid into a global iconic brand with a premium positioning that other marketing directors can only dream of.

Absolut's clear and distinctive bottle, modeled from an antique Swedish medicine bottle, has become the hero of the vodka's iconic advertising. The bottle has been fundamental to all Absolut's communications. The company never does lifestyle ads, and never has people in its ads - the product is the hero.

While Absolut's 25 years of good fortune stem back to the mid-1980s when art icon Andy Warhol commissioned a young protégé to create a piece of Absolut Art, the company is now asking if its time to move forward. Its new product development ideas have thus far been restricted to a series of flavoured vodkas: Absolut Peppar, launched in 1986; followed by Absolut Citron two years later; Absolut Kurant in 1992; Absolut Mandrin in 1999 and its most recent launch Absolut Vanilla. The rate of new product development is likely to increase in the future, which is necessary if Absolut is to retain its position as a world-class brand.

Absolut has proven it is more than just a vodka - it's a brand, and brands can generate many new innovations. The sky's the limit. The values of purity, clarity and distillation that surround the Absolut brand could even be extended into other relevant areas - Absolut water, perfume, skin cleanser. Absolutely.