User:Undicca/Finlandia (vodka)


 * The submitter cannot migrate text to the existing article, because of their declared COI. That is down to us as independent Wikiepdians --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 13:53, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

Finlandia (vodka)

Finlandia is a vodka produced in Finland from Finnish-grown six-row barley and glacial spring water. The barley is distilled into a neutral spirit using a continuous multi-pressure distillation system at a distillery in the village of Koskenkorva operated by Finland’s Altia Corporation. The distilled alcohol is then transported to a production facility in the village of Rajamäki, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Helsinki. In Rajamäki, the spirit is blended with glacial water, flavored (except for the classic non-flavored edition, 101 and Platinum), and bottled. The vodka is produced in Finland.

The Finlandia brand was established in 1970 by Alko, Finland’s state-owned alcoholic beverage company. A year later, the brand became the first Scandinavian vodka to be sold in the United States. Finlandia is now owned by the Brown-Forman Corporation. Finlandia vodka is distributed in 135 countries and is widely associated with Finland on the international market.

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Varieties
Finlandia is available in pure form (distilled alcohol + water) and in several flavored versions.

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History
The distillery that produces Finlandia vodka was founded in 1888 by Dr. Wilhelm Juslin next to the glacial spring in the small Finnish village of Rajamaki. Today, a facility at that same historic location still manufactures and packages Finlandia.

In 1920, after the passage of the alcohol Prohibition Act in Finland, the Rajamäki distillery was bought by the Finnish state to secure an alcohol supply for pharmacies and for other non-beverage purposes. When the Prohibition Act was lifted in 1932, the state took over exclusive control of vodka production.

In 1970, Alko, the state-owned alcoholic beverage company, established the Finlandia vodka brand name. A year later the Finlandia brand became the first Scandinavian vodka sold in the United States, as well as the first imported vodka brand there classified in a premium category.

In 1975, a new alcoholic beverage plant was constructed at the Rajamaki location in Finland, and the distilling operation was centralized at the Koskenkorva facility in 1987.

In 2000, the private U.S.-based Brown-Forman Corporation acquired 45% of Finlandia Vodka Worldwide, with the state-owned Altia Group, a successor of Alko, retaining 55% ownership. Two years later Brown-Forman acquired an additional 35% stake in Finlandia Vodka. In 2004, Brown-Forman acquired the remaining 20% of Finlandia Vodka and assumed 100% ownership in the brand.

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Production
Finlandia vodka is produced from Finnish-grown six-row barley and pure glacial spring water.

At the Koskenkorva facility in western Finland, initial distillation of the fermented six-row barley takes place in seven columns with an average height of 25 meters using Altia’s multi-pressure distilling system. Any remaining impurities, including lethal methanol as well as fusel alcohols and oils, are removed as the grain spirit is moved in a continuous process through more than 200 distillation steps. The entire production process, from grain mashing until the final neutral spirit flows out of the column, takes approximately 50 hours.

The final product, a grain spirit 96.5% by volume, is then transported about 315 kilometers (196 miles) south to the historic alcoholic beverage plant in the village of Rajamaki near Helsinki. The barley distillate is diluted with glacial water from the Rajamaki spring. Because the water is naturally filtered through sand and moraine formed by retreating glaciers during the Ice Age, no deionization, osmosis treatment or other artificial purification is used — unlike with some other vodkas

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Sustainability
A number of steps in the Finlandia vodka production process are designed to preserve the brand’s commitment to environmental protection and integrity, including:


 * Barley husks are burned to help generate the pressurized steam used in distillation.
 * Fibers are separated and sold to the food industry.
 * Carbon dioxide from fermentation is collected and sold to the gas industry.
 * After distillation the spent mash is converted to animal feed.
 * Extra starch is separated and sold to the paper and food industries.
 * Waste ash from the power plant is sold to farmers and builders for soil improvement.
 * The cooling and heating water used throughout the process is recirculated in a closed system to efficiently control temperature and keep water use to a minimum.

The Finlandia distillery holds an ISO 14001 certificate related to environmental management standards pertaining to how production operations affect the environment.

Corporate social responsibility material cited to primary, self-published sources like the company's own social responsibility report is promotion - one of the most common mistakes of COI editors. I did add the one sentence with proper independent sources to the Production section CorporateM (Talk) 20:04, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

Finlandia Vodka Cup
The Finlandia Vodka Cup is a global drink contest in which bartenders from around the world gather to compete for a global trophy. Contestants are selected through national competitions. National winners are flown to the Finnish Lapland to take part in the finals. During the finals, the competitors must create a new drink in three categories: Aperitif, Long drink and Quick Mix. Points from all three categories are then added up and the bartender with the highest combined score wins the title “Finlandia Bartender of the Year”.

The first Finlandia Vodka Cup was held in 1992 when the winner was selected on the results from a single “best drink” category. After the rules were revised in 1997, the bartenders competed in three categories: Aperitif, Long Drink, and After Dinner Drink. In 2007, the After Dinner Drink category was changed to Quick Mix.

If the competition has attracted substantial press coverage, I'd be comfortable adding this with some trimming, but as it is this section is unsourced. CorporateM (Talk) 20:05, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

Finlandia promotion
During the past several decades, the marketing of Finlandia vodka has involved a number of global promotional campaigns.
 * 1976-1985 Several advertising campaigns in which taste is the primary focus: “There are vodkas for orange juice lovers and tomato juice lovers. Now a vodka for vodka lovers” (1976). “The vodka for vodka purists” (1977). “Vodka for vodka drinkers” (1982). “Finlandia Vodka for vodka lovers” (1983). “The world’s finest vodka. Over ice” (1984-85).
 * 1990 The campaign “Finlandia. Vodka From the Top of the World” stresses the properties appreciated by vodka drinkers: coldness, clarity and purity. The campaign was reintroduced in 2006.
 * 1998 The campaign “In a past life I was pure, glacial spring water” is launched under the umbrella theme “Past Lives” in which Finlandia vodka recalls its glacial origins. The ad series evokes a sense of the past through grainy photos and personalities speaking about their past lives.
 * 1998-1999 Main sponsor of FIS Alpine Ski World Cup.
 * 1998-2000 Partnership with the West McLaren Mercedes racing team. The Finlandia brand appears on the helmets of McLaren star drivers Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.
 * 1999 The campaign “Refresh” captures Finlandia vodka as "purely refreshing".
 * 2002 Finlandia appears as “The Official Vodka of James Bond” for “007 Die Another Day”, the James Bond film series.
 * 2003 First Midnight Sun Party marks the start of Global MS (Midnight Sun) Promotion. The name refers to a natural phenomenon occurring during the summer months in locations close to the Arctic Circle: the sun remains visible at the local midnight.
 * 2005 First US Finnishing School. “Finlandia Finnishing School” is a series of workshops aimed at helping bartenders understand the art of mixing drinks and learn to create new recipes so as to better serve the establishments in which they are working.
 * 2005 The campaign “Vodka from a Purer Place” declares Finlandia to be "naked vodka" by playing up its Finnish heritage and the "pure glacial spring water" from which it is made. Transparent bottles are posed against snowy landscapes under headlines like "Here you see exactly what you're made of" and "When you have nothing to hide behind, you tend not to hide anything”.
 * 2013 The campaign “To the life less ordinary” is designed to illustrate that, due to its blend of 6-row barley, glacial water and the midnight sun process, Finlandia is a “less ordinary vodka” produced in a less ordinary fashion. The campaign is meant to inspire viewers to never settle for the routine but instead always embrace a less ordinary life.

✅ Most consumer companies have a Marketing section that focuses on how they promote their products, but I trimmed some of them that did not have sources or was sourced to a primary source. CorporateM (Talk) 20:07, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

Bottle design
Frozen Ice (1970) Tapio Wirkkala designed the original “Frozen Ice” bottle, which conveyed the impression of an ice-cold drink from Lapland in the frosty Arctic North. The textured glass glittered like the surface of an icicle. The label featured two white reindeers sparring against the Midnight Sun low on the horizon.

1970 Packaging Digest Magazine ranked the Finlandia Wirkkala bottle among the top 100 packaging concepts of 1970.

1972 The Wirkkala bottle won the European Packaging Federation’s Eurostar certificate.

1990 Two Wirkkala bottles were displayed in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum as samples of Finnish designer glass.

Hammered Ice (1998) Hansen Design of Design Philadelphia introduced “Hammered Ice” bottle design. The paper label was dropped and replaced with lacquered text.

Glacial Ice (2003) Harri Koskinen, Finnish tabletop glass and industrial designer, along with New York’s Wallace Church & Co. graphic designers and the Finlandia Global package design team, designed and launched the “Glacial Ice” bottle. The texture mimicked the sensation of melting ice, capturing the origins of the brand’s glacial spring water.

2004 Finlandia Classic & Flavors were awarded the Wine and Spirits Design Award – Silver Medal.

Melting Ice (2011) Finlandia introduced a new bottle called “Melting Ice”. The bottle was developed through the collective effort of designers including Harri Koskinen, the world-renowned Finnish designer who was instrumental in the development of the prior Finlandia bottle, and Kenneth Hirst, an award-winning industrial designer based in New York, who sculpted the new form.

2011 The Glass Packaging Institute (GPI) named its 2011 winners of the annual Clear Choice Awards, with Finlandia Vodka’s new bottle capturing the top award in the distilled spirits category for its design innovation.

✅ However I trimmed the awards per WP:ORGAWARDS and some others where there were primary sources CorporateM (Talk) 20:10, 25 July 2015 (UTC)