Ethical vodka launch to aid snow leopards

by Joanna Bowery, Marketing 10-May-06

Former Allied Domecq global vice-president and Jaguar Racing Formula One marketing director Stephen Sparrow has launched the UK's first ethical vodka.

Snow Leopard Vodka will give 15% of its profits to the Snow Leopard
Trust, which was founded in 1981 to protect the endangered animal and
its central Asian habitat. The company is looking to donate more than

$1m (£543,000) a year to the trust.

The vodka, which is made in the Polmos Lublin distillery in Poland using
traditional Spelt grains, is being promoted as a premium brand. It will
be sold in prestige retailers, including Harvey Nichols, priced £36, as well as in high-end clubs and bars.

Eight upmarket London restaurants and bars, including Claridge's and
Sketch, will create signature cocktails using the vodka.

Vodka sales have grown 21% in the past five years, according to
Datamonitor, and are predicted to match whisky's £3.8bn sales by
2010.