SMIRNOFF PURE PARTY VODKA BREWERY DISTILLERY BAR TAVERN RED RUBBER BANNER SIGN

Description

This auction is for a used red rubber banner sign that says SMIRNOFF PURE PARTY.  The rubber sign has red background with white The sign has some age wear fading & dusty look!  I did not try to clean it!  The sign is shaped rectangle and measures about 1/4" thick x 3 1/8" tall x 23" long. Here is some history:
Smirnoff
is a brand of
vodka
owned and produced by the
British
company
Diageo
. The Smirnoff brand began with a
vodka
distillery
founded in
Moscow
by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898).
[
1
]
It is now distributed in 130 countries. It is produced in several countries including
India
,
[
2
]
Ireland,
Italy
, the United Kingdom and the United States
[
3
]
Smirnoff products include
vodka
,
flavoured vodka
, and
malt beverages
. In March 2006, Diageo North America claimed that Smirnoff vodka was the best-selling distilled spirit brand in the world.
[
4
]
History
Pyotr Smirnov founded his vodka distillery in Moscow in the 1860s under the trading name of PA Smirnoff, pioneering charcoal filtration in the 1870s, and becoming the first to utilize newspaper ads along with
charitable
contributions to the
clergy
to stifle anti-vodka
sermons
, capturing two-thirds of the Moscow market by 1886. His brand was reportedly a Tsar favorite. When Pyotr died, he was succeeded by his third son
Vladimir Smirnov
(? - 1939). The company flourished and produced more than 4 million cases of vodka per year.
In 1904, the Tsar nationalized the Russian vodka industry and Vladimir Smirnov was forced to sell his factory and brand. During the
October Revolution
of 1917, the Smirnov family had to flee the country. Vladimir Smirnov re-established a factory in 1920 in
Constantinople
(present day
Istanbul
). Four years later he moved to
Lwów
(formerly
Poland
, now
Lviv
,
Ukraine
) and started to sell the vodka under the contemporary
French
spelling of the name, "Smirnoff". The new product sold marginally well but not nearly as it had in Russia prior to 1904. An additional distillery was founded in
Paris
in 1925 however the company was a shadow of its former self.
In the 1930s, Vladimir met Rudolph Kunett, a Russian who had emigrated to America in 1920. The Kunett family had been a supplier of grains to Smirnoff in Moscow before the Revolution. In 1933, Vladimir sold Kunett the right to begin producing Smirnoff vodka in North America. However, the business in America was not as successful as Kunett had hoped. In 1938 Kunett could not afford to pay for the necessary sales licences, and contacted John Martin, president of
Heublein
, who agreed to buy the rights to Smirnoff for the value of the distilling equipment. His board thought he was mad. Americans were traditionally whiskey drinkers unfamiliar with vodka and so sales were very slow. In a marketing move they changed the product to use whiskey corks instead and branded it as a "white whiskey" with "no taste, no smell".
[
5
]
Sales picked up considerably after that.
In 1982, the
R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
acquired Heublein Inc. for .4 billion.
RJR Nabisco
sold the division to
Grand Metropolitan
in 1987.
[
6
]
Grand Metropolitan merged with
Guinness
to form
Diageo
in 1997.
Since the 1990s
[
edit
]
This section
possibly contains
original research
.
Please
improve it
by
verifying
the claims made and adding
inline citations
. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed.
(December 2013)
A bottle of Smirnoff Red Label vodka, No. 21.
In 1990, the Berlin Wall came down and Helmut Kohl made a deal with Gorbachev allowing the reunification of Germany provided the Soviet army could remain in East Germany due to acute and widely known problem of living quarters availability in the
Soviet Union
and be paid by West Germany for three years. Suddenly 500,000 Soviet soldiers were paid in hard currency and had almost nothing to do except drink. They then proceeded to spend their currency on Marlboro cigarettes, Levi jeans and Smirnoff vodka. The US-made variety of Smirnoff vodka was especially popular.
The London office of Heublein was inundated with orders and the Vice President, Jeremy Collis, set about exploiting this "gusher" to the fullest extent possible. Huge in-store Smirnoff displays were set up in the Russian army stores and the officers' messes were renamed Smirnoff Clubs. Individual messes started serving in excess of 200 litres a night of Smirnoff. The Soviet forces became the biggest market in Europe for Smirnoff outside the UK. Smirnoff was shipped to Germany at the rate of 20,000 bottles a day.
Moskovskaya
and
Stolichnaya
's market share in Germany dropped from 100% to almost nothing.
Seeing the popularity of Smirnoff amongst the Russian troops, Collis set about trying to sell Smirnoff vodka directly into the USSR. The entire vodka market in the Western world at that stage was 60 million cases (Source: M. Shanken Publications: "Impact" 1991) but the USSR market was believed to be over 200 million cases (Source: "Impact"1991). The first containers were shipped into Leningrad in 1991 where Collis had appointed a distributor, Empire Brands Inc.
Empire Brands was established by Sergey Titov, a former interpreter with no prior commercial experience. In Soviet Russia almost no one had 'commercial experience' so Titov became a model for expanding distribution across the country. Collis went from town to town trying to find suitable individuals who could be taught how business worked - buying, warehousing, distributing and selling at a profit. The plan was to establish approved distributors in each major town and give them exclusive rights for that town because there were numerous towns with populations over 100,000 which each had the potential to be as large a market for Smirnoff vodka as the whole of Belgium or Holland or a US state like Connecticut. Outside the Soviet state apparatus there were no national organisations that could market and distribute Smirnoff.
The demand for Smirnoff vodka was such that if properly managed and the opportunity grasped, the Russian market alone could double the size of IDV, already the biggest drinks company in the world. The communists had banned Smirnoff from Russia for 70 years and in the most extreme example of 'denial marketing' this had created both awareness and demand on an extraordinary scale. Every Russian had heard of Smirnoff vodka and everyone thought it must be the best because they weren't allowed to have it. Collis believed that in 1991, selling Smirnoff in the USSR represented the biggest opportunity for a consumer product in the history of marketing. But he then made a big mistake by telling this to the Board of IDV. As a consequence, every director in IDV wanted to be part of this amazing success story and Collis found himself being squeezed out by other directors with no knowledge or experience of either the USSR or the brand. One director in particular managed to persuade the Board that exclusive distribution rights should be given to one man in Moscow - a Greek mafioso character called Spiros with no marketing or distribution experience, staff, or infrastructure. Many people subsequently believed that major corruption must have been involved. This appointment proved disastrous as established customers were cut off from buying Smirnoff unless they made illegal hard currency payments to Spiros's company.
During the 1990s one of Piotr Smirnov's descendants started producing Smirnov (Смирновъ) vodka in Russia, claiming to be "The Only Real Smirnov".
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]
After a number of lawsuits, Smirnoff successfully reclaimed its trademark, while in 2006
Diageo
concluded a joint venture deal with the Smirnov company.
[
8
]
The Smirnoff company had the naming rights to the
Smirnoff Music Centre
, a concert amphitheater in
Dallas, Texas
from 2000-2008.
[
9
]
They also sponsored the
Smirnoff Underbelly
, a major venue at the
Edinburgh Fringe
.
In the late 1990s, Smirnoff introduced a series of new products onto the
UK
and later the
European
and
North American
market, which quickly became popular among young people, especially within the
club scene
(See "
Alcopops
").
There are two different products by the name of
Smirnoff Ice
. One, sold in France and the United States, is a citrus-flavoured
malt beverage
(5.0%
ABV
) with variants in "Original," and "Triple Black." The other, sold in Europe (excluding France), Latin America, Australia and Canada, is a premixed vodka drink. It also has variants in "Original" and "Black Ice" (or in some markets, "Triple Black" or "Double Black"), ranging from 4.5% in the
UK
, to 7%
ABV
in different markets.
The Smirnoff Ice marketed in the USA does not actually contain vodka according to the official Smirnoff website.
[
10
]
It is more similar to beer than to vodka, primarily because it is brewed. However outside of the USA and countries who receive US manufactured vodka it does contain Smirnoff Vodka No. 21.
Smirnoff Ice Twisted
was a spin-off of the American Smirnoff Ice that featured flavors such as Mandarin Orange and Green Apple. The confusion in branding between Smirnoff Twist Vodka and Smirnoff Twisted Malt Beverage resulted in the decision to drop the "Twisted" from the flavored line of Smirnoff Ice. Current Smirnoff Ice flavors include Watermelon, Wild Grape, Passionfruit, Mango, Triple Black, Pomegranate Fusion, Arctic Berry (Blueberry), Green Apple Bite, Strawberry Acai, Pineapple and Raspberry Burst. It is sold in 22 oz. [650 ml] bottles and six-packs of 12 oz. [355 ml] bottles.
The next line of Smirnoff's malt beverages to be produced was "Raw Teas", similar to the brand
Twisted Tea
. It comes in flavors such as Lemon, Peach, Raspberry and Green Tea. This product line has been marketed most notably with the "
Tea Partay
" music video and website. It is sold in six-packs of 12 oz. [355 ml] bottles.
Smirnoff Source
, a lightly carbonated beer-alternative, was released in May 2007. It is citrus-flavoured and made with alcohol (3.5% ABV) and spring water and is sold in 4-packs of 1-quart [947 ml] bottles.
A line of 22
flavoured vodkas
with the "Twist" moniker appended on the end of the name have also been introduced. Flavours include Green Apple, Orange, Cranberry, Raspberry, Citrus (Lemon), Vanilla, Strawberry, Black Cherry, Watermelon, Lime, Blueberry, White Grape, Melon (Honeydew/Cantaloupe), Pomegranate, Passion Fruit, Pear, Peach, Pineapple, Mango and most recently Coconut, Whipped Cream and Marshmallow.
Smirnoff trialed in the UK and Canada during 2004 a new blend of vodka entitled Smirnoff Penka. Marketing and distribution was handled by The Reserve Brands of Diageo plc. As of 2007
[update]
Penka continues to be available in the UK.
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]
In a 2005
New York Times
blind tasting of 21 world-class vodkas, Smirnoff won as the "hands-down favorite".
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]
The newest addition to the Smirnoff family is the Cocktail Range, which was introduced in 2010. Pomegranate Martini with Meyer Lemon flavoured Liquor and pomegranate juice, Mojito with a dash of mint and kaffir lime and Grand Cosmopilitan with cranberry juice.
[
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]
Tuscan Lemonade and Savannah Tea were later added.
This sign would make a nice addition for a vodka whiskey bourbon beer ale draft malt bavarian nightclub tavern bar can mug stein brewery tourist souvenior hobby collector, a person to wear on a jacket shirt hat, or gift. Please view my other auctions and ebay store for more beer & novelty patches bottle openers several ash trays gun patches such as Colt, Remington, Ruger, Winchester, Taurus, toys, cigar boxes, boy scouts hunting license speed racer vase, tonka toys, and other collectibles. I will be happy to combine lots to save on shipping. believe in recycling and will try to ship your item(s)with recycled materials and packages.
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Import duties, taxes and charges are
not included
in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility. Please check with your country’s customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying.” “These charges are normally collected by the delivering freight (shipping) company or when you pick the item up – do not confuse them for additional shipping charges.” “We do not mark merchandise values below value or mark items as ‘gifts’ - US and International government regulations prohibit such behavior.”
All buyers to pay within 5 days of ending date of auction.
I ACCEPT PAYPAL FROM BOTH U.S.A. BUYERS AND INTERNATIONAL BUYERS! Thanks for viewing my auction. Good luck bidding! I WILL NOT SELL TO THE MIDDLE EAST!