Roux, Michel (1940–2019), revolutionized the marketing of spirits. Every now and then, exceptional people mark their field. This is the case with Roux, who was behind some of the most remarkable success stories in the world of spirits.
Born in the Cognac region of France, Michel Pierre Roux made his career in the United States, where he resided until his death. “I had nothing to lose, everything to gain” he said, explaining his emigration from France to America in 1964 after the war in Algeria, where he was a lieutenant in the paratroops. A graduate of the University of Strasbourg with a degree in hotel management and oenology, he got his start in America working in the catering business in Houston, Texas. Beginning in 1965, he opened a string of restaurants in that state. The Table Royal in Corpus Christi, billed as the city’s “only Café Society restaurant,” gives an idea of the style of these.
In 1970, Roux was hired as the first salesperson for Carillon Importers Ltd., a wine and spirits importing and distribution subsidiary of Grand Metropolitan (which later became Diageo). At first, Roux focused on wine, even writing a guide to burgundy and one to Bordeaux. In 1979, however, the Swedish state-owned Vin & Sprit partnered with Carillon and Roux to launch its Absolut vodka brand in the United States, and Roux took responsibility for its marketing.
Although the country was in the throes of a recession, Roux and his team decided to position Absolut at the top of the pyramid, with a price 25 percent above its competitors, making it the first “super-premium” vodka in modern history. To help market the brand, Roux hired Andy Warhol to interpret the distinctive round-shouldered, tubby Absolut bottle (Roux was always an avid art collector). Under the direction of the TBWA agency, creative advertising campaigns kept coming, drawing on the contributions of many artists, musicians, and graphic designers to turn the Absolut bottle into a modern icon. The immediate success of his efforts propelled Roux to the head of Carillon in 1982. In 1993, Absolut smashed sales records with 4 million cases sold in the United States within one year.
Other successes marking Michel Roux’s career include taking over Grand Marnier liqueur in the United States in the mid-1970s, when it only sold 12,000 cases a year, and repositioning it upmarket; this turned it into a symbol of affordable luxury and increased sales to 470,000 cases a year by 1993. Bombay Sapphire gin’s blue bottle was also his idea. With its juniper-light flavor and enticing, modern packaging, Sapphire enticed a new generation of consumers to rediscover gin. And when Roux assumed control of marketing Stolichnaya vodka in the United States, he launched a whole range of flavorings; this was years before other brands’ flavored versions invaded liquor store shelves.
Roux left Carillon and Absolut in 1998, having built the vodka from 100,000 cases a year to 4.5 million in the US alone, and founded his own firm, Crillon Importers. Crillon continues to handle a portfolio of boutique brands, including Barbancourt rum and Wyborova vodka. In the twilight of his life, Michel Roux remained convinced that one must pursue “learning all the time” (because “energy lies there”) and that “spirits are wonderful products—they tell the story of the world.”
See also Absolut; Grand Marnier; and Stolichnaya.
Lewis, Jack. “Importer Likes Our ‘Tastes.’” Scrantonian, October 30, 1983, 3–4.
Roux, Michel, with Jay Cheshes and Sheri de Borchgrave. My Absolut Life. N.p.: Absolut Co., 2014.
By: Alexandre Gabriel