Martin, John G. (1905–1986), was a businessman and entrepreneur who was largely responsible for establishing a foothold for vodka in the United States. Vodka had little name recognition and no consumer base in 1939 when Martin, the president of the Hartford-based Heublein Inc., bought the US rights to produce Smirnoff vodka—a Russian legacy brand set adrift by the 1917 revolution—from Rudolph Kunett (1893–1979), a Ukrainian immigrant who had been manufacturing the spirit under license in Bethel, Connecticut, with limited success. He paid $14,000. In 1956, Martin bought the licensor, the Paris branch of the Smirnoff company, thus cornering the global market for the brand. Facing an American public that favored whisky, Heublein pushed vodka’s versatility as a mixer. This approach first struck gold when Martin and Jack Morgan, the owner of the Cock ’n Bull restaurant in Los Angeles and a producer of ginger beer, invented the Moscow Mule. Martin followed the success of that cocktail with heavy promotion of the Screwdriver, Bloody Mary, Bull Shot, and other vodka-based drinks. See Bloody Mary; Moscow Mule; and Screwdriver. Heublein also proved adept at advertising the new spirit. Ads from the 1950s used desert imagery to sell the dryness of a Smirnoff Martini. Celebrities such as Woody Allen and Zsa Zsa Gabor were drafted to plug the product. Most famous, and influential, was the ad tagline “It Leaves You Breathless,” which promoted the social advantages of vodka being an odorless spirit. All of this led to exponential growth in the brand’s sales throughout the 1950s.
Martin was chairman of Heublein from 1961 until 1982, when the company was acquired by R. J. Reynolds Industries. Thereafter, he retired. By then, Smirnoff was the bestselling vodka brand in the world and one of the bestselling spirits overall. Born in England and Cambridge-educated, Martin nonetheless favored the American side of his dual citizenship, and served with distinction in the United States Army in World War II, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.
See also Smirnoff.
“John G. Martin Dies; Popularizer of Vodka.” New York Times, May 31, 1986.
By: Robert Simonson