New #GoghGirl campaign celebrates the empowerment of women everywhere
Louisville, KY (March 3, 2020)— In celebration of women and the strength they embody, Van Gogh Vodka created a new female empowerment campaign: #GoghGirl. The company teamed up with artist Kate Worum to design its first limited-edition custom label for its signature 80-proof vodka. Based on the brand’s namesake artist, Worum’s design is an homage to Oleanders by Vincent Van Gogh. The bottle will also prominently feature the words #GoghGirl, a hashtag that shows support and encouragement to all women. It will be available at retail in early March.
International Women’s Day is celebrated by women of all cultures every year on March 8. This special bottle and tie in to IWD is a signal to consumers that Van Gogh Vodka believes in empowering women and celebrating their accomplishments, while striving for gender parity. Van Gogh is committed to its strong female consumer base and wanted to pay homage to women everywhere by partnering with a female artist and bartender for a new annual campaign, #GoghGirl. Van Gogh is also donating $1 per bottle sold of this limited edition offering to ArtTable, an organization dedicated to advancing the leadership of women in the visual arts.
According the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the painting is on exhibit, Van Gogh once described oleanders as joyous, life-affirming flowers that bloomed “inexhaustibly” and were always “putting out strong new shoots.” Worum thought this painting was a perfect inspiration for her label designed to celebrate empowered women and their strength and beauty.
“I love to bring joy (to my work) just by bringing color and beautiful art that makes people feel good,” says Worum. “When I thought about designing the label, I sat down and looked through all of his paintings and when I came across the Oleanders painting, I knew that was one I just wanted to take an element of and then build off it.” When asked what she wanted to accomplish with the design, she said, “I want them (consumers) to walk into a store, see it on the shelf and say, ‘That needs to go on my bar cart.’ “
Another significant part of this campaign is celebrating women in the cocktail world with on-premise activations. Van Gogh has partnered with Johnny Caldwell and Taneka Reaves—the Cocktail Bandits—who travel extensively to educate other bartenders and restaurateurs. Their focus is always on female empowerment through advocacy in the worlds of food and beverage. The Bandits published their first book, Holy Spirits!, to introduce the world to an overview of Charleston cocktail culture from their unique, urban perspective. They have created a signature cocktail, The Rose Gold, that will be featured in bars across the country beginning on Mother’s Day.
As the exclusive importer of Van Gogh Vodka, 375 Park Avenue Spirits CEO Jason Schladenhauffen shared that this initiative hit close to home for him. “I’ve been privileged to be surrounded by strong women my entire life, starting with my mother and grandmother and most recently my wife, who amazes me every day with her ability to do it all. The #GoghGirl initiative is intended to showcase our support and encouragement to women everywhere and hopefully, much like our namesake’s paintings, can serve as inspiration to women during all of life’s moments. We knew we wanted to work with a strong, talented woman to create our first custom label and could not be happier with what Kate created,” he said. “The nod to the original Van Gogh painting, but mixed with her own style and creativity, has created a beautiful label and bottle that we think our customers and consumers will love.”
This is not the first time that Van Gogh Vodka is partnering with artists, but it is a first for custom label design. In the past, the brand has commissioned artwork for its Art of the Cocktail event celebrated in honor of International Artist Day. Held in Charleston, SC, commissions for the two events held to date were created by Charleston-based artists Stephen Elliott Webb and Kyle Stuckey.
Van Gogh Vodka is a created from a careful blend and balancing of wheat that is sourced from three different countries—France, Germany and Holland. By blending the wheats and using only the best ingredients available, the vodka goes through a multi-step distillation creating a smooth, vibrant flavor great for mixing into cocktails or drinking alone. Van Gogh decided to launch this special bottle in honor of women everywhere who seek balance in their lives every day, juggling motherhood, careers and relationships of all kinds. We salute them!
Van Gogh Vodka Limited Edition bottles will be available at retail beginning on March 8, 2020. The bottles are only available in 750 ml, and in limited quantities. It is anticipated they will sell out quickly, so consumers are encouraged to get theirs today.
About Van Gogh Vodka
Award-winning Van Gogh Vodka is crafted in small batches by third generation Master Distiller Tim Vos at Distillery Cooymans International in Tilburg, Holland. The portfolio consists of 15 signature expressions: Van Gogh Vodka, Açai-Blueberry, Citroen, Cool Peach, Dutch Caramel, Dutch Chocolate, Double Espresso®, Espresso, Mango, Melon, Oranje, Pineapple, Pomegranate, Raspberry, Vanilla, and Wild Appel. For more information on Van Gogh, please visit us at vangoghvodka.com.
About Kate Worum
Worum is co-owner of By She She, a custom wallpaper and design company, and is a print and pattern designer for Target® home brands. She works out of her studio in Minneapolis, MN. She has brought beautiful designs and artwork to life for top global brands including Nike®, CB2® and Urban Outfitters®, and she sometimes sells prints in an online store that she designs based on timely cultural trends and pop culture figures.
About The Cocktail Bandits
Johnny Caldwell and Taneka Reaves are the dynamic duo known around the globe as the curly haired Cocktail Bandits. The full-time Charleston Ambassadors met as Freshmen at the College of Charleston. Now, as the Cocktail Bandits, they promote female empowerment through advocacy for the food and beverage community from a feminine, urban perspective.
The curly ladies who talk cocktails daily, educate and entertain their growing blog audience by sharing original cocktail recipes, promoting the craftsmanship of other bar professionals and sharing their experiences at foodie events all around the Holy City and beyond.
About ArtTable
ArtTable is the foremost professional organization dedicated to advancing the leadership of women in the visual arts. Through our national membership network and community initiatives, we expand opportunities for women from diverse backgrounds and at all stages of their careers, fostering a stronger future for all women in the arts.
ArtTable members can connect with the 1200+ members spread across their 9 active, chapters located in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC, and gain a network of professional peers across the country.