Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art Net Present Value (NPV) / MBA Resources

Introduction to Net Present Value (NPV) - What is Net Present Value (NPV) ? How it impacts financial decisions regarding project management?

NPV solution for Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art case study

At Oak Spring University, we provide corporate level professional Net Present Value (NPV) case study solution. Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art case study is a Harvard Business School (HBR) case study written by David Dubois, Frederic Godart, Brian Henry, Vadim Grigorian. The Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art (referred as “Absolut Aspirational” from here on) case study provides evaluation & decision scenario in field of Sales & Marketing. It also touches upon business topics such as - Value proposition, .

The net present value (NPV) of an investment proposal is the present value of the proposal’s net cash flows less the proposal’s initial cash outflow. If a project’s NPV is greater than or equal to zero, the project should be accepted.

NPV = Present Value of Future Cash Flows LESS Project’s Initial Investment

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Case Description of Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art Case Study

The case goes back in time to the 'golden age' of Absolut when contemporary artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring painted the unusual bottle to the amazement of the global arts community. The nearly accidental collaboration with artists in the glorious years turned the brand into a must-have aspirational drink to be consumed at chic bars and art fairs. Based on the vivid recollections of Vadim Grigorian (INSEAD MBA '00J), the case uncovers the awakening of new paradigm, the brand as acultural agent of contemporary art in consumer society. In his retelling of these events, hitherto unknown, the marketing executive recaptures the essence of Absolut during its hey day from the mid-1980s to 2011 in an exquisitely told and unusual account of cultural engagement.

Case Authors : David Dubois, Frederic Godart, Brian Henry, Vadim Grigorian

Topic : Sales & Marketing

Related Areas :

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 6% for Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art Case Study

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 6 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10008250)	-10008250	-	-
Year 1	3444179	-6564071	3444179	0.9434	3249225
Year 2	3955809	-2608262	7399988	0.89	3520656
Year 3	3975055	1366793	11375043	0.8396	3337533
Year 4	3250056	4616849	14625099	0.7921	2574349
TOTAL			14625099		12681763

The Net Present Value at 6% discount rate is 2673513

In isolation the NPV number doesn't mean much but put in right context then it is one of the best method to evaluate project returns. In this article we will cover -

Different methods of capital budgeting

What is NPV & Formula of NPV,
How it is calculated,
How to use NPV number for project evaluation, and
Scenario Planning given risks and management priorities.

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Capital Budgeting Approaches

Methods of Capital Budgeting

There are four types of capital budgeting techniques that are widely used in the corporate world –

1. Net Present Value
2. Payback Period
3. Profitability Index
4. Internal Rate of Return

Apart from the Payback period method which is an additive method, rest of the methods are based on Discounted Cash Flow technique. Even though cash flow can be calculated based on the nature of the project, for the simplicity of the article we are assuming that all the expected cash flows are realized at the end of the year.

Discounted Cash Flow approaches provide a more objective basis for evaluating and selecting investment projects. They take into consideration both –

1. Magnitude of both incoming and outgoing cash flows – Projects can be capital intensive, time intensive, or both. Absolut Aspirational shareholders have preference for diversified projects investment rather than prospective high income from a single capital intensive project.
2. Timing of the expected cash flows – stockholders of Absolut Aspirational have higher preference for cash returns over 4-5 years rather than 10-15 years given the nature of the volatility in the industry.

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Formula and Steps to Calculate Net Present Value (NPV) of Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art

NPV = Net Cash In Flowt1 / (1+r)t1 + Net Cash In Flowt2 / (1+r)t2 + … Net Cash In Flowtn / (1+r)tn
Less Net Cash Out Flowt0 / (1+r)t0

Where t = time period, in this case year 1, year 2 and so on.
r = discount rate or return that could be earned using other safe proposition such as fixed deposit or treasury bond rate. Net Cash In Flow – What the firm will get each year.
Net Cash Out Flow – What the firm needs to invest initially in the project.

Step 1 – Understand the nature of the project and calculate cash flow for each year.
Step 2 – Discount those cash flow based on the discount rate.
Step 3 – Add all the discounted cash flow.
Step 4 – Selection of the project

Why Sales & Marketing Managers need to know Financial Tools such as Net Present Value (NPV)?

In our daily workplace we often come across people and colleagues who are just focused on their core competency and targets they have to deliver. For example marketing managers at Absolut Aspirational often design programs whose objective is to drive brand awareness and customer reach. But how that 30 point increase in brand awareness or 10 point increase in customer touch points will result into shareholders’ value is not specified.

To overcome such scenarios managers at Absolut Aspirational needs to not only know the financial aspect of project management but also needs to have tools to integrate them into part of the project development and monitoring plan.

Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 15%

After working through various assumptions we reached a conclusion that risk is far higher than 6%. In a reasonably stable industry with weak competition - 15% discount rate can be a good benchmark.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 15 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10008250)	-10008250	-	-
Year 1	3444179	-6564071	3444179	0.8696	2994938
Year 2	3955809	-2608262	7399988	0.7561	2991160
Year 3	3975055	1366793	11375043	0.6575	2613663
Year 4	3250056	4616849	14625099	0.5718	1858230
TOTAL					10457991

The Net NPV after 4 years is 449741

(10457991 - 10008250 )

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Calculating Net Present Value (NPV) at 20%

If the risk component is high in the industry then we should go for a higher hurdle rate / discount rate of 20%.

Years	Cash Flow	Net Cash Flow	Cumulative     Cash Flow	Discount Rate @ 20 %	Discounted Cash Flows
Year 0	(10008250)	-10008250	-	-
Year 1	3444179	-6564071	3444179	0.8333	2870149
Year 2	3955809	-2608262	7399988	0.6944	2747090
Year 3	3975055	1366793	11375043	0.5787	2300379
Year 4	3250056	4616849	14625099	0.4823	1567350
TOTAL					9484967

The Net NPV after 4 years is -523283

At 20% discount rate the NPV is negative (9484967 - 10008250 ) so ideally we can't select the project if macro and micro factors don't allow financial managers of Absolut Aspirational to discount cash flow at lower discount rates such as 15%.

Acceptance Criteria of a Project based on NPV

Simplest Approach – If the investment project of Absolut Aspirational has a NPV value higher than Zero then finance managers at Absolut Aspirational can ACCEPT the project, otherwise they can reject the project. This means that project will deliver higher returns over the period of time than any alternate investment strategy.

In theory if the required rate of return or discount rate is chosen correctly by finance managers at Absolut Aspirational, then the stock price of the Absolut Aspirational should change by same amount of the NPV. In real world we know that share price also reflects various other factors that can be related to both macro and micro environment.

In the same vein – accepting the project with zero NPV should result in stagnant share price. Finance managers use discount rates as a measure of risk components in the project execution process.

Sensitivity Analysis

Project selection is often a far more complex decision than just choosing it based on the NPV number. Finance managers at Absolut Aspirational should conduct a sensitivity analysis to better understand not only the inherent risk of the projects but also how those risks can be either factored in or mitigated during the project execution. Sensitivity analysis helps in –

What can impact the cash flow of the project.

What will be a multi year spillover effect of various taxation regulations.

What are the key aspects of the projects that need to be monitored, refined, and retuned for continuous delivery of projected cash flows.

What are the uncertainties surrounding the project Initial Cash Outlay (ICO’s). ICO’s often have several different components such as land, machinery, building, and other equipment.

Understanding of risks involved in the project.

Some of the assumptions while using the Discounted Cash Flow Methods –

Projects are assumed to be Mutually Exclusive – This is seldom the came in modern day giant organizations where projects are often inter-related and rejecting a project solely based on NPV can result in sunk cost from a related project.

Independent projects have independent cash flows – As explained in the marketing project – though the project may look independent but in reality it is not as the brand awareness project can be closely associated with the spending on sales promotions and product specific advertising.

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Negotiation Strategy of Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art

References & Further Readings

David Dubois, Frederic Godart, Brian Henry, Vadim Grigorian (2018), "Building an Aspirational High-End Brand through Cultural Engagement: Absolut Vodka's Love Affair with Art Harvard Business Review Case Study. Published by HBR Publications.