Gold standard: The meteoric rise of Au Vodka

Charlie Morgan had a taste of fame at a young age. Back in 2013, the then 17-year-old Swansea City ballboy made headlines after receiving a good kicking from Chelsea footballer Eden Hazard during a League Cup semi-final.

While Hazard was red-carded, Morgan became an internet sensation overnight. “I woke up the next day with something like 120,000 Twitter followers,” he recalls. “It was crazy. I was on the back page of every single newspaper in the UK.”

Today, things are far more cordial: in a recent tongue-in-cheek video, Hazard asked Morgan whether his ribs had recovered yet. But here, Morgan was calling the shots – he co-ordinated the stunt as one of the founders at Welsh spirits brand Au Vodka.

It’s typical of the standout social media strategy that helped Morgan build one of the biggest British booze success stories of the past decade, along with childhood friend Jackson Quinn.

Last year, Au stormed into The Grocer’s 100 Britain’s Biggest Alcohol Brands report in 75th place. Off-trade sales of the spirit swelled 71.3% to £41m [NIQ 52 w/e 21 April 2024]. It’s also a top five RTD brand, despite only launching cans in 2021 [NIQ 52 w/e 7 September 2024].

Now it has a shiny new HQ to go with its striking gold bottles. Just last month, Au moved into a £3m, 60,000 sq ft premises in Swansea, complete with a make-your-own flavoured vodka experience and a nine-hole mini golf course. “It’s a real statement of intent,” asserts Quinn. “We’ve reached the level where we’re perceived very aspirationally, and the new HQ reflects that.”

It’s testament to the drive of Morgan and Quinn, who set up Au in 2015 with a shared vision. They were inspired by booze brands like Hennessy, Armand de Brignac and Luc Belaire, which frequently appeared in the lyrics and music videos of US rappers. Identifying “a massive gap in the market”, they aimed to create a British vodka brand with a similar prestige, Quinn says.

Initially, Au struggled to gain momentum. Its founders were aged just 19 and 21 at the time, and were operating on a shoestring budget. As Morgan explains: “We were going into bars and stores trying to sell it and people would say: ‘I’ve never heard of it. Why would I pay more for this than Grey Goose?’”

The pair credit two hopeful punts for turning Au from Welsh also-ran to a global spirits powerhouse with nearly 100 employees, annual revenues of more than £70m, and presence in over 50 countries worldwide.

The first – a social media message to then BBC Radio 1Xtra presenter Charlie Sloth in 2017, asking if he wanted a bottle of vodka to try – introduced them to a world of musicians, celebrities and influencers able to promote Au to millions on social media.

Sloth – enamoured with the brand – bought a 20% stake after a meeting with Morgan and Quinn in a Caffè Nero. “He was the perfect pick,” Morgan says. “He had an unbelievable network. We wouldn’t have sold the stake we sold to him at the price we did to anyone else.”

Sales nonetheless remained sluggish for a while. “People loved the bottle. They’d buy it but then sit it on their cupboard shelf and never drink it,” Morgan says. “The rate of sale was just not there.”

So four years in and increasingly desperate, they took their second punt. They spent £2k – half their annual marketing budget at the time – on hiring a private jet. Sloth, meanwhile, helped recruit British rapper Fredo to star in the video for Au’s first flavoured vodka: Black Grape.

The campaign was a roaring success. “The private jet had to be pulled along; it didn’t actually fly,” Morgan says, laughing. “But the photos and video went insanely viral.”

Au’s move into flavoured vodka also helped appeal to a wider consumer base. “For the first time, people were interested in the taste,” says Morgan.

The brand has since brought out more flavours – from Blue Raspberry to Bubblegum. People are “drinking it, sharing it with friends and buying another one the next week”, he explains.

Riding the social media wave

Its now-trademark approach to marketing also proved pivotal during the upheaval of the pandemic. On social media, it doubled down, paying everyone from Floyd Mayweather to Ronaldinho to pose with its bottles.

The brand also ran ever more extravagant stunts – giving away a gold Mercedes and later a Lamborghini. “We felt if we could make ourselves the most exciting, disruptive vodka online there was a real opportunity,” says Quinn. The results were astonishing. Au grew by nearly 5,000% in the year to 30 April 2021, with turnover rocketing from just £700k to £38m.

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In 2023, the brand – flush with cash from a minority stake sale to private equity – paid YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul £200k to get a fake Au tattoo before fighting Tommy Fury. The stunt is Quinn’s favourite to date. “At that time, he was probably the most famous person on the planet,” he says. “The disruption of the moment was incredible.”

Granted, their antics haven’t always hit the mark. Au was twice reprimanded by the Portman Group in 2023 – the first for a gun-shaped piece of merchandise, the second for videos promoting its Pink Lemonade vodka. The content, the watchdog said, encouraged “irresponsible and/or aggressive behaviour” and linked Au’s drinks with “illicit drug use”.

Au defended the videos at the time, but Morgan now adopts a more conciliatory tone. “We’re doing stuff which is close to the line, and sometimes we’re going to cross it,” he says. “When we do, we need to hold our hands up and say sorry.”

Looking to the future, Au has the lofty ambition to become “Wales’ first-ever unicorn business, worth over £1bn”, Morgan says.

To do so, turnover would need to grow to somewhere between £150m-£200m annually. The brand is therefore eyeing further expansion overseas – specifically in the US, where it is currently sold in 35 states and plans to launch its RTDs this year.

Despite the US being awash with celebrity-backed spirits and flavoured vodkas, Au has no plans to change its products or its approach.

“Everyone keeps telling us to look at [doing a] tequila,” Quinn says. “It reminds me of the early days when everyone was saying we should do a gin. We’ve always stayed in our lane and owned our thing.”

Looking at the success of Au to date, it’s hard to argue with that approach.