Pernod Ricard-owned Absolut Vodka is taking advantage of the larger iPhone 5 screen size with a revamped app that helps users concoct their favorite cocktails.

The Drinkspiration iPhone app incorporates more than 500 cocktail recipes and is available for free download from Apple?s App Store. The app is also available for Android and iPad devices.

?We believe in both native apps and mobile sites, it depends of the context,? said Marco Guzman, digital manager at Absolut, Stockholm.

?When the first version of Drinkspiration was launched summer 2009 we created it based on the insight that the average person couldn't tell name more than five drinks by name,? he said.

?They were limited in a bar context when ordering drinks. That was our starting point. Also, in a bar context you don't always have a 3G connection or Wi-Fi so we decided to create a native iPhone app to maximize the experience.?

Holiday cheer
The Drinkspiration app was originally launched in 2009 and has been redesigned with the new shape of the iPhone 5 in mind.

When users open the app, they are asked to pick from four different cocktails to help curatre relevant content.

Several hundred new cocktail recipes have been added to the app.

Recipes include step-by-step directions and video clips.

The app also includes a feature to make the text larger, which is meant to help bartenders read recipes from a distance.

Once users find a cocktail they like, they can check-in to nearby locations and share their favorite drinks to friends and family via Facebook and Twitter.

Additionally, users can browse through similar drinks on recipe pages.

Consumers can also become mixologists by following lesson plans that walk through the steps involved in preparing drinks.

The collections tab lets users save their favorite cocktails and create shopping lists that can be emailed.

App longevity
Absolut has been active with its Drinkspiration app for a few years now.

For instance, after launching for iPhone devices in 2009, the company then expanded Drinkspiration to Android and iPad devices (see story).

Additionally, Pernod Ricard recently rolled out a mobile app to help launch the Oddka by Wyborowa line of vodka (see story).

The Absolut app works on a few different levels.

As a central hub of all of the brand?s content, the app gives consumers with an affinity for Absolut?s products a value for interacting with content through social media and shopping lists.

Additionally, the app is aimed at bar tenders as a resource, giving it a strong value proposition to be used repeatedly by users.

When it comes to mobile Web, Absolut takes a responsive design approach, per Mr. Guzman.

?We truly believe in responsive design and platform independence when it comes to online experiences,? Mr. Guzman said.

?However, we evaluate technology and possibilities from campaign to campaign,? he said. ?In our latest campaign with Swedish House Mafia we wanted to engage and create a true interaction with the consumers.
We created a remix tool where we invited users to create their own remix of the track, upload it to our servers and submit it to the remix competition.?

?This idea required Flash technology so we decided to develop it in Flash. But in these cases we always create a HTML5 version of the experience.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York