What Spells Success for Celebrity-Owned Alcohol Brands

George Clooney co-founded Casamigos tequila in 2013. Four years later, the trio of founders cashed in on its success in a big way by selling the company to alcohol conglomerate Diageo for $1 billion. Clooney’s success has inspired scores of celebrities to follow him into the alcohol industry. Months after Casamigos sold, actor Ryan Reynolds bought Aviation Gin, which Diageo acquired in a deal worth up to $610 million. Rapper Travis Scott partnered with Anheuser-Busch from the get-go on the new agave-based hard seltzer, Cacti, which boosted the beer maker's overall market share in the category by more than three percentage points in its first week. The list of celebrity-owned brands also includes names like Jay-Z, Jamie Foxx, LeBron James, Drew Barrymore and Post Malone. But succeeding requires more than just a bottle of alcohol and a famous face. The brand narrative has to be authentic, which some argue is easier when the celebrity is financially invested, and each side has to maintain good standing with consumers. Communicating authenticity For Post Malone’s Maison No. 9, a rosé launched last year in partnership with his manager, Dre London, and entrepreneur James Morrissey of Global Brand Equities, the brand narrative is rooted in the musician’s genuine love for rosé. But it was Morrissey who first saw the opportunity to bring something new to rosé, the fastest growing wine category, according to Nielsen. “All of our messaging is designed to be a little edgier,” Morrissey explained. “Our communications strategy and rollout plan was much more disruptive than the traditional players.” That meant sharing hints with fans and building up a following among a dedicated consumer base. Maison No. 9, which generated $12 million in retail sales by selling out its first batch in 2020, targets consumers between ages 21 and 34. “The best-case scenarios are the George Clooneys,” said Larry Waks, a transactional and intellectual property attorney who worked on deals including Casamigos, Cacti, Aviation Gin and Lobos 1707, a new tequila brand that James recently invested in. For investors like Clooney and Reynolds, “it's not just a hobby, it is part of what they do,” Waks continued. “They're really contributing and care about the success of the brand and the image of the brand. That's sometimes that's hard to discern going in.” While Anheuser-Busch declined to share the financial details of Scott's Cacti deal, the partnership offers another model for a more involved celebrity partner—though this one is still in the early stages, having launched in March. "We built Cacti together," said Lana Buchanan, Anheuser-Busch's vp of marketing beyond beer. It's "truly something Anheuser-Busch has never done before." A Push for Greater Diversity Despite the success of trailblazing brands like Jay-Z's Armand de Brignac (also known as Ace of Spaces), Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Cocktails and Cîroc Vodka, which Sean "Diddy" Combs led to success, the world of celebrity-owned alcohol brands remains predominantly white—and overwhelmingly male. And while many new entrants are reinforcing that lopsided majority, a few Black-owned and Black-run brands have made it their mission to improve opportunity for women and people of color in the space. Lobos 1707 tequila, led by CEO Dia Simms and owned in part by LeBron James, built diversity and inclusion into its brand positioning. Actor Jamie Foxx's BSB-Brown Sugar Bourbon is aiming to "change the world" and the beverage industry as a Black-led and Black-owned brand while ensuring that it offers a unique story and product to consumers, said CEO Sean Penn. Power shifts to celebrities The rise in celebrity-owned alcohol brands also represents a new power shift. Previously, it was the brands who retained control over most aspects of a product. Now, celebrities are “recognizing their power of adding value in the whole value chain, and then pushing that into labeling, into manufacturing and into ownership,” Christie Nordhielm, marketing professor at Georgetown University, said. That shift creates a different risk landscape for these deals, Nordhielm said. Historically, companies have seen celebrities as the primary source of risk. “Now the celebrity needs to watch out for what the brand does because their integration is stronger," she said. Moving forward, it seems unlikely that the rush of celebrity-owned brands entering the alcohol space will slow anytime soon, but it might get more competitive. The shelves are getting more crowded, and recent success stories like Reynolds' Aviation Gin and Scott's Cacti only serve as a greater endorsement of the category itself. "I think there are more people going into the market than success is going to allow," Morrissey said. "The people who are best equipped—from a core industry standpoint, rather than just a celebrity standpoint—are going to do better."

Alcohol Industry News

Every Celebrity Has an Alcohol Brand—but What Spells Success?

The ownership trend offers more power to personalities and greater opportunities for authentic storytelling

Kathryn Lundstrom

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Kathryn Lundstrom