Another Tasting

Had another tasting this past weekend, and garnered another investor, hurray!  And a second potential investor who's quite interested.

It's about the execution, or, Almost but not quite

So, even women get marketing to women wrong.  Link to article  However, it should be noted that this niche vodka is being started by Brown Foreman, one of the largest alcohol companies in the country.  I suspect that the women employees who created this brand and campaign were so used to "thinking inside the box" that they couldn't really be ground breaking.

From the Huffington Post:

Though there has been a lot of discussion in the news about who gets to make decisions about and for women these days, a new product is promising to relieve women of at least one "complicated" choice: what they drink. Little Black Dress Vodka's mission statement is to simplify the lives of the women it wishes to serve (or rather, be served to): "Too many people are intimidated by complicated cocktail recipes and ingredients. We wanted to design a brand all about women, accentuating ease and superb taste."

The company's press release announces that the brand is by women, for women (the concept, production, legal, brand management and finance heads are all women, according to the press release), and it's great to see female entrepreneurs going after a major share of the market -- women, after all, make 80 percent of household purchasing decisions. But it's hard to see why a group of women running their own liquor company (women who have arguably already reached some level of success in the liquor market) would imply that the "people" intimidated by complicated recipes are actually just one kind of people: the half of the population with an X chromosome.

Little Black Dress Vodka is only the latest alcohol brands to specifically target women with tired promises of ease, low calories and the cache of showing your "good taste" -- even while implying that women don't have the "taste" to discern between good and bad liquor without help.

So here's the bottom line:  the idea is a good one, BUT, it is all about execution.  And so far, none of the brands have got it right.

Here's a link to a more positive article, which highlights Brown Foreman's role:  http://www.marketwatch.com/story/brown-forman-designs-vodka-line-targeting-women-2012-02-22

Autumn berrries

From the Huffington Post. Would just point out we beat out the premium vodkas tested :-)

What's The Best-Tasting Vodka In America? (TASTE TEST)

The Huffington Post  |  By Kristen Aiken Posted: 10/04/2013 10:05 am EDT  |  Updated: 10/05/2013 9:45 am EDT

571

67

6

57

695

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Video, Absolut Vodka, Grey Goose, Ketel One, Absolut, Best Vodka, Drinking, Liquor, Liquor Taste Test, Smirnoff, Spirits, Stoli, Stolichnaya, Taste Tests, Taste Tests, Vodka, Vodka Taste Test, Worst Vodka, Taste News

Despite vodka being the No. 1 selling spirit in America, we're somewhat convinced that the majority of its fans are eating their meals in dining halls and walking around in pajama pants. Vodka isn't exactly a darling of the mixology community, but in terms of overall popularity, the numbers speak for themselves.

Last year, a consumer study revealed the top 5 vodkas preferred by American consumers, listing Grey Goose as the favorite. The study is in direct conflict with a2005 New York Times blind tasting of 21 world-class vodkas, which ranked Smirnoff the "hands-down favorite." So of course, HuffPost Taste had to put those top-5 finishers to the test.

We polled our newsroom to find both vodka lovers and haters, gathering tasters from opposite ends of the spectrum. We discovered that the vast majority of our newsroom abhors vodka, but there were a few vodka lovers (who ... happened to be young females). So …

Did our results align with America's? Check out the results of our taste test in the list below! And let us know where you stand by leaving a comment.

As always, this taste test is in no way sponsored or influenced by the brands included.

• #5: Stolichnaya (Stoli)
  Wendy George/The Huffington Post
  Origin: Russia
  Made with: Wheat and rye
  
  Comments: "POISON." "Tastes like straight rubbing alcohol." "An offense to humanity." "RUBBING ALCOHOL." "Please never make me drink again." "Really tough to drink and sickening." "Satan's piss."
• #4: Absolut
  Wendy George/The Huffington Post
  Origin: Sweden
  Made with: Wheat
  
  Comments: "Rubbing alcohol. This made me shudder." "It has a weirdly sweet aftertaste." "Oh god. Oh god. I feel like I'm being waterboarded." "Bitter and harsh. Yuck." "Too gross to drink." "This tastes like it's had something burnt soaked in it." "Smells like nail polish."
• #3: Ketel One
  Wendy George/The Huffington Post
  Origin: Netherlands
  Made with: Wheat
  
  Comments: "Pretty good. It's lacking that horrible sweetness some of the others have." "Not delicious, but basically inoffensive." "Spicy and going down smooth." "Not great but not gag-inducing."
• #2: Grey Goose
  Wendy George/The Huffington Post
  Origin: France
  Made with: Wheat
  
  Comments: "Slightly floral." "Smooth yet strong." "Yuck! Very sharp and acrid. Tastes like acetone." "I'd like this for martinis." "This reminds me of rubbing alcohol." "Smells like poison but mostly tastes like water." "Smooth, drinkable."
• #1: Smirnoff
  Wendy George/The Huffington Post
  Origin: Russia
  Made with: Wheat
  
  Comments: "Smooth, not sweet." "Kind of harsh, but manageable." "I don't hate that. It's pretty neutral." "Not too harsh. It tastes like vodka." "Drinkable and clean." "I would drink this again."

November on the farm

Solbeso

Today I sat down with one of the founders of a new spirit:  Solbeso (or, kissed by the sun) which launched a mere five weeks ago.  Solbeso is distilled from fresh cacao fruit and has a floral aroma and citrusy taste.  It  is only available in NYC (or, at Little Gates in Millerton) for now -- if you are in the area, pick up a bottle -- I did, and it is worth trying.

Much of our discussion centered on the nitty gritty of launching a brand -- self distribution, insurance, incentive programs, pay to play (they don't), brand ambassadors, benchmarking and a great deal more.

We are so lucky to be able to ask people who've done what we want to do all the questions we can think of!

Oh, just a few more!

I don't think all these ads are necessarily aimed at women (though the second and fourth are), I just think they are amazing!  (Not amazing in a good way).  And amazing that major brands think they are worth spending millions of dollars on!

I can't help myself, here's another: Bacardi Breezer campaign

This is from the Jezebel website.

A  promotional site for Bacardi Breezers says all that women need to be more attractive is to find an more unattractive female friend to stand next to.

The site suggests that like Bacardi Breezers, ugly friends come in several different varieties and women can use them to appear more attractive in social situations, such as at the beach:

While misogyny is rampant in alcohol advertising, usually those campaigns are aimed at men. It's unclear why advertisers thought showing pictures of women they deem hideous along with degrading comments would make ladies line up for Bacardi.

And from the comments section of Jezebel:

My god! The layers of approval these had to have gone through. The multiple agencies, the various brand managers, the head of marketing, and then most likely the head of the company... impossible! 

(I should note, Bacardi has taken down the website and Facebook page associated with this campaign).

More marketing to women: Really??

So, you have to watch to the end of the video to have the point really driven home:  "I love to macerate!" proclaims the speaker.  For those, like me, who are a bit slow on the uptake -- add a "t" after the c and a "b" after the r, and you get Belvedere's drift.  (Especially since the process they ostensibly describe is usually called "infusion" -- but there's no double entendre using that word).

Why is virtually every ad aimed at women seeming to be the product of a fevered male ad executive's brain?  Is it something my friends would do, proudly announce they love to masturbate??  Or is it what the ad executive wishes women were like?

New York Wine, Beer & Spirits Summit

I attended the second annual Summit yesterday at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park.  There were many speakers; here's some of what I took away:

- the wine, beer and spirits business is "exploding" in NY
- NY has a "one stop shop" website for the alcohol business
-the industry is worth $22 billion in New York
-NY has the second most number of distilleries in the country
-NY's "Taste of NY" campaign has many events, contact state to participate
-in the past 32 months the number of new distilleries has grown 270%

There was more technical stuff about licensing, raising capital etc.  I met Ralph Lorenzo of Tuthill Town Spirits -- he launched one of NY's first distilleries since prohibition a mere 10 years ago.  And I learned of an accounting/consulting firm that specializes in NY's liquor business.

Here's a  Poughkeepsie Journal article covering the Summit.