Marketing Happy Hour - Brand Identity and Partnerships 101 | Neal Cohen of Tip Top Proper Cocktails

Starting point is 00:00:00 you're listening to the marketing happy hour podcast where we discuss career and industry insights with our peers in marketing we're here to talk about it all like the ups and downs of working in social media how to build authentic relationships in the influencer and pr space managing a nine-to-five and a side hustle at the same time, how to be productive in your life and career without losing your sanity, and more. Ultimately, we're here to build a community with you because we're all trying to navigate the world of marketing together. Are you ready? Grab your favorite drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode. Hey, Marketing Happy Hour listeners,

Starting point is 00:00:53 welcome back. Super, super excited to introduce you to this week's guest. I'm a huge fan of the brand he co-founded, and I know if you haven't yet tried their incredible cocktails, you will absolutely love them as well. In this episode, Cassie and I sit down with Neil Cohen, co-founder of Tip Top Proper Cocktails, a single-serve canned cocktail brand offering prepared classic cocktails that hit on all the notes of traditional recipes, allowing modern drinkers a balanced beverage whenever and wherever. Throughout our conversation, Neil shares the process of creating and growing a unique brand and provides insight on how to decipher which partnerships and collaboration opportunities are the right fit for your brand. Without further ado, grab your favorite drink. I'm grabbing a tip top espresso martini and let's listen in. Hey, Neil, welcome to Marketing Happy Hour. How are you today?

Starting point is 00:01:53 Hey, Cassie. Nice to see you all. And thanks for having me. Absolutely. Thanks again for joining us. I have been a fan of the tip top proper cocktails brand for quite some time. I think a couple of years ago, one of my friends picked one up on her way back from Michigan to Florida for me because she saw that there was a really cute canned Negroni and everyone that listens to our podcast knows that Negronis are my favorite cocktail and I love cute branding. So I've been a fan ever since, and it also tastes as great as it looks. So thanks again for joining us today.

Starting point is 00:02:31 But before we get started, I do have an important question to ask you. Which tip-top cocktail is typically in your glass during happy hour? Negroni is definitely a go-to for me, especially for happy hour. History of Negroni in Italy is that it's a customary cocktail during aperitivo hour, sunset over some charcuterie. And Negroni is definitely a happy hour beverage for me. I tend to reach for the daiquiri as well. It's a beautiful blend of rum and just kind of one of those bartender's handshake type cocktails that I just love. Recently, well, I guess all three of our gin cocktails, the gin martini as well is nice because it's one of those cocktails that's dry and sort of more on the savory side. And when we are tasting lots of cocktails, it's nice to have that as a change

Starting point is 00:03:19 of pace. So the dry gin martini that we came out with in April is definitely a go-to for me. Keep it in the freezer, have the coldest martini you've ever had in your life. It's fantastic. Awesome. Amazing. Yeah. I just was sipping on the Negroni the other night from you guys and now have the espresso martini next to me that I will likely pop open here soon.

Starting point is 00:03:42 Erica and I are both also huge espresso martini fans. So that is a go-to, uh, always wherever we're going. Uh, but Neil, I would love to just dive into the conversation here. Would love to hear about your journey that led you to creating a single serve cocktail brand alongside your co-founder. Yoni and I met in elementary school. And I can remember going to his house for a slumber party in fourth grade, right when Dumb and Dumber came out and seeing it in the theater. So we go way back. together backpacking trips traveling around seeing the band fish together really I mean sort of talking about various ways that we could solve problems through business ideas all along the way whether that was selling Jager bombs in the parking lot at fish shows which is maybe something I shouldn't talk about now that I have a proper cocktail brand to, you know, any number of solutions. So we were stung really early by the live music bug and coming out of college, everybody asking what

Starting point is 00:04:53 you're going to do with your life. We all wanted to go into the music festival business. And so Yoni ended up working in New York and some internships and finding his way through various relationships to founding a festival in New York, the Governor's Ball Music Festival, which Lands, and I was a marketing director for those festivals, as well as some projects with Comedy Central, Cluster Fest, and some food and culinary projects, Guga Muga in Brooklyn, a somewhat infamous food festival in 2012, and Cocktail Magic, which was a traveling cocktail festival and magic festival. Imagine that. So worked on that stuff. Previously to that, I was kind of coming at things more from a journalistic background. I was in radio in Atlanta for a little bit post-college and also in college in Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, I got a part-time job at Zingerman's. Zingerman's being a huge foodie Mecca of the Midwest. I was a cheesemonger there.

Starting point is 00:06:06 So I got to learn about all of the incredible cheese traditions of the world, as well as charcuterie, bread, olive oil, vinegars, olives, smoked fish, all the great things in life. And not only to enjoy them, but to enjoy understanding the origin stories of them, how they impact kind of all these socio-political elements of the world. And I was an anthropology minor as well. So looking at it through that lens. So that really opened up my world to food and drink at an early age. And so while we were in the music festival business, Yoni was looking at

Starting point is 00:06:47 the concessions programs at Governor's Ball and saying, hey, you've got New York City population spending good money to come out to this festival. And they're used to going to any bar or restaurant around town and getting world-class drinks. And you come out here and we can't figure out a solution to give them great cocktails. Let's unlock that. And so when he exited that business, he was looking at how to solve for that problem. They had done some batching and kegs at the festival, but really the single serve seemed to be the right move based on what concessionaires were saying for efficiency of product for consistency of product and so he started talking about hey what about canned cocktails and this was 2016 there were a few on the market but not very many and uh eventually

Starting point is 00:07:38 i was convinced to jump on board he was uh dead set on doing it and one of the reasons i mean he has a lot of ideas we have a lot of ideas but one of the reasons why this one resonated with me was that he was able to lock in a recipe developer named Miles McQuarrie from the Kimball House here in Atlanta. And Miles is a nationally renowned bartender. His program there has received recognition from James Beard, seven-time nominee for Outstanding Bar Program. And so, you know, one of my hesitations was we don't know anything about this industry. We can make a cocktail at home, but how are we going to, you know, duplicate that in a way that's consistent and it can. And as soon as he said that Miles was interested and on board, said, okay, this thing seems real,

Starting point is 00:08:25 and I'm going to get on board, and jumped in. My background really being in branding and marketing and that being so vital to building an alcohol brand, that was exciting. And so in 2018, I left Superfly and got on board to get this thing started with Yoni. Oh my gosh, that is so cool. And just hearing your background is amazing. I'm sure Cassie and I could ask you a thousand questions about just that alone and not even about the brand that we're talking about today. She and I have always thought about opening a restaurant or starting a wine company. So all the things kind of tie in. This is great.

Starting point is 00:09:11 Out of college, we were going to start a music venue slash brewery. That was kind of our idea. And then we said, wait a minute, we don't know anything about either of those things. Let's go get experience and we'll come back and decide on what we need to pursue eventually. Oh, that's so funny. And it's funny that you mentioned the two festivals, the one that's Bonnaroo in the Nashville area and then GovBall in New York. I, after college, moved to Nashville. Cassie, after college, moved to New York. And so we got to experience a lot of those cities together too, which is awesome. All right. So we're chatting through the brand story of Tip Top Proper Cocktails in this episode, but we wanted to take a quick moment to share how much we're actually loving the cocktails and where you can snag them for yourself.

Starting point is 00:09:53 Yes, our listeners won't be surprised when I share that my favorites are Tip Top's Negroni and Espresso Martini cocktail cans. They're honestly so delicious, expertly crafted, and such a convenient way to indulge without the hassle of buying all the ingredients, making it yourself, and maybe getting the ratios wrong if you're not an experienced bartender. I also love discovering new classic cocktails that I haven't tried before, like Tip Top's Bee's Knees, made with gin, lemon, and honey, and their Jungle Bird with rum, lime, pineapple, and red bitters. Yes, and their new release, the Gin Martini, is such a classic. If you want to

Starting point is 00:10:32 try Tip Top Proper Cocktails for yourself, you can find them available for online ordering and shipping to 40 states at tiptopcocktails.com or pop into a store near you and grab a can today. Oh, and if you're flying Delta, you can also find them on board to add a little fun to your flight. All right, Neil. Well, I could ask you so many questions about all of the things that you just talked about, but you also serve as the brand's chief brand officer. What was that journey like developing the brand identity and story around these cocktails? You know, we knew that the product inside would be of great integrity. The whole idea being to be true to form to classic cocktail recipes, but that's all good and well, you know, what you really have to be able to do is get people to taste the

Starting point is 00:11:25 product and there's so many products on the shelf as I mentioned in 2019 there wasn't that many canned cocktails and the ones that were out there for the most part consumers that spent a lot of time in good cocktail bars and really thinking of themselves as discerning, having discerning tastes. We're not interested in this category because anything out there was overly sweet, using artificial or cheap ingredients. And we understood that we had a stigma to overcome when we built this brand. And so that was at the forefront of our thinking as we built the visual identity for the brand, as well as the things that it communicates. So tip top, we're doing classic cocktails. It's a

Starting point is 00:12:12 familiar phrase. It is fun to say because it's alliterative. It's kind of something that maybe grandpa would say if you ask him how he's doing and these classic cocktails would also be familiar to grandpa um and uh that was just kind of a fun name um you know there's a million different tip-top brands out there but tip-top proper cocktails just felt right and the proper piece really to indicate that this was not your uh vodka soda or your watered down or overly sweet margarita this is really true to form classic cocktails as far as the visual identity we really dove into a lot of different reference points and when we were building the mood board one thing that I was doing was looking through old cocktail recipe books and I came across a French book from 1929 called La Hour de Cocktail, like cocktail hour, right? And it had all these really cool designs in it.

Starting point is 00:13:14 Just interesting geometric shapes and patterns. So we touched on some of that. We worked with our designer, Bart Sasso, who's worked on a lot of great food and beverage brands out of Atlanta and elsewhere. And he brought to the mood board this really funky looking flamingo. And as we were designing the candy through the flamingo, like an iteration of that flamingo on there, we said, wait a minute, these aren't flamingo cocktails. Like we're not doing pina coladas and Miami vices. So, but having an animal mascot or, you know, icon for a brand has worked for quite a few brands.

Starting point is 00:13:54 So let's give that a go. If it's tip top, then let's try the giraffe as the tallest animal and a brand that's all about convenient access to high quality. The giraffe has exactly that. Let's throw a top hat and a monocle on them for a little bit of that throwback look, but also to not take ourselves too seriously. We were going to really ensure that the liquid inside was great, but also this is a canned cocktail. And so it's a little cheeky, it's a little humorous to have this giraffe with the top hat and a monocle on there.

Starting point is 00:14:31 We also, part of the brand was where we started as far as cocktails. Old-fashioned Manhattan and Negroni was what we started with in September 2019. And that was specifically, I can remember sitting in a Moria Mario bar in New York City known as a bitter's tasting room Sucker Teague is the beverage director there and very influential guy who we speak to now because he's a fan of our brand and we're obviously a fan of his I can remember sitting in his bar and looking at the wall and there was a drawing of old-fashioned Manhattan and Negroni it's like that's the trifecta of bitter stirred classic cocktails right there. And we started there because, again, people looking across the shelf of what canned cocktails had to offer in 2019, it didn't speak that language.

Starting point is 00:15:18 And so just by starting with an old fashioned Manhattan Negroni, we knew that eventually we could get into maybe doing a margarita. But to start with a margarita would kind of just be like, yeah, there's a lot of those types of brands out here. So we also have a couple of phrases we use always balanced and never too sweet is the brand promise. You see it on every can, flanking that giraffe on there. And so that's really just an important piece of everything that we do. Every time we're developing a cocktail, we want to push it as far to not sweet end as we can while still remaining balanced and then tweak it from there. That is so cool. And a lot of the listeners that we have with this podcast are in the branding space or they're working on brands, especially smaller brands. I'm curious to hear from you, what are some common mistakes that businesses seem to make

Starting point is 00:16:16 when developing their brand story and identity and how can they maybe avoid some of these mistakes? The brand is what you're going to live with forever. You don't want to rebrand if you don't have to. And so investing the time, investing the money, it doesn't have to be 50 grand like some of these branding agencies ask you for. Sorry for those branding agencies that might be listening. But really ensuring that you have a partner in your branding agency, in whoever your branding partner is, or even if you're doing it internally, that you have a good idea of who you're trying to reach, what you iconography to work with, because this is, and that they all kind of match up with the mentality of who you want to reach. Yeah, it's great advice. And I've noticed too, how much detail has gone into just all of those different elements for you guys, even

Starting point is 00:17:41 into looking at the giraffe, the height and how that signifies the high quality. It's, it's very cool how you all have kind of created this big picture story where every single element wraps together, which is, is I think the aspiration of most brands, I would say. Uh, I want to ask you to Neil about product launches, uh, recently as we're recording this, you all just launched a couple new products, the Gin Martini and the Jungle Bird. So would love to hear about what your marketing strategy looks like for rolling out new products, whether it's these two recent products or just in the past, some of the strategies and initiatives you all have used. In the last six months, we've launched

Starting point is 00:18:22 three new cocktails and it had been almost a 20month break since then, since we had done any new product innovation, actually. So we launched Espresso Martini in November of 2022 with a partnership with Counterculture Coffee, which was really exciting to find such a high-caliber coffee partner. In January, we launched the Jungle Bird, and in in April we launched the Gin Martini and so you can look at those three cocktails and kind of get a sense of what we're trying to do espresso martini white hot cocktail right now and it's shot up to you know a top three seller for us threatening that number one position that the old fashioned holds. And I wouldn't be surprised if it surpasses it in the next year. Jungle Bird being really one of those cult cocktails. It's been around since the 1970s,

Starting point is 00:19:13 but it's really mostly known to the bartender culture and to the cocktail geek. Not going to be a mainstream cocktail unless it kind of picks up and we help in giving it that notoriety. And we just actually won a best in class at the San Francisco RTD competition from the Tasting Alliance for that cocktail out of 266 double gold medal winners. That one won best in class. And we just found out about that this past weekend. So very exciting to get that kind of recognition. And then Gin Martini being a tried and true classic. So what we're really aiming to do as a brand is be sort of, in a sense, first to market

Starting point is 00:19:55 with relevant cocktails, both to those who are sort of cocktail curious and still getting into it, i.e. Espresso Martini as a foot in the door, as well as those who are super ingrained in the space with Jungle Bird. And creating that balance is really important for us. You know, against all advice in this industry, we've decided that we're going to continue to put out an unreasonable amount of new cocktails. And so if that's 25 in the next three years, we'll have to figure out how that works in retail. We're not suggesting that that's going to be whatever retailer picks up and whatever distributor picks up. But we really do want to solidify our position as the brand that's bringing you the cocktails you love for the format that we're in. So with this unique 100 ml can that you were holding earlier, which I don't have, there's one.

Starting point is 00:20:56 So yeah, with this 100 ml can, we're talking about 3.4 ounces and also non-carbonated. This can does not hold any carbonation. So there, you know, just in that alone, it's given us some parameters by which we're going to innovate. We've talked about doing your Moscow mules and Palomas out there, but it's a different route to market. And it's a very competitive space, whereas we've really felt great about this format and it's really worked well for us. So we're going to continue to innovate with cocktails that fit that volume and fit that criteria. And you can expect at least one more new cocktail this year and several more in 24. Awesome. We are so excited to see all of that come together. And it sounds like you all have been very diligent at making the right decisions of what to launch versus just saying, let's do it

Starting point is 00:21:49 all. Let's try to roll it all out immediately and just touch everyone. It's very intentional and strategic back to the mission and the vision for the brand. So I commend you for that. I'm curious too about collaboration. You've mentioned a couple of different brands and partners and individuals that you've worked with to do a number of things throughout the start and through now for the business. And collaboration is very much alive and well today. And in the world of marketing, there's so many brands now launching products with influencers, other brands. And so I'm curious with not only developing the

Starting point is 00:22:26 espresso martini with counterculture, but just other partnerships you've had in the past. Do you have any tips for strategically or intentionally choosing partners to collaborate with? I follow a lot of Seth Godin's writing and his podcasts and everything here. And the people like us do this mantra that he constantly puts out there as a guiding concept in marketing speaks really loud to us. So when you're looking for brands to collaborate with, of course, one of the main goals there is to expand your reach, but ensuring that in doing so your own audience and their audience will say, hey, you know, this is really a fit with who we are. And it really speaks to me and my identity that this brand that I love is doing this with this other brand that I love. And I think that's the guiding principle. I mean, for us,

Starting point is 00:23:19 we're definitely thinking about whether or not it makes sense to work with other BevAlc brands. That can be tricky when it comesc brands. That can be tricky when it comes to distribution. It can be tricky when it comes to kind of the competitive nature of the industry. So something like the counterculture coffee partnership really was great because we were going to, we were talking about making a special martini and we weren't going to make it unless we found a really great coffee source and partner. And it was, we were just, it was really fortuitous that, um, that, that when we reached out to counterculture, they were really game and they hadn't done any ready to drink even non-alcoholic before. And they're sort of keen to try it out. Um, and that worked out really well. Um, as far as other future collaborations, I mean, we do work with some fashion brands to

Starting point is 00:24:08 serve cocktails, you know, at Gratis to people when they come in for fittings and things of that nature. And I think that really fits the tip top vibe. We're talking to some other brands, but it's tough when it comes to development of new products, which is always going to be the glossiest thing really got to ensure that that's a perfect fit and that the partnership itself is constructed in a way that's going to be fruitful for all. Oh yeah, I definitely agree. And right now in this summer of 2023, what we're seeing too is a lot of brands collaborating with Barbie because that movie is coming out here shortly. And you see all of these collaborations on packaging and unique flavors and things like that, just across so many different industries and so many different products. And it's so interesting to hear like what all goes into that and to think

Starting point is 00:25:17 about how you guys worked with counterculture is really interesting to me. I'm also curious on the distribution side of things. I was flying to Seattle earlier this year on Delta and I actually ordered one of your tip-top espresso martinis. I would just love to hear what that looked like and how that's kind of like improved brand awareness for you guys too. Yeah, the Delta partnership is massive

Starting point is 00:25:42 and there's no way to downplay that at all. It is really a hugely meaningful aspect of our brand growth. We, before we ever had product in the can, we were reaching out to Delta Airlines. Yoni and I, being from Atlanta, understanding that while our product was developed because we wanted a solution for the festival and music space, ultimately that may not be the best place for it to live because of the large checks that are written for sponsorships there and on our inability to compete there. So we started looking at what other spaces needed the solution and airline came up first and Delta being a real leader when it comes to hospitality. We knew that it would be

Starting point is 00:26:26 just, we thought it was sort of a white whale situation. Flash forward a couple of years, really only about a year and a half into our launch, not even, summer of 2020, after we had applied to their RFP in December 2019 and never heard back because they didn't award it because March came around of 2020 and they weren't award it because March came around in 2020 and they weren't concerned with beverage service. We did hear from someone at Delta summer 2020 saying, you know, just had your product on the beach and the Florida panhandle. And I believe that this could be a really great solution for when we do bring beverage service back. And so we got naturally very

Starting point is 00:27:05 excited. We knew they needed a margarita. We were already developing a margarita to go alongside our old-fashioned as the offering on board. And we came to market on Delta when they brought food and beverage service back in April 2021. And so it's been over two years of working with them, understanding what forecasts look like, understanding how we can keep pace as far as production, you know, and they have been an incredible partner. They really do support us from a marketing and PR standpoint. So, you know, when we launched with the Espresso Martini in March, we worked together on media packages to send out to all the morning and late night shows and all of the media out there. We did a happy hour on all flights from between L.A. and New York on the day of launch where everyone on that flight was eligible to get a free espresso martini if they were of age and desired to do so. And we ended up on Jimmy Fallon that night, had a 10 second clip in his opening monologue highlighting, you know, the partnership. So

Starting point is 00:28:18 there's an incredible amount of impressions there, as well as their willingness to put us on the back of every seat when you sit down on that screen, the in-flight entertainment screen. Right now, you see it's, I think it's like give a little extra boost to your flight or something like add a perk to your flight. I can't remember what it is. But I mean, sitting there in a seat in Delta, the airline that I've flown my entire life, looking around and seeing how many people on that flight have that thing flashing in front of them. It blows my mind every single time. And my kids are sitting next to me screaming and I'm wearing my tip top shirt and hat and I've got like stickers like falling out of my pocket because I'm just can't turn off the brand

Starting point is 00:29:02 ambassador and me. Flight attendants come up, they're're like tip top it I I get it what what's the deal but the flight attendants get really excited we've we've made pins to give to flight attendants if they mention something about tip top to us because they're always handing out pins to others we figured we could hand a pin back to them which is fun um but that partnership is is massive and it's going to continue to grow. Right now it's old fashioned and espresso martini on board. And in the coming months, there will be like a third rotational slot to kind of move in other cocktails in our portfolio and get a chance to expose their audience.

Starting point is 00:29:44 Cause they want to be a leader when it comes to culinary amenities. And so, yeah, you want your tried and true comforts when you get on board. But there's also, you know, the cocktail curious and geeks amongst us that would want to come on board and say, hey, what's the cocktail rotation right now? What's the special, right? And so we're hoping to see the bees knees come through, hoping to see the margarita come through the Negroni has been on board the last two Octobers because it's a pink can and they always like pink cans for the breast cancer research fund fundraising that they do every October. So it's been an incredible partnership. I mean,

Starting point is 00:30:27 I think we've estimated it's around like 2 million or so cans sampled every year on board. And, you know, the name of the game with any beverage brand building is sampling. So it's really couldn't be a better partnership there. Yeah, absolutely. That's huge. And it's huge for discovery as well. I mean, if you're on flight and you're thinking about, you know, the five hours you have ahead of you or whatever it may be, you're wanting something exciting, you know, and that's a really great place to have that little element of something special. So I love that so much. You know, people are strapped in on a flight for many years, many hours. Like we've talked a lot about like where, where, what scenarios do you have a captive

Starting point is 00:31:11 audience where it's like, if I'm going to have a beverage right now, this is what I'm limited to. Yeah. And we're one of those options and you're going to get handed this can and pour it and sip it while you're sitting there and you've got very little else to do. You're watching a movie and it's this intimate experience with the product. There's, you know, we went to a Delta vendor conference last year and they said, this is quite possibly the best place for brand discovery because of that. And it's, it's really meaningful. Completely agree. That's so cool. In, in terms of other marketing strategies that are working

Starting point is 00:31:49 for you guys right now, are you dabbling in PR influencer, any of that, or just more of the traditional and, uh, digital aspects? We do, um, we do PR where we're pitching all the time. We definitely work with some influencers, working with them to represent product as we grow. So many new markets, we need to be able to show kind of the variation of environments and occasions that apply to those markets. And rather than big budgeted photography shoots all over the country,

Starting point is 00:32:28 influencers are a great tool for that and just kind of working. Really what we've tried to do is blend our branded content budget with our influencer budget and really try to hone in on those influencers that are great creators. It's not about gaming the algorithm and having the most amount of followers.

Starting point is 00:32:50 It's the quality of content and how well it will speak to our audience. And ideally, we work with influencers that would be just as much at home on our brand's channels as they are on theirs. And so that's really something that we're looking to do more and more of. Events, you know, we launched in September 2019 with an events background, very much intent on making that a big part of our playbook, but that was quickly stripped away come March 2020. And I think we're still probably, you know, getting back into the swing of things with events right now and figuring out how to integrate them into our yearly calendar. We just came back from Aspen Food and Wine Classic, which was just enormous. The caliber of consumer that

Starting point is 00:33:40 you interact with there, the trade marketing that we were able to do as far as connecting with great hotel chains and some of the upper echelon chefs and bartenders around the country. That's just a massive one. And I think it will continue to play a role as a premier branding event for us on a yearly basis. That's awesome. Absolutely. And one of my clients actually was also just at Aspen and she said the same exact thing. She was like, that's the best thing I ever did. Just all the connections that you make there are fantastic. So I love hearing that. Yeah. Yeah. And speaking of too, getting the product in different dispensers, I was at, I live in central Florida and I was on Disney property the,

Starting point is 00:34:25 the other day. And I came across tip top at one of the hotels. And so just seeing it sprinkled throughout different travel, hospitality experiences everywhere in your day-to-day is just, it's really cool to see how much the brand is growing and just being saturated in a number of different markets and places. I guess you were at the Swan and Dolphin, huh? I was at the Swan Reserve. Yes. Yep. Yeah. So I took a photo and I was very excited to see them there, but yes. Is that a newer partnership you guys have had? A couple of years and they sell exceptionally well. As minibar gets phased out in a lot of hotels, and of course we do have a home and some great minibar programs, but that grab-and-go convenience in the lobby has become an unbelievable application for our product. you're really looking to discover new experience and discover new brands and products and being able to have our brand in those types of environments is hugely meaningful. Yeah,

Starting point is 00:35:32 absolutely. And if you've ever been to the hotel, just the experience within the hotel very much matches the, the brand essence and everything you've explained so far. So it really seems like the perfect partnership and Delta as well makes a ton of sense. So it's cool. Again, just intentionality. I've seen threads of that throughout this conversation. And so just awesome how you guys make decisions of who to work with depending on your essence

Starting point is 00:35:56 and how it pairs well with those brand partners. You mentioned earlier that there's some new products on the horizon, which we're very excited to stay tuned on what's coming up for you guys there, but anything else coming up for tip top in the next few months or years, any events you're planning to attend, any initiatives you're looking to test, just give us all the future upcoming details. details? Sure. The number one thing that we hear from consumers is they want more access to the brand. And we entered 2023 available in seven states as far as retail goes in terms of traditional distribution. And by the end of August, we should be in 20. And we have some filling in to do still of the map. But that's the number one goal for us right now. We're really honing in on what our offering is. We've spent three years making a lot of mistakes and learning a lot, as you have to do.

Starting point is 00:37:04 If you're not making mistakes, you're doing it wrong. And now it's time to go full throttle. Really, the market has caught up. When we launched, the alcohol industry was still going through a lot of shakeup from white claw and the malt beverage kind of seltzer world and that's all anybody could talk about and since then they've moved on to spirit based seltzers high noon leading the pack now the industry has really started to recognize that uh while you know the switch has happened from malt to spirit and it it's not, there's no sign that it's going back anytime soon. So as the journey continues, people recognize spirit-based is really the way to go. Well, how do I have spirit-based and still full flavored and enjoyable

Starting point is 00:37:59 cocktail where I can savor the taste? And they're going to be turning and saying, hey, what is this old fashioned that I've heard spoken of? What is a Manhattan? What is a Negroni? What is a Bee's Eats? And our product really being an entry point for that type of consumer into the world of classic cocktails is something that we strive for. You know, from there, they can pick up their own spirits and come up with all kinds of riffs off of those cocktails, go to cocktail bars and understand when they look at a cocktail, like, Oh, Hey, this is the same build as a daiquiri. So that they're just adding this other component. And so if tip top can be the conduit for people understand,

Starting point is 00:38:42 having that baseline understanding of what a good cocktail is and coming back to it time and time again when they just want that standard convenient cocktail I think that's that's really the goal for us and it's going to happen provided that we get to more markets more quickly and there's's the competition's heating up. As I said, the industry has kind of caught up to us at this point. So name of the game right now is availability. Distribution is king. And so you'll see us launching a lot more markets

Starting point is 00:39:21 and just getting into more hands so that people can enjoy the product and the brand. Are you thinking or have you thought about the non-alcoholic space and just doing cocktails there? Yeah. The non-alcoholic space is interesting. And just now at the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, I went to an event that the bartender Alex Jump, who is at Death & Co., was putting on. She's incredible. And it was a low and no event. So both low-alc and no-alc cocktails were being featured there.

Starting point is 00:39:57 And I think my response up until that point was, know what we are and what we aren't. We are high-proof, non-carbonated classic cocktails in 100 ml cans. At the same time, our mission is to bring you know authentic cocktail culture to more people in general. You know not verbat, but that's the general idea. And should that include non-alcoholic? Maybe, maybe not. We're still sussing that out. You know, the story is that there's tremendous growth in non-alcoholic, but the overall piece of the pie that it's taking is still fairly small, and it's yet to be seen how big that can be. And we're tracking it, but I wouldn't say of all of our innovation that it takes the highest priority because in marketing

Starting point is 00:40:54 and branding, one of the main things you need to know is what you are and what you aren't. And perhaps that's just not what we are. Totally. Yeah, I appreciate your thoughts there. It's interesting to hear from people in the spirit space, just like their perspective on that whole movement. Is it a trend? Is it something that, you know, just a section of the population is going to continue to grow in? Or is it something that's actually on the horizon that's going to be huge? So interesting to hear.

Starting point is 00:41:21 Thank you so much for that. Well, we are approaching the end of this interview here, and we'd love to ask this question on the show. What is something that you know now that you entrepreneur and as a marketer um I know my strengths and being willing to admit when something comes my way that has to be done that it's just I'm not going to be the best person for that job I've worn so many hats and I've done so many different things uh well and not well um and I've learned that sort of the hard way you can get in way over your head if you're not willing to kind of um be humble and say hey I'd love to do, but I just don't feel all that equipped. Can we pull in another resource? Can we find an expert to consult on this thing or to lead on this thing? And that's a big part of the growth of TipTop. Yoni and I, neither of us come from consumer packaged good or BevAlc.

Starting point is 00:42:47 And so knowing what we don't know and identifying people who are smarter than ourselves and more experienced than ourselves has been a key asset to our growth. Yeah, it's so huge to be able to face that truth for yourself because you're right, especially as we're moving on in our careers and trying to figure things out, we want to take on everything and say yes to everything, which has some benefits to it, but I think it's important. And I think leaders, partners will appreciate if you're able to just be honest and say, listen, this is not going to work out for me. Can we, can we get some additional support or can we pass this on to someone else? And so, uh, it's great, great reminder for us. So thank you for sharing that. Um, we'd love to, as we close here about how we can stay in touch with you personally, but also tip top, where can we find tip top all across

Starting point is 00:43:42 digital channels and, uh, also just look out for the brand in our day-to-day as we're meandering to different experiences and travels. For the plug opportunity at the end here, you can find Tip Top at your register, at your liquor store, any place that sells spirits in states that we have begun distributing in. You'll see a nice dispenser next to the counter. Look for the one with the giraffe and the top hat, Tip Top. You can also find us online at tiptopcocktails.com, where there is some e-commerce opportunities to have gifts sent around the country or to yourself, gift yourself some cocktails today. And then on Instagram is really primarily where we do

Starting point is 00:44:33 most of our social media. It's Tip Top Proper Cocktails there. But you can find us on all social media channels and on Delta Airlines, as we mentioned, uh, when you're flying, look out for an espresso martini or an old fashioned and, uh, other cocktails coming your way on board a mile high soon. Awesome. Yes. We're so excited to just stay in touch with the brand and see everything you guys continue to build and develop, uh, super inspired by your story as well. So thank you for coming on today and sharing everything with us. Very stoked to have you. Thank you for having me. This has been great. That's it for this week's episode. Thanks so much again for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode,

Starting point is 00:45:20 please remember to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. For more from Marketing Happy Hour, head on over to our website, marketinghappyhr.com, or follow us on Instagram at marketinghappyhr. We'll see you next week.

Marketing Happy Hour - Brand Identity and Partnerships 101 | Neal Cohen of Tip Top Proper Cocktails

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