Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Lessons from Maverick Brand Builder of Luc Belaire | Brett Berish

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

TAKEAWAYSBusiness of liquor and brandingImportance of taste and consumer experience in building successful brandsRole of personal branding and evolution of business strategiesBuilding businesses and constant tweaking for successInterplay between celebrity endorsements and product qualityImportance of packaging and design in creating brand experienceApproach to target audiences and mass appealPersonal branding and storytellingChallenges of measuring return on investment in advertising and marketingTIMESTAMPSBuilding Businesses and Improv (00:00:00) Discussion on building businesses and the iterative nature of business strategies, likened to improv comedy.Introduction to the Podcast (00:00:17) Introduction to the podcast "Right About Now" by host Ryan Alford, highlighting its popularity and duration.Introduction of Brett Berish (00:01:03) Ryan Alford introduces Brett Berish, President and CEO of Sovereign Brands, and discusses the radical approach in branding.Personal Branding and Business Strategies (00:02:09) Discussion on personal branding, embracing mistakes, and the importance of being different in business strategies.Entry into Spirits Industry (00:03:07) Brett Berish shares his entry into the spirits industry, influenced by his father's career and his passion for the business.Evolution of Liquor Business (00:05:00) Discussion on the historical and regulatory aspects of the liquor business, including the three-tier system and changes in alcohol serving laws.Challenges in Liquor Distribution (00:07:12) Explanation of the challenges in liquor distribution, emphasizing the role of distributors and the limitations on direct sales.Importance of Taste in Branding (00:11:28) Emphasis on the significance of taste in dictating the success of liquor brands and the common thread in Sovereign Brands' approach.Celebrity Endorsements and Product Quality (00:13:24) Discussion on the interplay between celebrity endorsements and product quality, highlighting the importance of taste over endorsements.Brand Experience and Details (00:16:14) Importance of brand experience, packaging, and design details in creating a unique consumer experience.Target Audience and Brand Appeal (00:18:24) Emphasis on selling to a broad audience and the significance of mass appeal in building a brand.Trying New Approaches (00:19:10) Encouragement to try new strategies and products, drawing parallels to the unpredictability of hit songs in the music industry.Personal Branding and Storytelling (00:20:40) Discussion on the realization of the importance of personal branding and storytelling in representing the company's brand.The motivational side of success (00:21:16) Brett Berish shares his personal struggles and the importance of sharing stories of failure and success.Discovering and supporting emerging talents (00:22:21) Brett discusses the excitement of engaging with up-and-coming artists and the potential to help them grow.Transparency and honesty in conversations with emerging talents (00:23:02) The importance of authenticity and transparency in conversations with young talents on the verge of success.The challenge of quantifying marketing success (00:24:56) Brett discusses the difficulty of measuring the return on investment in advertising and the value of building an audience.Scarcity and exclusivity in brand building (00:27:35) The discussion around creating rarity and exclusivity in brand building and the challenges it presents.Building long-term partnerships (00:29:36) Brett emphasizes the importance of developing long-term relationships and authenticity in partnerships.Cultural significance of spirits and brands (00:31:34) The discussion on the cultural and emotional significance of different spirit brands and the subcultures they represent.Proudest moments and personal milestones (00:33:08) Brett reflects on personal milestones and proud moments in his journey as a business owner.Expanding into new territories and cultural initiatives (00:37:02) The discussion about expanding into new markets, particularly Africa, and the cultural initiatives being pursued.Tying music projects with brand identity (00:38:54) The integration of music projects with specific brand identities and the intention to promote African artists.Embracing new opportunities and personal philosophy (00:40:23) Brett shares his personal philosophy and approach to embracing new opportunities.Wrapping up the conversation (00:41:22) Closing remarks and details on where to find more information about the brands and the conversation. If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

Hey guys, Ryan Alford here, host of Right About Now. Want to tell you about another show on our network, the Radcast Network, Harder Than Life with Kelly Siegel. Kelly's a personal friend, but let me tell you, even if he wasn't, I'd be listening to his show. This is about self-improvement. This is about telling you life stories and practices and principles that are good for business, good for life, and just good for your overall well-being. Kelly, energy is through the roof. The dude can bench press like a thousand pounds, and look,

you'll want to bench press a thousand pounds after you listen to this show. All the motivation and insights that you want about getting ahead in life, working out, lots of tips and tricks that you don't hear anyone else, and he's got an amazing platform, Harder Than Life. The book, the story, it is Kelly Siegel. And it is on the Radcast Network. Check it out today. I think building businesses is like improv. When a comedian goes on stage and tells a joke,

they get the audience's reaction and then they tweak it for the next time. And then they tweak it again and again and again. And it can be 20, 30 times before they're tweaking that same joke. And it nails it. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month.

Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and cashing checks? Well, it starts right about now. What's up, guys? Welcome to Right About Now. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. And you know, we used to have a little moniker that said, if it's radical, we cover it.

Well, you know what? I don't know too many brands and too many people doing more radical things than my good friend, Brett Barris. He is the president and CEO of Solver and Brands. And if you're watching the YouTube, which you should be, you would see the lineup of beauties here on the desk. Brett, what's up, brother? How are you, Ryan? Thanks for having me on. Yeah, man. My pleasure.

And just real quick on the radical side, you made me think of my brother who I work with. He says, what you'll get you fired at any other company will get you hired by mine. So that's how it's funny. I own a digital agency called Radical and our show used to be called the Radcast. Now we have the Radcast network with multiple shows. We didn't want confusion.

But literally, when I have meetings with my team, and I need to get acknowledgement from here, I go in there and I go, our name is fucking Radical. That's right. You have the license to live up to this name every day. And our clients hired an agency named Radical. So you know what that means? It means they can't call me and go, what the hell were you thinking? And I'll go, you hired an

agency named Radical. It works. It works. You say the quiet part out loud. This is what you expect to expect it. Exactly. What's up, Brett? I mean, you know, snapping necks, cashing checks, you know, I love what you're doing, man. I love anyone that's got bravado and doing things a little different and understands marketing. And you got all that in spades, pun intended. For me, it's with my brands, right?, it's all based on making mistakes and kind of learning. So if I'm veering off in my own direction, it's because a long time ago, I realized I have to stop being like everybody else in my industry because I can't be them. I can't be Diageo. I can't be McCarty. I can't be Jack Daniels. And every time I tried to

do things the way they do, I failed miserably. So I started leaning in on what do I like? What do I want to be? And that's when it started working. Why spirits? You know, like what got you into spirits? So I, like most people, ended up following what my dad did for a living. So if you my dad spent 45 years in the liquor business, in some ways he loved he loved it, loved it, loved it and lived it. At the same time, he hated it for me because like and I realize this as a parent myself, you want your kids to do something that you perceive as being easier. You know, you perceive as being just something more simple, something that's got more benefit. He really wanted me to do finance, something in money, which I started out doing. But I veered back into this and I have never looked back. Yeah, well, I think it's turned out all right for you.

It's funny, Ryan, And I tell this to people, I think there's, you know, there's one type of person who knows exactly what they want to do in life and God bless. That's the, that's, they're the luckiest people in the world. And there was somebody like me who I, I, I had lots of ideas and I was the worst one where I never picked anything because I was always scared that the one idea I'm going to do is not the right idea or I'd run out of ideas. Therefore, I'm just in kind of nowhere land. So it sucked for 10, 12 years until I picked something and I picked this industry and stuck with it. It's been a fascinating industry because, you know, you've got the tiered system right in the U.S. with alcohol. And I know enough to be dangerous.

You can enlighten us further than my brain can probably do it. But, you know, the inability forever to not be able to do D to C and, you know, having to go through the tiered system distributors and all that stuff. I mean, I'd love, you know, just the business of liquor. You know, give us a little bit of like the evolution, you know, just the business of liquor, you know, give us a little bit of like the evolution, you know, from where things started of where it is today. Funny, it hasn't changed since Prohibition. Exactly.

It's gotten a little better, right? We can run ads about it. I'll give you one example because it'll be, it'll come home to you in South Carolina. Yeah. But the industry hasn't changed. It's been a three tier system and a three tier system. For those of you who don't know what that means is I'm a supplier. I own the brands and I sell to a distributor and the distributor sells to bars and restaurants. I as a supplier, the owner can't sell direct. And then every state's a new distributor. And then you have some states that are franchise states like the state of Georgia, whereas if you give the brand to a distributor, you can never get it back. Or a state like Pennsylvania, where the government is the distributor. In fact, they're probably the single biggest retailer in the United States, and it's still owned by the state.

So it's fucked up, but it works. But I'll give you one change that's happened in the past 20 years in South Carolina. And if you're old enough to remember, in South Carolina, on-premise bars and restaurants were only able to serve the customer mini bottles, airplane bottles, by law. And so you had billions and billions and billions of mini bottles in bars because it was the only way to control serve. And you get a perfect serve. You couldn't get any more or any less because it was straight out of the mini bottle. Oh, yeah. South Carolina, I remember it. I came up. I was in college when mini bottles were still a thing in South Carolina. And look, that made a pretty strong drink, you know, like a mini bottles, a lot, actually a lot. But it was so funny because people would come into town and like, what is that behind the bar? And I'm like, they thought it was a novelty. And I'm like, no,

that's, that's how you order drinks here. I still share it. You know, since we sell globally in 80 countries, I share that story. People can't comprehend the fact that bars and restaurants sold the little airplane bottles. So it's just the industry has not changed, except that's been a change. So we still cannot. And I think I know the answer, but leading the witness. So we cannot like these beauties on my table here, everything that you're making and branding, you can't sell direct. No, cannot. I cannot sell direct to a bar or restaurant to retailer. I have to go through a distributor and they're the ones. So in the state of South Carolina, we have a distributor. Empire is our distributor in that state. Great distributor. And they take on the delivery,

the sales. And we have call it somebody in the market who supports them and goes out and visit accounts and sells my brands, Bel Air, Bumboo, McQueen, Deakin, our brands. But all in, I mean, I should say, you know, it's convoluted, it's strange, it's crazy, but it works. And the key to anybody's business in whatever industry you're in is you got to figure out how to make it work for you. And that's what we've done is how do you make it work for you? You know, I think that should be kind of your statement, how you've made it work for you, you know, along with self-made tastes better, which we'll get to shortly, I love taglines. So, uh, I'm in the business, the, uh, but Brett talk about in, you know, it's such a hoity toity champagne market. Some of these, you know, stuff is just so,

I don't know. They take themselves maybe too seriously. There's like this fine line of taking yourself, taking your brand seriously and having a stake in the ground versus some of maybe the irreverent non-traditional ways that you've gone at it? I mean, like what gave you the confidence to go there? Again, it's the way I've looked at everything. As I look back, it's learning from my mistakes. I think I realized I've got lots of sayings I live by. You know, one of them, which is a strange one, is sometimes not having a plan is a great plan. And what that's taught me is, you know, if you stick to your plan for a year or two, you're going to be wrong and you're wrong. You're wrong for the next year or two. And the key is to be really flexible.

And that's what I've been leaning into. That's one example of, you know, the way we build our business, it's leaning into what works and being very, you know, nimble. And that's how I built the business. And it's empowering people. It's, you know, everyone we've hired, we have a few hundred people in the company, you know, we're hiring based on hiring people who are self-starters, who are leaders, who if they're waiting for me to tell them what to do, they're too late. That's not the person for us. So it's lots of things like that all coming together that's made my success. That's huge. And I'm going to circle that for our audience. We have a lot of budding entrepreneurs, people wanting to start their thing or maybe already in their thing. If you have the wrong plan and you don't pivot,

then you can get stuck somewhere spending your wills for a lot longer than you should have. You don't and aren't flexible to what's happening around you. That is huge. A hundred percent. It's an interesting, I have a story that I use. I think building businesses is like improv and a comedian. You know, when a comedian goes on stage and tells a joke, they get the audience reaction and then they tweak it for the next time. And then they tweak it again and again and again. And it could be 20, 30 times before they're

tweaking that same joke and it nails it by the end. And to me, that's business. You've got to constantly learn from your audience and what's working and what doesn't work, what the consumer is reacting, how the trade's reacting. And it's constantly evolving. So it's not a presentation. It's kind of a presentation that's got to live. And that's what we're doing.

What do you consider if there's like a thread with Sovereign Brands and what you guys are doing across the bottles here and the other brands you have, what's the thread? What's the common brand denominator for all of them have their own uniqueness? I've been fascinated. I've spent more time, Brett, with these bottles when they came. And so thank me. Brett's so generous, sent me some of his best things. I've just been time, Brett, with these bottles like when they came. And so thank me. Brett's so generous, sent me like some of his best things.

I've just been staring at them. I've been wanting to taste them, but I didn't want them to like not look good on camera. But what's the thread for Sovereign Brands and kind of how you bring any bottle brand to life? It's always, always, always, and it sounds canned, but it's the taste. That's going to dictate everything. Because if it doesn't taste good, Ryan, they're never going to come back again. And what my brother and I decided a long time ago is if we think it, you know, we don't have tasting groups and sommeliers and all that goes with that. If you were in our office on the day of the tasting, I'd have you taste with us and tell me what you think. And my goal is in the category we're in, it's got to

taste better than the competition. So if you tasted bamboo, which is the rum with the X on the front there, it tastes better than any other rum in the category. And that's why the brand today is the number one premium rum in the world. Six years ago when we launched it, it's the one thing, Ryan, all my brands have in common is no one believed in them. No one, no one believed in them. No one thought they would work. They're in sleepy old categories, which I love. But it's the taste because if it tastes great, people are going to talk and you're going to build something from there. So it's the taste, because if it tastes great, people are going to talk and you're going to build something from there. So it's always that. You know what? I love it when the guest goes like absolutely.

I didn't it wasn't I didn't think you were going to go there because all your stuff. Believe me, my friends have told me how great some of these things taste that I haven't tasted. Like Brett. Brett's coming on. Yeah. You know, such and such is the best thing I've ever had. Yeah. You know, such and such is the best thing I've ever had. But let me because I was going to ask you, you know, you guys lean in to the influencers, the spokespersons, the celebrity atmosphere. So I was going to say, you know, if and I'm not saying I know you've got names, but, you know, if Post Malone says bamboo tastes great, does it matter if it does taste great or not? You know, like I was going to ask you, you know, like what the interplay of that brand, I don't know, recognition and leverage that you get from those celebrity endorsements versus the product itself. It's if you want to use the example, stick to the artist. If the artist has a shitty song, it's a shitty song. It doesn't matter who the artist is. You know, there's a reason why, you know, if you try to a shitty song, it's a shitty song. It doesn't matter who the artist is. You know, there's a reason why, you know, if you try to pick an artist,

you know, he's got 10 great songs and that's it. And that's hard to do in itself. But if you can be the single greatest artist, but if the song's not good, it won't play. And to me, it gets back to the taste. If the taste isn't good, no matter how big the celebrity is, it's not going to work. But all the other stuff, don't get me wrong. Package is an example. You're a marketing guy. It means everything, especially at my level. I can't spend the way a Bacardi does and build a brand. I think my packages and the design or the name or the story girl with it matters too, because I want the consumer, hopefully will see us on the shelf

or they'll recognize us and pull it and then taste it. And then they'll come back again. But if they don't like the look, they're never going to try it. So they work hand in hand. Yep. Similar to wine bottles. Similar to wine bottles. Consumer packaging is critical. To me, at least, I have to believe in what I'm putting out there. I have to look you in the eye and say, Ryan, you're going to taste the best fricking whiskey in the whole world and there's nothing else like it. And I can look at the eye and tell you why and tell you stories behind it. And you're going to taste it.

You're going to love it. You're going to love the stories to go with it. Who's your favorite baby on the table here in general? Well, I have, so I'll say it differently. I have six kids in my, in my house. Um, and if you ask me, who's my favorite every day of the week, I got a favorite. And that's just the reality. I love them all, but someone kind of stands up today and it's like, oh, she or he is so cute or, oh, this is the best right now. It's the Deacon. It's my whiskey. I'm wearing my shirt that says the Deacon. It's, it's, it's, if you like bourbon, if you like whiskey,

if you like Irish, if you like, uh, anything are, this thing is smoky, it's sweet. It's Pete's peat. It holds up in any cocktails. You can still taste it, which you can't do with any other whiskey. And it just gets me excited. And I'm probably also saying that, Ryan, because it's the new one. It's the newest one. So the newest one always gets more love. I love it, Brett. And I'm going to tell you this. I've worked with Apple for quite a bit. And the way Apple does one thing is the way they do everything. And this is the details that matter, especially in packaging and design. And let me tell you, folks, again, watch the YouTube video. The feel of this bottle, the textures, the design, I immediately, when I was the first thing I pulled out of the box, I'll just say that right now because the copper kind of look grabbed my attention. And I'm telling you, a brand experience happens like the moment you touch it,

like for Apple, like how easy it is to open the box, you know, like that's the first thing. But for you, it's like, I felt this. I'm like, OK, must have. And I love the attention to detail in just the overall bottle and everything. But it is true. And that softness of Apple packaging, you know, it's nothing expensive, but it feels it. It feels a little more expensive, but it's true. And you look at that Deacon bottle, you know, there's a white X in the background behind that character. That's the Scottish flag. There's little divots all over the bottle, which are actually X's. It has to do with Scotland. It says Aquavit on the main label and then D-Boss in the back. And that has to do with Aquavit is Latin for the spirit of life. The face has meaning. It has to do with the plague and plague doctors.

The goggles have a meaning. The name in Scotland means if you're the best at what you do, if you're the best podcaster, the best economist, if you're the best barber, you're the deacon. Everything has meaning to me and I need it to live and breathe in the brand. I need to believe in it. Well, I think it's showing through and I think our audience definitely just heard it. And look, let me tell you this, if you're listening, those details matter. Like, you know, it's called, you know, you know, in, in web design, it's like CX, a consumer experience, like it's the similar, same thing with consumer packaging, you know, like that shit matters and people pick up on it. And that's the beauty is I'm always, I always look at it.

I never, if you ask me, who's my target audience, this is a funny one. I don't believe in demographics. I don't believe in channels. I don't believe in on-premise, which is bars, restaurants, off-premise, which is retail. I don't believe in cities or states. I believe in selling to everybody, everybody. Because the consumer who likes it is the consumer. You don't know what you have until you let it go and do you put it out there. So I want to sell to

everybody. And that to me is how you build a brand. That is ding, ding, ding. The I say riches in the niches. And I've always I've fought that my whole career a little bit, you know, like you certainly have to have some amount of like focus, but you want mass appeal and you want, you know, people talk, something that makes people talk, you know, it's like, that's what gets that word of mouth is like the most powerful thing in marketing still. A hundred percent. And what it's what it's I learned from everything around me. And if I use, again, music, which I'm a big fan of, as an example, if you ask any artist what their number one hit was and did they think that song was going to be successful? They'll all say no. They didn't like it. They didn't think they should put it out. They didn't think it was going to be a hit and lo and behold it is and that tells me you got to try shit and for me if I use bamboo again as my as an example our biggest single market in the world

outside the U.S. is Canada known for my company's ever been there you know we crush it in places like Latvia, Romania, Poland, where rum isn't the thing, but they love bamboo. If I didn't let it breathe, we would never have known it would be like this. My favorite drink on earth is if you go down to the British Virgin Islands, we stayed down there. I've spent a lot of time in Tortola. And if you go to the sandy, the soggy bottom dollar bar and you have a painkiller, it's got rum in it, and it needs to have this rum-boo in it. 100%.

I agree with you on that. Painkiller. Go look it up. Your bartender won't be able to make it. You're going to have to go down to BVI to get the best one. I agree. It's even better if you're in Totola. Yes. Sailing. Brett, you're a personal brand. I mean, you're carrying the brand of the company yourself.

When did, I think since you've always had this personality and this sort of gravitas that goes with you and the brand and what you're doing. But when did that light bulb maybe go on that you are part of the brand and part of the story? It's a great question. It happened for me maybe a year before COVID. So not long, not that long ago. And the reason is I was, I, my brother and I, if you ever asked us, we've always said it's not about us. We don't want to make it about us. It's never about us. It's about the brand. We don't matter. Who cares about who I am? And it wasn't until I started doing that an interview series called Self Made where I wanted to hear people's stories. People started coming to me and thinking I have always been successful. And my response is no,

that's not true. I went through shit. You know, I lost my house. I had the IRS, my bank account. I lost everything in this business. And I started realizing I want people to know that side because that's the side that motivates me. And I want to hear that side from other people. And then I started realizing, boy, I think I can help. I think I can help my brand. At the same time, Ryan, I realized I can help people. I wish there was somebody like me when I was 19, 18, 17, 16, where they're telling shitty stories about failure. And look at me now, because I think that's very important. That's the that's the most important story to tell if you're successful. Yeah. Talk with Brett Barish. He's a badass and he's the president and CEO of Sovereign Brands. Brett, I mean, I get all that.

But, you know, you brought Post Malone on for episode one. That's not fair, dude. Ryan, what's cool about that is, and again, it's awesome to talk to a Wiz Khalifa or a Lil Wayne or Rick Ross. But Post wasn't Post back then. He was still up and coming. He had one song, White Iverson. Yeah. To me, I love, that's my favorite part.

If you give me Ed Sheeran, great. I'd love to talk to him. But I love talking to the guy who's about to become huge or maybe we can help him become huge and kind of hear that story um i think that was his most fluid i've ever heard post like like he like you were a great conversation with him like i know it was short but like the part i watched like an eight minute clip. But that was the most, I don't know, transparent. And I don't know, he's gotten so ethereal or something like, I mean, he's such an artist. Like I respect the hell out of him.

I love his music. But I don't know. I felt like it was just there was some clarity in y'all's discussion that I haven't heard elsewhere. And sometimes it's honesty when you're young, right? It's just honesty. elsewhere. And sometimes it's honesty when you're young, right? You know, I remember I interviewed, uh, uh, was it a, a boogie, a boogie with a hoodie. And, uh, uh, we were in Houston together and he had a show, his first time on tour. And before we did the interview, we'd called down to the, the, the manager of the venue because he didn't think he could fill up 2000 people in the,

in the audience. And he didn't think anybody knew who the hell he was. Like there's something special about that. There's something truly special about talking to people before they get huge because there's just honesty. There's transparency. There's more transparency there, if that makes sense. I think when you get them when they're old, you get them when they're young. Yes. Because in either case, you get them when they're young. Yes. Because in either case, they don't care. Exactly. How do you make these plays?

You understand personal branding. You understand the power of branding. You're doing nontraditional things with marketing. So how caught up do you get on laddering back to like ROI? Like, do you go, you know, like how often does your CFO go, Brett, is this, you know, what's this doing? Like, I think that's when people hear these things, they go, well, Brett can do that, you know,

with sovereign brands, but you know, how do you ladder it back up? Do you worry about that? Do you know it's working? You know, it's the, it's the hardest thing in the world, uh, when it comes to quote unquote advertising and are you getting a return? So I, I try to, I think of myself in two ways. One, I'm an old school brand builder. And that, what that means is I want to get in front of the account. I want to talk to the account. I want to taste customers. I want to have retail tasting in stores. To me, I can quantify that, somewhat quantify that because I can see what we're

selling. It's an expensive way to do it, meaning tastings and things, but I, but at least it's at a location where they're going to keep coming back and they're going to keep coming back and I could build something. I use, you know, when my first brand, Ace of Spades, we didn't have, it became the most successful new champagne in 100 years. And this is before social media. We didn't have, you know, Instagram. We didn't have, we had blogs maybe at best, but it was old school traditional media. blogs maybe at best, but it was old school traditional media. And now with Instagram, I love it because it tells me if I'm connecting to the consumer by not, you said it, by not forcing it on them, by word of mouth. And if you look at our social media, Bambu or Bel Air, Bambu has more followers than Captain Morgan and Bacardi. And they're spending hundreds of millions on

advertising and we're not. So that tells me we are connecting. We are, it's in a different way. That's my barometer. I don't, I, I'm, I must be doing something right because I'm building an audience. Bingo. Cause if you're building the audience, they're buying something somewhere along the line or they're telling someone. Correct. And I think, I think that's the hard part is if you're buying your customers, that's not, that's not really a customer. That's not real. And I don't want that. And that's why, you know, I love, I love seeing what the reactions of the consumer and I can learn from them. And they're, they're, you know, it's, it's the, to me, it's the equivalent of, again, I go back to music. It's an artist and his fans. Like, I think we have, our brands have fans. Now I got to support my fans. 100%. Brett, what is, is there a fine line with like rarity, like versus, you know, like how difficult or how rare, you know, because all your stuff looks like,

okay, oh God, where am I going to be able to find this? You know, but like, does the scarcity factor, the rarity factor, like, you know, you think about luxury brands, Louis Vuitton and those kinds of things, like they're not necessarily scarce, but there's somewhat of a rarity factor to them. Does that play into any of your stuff? I mean, obviously your mass market, but like, is that even, does that even run through your mind? market, but like, is that even, does that even run through your, your mind? Um, yes and no. I don't think, I think it's really hard to create scarcity and, and build a business and, and sustain a financial business model. You can't have it both ways. One, you're looking for rarity, boy, you better have deep pockets because it's not going to pay the bills. And two, if you don't have the money, well, you need to make sales in order to survive to the next day. So I think it's a tough one. For me,

being small, it's going to be rare no matter what because i can't force it everywhere overnight i can't make it go into walmart and and walgreens and you know literally you know the total wines of the world overnight it's never going to happen so scarcity rarity comes with i gotta build my distribution over time and it's going to happen with every brand bingo exclusivity can happen without having scarcity. How about that? And that's what we're talking about. You can't. This is why I come back to, you know, whoever whoever wants your brand is the buyer, is the consumer. And if you're saying, you know, in in, you know, for whatever reason, and I use bamboo again as an example, bamboo in North Carolina is hugely successful. Who knew? So you got to feed that fire.

And what it does is it creates a bond with the consumer. If you don't feed it, it's going to die out and the consumer won't want you anymore. So you can't, you know, you can't have it both ways. I think it's really hard. You guys evaluate partnerships, you know, like we talked about it with people. Is it just gut reaction? Like if it seems like the right audience, I mean, is it, you know, how much thought process and meeting and planning goes into, you know,

whether it's influencers, celebrities, et cetera, what's the process there? I, it's a great question, Ryan. The way I look at it, and again, it's based on making mistakes, is I want to work with people we know. I want to work with people that we already have built a relationship with. I think it's like, I think brand building is the equivalent, especially at that level, is the equivalent of marriage, marriage. You don't just get married after the first date. You got to get to know somebody.

And my goal is if I'm going to work with somebody and take Rick Ross, we've been working together for 12, 15 years. That's the goal. It shouldn't end. It's not supposed to be a finite period that goes away and you're done. You just figured it out. You just figured out like both sides is, you know, bad sides and both sides is good side. Now you know how to work to each other and it ended.

So to me, it's supposed to be long term. It's supposed to last a long time. So I want to meet the people first. I want it to be a relationship. I want them to love our brands. Called authenticity, buddy. That's what you're doing. You know, that's an authentic way to build partnerships. And, you know, I've heard a lot of answers to that question and it's never as thoughtful as you just made it. It's definitely slower. There's a slower way to get there, but I think it's, here's my analogy. I think it's like somebody saying my idea is going to go viral.

No one knows. So it's the same thing with influencers and or or anything. You don't know what's going to work. You don't know. And you've got to try a bunch of shit. What's the culture of spirits these days? You know, like, I feel like all these brands have such different lives. It's probably a broad statement to make, but you've got the champagne lifestyle. You've got, you know, these, the beautiful Rome and like, like there's a culture. I feel like that, that belongs with each one of your brands under this. I mean, it, am I right there? It feels like there's almost like a subculture for everyone. No, a hundred percent. They have meaning. It's supposed to. There's a reason why

people are picking up the bottle and holding it and taking a picture of it. It's no different than a Rolex or Balenciaga or a car. It means something. You've got to be proud of it. At our price point, we're premium, we're prestige, we're super premium. So they have to have meaning. It has to have authentic. It has to have a feeling. I get an email today from somebody in Austria who's an intern at our importer saying, I love what your brands represent. I want to work for you. I see how people react to them. That's what brands are. It's supposed to be a badge of honor. It's supposed to feel like a tattoo. You know, it's something I remember, and it's not even my brand, Ryan, but I remember, you know, 30 years ago being at a club in Miami

and it was a bachelor party and someone ordered a bottle of Kettle One. And I just thought, I didn't order it, but I remember, boy, that's the coolest brand I've ever seen. That's now my brand. You know, it's those moments where there's this connectivity to a brand and that's what I want with mine. You kind of went there. I mean, what's been your proudest moment? You know, like amongst moments, like with all this stuff, the successes, I know you've had the ups and downs and you've told that story. I didn't want to tell a story you've already told. You've picked yourself up off the ground. But what's the proudest moments, you know, or bottle or like experience that you can reflect on?

Oh, it's a good question. Was there like a dream you had? Like once you started rolling, did you have like these, you know, I don't know, tick lists that you're hitting off? Like, I think there's strange moments. I think it's, you know, I remember pretending my office was in my apartment in New York and we would pretend it was an office. But actually, it's where I lived. And I remember I had one employee and Scott looks at me and was still with me. And he says, Brett, we had no air conditioning.

And he says, Brett, come on, man. It's too hot here. We need air conditioning. And I spent $1,500 on two air conditioners, two 5,000 BTU air conditioners. And that was a huge moment. Huge. I remember, you know, back then I take checks to the bank and deposit them on Prince Streets and West Broadway at the Chase. And every time I took it to the teller, she never looked up. He or she never looked up at me. Never looked up. Like it was not a lot of money. One day I walked in with like $700,000 in checks that I wanted to deposit.

$700,000 in checks that I wanted to deposit. She still didn't look up. Like, like I remember, I remember all the moments where people have said, no, it couldn't be done or where we've, we, it's fun to prove people wrong or, or to see them change and become fans. You know, that's, that's what I love. If I can make a believer out of somebody, that's a, that's a fantastic moment. Like I look at these balls, like I'm not a champagne guy, but as soon as I pulled them out, the champagne, the blue, I was like, I bet you these are bestsellers. Like immediately like blue shampoo, champagne. Come on. Yes. Give me that stuff right now. If I go to a party, I'm drinking the blue champagne, damn it. What's great, Ryan, is when we launched that, one of two things was going to happen.

It was going to fail miserably or it was going to succeed fantastic. No in between. It was amazing. And then on top of that, which is just amazing to me, is in France, which is the most sophisticated champagne market in the world, the most competitive champagne market in the world, Bel Air Blue is the number one cuvee. They can't get enough. And again, it comes back to it's a great tasting product. And if it tastes great, people will try it. They will love it. And that's my goal with all the brands. I love tasting people. I love it. And that's my goal with all the brands.

I love tasting people. I love it. Where's the business headed, man? Like, where are you? Where's this playing headed to? I mean, you're headed somewhere, right? My brother and I had the same view 20 some years ago. And the goal was, if we have an idea and a category,

and we come up with a better product than the competition, we want to try it. And we keep doing it. So I don't want it to stop. I love what I'm doing. Deacon's our latest in the whiskey category. We got something in gin with McQueen. We've got something in the cognac liqueur category with Vion. We've got Bel Air, which is just killing it in 80 countries and champagne. And then we got Bamboo, which is now then, and again, which is crazy. Five years ago, everyone said, don't do rum. It's not a category that's growing today. Bamboo is the cat only thing in the category that's growing. And it's because of bamboo. What do I mix it? What am I mixing this guy with? You can mix it. If you like Coke, straights, any liqueur. If you like cognac and you drink, however you drink cognac,

you can do the same way with Vion or just on the rocks. It's killer. I'll make a cognac cream sauce. Try it. It'll taste amazing, Ryan. Yes. Is there an athlete, a celebrity? I mean, you know, like anyone on the radar, any like things or plans or exciting things that we should know about?

The, well, the neat one for me, it's not in those categories, but in the music space, um, we're, we're in, so the brands are global, which I believe in. Cause I think, I think, Ryan, if you're loving bamboo and you go to Paris tomorrow, you want the same brand. And if you go to Amsterdam the next day, you want the same brand. We're doing amazing business all over the world. And I'm loving Africa right now and loving Afrobeats, piano, music. on piano music. And so now we're leaning into that and we're going to put out an album together with some of the biggest artists in Africa, with some of the big names like Rick Ross in the U.S., all about promoting African artists. So that's kind of a new project that we're working on. But it feels right. It leans into what we're good at and it's helping people. And I love it.

That's amazing. And a way to spread the brand across the, you know, the pond and, you know, leaning into, you know, that African culture. And it's a nice tie in with stuff you guys have already done. Right. And on a personal note, I like going where other people don't want to go. I like smaller cities. I like smaller states. I like anything that's, you know, you got to show love to other. Everyone deserves a little bit. It's the 80-20 rule doesn't work for me. I love it. You give more than you expect to receive. Go figure. to receive, go figure. It happens every time. Go somewhere where others aren't and you're going to see what happens. You're going to get the attention. You're going to get the love. People appreciate it. What will that look like as an output as far as the music goes? You guys have put up like a record together or something or, you know, with the Solver Brands, like as a sponsor or partner or like executive producer. How's all that tied together?

We're putting the whole thing together. We're picking the songs. We're picking the beats. We've got great people all involved in the music space. And, you know, fortunately for me, because the brands are so known, I can talk to anybody in the music space. And again, for me, it's about shining a light on Africa. I want to shine a light on African, you know, on Nigeria and Ghana and Gola, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and those artists and show the U S artists as an example, if you show them love, they're going to love you so much more. So we're doing everything. We're going to be recording videos in six or seven countries.

Just a lot of fun stuff like this. And then based on how that goes, we'll probably do another one. But I want to do it in Europe and I want to do it in the Caribbean and keep doing it. That's awesome. Do you tie it to one of the specific brands or just Sovereign as a whole? It's a good question. It's at the it'll be what brands are out there. So right now in Africa, it's Bambu and Bel Air. So those two brands will be leading the album kind of, you know, it's, it's an album put out by those brands. Yeah. That's the full brand experience. You know, you've got the look, you've got the taste, you got the founder rocking and rolling, you got the giving back, boom,

there it is. And the beauty is, you know, I'm leaning on a pillow that my mother gave me. And it says, if the mood moves, you move in, move with it. And that's what I'm doing. If it feels right, I got to try it. Brett, I can't appreciate you enough for coming on the show. Let's talk where everybody obviously got the distributors stuff, but where can people keep up with you, the brands, learn more about everything that you're up to and where to get these delicious drinks? Me on Instagram, Brett Barish, CEO, the brands, Deakin Whiskey,

Bambu Original, Official Bel Air, McQueen Violet Fog, Vion France. Hit us if you have questions. If you want to be a brand ambassador, be part of our team, just hit us. That's how it starts. And if you're looking to do anything in business, the key is don't rely on anyone. That's the key. There you go. Self-made.

Tastes better. That's right. Don't rely on anyone. Brett, thank tastes better. That's right. Don't rely on anyone. Brett, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate your wisdom, your time, and your gifts. Thank you so much for having me, Ryan. Take care, everybody. Hey, guys, you know where to find us.

Ryanisright.com. You'll find all the highlight clips from today, links to all of Brett's brands, and, of course, links to all of mine. Thank you for making us number one. This built real and number one because we are number one because you made us that way. We'll see you next time on Right About Now.

This has been Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. Visit ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.