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In an effort to try to gain an understanding of what a brand ambassador actually does, one finds no clear answer. We can look at the job description, or we can look at the want ads, but searching Google we are greeted by very little to explain the role of the brand ambassador in the economy of wine/spirits/beer. I think we need to look back on the history of these bon vivants and the earliest whispers of wine and liquor brands’ practice of hiring someone to represent them to the industry.
Legend has it that Bacardi’s original brand ambassador, Rafael “Pappy” Valiente, would sit at the exit of the local airport in Puerto Rico and pull a sort of swindle on unsuspecting tourists, who suddenly found themselves being treated to a tour of the locale, with a stop-in at several local bars and restaurants, all of whom conveniently stocked Bacardi rum, and then a personalized tour of the distillery. Pappy would then take tourists over to Bacardi’s private bar inside their office in Cuba, and teach them how to make a proper Bacardi daquiri. After such a fine experience, it’s no wonder that many of these tourists returned home with a few bottles stuffed into their bags and proceeded to spread high praise for Bacardi when they returned home.
Modern brand ambassadors may not employ these same techniques, but then again, they just may… Their job is often not sales based, but instead, their success is based upon word-of-mouth. Their main function may be to spread the good word on the brand, and convert the consumers themselves into “mini-ambassadors”.
In the 1923 book Valentine’s Manual of Old New York, we found a passage that we believe sums it up quite nicely. Speaking of the success of French champagne in New York, William F. Mulhall writes of the the “Wine-buyers” found in the city’s numerous drinking establishments, neatly dividing them into two separate categories:
“Wine-buyers were of two classes—scions of wealth, including sometimes their wives, but not very often—and the wine-agent, the man who, often from abroad but always with a good working knowledge of English, was introducing some new brand of wine to this country.”
Not so unlike the spirits world of today, if we just change the “wine-agent” to “brand ambassador”. Mulvhall goes on to describe the lifestyle or practices of the latter:
“The wine-agent was a different order of being. A shrewd, affable personage, full of good stories and all kinds of social gifts—dressed in the very best of the fashion—capable of absorbing and standing an enormous amount of drink, yet always with an eye to the main chance, knowing that his job depended wholly on the sales account. Personally, he did not seek orders for his brand. His role was that of the man-about-town, the swell “rounder,” who dropped into one of the “big” cafes, sat down at a table and ordered a pint of his own brand.
Any man he knew who happened in would be very cordially invited over to join him—and another bottle would be ordered. He would sit there for an hour in his elegant leisure, smoking and entertaining his little party— as other friends and their companions dropped in they would be invited to join the party—and what man could refuse a glass of the French champagne in those days— and would saunter up Broadway to the next swell place. He would keep up this life from the hour past noon— generally two or three o’clock—till the places closed.
The method of introducing the French champagne was very simple. Get the bar to stock it on trial—then secure the right type of agent or introducer to buy at those particular bars. At these bars were assembled daily the richest men in town and country, and the new wine soon became known. Many a case was ordered from the agent on trial, which afterward blossomed into a big order under the spell of the agent, who had the freest and most cordial manner with his customer at all the bars. It was a great game, and that was the way champagne, of which we were said to be the largest consumers in the world not long before the war, was introduced in America.”
Brand Ambassadors can have a tremendous impact on the brand’s outreach, interacting with the various tiers of the US spirits industry as well as with consumers, and being the voice of the brand in their markets.
Many companies hire celebrity brand ambassadors, but often Head Distillers, Master Blenders, or Founders serve as their company’s primary Brand Ambassador. Most Whisk(e)y Brand Ambassadors (BA’s) are often passionate whisk(e)y lovers who come from assorted backgrounds, like sales/distribution, liquor store buyers, or the bar/restaurant industry. They work to educate sales teams and bar/restaurant/ nightlife staff on the various selling points of their products, achieve placements in high-value accounts, and to engage consumers through brand activations like tasting events, cocktail and menu placements, and much, much more.
Brand Ambassadors are chosen to be advocates for their brands’ values and unique personalities. Many BA’s also support good causes with their work, such as fund-raising events, trade advocacy, and hospitality employee support programs.
Over the course of the last few years, it’s become more and more apparent that these rising stars of the whisk(e)y industry are catalysts for positive change in the future.
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