Celebrity driven booze brands are now so common theyβre a familiar punchline. A few of them are pretty good and several have been huge financial successes, but are any of them really necessary? Are any of them solving a customer pain point?
βI love to sip whiskey but I just wish it was sonically enhanced using Black NoiseTM by rock band Metallica.β
Itβs easy to poke fun but I also have to respect that value is in the eye of the beholder and people are buying celeb booze. I may think Metallicaβs Blackened whiskey is silly, but the market doesnβt. And what the market thinks is far more important than what any one of us thinks, myself included.
To the degree that celebrities influence culture in America and worldwide, itβs interesting to me that so many of them still choose to hawk hooch. Alcohol is becoming less cool by the minute and celebs are considered a driving force in what is cool, pushing culture forward. Is it just that adult non-alc early adopters (i.e. you, reader) are so far ahead of the trend curve that even celebs havenβt yet caught up?
A different kind of celebrity beverage brand
Most of todayβs celebrities prioritize maintaining and improving their fitness, health and wellness. To that end, at almost the same rapid rate at which new celeb booze brands launch, celebs themselves are announcing that theyβve gone sober. So itβs interesting when athletes and performers at the tops of their games (and, I assume, focused on staying there) push ethanol drinks that do nothing to support those health and wellness goals.
Here at Dry Atlas, weβre also seeing our share of celebrity-driven non-alc brands, including:
- Luann DeLessepsβs Fose Rose
- Bella Hadidβs Kin Euphorics
- Katy Perryβs De Soi
- Blake Livelyβs Betty Buzz
- RuPaulβs House of Love
- NFL player JJ Wattβs investment in Athletic Brewing
- Constance Jablonskiβs French Bloom
Does celebrity involvement make non-alc brands more appealing?
On one hand, early adopters of adult non-alc are the ones who are perfectly happy to buck the status quo without waiting for anyoneβs permission. We donβt need celebs to tell us itβs ok to circumvent alcoholβs still-pervasive hold on culture and society.
On the other hand, we all have people we admire. Those peopleβs opinions matter to us and play a role in shaping our behaviors (even if we donβt fully realize it). And there is a very large market of people who are influenced by Dwayne Johnson, Kate Hudson, LeBron James, et al. To the degree that celebs are role models for millions worldwide, itβs exciting that some like Hadid, Lively, RuPaul, et al. are now inviting their fans to try better bevs.
