Do Awards and Medals Matter?

Facts and Myths About Awards

Every day, spirit brands seem to be crowing about the awards or accolades they have won. Whether meaningful or not, press releases and brand pitches abound with “we won this” or “we won that” to the point where I often wonder what difference it makes.

At the same time, the purveyors of the award programs are all over the place with implicit vows of brand supremacy and recognition. They seem to be saying that if you enter our contest or event and vie for glory, not to mention recognition, you’ll succeed.

So, let’s take a brief look at awards and accolades from several viewpoints — the awards in general, the trade, the makers, and the impact on consumers. Let’s separate fact from myth, with a few opinions thrown in.

Int’l games award medals. Oriental Trading co.

Fact: Major and mainstream brands don’t need or use awards as a distinguishing characteristic. Of course, they don’t need to at this stage in their development. But, even at the outset, brands like Tito’s, Patron, Absolut, Bulleit, and others did not use accolades as a reason for being. Perhaps it was because there were far fewer award contests or because their message, brand attributes, and market positioning were sufficient to win over the trade and consumer.

The only exception I’ve seen is on behalf of line extensions, and then only sporadically. I suspect that a zealous brand manager from a top brand managing a line extension will be attracted to enter the brand in an award contest to show management that the investment in the extension is worthwhile. (Not to mention how great they manage the brand.)

Opinion: Among award suppliers, not all are created equal. I’m not looking to review these companies or make any recommendations, but the two that stand out, in my opinion, are the Ultimate Spirits Challenge and San Francisco Spirits Competition. Sure, there are many other excellent suppliers, but I’m impressed with these two because of their longevity, the people who run them, and the acumen of the judges most of the time.

Speaking of judges, that’s a critical dimension. I have a client and friend who entered his craft product in both these events. Interestingly, one is on the east coast, and one is on the west: same product but markedly different scores. There must be palate differences east and west — why else would he have received double gold in one place and bronze in the other? The only further explanation is that the product produced in one area reflected the taste of that area but didn’t translate across the country.

Fact: Craft brands enter contests that they presume will enhance their go-to-market ability. It’s about recognition and trying to influence distributors and retailers.

Fact: If a craft brand has deep enough pockets, they can enter tons of award events and collect medals (some meaningful, most not) and get lots of bragging rights.

Fact: The best aspect of awards is the opportunity for brand publicity and use on social media.

Fact: But…It’s not about the award itself; it’s how to monetize it.

Fact: Awards don’t build brands. A unique and relevant proposition, together with sound strategies and tactics, and pounding the pavement is what it takes. There are no shortcuts.

Myth: The trade cares about brand awards. The reality is that they look at new brand awards, and it becomes a sort of ‘ticket of admission.’ For many, it’s like chicken soup when you have a cold; it might not help but can’t hurt.

That’s because…

Fact: Brand awards are overdone and a dime a dozen.

Myth: Consumers focus on awards in their decision-making process.

Let’s get real — there are tons of prizes and brands shouting about them — some are multiple golds and some ‘honorable mention;’ some are from no-name award events, some from meaningful ones. Who has time or interest in considering awards to make a purchase?

I’ll tell you what, in my experience, works best — a number on a shelf talker (adjacent to the bottle). A rating of 90+ captures the attention of someone looking to try something new and has more meaning than tons of not understood and pointless glitter. Thank you, wine industry, for using numeric ratings in highlighting top wine brands.

Fact: The only people benefiting from awards are the organizers of the award events. A close second is the brand owner, who thinks that awards are the quick and easy way to succeed.

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If I were to be philosophical and more than a little meanspirited (who me?) I’d say that the award culture we live in stems from the past 40 years or so, starting with camps, organized sports, and other efforts, whereby just showing up earned an award, plaque, or trophy. As my friend and business partner, Rob Warren, says, “It’s the syndrome where everyone who plays or pays gets an award.”

Sure, show them an award or two as an aside, but not the focal point of your brand proposition. To win in the booze business, you need way more than that.

Let me know what you think.

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Welcome to California: Racquet Club Spirits

The Story of a New Craft Spirit Company in Palm Springs

In the past year or so, I’ve been off the air for several reasons — business and writing commitments, Covid, and most important, moving from NYC to Rancho Mirage CA. That’s in Coachella Valley, aka Greater Palm Springs, aka The Desert.

Now I’m back and at it. And what does a transplanted New Yorker and booze business writer/observer do? Looks for places to eat and drink (restaurants and bars here are top notch) and entrepreneurs in the Booze Business.

Meet the Owners of Racquet Club Spirits

Matthew Winks and Brian Harke, owners of Racquet Club Spirits

From Palm Springs Life magazine: “The spirit of individuality and fun from the historic Racquet Club spur a desert couple to create a new Palm Springs-inspired liquor brand. A marketing director and commercial producer together for more than 30 years, Movie Colony couple Brian Harke and Matthew Winks have spun their passion for cocktails 
into a new line of Palm Springs-inspired spirits, Racquet Club Spirits.”

Racquet Club Spirits is an LGBTQ+ owned company, and producers of Racquet Club Vodka and Racquet Club Straight Bourbon Whiskey.  Two truly outstanding products in my view.

The owners, Brian and Matthew, come from outside the Booze Business world but have quickly learned the business and what it takes to succeed. Brian was a marketing director, and Matthew was a TV commercial producer. They used their creative background to work on the classic bottle design with a vintage label.

Their brand launch announcement described their effort this way:

“Racquet Club Spirits celebrates the style and swagger of Palm Springs Racquet Club, a desert oasis that became Hollywood’s legendary playground. The Vodka and Straight Bourbon Whiskey are hand crafted in small batches to ensure that every classic cocktail lives up to their namesake: the exclusive Racquet Club, where movie stars went to escape.”

About the Racquet Club

Coachella Valley and Palm Springs is known for its midcentury architecture, outdoor leisure and history of attracting Hollywood celebrities.

In fact, when we first moved out here, we were thrilled and amused by many of the street names throughout the valley: Dinah Shore Drive, Kirk Douglas Way, Frank Sinatra Drive, Fred Waring Way, Gene Autry Trail, and so on. It’s a fun place to live. (But don’t ask me about the heat.)

In an interview in Palm Springs Life, Matthew described the environs this way:

“Palm Springs is similar to
Las Vegas in that for years and years, people have come here to escape. The Racquet Club was certainly part of that because movie stars felt comfortable going and hanging out there. It was beyond the studio zone in the old days of Hollywood, so they were allowed to let loose. That spirit of individuality and fun really connected to us and our vibe.”

In my view, the inspiration of the Palm Springs area, especially its history, sends a message to consumers that this brand is fun, special, and transfers those attitudes to the drinking occasion.

The Racquet Club circa 1930s. From ladyevesreellife.com

The Racquet Club was founded in 1934 by actors Ralph Bellamy and Charlie Farrell so they would always have a court to play in. It served as a gathering place and party venue for much of Hollywood’s show business elite and quickly became the party spot for Hollywood royalty including Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Elizabeth Taylor, Errol Flynn, Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Natalie Wood, and Robert Wagner who were regular guests. Marilyn Monroe is said to have been discovered there.

The Products

The tradition and lifestyle of the Racquet Club and Palm Springs drove their business proposition — laid back, easy-going, and as they put it, laden with style and swagger. The packaging certainly reflect this with the non-traditional label and more importantly the retro look.

While they do not distill themselves, they have worked very closely with distillers to manufacture products to their vision. Namely products that taste good and makes drinkers feel the Palm Spring vibe.

Their mandate for the vodka was that it had to have notes of vanilla with a soft nonmedicinal aroma or mouthfeel, and fruit over notes. In addition, it is filtered 7 times using a carbon with all-natural carbon originating from coconut husks. Palm Springs all the way.

The distiller is Dry Diggings Distillery, El Dorado Hills, CA. It sells for roughly $32.99 and is 80 proof (40 AbV).

The bourbon is made by Midwest Grain Products (MGP), again with Brian and Matthew’s oversight. I found it very gentle and easy to drink straight yet held up and complimented my favorite cocktail. Again, it’s got a bit of fruitiness and is well balanced, so it lends itself to mixology. There’s a bit of caramel and vanilla with some chocolate notes in there.

It’s 84 proof (42 AbV) and sells for about $42.99.

Both products are available all over the Palm Springs area in top bars and restaurants and in such off-premise accounts like Total Wine and More, Mirage Wine & Liquor, and other leading independents in the valley, and online at Mash and Grape.

The vodka has won several awards including a silver award from the NY World Wine and Spirits competition. The bourbon has received two double gold awards from the Sip Awards and the San Diego Spirits Festival.

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If you’ve been a follower of this blog, you know that I appreciate startup entrepreneurs who change their work lives and enter the alcohol industry. In Brian and Matthew’s case, I especially admire their vision and their hard work to bring it to fruition. When I spoke with them recently, I was struck by their passion and drive, which was very palpable.

Welcome to the Booze Business gentlemen.

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Coole Swan: A Whiter Shade of Cool

Move Over Bailey’s, Here Comes the Swan

According to Impact Databank, Bailey’s Irish Cream is a 1.5 million 9-litre brand in the US and grew 6.5% from 2018 to 2019. But after you read the story about Coole Swan Irish Cream Liqueur, you might wonder if Coole Swan, with the right resources, might just make a dent in those numbers.

The Back Story

David Gluckman, whom I’ve written about in the past, spent 45 years in the drinks business primarily in the new brand development area. Much of his career, 36 years to be exact, was with International Distillers and Vintners (IDV), the company that became Diageo. Along the way, he created Sheridan’s, Le Piat d’Or, Tanqueray Ten, Bailey’s Irish Cream, among others.

In 2005, he left Diageo and decided that, together with some former clients/colleagues, they would develop products for their own company. As he puts it in his book (That S*it Will Never Sell): 

“When I think back, I was isolated from most of the tough stuff… working for a company. All I had to do was come up with ideas. Other people looked at production, finance and marketing. Now that I was working on a brand of my own, I came to realise how difficult things could be at the deep end.”

Among the products they developed was Coole Swan where they saw an opportunity for a product with lower sweetness and more modern, sophisticated packaging which broke with the Bailey’s template.

Currently, the brand is an independently owned family business run by husband and wife team Mary Sadlier and Philip Brady. Interestingly, Mary Sadlier’s background was in corporate finance at Diageo.

I’ll come back to her in a moment, but about now you’re probably wondering where the brand’s name comes from.

Coole Swan

As Mary put it, “the name Coole Swan was inspired by The Wild Swans at Coole, a poem written by one of Ireland’s great romantic poets; W.B. Yeats. In this poem Yeats writes about finding everlasting beauty in an ever-changing world – just like our wonderful Irish Cream Liqueur. Coole Swan, an eternal beauty, we just bottled it.” 

According to David Gluckman, he and his associates had a hard time coming up with a name for the cream liqueur they invented. Either the name didn’t fit or was already taken. By chance, David was catching the last plane out of Dublin and looking for inspiration, picked up a copy of a book of Yeats’ poetry. He found one of his most famous poems, as he put it, “a wistful reflection on the passing of time called The Wild Swans at Coole,” a park near County Galaway.

(A link to the poem is here.)

About Mary Sadlier, the owner

Mary Sadlier, who with her husband Philip Brady, run the Coole Swan business, hails from Navan in County Meath. The Coole Swan company is based nearby in Tatestown near Navath in the same county.

Mary is an amazing businessperson and struck me as someone who is always learning, always growing.

Mary Sadlier

As mentioned, she was in corporate finance at Diageo. In my view, after talking with her at length for this article, it was clear to me that she has a keen overall sense of all aspects of business, marketing and sales included. She has participated in Going for Growth a six-month part-time program, supported by Enterprise Ireland and KPMG, which assists ambitious female entrepreneurs to achieve their growth aspirations.

I found this quote from her on their newsletter:

“The Going for Growth program was of tremendous benefit to me. To be among so many brilliant women made me grow in confidence and allowed me to ‘lean-in’. The fellow participants are like really good neighbors – they are there with you when need them but not when you don’t,” says Mary.

What Mary and her company lack is the corporate resources to meet the challenge of Bailey’s and the dozens of Bailey’s knock-offs and wannabes.

About the product

The best way to describe the product is to compare it to Bailey’s:

Coole Swan is made with Single Malt Irish whiskey, Belgian white chocolate and fresh cream. It is only produced in Ireland. Bailey’s is made with Irish Whiskey and a propriety recipe of chocolate flavors. The company reports that it is made in both Dublin, Ireland and in Mallusk, Northern Ireland. But given its volume and widespread global distribution, I suspect it may be produced elsewhere as well.

The alcohol by volume is similar for both, around 16/17% AbV. The price points vary with Coole Swan selling for (roughly in the US) $29.99 and Baily’s at $25.

So long as we’re talking comparisons, I found this review from Common Man Cocktails:

“BAILEYS’ has a really deep nutty/chocolatey nose hitting your nostrils with a fairly potent ethanol all along whereas COOLE SWAN is far more tamed (with an actual cream thickness when swirled around the glass) with a lot more components coming through at once, not standing out or taking over one another but all having their say and coming out nicely…”

The Future for Coole Swan

The brand does around 10,000 9-litre cases in the US and currently is in New York Metro, Colorado, New Hampshire, Kansas, South Carolina and Massachusetts. Mary is smart enough to know the US market and is looking at LibDib (and other approaches) to expand into Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, California, as well as Maine Vermont and New Jersey.

Globally, the brand is in Ireland (of course) and elsewhere in the UK, Germany, Australia, and Alberta Canada.

My takeaway

From a personal perspective, my wife and I have always been Bailey’s Irish Cream lovers, considering it as a special treat, upon occasion. However — and at the risk of offending my Diageo friends — Coole Swan is at an entirely different level of cream liqueurs. It is, as the label indicates, a “Superior Irish Cream Liqueur.”

I’m well aware of the trend toward low and no alcohol and one might wonder as to whether the drinking climate will inhibit the growth of all cream liqueurs. However, the sales data shows that the leading brands, have grown one percent recently — basically flat but not declining. With all due respects to the trend followers, not everyone buys into it (what’s the point of drinking a no-alcohol tequila) and, regardless, a bit of indulgence goes a long way these days.

The challenge Coole Swan faces is resources, and, to make the brand grow by expanding in current markets, adding meaningful and strategically important new markets, building awareness and trial, and the human resources to make all this happen.

What Mary and her team have going for them, and why I believe in the growth potential of the brand, is tenacity, passion, intelligence, and strategic thinking. They need that and more to make a dent in the category and Bailey’s sales.

I love a good David vs. Goliath story. Don’t you?

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