If brands can be founders’ children, then Brett Berish has taken a very hands-on approach to fatherhood becoming the focal point for his spirits company Sovereign Brands.
Berish’s own father worked for 45 years in the liquor industry, inspiring Berish to follow in his footsteps. Berish proved to have a knack for connecting hip hop culture to bev-alc brands, and is known for a successful exit from Armand de Brignac champagne (nicknamed Ace of Spades), which sold to music mogul Shawn “Jay Z” Carter in 2014.
At the time, Berish still maintained a somewhat reserved approach to brand-building. Over the next ten years, he became the face of Sovereign Brands through his eccentric style and appetite to jump into a variety of categories. Brewbound’s sibling publication BevNET chatted with Berish about his dynamic approach to brand-building, Pernod-Ricard’s minority investment and why connecting with music has led to a global reach for his brands.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
You have taken an interesting approach to launching into new categories. Why take a risk on unconventional brands like a Brazilian gin or a French liqueur as opposed to more trending categories like tequila or canned cocktails?
The most powerful sales tool is telling someone, ‘no.’ If you turn someone down, they’ll want [the brand] more.
Early on, I was the one following trends, and I realized that’s not what I should be doing. If I’m not in the category already, I’ve missed the trend. I want to be ahead of the trend. I want to be the trend. In reality, that means doing things that are opposite of the rest of the industry. If you see a trend and you jump in, it’s too late.
I pick categories and brands that are not trendy. I’m on my fifth successful brand and what they all have in common is everyone told me they would never work. Years later, they’re trending and something is happening, and we’re ahead of the curve.
Has there been a successful approach to brand-building and marketing that you tend to rely on?
You can’t force growth. No matter what you do, you can’t make something grow faster. I have six kids and trying to make them grow faster is just not going to happen. There’s nothing you can do about it. They’re going to grow and they’re going to leave when they are ready.
I’m a big believer in the streets. I’m an old-school brand-builder. It’s not marketing that’s going to get me there. It’s getting in front of the buyers and convincing them and the bartenders that my brand is better than the rest.
I have to trust my own instincts. I can’t be Pernod-Ricard or Diageo. I can’t be Bacardi. It’s a huge mistake to try to end up just like them. I’m nothing like them, and I have to embrace what I’m not like.
Despite not being like Pernod-Ricard, you have taken investment from the company. Tell us a little about why you took funding from a large spirits house.
I need people to believe in me and I need my team to believe in me, but I need to believe in something as well. I realized I can get behind their chairman, Alex Ricard. He loves the business. He loves the history. [Pernod-Ricard] has this amazing culture for a company that’s 20,000 employees, and I can get behind somebody like that. I love that they’re number two because I think the number one driver for second place is to become number one.
How does the partnership work? What is the value to Sovereign Brands and what is the value to Pernod-Ricard?
It’s our decision if they are our importer or not. In the U.S., we don’t work with them because we are our own importers. We have our own sales team, we’re separate. But then there are 60 to 70 other countries where we’ve selected them or moved to them as our partner. We run the company, we run the brands, but they act as the local sales and marketing arm in those places.
If I were speaking for them, I would say they appreciate our approach to the market, our attitude on building brands from how we spend to how we market. We micromanage things and that’s critical. Jameson is a magnificent 11 million-plus case per year brand. That takes a different attention span than a little tiny brand that’s trying to grow into something. In that case, you have to micromanage.
The brands complement them tremendously. They have Havana [Club] but they don’t have anything like Bumbu at the premium level. In whiskey, they don’t have anything at The Deacon’s price point. They’ve got great brands like Jameson and Chivas, which are lower priced. They’ve got great brands at the higher end like Royal Salute but they don’t have a brand with a taste profile like [The Deacon]. With Bel Air it’s the same thing. They don’t have a next-generation, high-energy brand that can compete with the likes of Moët and Veuve [Clicquot] in champagne.
Ever since your deal with Jay-Z ten years ago, you have cultivated a close connection both with yourself and your brands to hip hop music. How has this marketing approach helped grow your portfolio’s identity with that consumer base and globally?
I have to lean into the things that make me happy. If I was into country music, I’d be supporting the country music world. If I liked EDM (electronic dance music), I’d be supporting EDM. I love hip hop. I’ve always been loving hip hop. To me, everything is based on what moves us, what feels natural to us.
As an example, I’m in love with Afrobeats and am a huge fan of that music style. Now, we’ve been leaning into Africa. Our brands are moving into that market and we do really well.
Whether it’s Post Malone, Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, Wiz Khalifa or Rick Ross, I know all these people not because of me but because they knew my brands. That’s the relationship. When someone likes my brands, I love them and I want to see how we can work with and support them. You can’t run away and be careful, you run at them and give them a big hug and say, ‘What can we do together?’