Special Delivery
Published in Beverage Retailer March/April 2004
While he is not running for political office, Jimmy Bedford, master distiller of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, has certainly been campaigning like a politician. To rally support for an all-American traditional liquor at the 12 Beverage House stores in Arizona, he delivered Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Liquor and signed bottles at the stores.
The signed bottles were available to order and sold like wild to customers looking for a unique collectible or gift.
John Kapranopoulis, co-owner of the Beverage House chain, says, "We also advertised a pre-sale in all of our stores. Jimmy Bedford signed all pre-sale bottles and we delivered to each store for customer pick-up."
Marketing included a press release to all media, newspaper advertising and POS in all stories with a Jack Daniel's display.
"We had our store displays up 45 days prior to the occasion," he says.
Kapranopoulis dubs the sale a huge success. "Not only did we sell 30 cases of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel, customers bought other bottles of Jack Daniel's and Jimmy Bedford autographed them also," he says. We also benefited from this by having a lot of new customers that now have become regular customers."