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Brand ambassadors, or "superfans," are gaining prominence as the thrill of influencers wanes on social media channels like TikTok, which tend to prize this year's most popular word: authenticity.
Here is an early case study in cultivating your biggest fans into your best sales vehicle.
In the early days of WhistlePig's history, its focus on making artisanal rye whiskey was both a blessing and a curse. The Shoreham, Vermont-based business's launch was perfectly timed for a surge of interest in a whiskey cocktail craze set off by the Mad Men series in 2010, but education also proved challenging, as, at the time, rye whiskey was still niche. Production of the smoky spirit had spiked to 1.4 million nine-liter cases in 2020, from 88,000 in 2009.
WhistlePig's marketing tactics helped nurture the niche beverage. There was the time when the company's employees walked Mangalitsa pigs, named Mortimer and Mauve, down the streets during New York Fashion Week. They showed up at Occupy Wall Street with whiskey for activists and brought pigs to tasting events. Buzz built, of course, but pigs can't go to the bar. So Jeff Kozak--WhistlePig's CEO, who took over from the founder, Raj Bhakta, in 2016--and the team went into the bars to talk to bartenders. They introduced the product, held tastings, and talked about rye whiskey and the distinct flavor profile it could bring to the location's cocktail program. Kozak says getting bartenders and other tastemakers who speak directly to consumers behind the brand helped propel them to success more than any pig could.
Yet WhistlePig's global expansion proved even more difficult. In Europe, if you're making whiskey outside of hallowed ground, like Scotland, good luck. And if you're trying to expand distribution during a pandemic, you need more than luck.
You need a League of the Flying Pig.
With its 2020 sale to Moët Hennessy, which at the time acquired 10 percent of the business, WhistlePig offered to fly small groups of bartenders from around the world to the lush environs of Vermont for a four-day-long field trip, where they'd get to see up close how the distilling process happens, where and how the aging takes place, and experiment with different blends. They'd even get to create their own bartender blend and watch workers tap maple trees for the brand's syrup.
The genesis of the company's ambassador program is instructive, offering lessons for other small companies looking to turn their biggest fans into their best salespeople. Here are three ways to make sure your ambassadors are set up for success.
Some superfans will come to you. Others might need some coaxing. Matt Uden, WhistlePig's U.K. ambassador, has plenty of experience in this department. He's responsible for recruiting all of the league's members and keeping them current on the latest products, events, and trends of the WhistlePig world.
Uden regularly pops into bars, hotels, clubs, and department stores around the U.K., chatting with bartenders, managers, and anyone who influences what's poured into a customer's glass. After getting to know Manon Vieules, a 27-year-old bartender at the NoMad Hotel in London, Uden invited her to visit the WhistlePig distillery in Vermont. She quickly accepted the four-day all-expenses-paid trip to the 500-acre farm and home to WhistlePig's distillery. The NoMad Hotel has long been a target for Uden, he says. "I've always been a big fan of the brand and the bar itself," says Uden. "That was my attempt to try and get Manon on board as a League of the Flying Pig member to help come up with that 12-year-old [bartender's] blend.
On the farm in Vermont, which she visited in 2022, Vieules learned about WhistlePig's whiskey production and aging process. She ate the locally grown food prepared by a chef and got to know some of her fellow Flying Pig members--which total about 250 worldwide. And, of course, she drank plenty of whiskey. Vieules and her fellow members worked with WhistlePig's head of R&D to create a bartender's blended whiskey. A blend that has since been bottled and distributed across the league, including at an American Thanksgiving dinner for its U.K. team--just one of the events the league puts on for members.
At the end of her trip, Vieules and other members received a package of WhistlePig products: a red and black plaid lumberjack jacket, whiskey, and the maple syrup produced on the farm. That syrup has become a popular component of the cocktail that encapsulates the WhistlePig spirit overseas: a maple old-fashioned. Kozak says you're more likely to win customers who value high-end, farm-to-table products by adding another element from the farm. "It's another story you can tell," he says.
Credibility is key to the League of the Flying Pig, says Kozak. The reason the company is so adamant about partnering with fans like Vieules and Uden comes down to credibility. The well-regarded bartenders are more likely to vouch for products and processes they viewed firsthand. But these tastemakers also need access. League of the Flying Pig members often receive special edition bottles and other gifts to share with customers.
The potential profit down the road makes it a worthwhile endeavor, says Kozak. He adds that it's also a matter of respect for the market: "If we're gonna go to a market, we need to give them not just the marks that are more available, but also exclusive brands like Boss Hog." This enables WhistlePig's newest potential customers to try products with guidance from someone they trust.
WhistlePig's European expansion appears to be paying off. At the outset of the program, the company had about 500 international accounts. Today, there are 7,000 across 15 countries such as England, Germany, France, Japan, and Denmark.
A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta
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