Star power matters.
It can drive brands.
I spent the last few days at the ROTH Capital conference in Laguna Niguel, California. It's one of the top investment events in the country.
Migos - the immensely popular rap group - was the entertainment the first night, along with food trucks from some of southern California's premiere spots.
Pat Benatar hit it with her best shot on night two.
I was there for the act on night three: platinum country duo Big & Rich, of "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" fame. But not just for the music.
Let me back up...
Back in 2016, I and members of Nick's Notebook, which was one of the first newsletters in the country to bring private investments to retail investors, financed a very young OTC company called Eastside Distilling. It was a small distiller based out of Portland, Oregon that had some fast-growing brands in the fast-growing "craft" segment of the market.
It hired one of the top beverage branding firms in the world - Sandstrom Partners - which had launched some of the top new liquor brands around, including a bestselling bourbon called Bulleit, as well as Aviation Gin.
Based on the very rapid growth of craft spirits and this rebranding of Eastside's liquor lines, I thought the company had a great chance at success.
But then something big happened.
Eastside Distilling's chairman and largest shareholder, Grover Wickersham, somehow had a connection to John Rich - half of the Big & Rich duo that performed at the ROTH Conference this week.
John, in addition to being a well-known country music artist, is also an entrepreneur.
He trademarked something called Redneck Riviera, a chain of bars and merchandise. Think Margaritaville for the redneck crowd (of which I am one).
Things progressed quickly with Eastside and John Rich, and in no time they agreed to launch a line of Redneck Riviera whiskey.
Think about this: here you have a guy who performs in front of thousands of fans each night, goes on radio and local news in every city he performs in, and has immense star branding power.
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Combine that with Sandstrom, who put together all the packaging and messaging, and it's a very potent combination.
Flash forward to this week.
The Redneck Riviera line is now rolling out. It's penetrated 14 states in the few short months since it launched. They've got it in Walmart. It's in some of the biggest grocery chains in the southeast. They just got it in California in the past few weeks, and Texas this week.
It's blowing up. And it's some of the best guerilla marketing I've ever seen.
I talked with John Rich at the marketing panel he sat on at the conference. He makes the marketing seem natural. He tells the story of how his Granny Rich had to approve the product. He explains how it's for the working man - the "Work Hard, Play Hard" crowd as they've positioned it.
He holds the bottle up on stage at the conference (and will do so at every show he plays). Tells people how good it is.
It was the buzz of the conference. All the bartenders at the Ritz Carlton where the event was held were wearing Redneck Riviera t-shirts. They handed out Redneck Riviera swag. Everyone wanted to meet Big & Rich - and of course taste the whiskey.
And this will be repeated in city after city where the group tours, spreading the brand and growing sales as they go.
I talked with a representative from Sandstrom who said it's one of the best - if not the best - liquor launches he's ever seen. And he's launched some of the top brands in the world. He liked it so much he took a stock position and a seat on the board.
The stock has graduated to the NASDAQ and recently hit all-time highs.
Members of Nick's Notebook have done incredibly well on the investment. And we have warrants to buy more.
And the company is just getting started.
But we were in long before any of the John Rich stuff came about.
That's what happens when you get in these deals so early.
And that's the access I provide.
George Clooney recently sold his tequila brand, Casamigos, for a billion-dollar exit.
Will Eastside Distilling (NASDAQ: EAST) be next?
Call it like you see it,
Nick Hodge
Nick is the founder and president of the Outsider Club, and the investment director of the thousands-strong stock advisories, Early Advantage and Wall Street's Underground Profits. He also heads Nick's Notebook, a private placement and alert service that has raised tens of millions of dollars of investment capital for resource, energy, cannabis, and medical technology companies. Co-author of two best-selling investment books, including Energy Investing for Dummies, his insights have been shared on news programs and in magazines and newspapers around the world. For more on Nick, take a look at his editor's page.