EXCLUSIVE: Maya Jama recently collaborated with Gordon’s Pink Gin, Dolly Parton launched Dolly Wines and Don Julio Tequila was a central brand behind this years BAFTAs. Let’s look into the booze-celeb crossover
If you’ve walked down the supermarket booze aisle recently, then you might have noticed something a little different – apart from prices going up.
While many brands have successfully ventured into alcohol-free or low-alcohol tipples, such as Guinness, others have teamed up with celebs, or the famous have launched their own boozy labels.
The list of celebrities putting their names to alcohol is never ending: Maya Jama’s collaboration with Gordon’s Pink Gin, Dolly Parton’s ‘Dolly Wines’, Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s Teremana Tequila, Gary Barlow’s Wines and, um, Rebekah Vardy and Dennis Wise’s SK-TL Vodka Shots…
But, in an age of growing interest in sobriety, why have celebs ditched the fitness DVDs for sticking their face on booze bottles?
Well, we spoke to trend forecaster and co-host of Let’s Get Ugly podcast Disha Daswaney and PR whizz Kara Buffrey, Senior Account Director of Hospitality at W Communications, to find out why this is.
Disha explained: “Celebrities are launching beverage brands because the drinks industry is highly lucrative, offers strong profit margins, and allows them to create a tangible lifestyle product that aligns with their public persona.
“With direct-to-consumer marketing, a built-in audience, and the aspirational lifestyle appeal of premium drinks, it makes perfect sense why so many stars are jumping in.
“Alcohol, in particular, has seen significant success in the celebrity space, with Tequila brands founded by celebrities growing 40% in 2022, compared to the overall category’s 13% growth.”
The trend of celebrity tipples, tequila in particular, continued to grow (16%) in 2023, with the overall category of famous face backed booze growing just 3%, according to The Spirits Business.
And it turns out that people are more willing to fork out for the price tag if a celebrity is associated with the drink. The Spirits Business also found that celeb-brands accounted for 10% of spirits sold in certain venues.
The supermodel of the Kardashian clan, Kendall Jenner, seemed to be one of the driving factors in the increase of celeb booze brands, particular tequila, when she launched 818 Tequila in 2021.
Many were surprised to see the model associate herself with alcohol, especially after the negative link between party-mad models in the early 00s.
But Jenner’s tequila has proved to not be ‘trashy’, but “sophisticated”. However, how is a model, who are notoriously slim and watch what they consume like a hawk, successfully flogging booze.
Well, Disha says it’s a wider statement how society, and the market, has moved on from ‘self-improvement’ to ‘healthy indulgence’ – which shows with the increase of celeb owned ‘alcohol free’ brands, too.
The trend forecaster added: “A decade ago, fitness and wellness were seen as aspirational and highly marketable, with a focus on personal transformation and self-improvement.
“Today, while those trends are still relevant, the emphasis has shifted toward social experiences and indulgence in a ‘healthier’ way.
“Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila has done exceptionally well because it blends celebrity influence with strong marketing, sustainability efforts, and a focus on authenticity.
“Unlike some celebrity brands that feel disconnected from their founders, 818 positions Kendall as genuinely involved while also leveraging premium branding and an aspirational aesthetic.
“The rise of non-alcoholic and functional beverages allows celebrities to tap into wellness without abandoning the social currency of the drinks industry.
“Even alcoholic brands are now marketed with a lifestyle focus, positioning them as sophisticated, premium, and mindful choices rather than excessive or unhealthy.”
This sentiment is reiterated by PR Kara Buffrey – who specialises in food and drink – where she believes that, despite the ‘sober curious’ movement building traction, that booze is too lucrative a gig not to pursue.
And that, like us common folk, celebs like to have a drink too. While Kara noted that Kendall will not be “polishing” off a bottle of pinot or five before going on the catwalk or on a boozy Butlins weekend, alcohol proves to be “popular” among the elite.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson launched his own tequila last year, Teremana Tequila, which Kara says fits into the actor’s own personal brand and lifestyle.
Providing her PR perspective, Kara shared: “Despite the sober curious movement gaining serious traction, it’s clear a pool of celebrities are bucking this trend, choosing to back campaigns promoting booze, or even going the extra mile and launching their own brands.
“I think the initial reason is super simple, despite the chiselled abs and flawless beauty, not all celebrities are sober.
“In fact, many are well known to enjoy a tipple.
“Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s post workout meal is generally a ginormous tray of sushi, served up alongside a lather large tumbler of tequila. It was only right he launch his own version.
“The second reason, and perhaps the most prominent is that money talks. Despite more people slowly turning to non-alcoholic serves, the alcohol industry is still one of the most profitable in the world – meaning big pay days.”
So, who could be next? Well, trend forecaster Disha thinks that Hailey Bieber could be on the cards for a drink deal or brand.
The model, founder of Rhode beauty and wife of Justin Bieber is all about the ‘polished’ and ‘clean’ look – so could there be room for a little boozy edge?
Explaining her prediction, Disha shared: “Hailey Bieber seems like the most natural next choice.
“She has already built a strong beauty brand with Rhode, and a functional beverage—whether collagen-infused, skin-boosting, or hydration-focused- would be an easy and lucrative expansion.
“She embodies the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic, and with the rise of wellness drinks, she could seamlessly enter the space with a chic, minimalist product that feels aspirational.
“If she were to go the alcoholic route, it would likely be something lower-ABV, light, and aesthetically pleasing, aligning with the same polished branding that’s made her skincare line so successful.
Well, at the end of the day, celebs are humans (mostly) and many love a tipple – and money. PR expert Kara concluded that booze is dominant in the UK, US and European market and significant names are the perfect choice to give these drinks a platform on the world stage.
At the same time fitness DVDs have been packed away as the product of choice for celebs, so has the image of boozed up famous faces stumbling out of clubs to the glare of snappers.
That means there’s now room for celebs to flog booze, without the ‘trashy’ association and pocket huge sums from it at the time.
Kara concluded: “The majority of the UK, US and European market still enjoy alcohol, and who better to sell it to us than the world’s elite – whose glamorous party lifestyles rarely end with a trip to the kebab shop or falling out of cabs.
“At least not like the paparazzi used to catch in a pre-social media world…”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
