How to sell cheap stuff expensively
Jul 13th 2013 |From the print edition
The Patrón Way: From Fantasy to Fortune—Lessons on Taking Any Business From Idea to Iconic Brand. By Ilana Edelstein. McGraw-Hill; 220 pages; $25 and £16.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
OUTSIDE Mexico (and especially in America) tequila too often fuels vomity student parties and spring-break shooting sessions. But recently various brands have tried to market the drink as a more sophisticated tipple. Among them is Patrón, whose individually numbered bottles sell for between $45 and $500. Though its name is evocative of old Mexico, the brand was started in 1989 by a pair of gringos: John Paul DeJoria and the late Martin Crowley. Now, Ilana Edelstein, Crowley’s former partner, has written an account of the brand’s rise. In Jalisco, Mexico’s prime agave country, Crowley chanced upon a distillery whose tequila knocked his socks off. Ms Edelstein admits that neither she nor Crowley, who was recovering from bankruptcy, knew anything about the drinks business—indeed, when it came to tequila she “couldn’t be anywhere near the stuff without heaving”. But they copied the perfume industry and promptly designed some swanky packaging. The celebrity contacts of Mr DeJoria, who had made a fortune in the hair-care business, helped to get the bottle seen at the right parties in Los Angeles. Though it is still rather looked down on in Mexico (it was not sold there at all until relatively recently), Patrón has become the second-best selling brand in America, partly thanks to its following among high-rolling hip-hop stars. It is also growing fast in the Far East. Ms Edelstein’s account is short on business wisdom but long on the sometimes seedy details of the booze business. Her unofficial role in the operation concerned mainly marketing, including designing the skimpy outfits of the promotional “Patrón Girls”, who were recruited first from Las Vegas escort agencies and later fromPlayboy’s Playmates. She seems to have little access to the business nowadays; Mr DeJoria has written a (slightly wary) foreword and the quotes from other key people are lifted from newspaper interviews. A chapter of historical padding comes from Wikipedia and other websites, according to the notes at the back of the book. Perhaps the best, inadvertent advice to entrepreneurs is to get your name on the business’s documents, or at least on a marriage certificate. Despite pouring years of her life into Patrón, Ms Edelstein was left with nothing when her relationship with Crowley blew up in spectacular style in 2001. She lost a case for compensation and was thrown out of the couple’s California mansion (where the koi carp were left to starve). Though she is admirably upbeat about the experience, it sounds like the recipe for quite a hangover. Read more of this post
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