By doing that, we’ve been able to create a consumer base that looks very much like America. We decided we were going to market to everyone, and we were not going to market by gender or race - which meant that everybody was seeing the exact same marketing campaign. Our demographic is of every race, and our demo is 50-50 women and men in terms of who drinks Uncle Nearest. Jack Black is one of those celebrities we all suspect is really fun in real life.
Black people are not going to be naturally drawn to that. Yet while the whiskey and its eponymous founder have become dominant names in American. The challenge as I see it with whiskey is, until Uncle Nearest, the heritage story was about a white man. Jack Daniel’s stands as one of the most iconic American brands and most popular spirits in the world. Whiskey is very different in that people who consume it are almost as invested in the backstory of the whiskey as they are in the whiskey itself. You just have to have a really good product. It isn’t just about the spirit itself ― if you vodka or tequila or rum, you don’t have to have a story.
When we started this journey over 20 years ago, we knew one thing for certain: There were plenty of skincare companies that made luxury, efficacious products for women, but no one was addressing the needs of the modern man.
The whiskey industry overall is very unique in that it’s a heritage- and story-driven spirit. At Jack Black, we’re a small team with a big entrepreneurial spirit.
