Clooney’s US$1 billion tequila windfall shows power of celebrity influence

Rarely has a sale been as lucrative as the US$1 billion George Clooney and two partners could fetch for Casamigos, the tequila brand they founded only four years ago.

What started more as a hobby among a few guys hanging out in Mexico morphed into a must-have brand, fueled by Clooney’s star power and the lure of casual-luxury life depicted on the Casamigos Instagram feed.

Financial analysts frowned, saying the numbers don’t add up for the buyer, London-based distiller Diageo . To some marketers, however, the deal made more sense.

At a time when consumer-product giants ranging from Diageo to Unilever to Nestle SA are struggling to connect with their customers, Casamigos gives the drinks giant something it can’t develop easily in-house: a brand with a story to tell, carefully tended in social media, that uses the actor’s recognition to cut through the clutter of competing drink labels.

“Because you’re selling something that’s hard to differentiate from other brands, you have to create a world around it,” said Richard Pinder, chief executive officer for the international business of ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. “The promotional cost around this brand will be much lower. That increases the value.”

Shares Fall

Diageo shares fell Thursday as investors struggled to make sense of a deal in which the company will pay an initial US$700 million, which could be topped up with US$300 million more, for a brand that’s on track to sell a mere 170,000 cases of tequila this year. The company countered that the rapid growth of Casamigos transcended the price tag.

Consumer-product giants find it increasingly difficult to develop the enthusiastic following that Clooney commands after his starring role in films ranging from Ocean’s Eleven to Hail, Caesar. The actor and his partners -- developer Mike Meldman and entertainment entrepreneur Rande Gerber -- have harnessed that popularity to develop Casamigos via social media.