Posted on 03 November 2009.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been involved with Ciroc Vodka since 2007. As a 50% owner of the Ciroc brand, Diddy and his Sean Combs Enterprises are primarily responsible for brand management. What does that entail? For starters, Diddy and his staff oversee the marketing, product placement, public relations, and marketing related to Ciroc Vodka. Thus far, Diddy has helped Ciroc become one of the premiere brands of Vodka on the market.
The partnership with Combs is extremely lucrative, helping Diageo earn over $2 billion in liquor sales in 2008. Combs began promoting the brand in a deal announced in October of 2007. Since then, sales have climbed from 60,000 cases in the first half of 2007 to a whopping 400,000 cases for 2008-2009. According to Strachan, Combs is a true partner in the venture and receives half of Ciroc’s profits. [Source: AllHipHop]
Brand extensions can earn an artist more revenue than his/her music sales. Don’t believe us? Ask 50 Cent.
COMMUNITY QUESTION: At what point does capitalizing off brand extensions become ’selling out?’
This post was written by:
Chris Franco - who has written 3443 posts.
Founder and Executive Editor of Hiptics. I launched Hiptics in 2008. I spent the last 4 years at Denison University where I hosted a weekly hip-hop radio show on 91.1 WDUB (one of America's Top 20 Most Popular College Radio Stations). I also served as Public Relations Chairman, Program Director, and Webmaster of the station. I genuinely love hip-hop, and have been involved in nearly every aspect of the culture starting with selling my own music in Middle School (haha, true story). I won the Culture Jam Freestyle Battle at Denison both times I participated. I brought Wiz Khalifa, EbGb, and D.Julien to campus for a free Hiptics show in January 2010. I've interviewed everyone from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to the CEO of Death Row Records. I've DJ'd for Wiz Khalifa and Sam Adams, as well as at countless parties and campus events. There's a lot more to be said, but I don't want to be THAT guy. My point is this: I'm not just another one of these hip-hop bloggers. If the Internet didn't exist, I'd still be in the game.
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