Please Stop Making Coins. Please.

With many new bartenders, they learn about Fernet-Branca. Yep. Just Fernet. And then a little time goes by and they learn about the coveted Fernet Coin. It's a small, solid, piece of medal that holds weight to it... real weight. I've watched kids cry receiving it, and maybe even teared a bit myself when I received my first.

These things weigh around 27 grams on average and are not a cheap tool to produce. Many bartenders that live and breathe this industry have one or are trying to get a hold of one. Only so many are pressed per year that go into individual markets and national events. Some markets don't even have a coin made (so far) as our brand presence is not yet solidified there.

There's a difference between people in marketing - and actual idea generators. Marketing teams are often not from the sectors they work in... which as you guessed it, can lead to irrelevant deploying of concepts that don't resonate with the core audience they are looking to engage with. Do something new. Do something fun. Do something stupid.

Taking a concept from one sector and carrying it to another works. Taking a concept from one sector, leaving it in the same sector, and trying to execute it looks like a cheap and lazy copycat tactic. Just because one organizations concept works doesn't mean it works for everyone.

There are a ton of genuinely COOL ideas to activate with in market for your brand, but you don't become the leader by duplicating the competition.

Recently, I've began to see more liquor brands who have began to make coins or medallions surfacing in the wild. What must be asked is what's the reception to this? Does this really impact your organization? Was it the marketing team's decision to suggest coins be made as most people at the top have no real world understanding of what's going on in markets? There are so many opportunities to create pillars in the community that appeal to your audience, and can even help create a new audience in the process. Identify what your brand is about. Navigate what sort of budget you have for POS. And lean in just enough to take a foot out of the water if an idea doesn't stick on it's own.

Fernet-Branca Website. Justin Benfaida on Instagram