Lessons - How to Build Brands That People Would Tattoo on Their Body | Brett Berish - Sovereign Brands CEO (Sold Ace of Spades to Jay-Z)

➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory In this "Lessons" episode, Brett Berish, CEO of Sovereign Brands, shares his approach to building premium brands that create genuine loyalty and global demand. Drawing from his experience creating and growing some of the world’s most recognizable spirits brands, Brett explains why a compelling story and genuine passion are essential to building something people truly care about. He discusses why entrepreneurs should focus on building a great brand rather than planning the exit, how patience and long-term thinking can create sustainable growth, and why defining success on your own terms is essential to finding fulfillment. Brett also shares lessons from losing everything, rebuilding his business, and learning to separate happiness from money and external measures of success. ➡️ Show Links https://successstorypodcast.com YouTube: https://youtu.be/mBNWnJdQJ-Q Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brett-berish-president-ceo-at-sovereign-brands-how/id1484783544 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5jaKVXISPYoUfcqL9yJVtO ➡️ Watch the Podcast on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/scottdclary

• 0:00Speaker 00

  In this lessons episode, discover why building a lasting brand requires passion, patience, and a clear sense of purpose beyond the exit. Understand how a compelling story can create loyalty and global demand. Explore why chasing rapid growth can distract from building something real. And uncover why defining success on your own terms creates a healthier path to entrepreneurship.

• 0:27Speaker 00

  When you look at even like the brands you have right now,

• 0:32Speaker 00

  what is, what is the strategy? What's the, what's the framework behind?

• 0:38Speaker 00

  This is what we're going to put out into the world. This is the story behind it. This is who I want it to resonate with.

• 0:44Speaker 01

  So I take Bambu.

• 0:46Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 0:47Speaker 01

  So Bambu, we launched maybe five or six years ago. The goal was, uh, the goal wasn't is, uh, I want to create a new level of rum, premium. I think rum is unappreciated. I, they, and when you look at, and again, it goes back to this idea. If you look at trends and if you ask anybody in our industry, they would say, stay away from rum. Well, they're probably going to say, go to tequila. Correct. Well, that's the hot thing. So rum is not hot and it's declining. And you've got these big giant brands like Captain Morgan and Bacardi. And I want to do something that's better than them. I think there's a better product out there for consumers. I think there's a product that tastes better for them and it's more premium.

• 1:30Speaker 01

  And we hit on a taste that we love. And then we created a story around it and brought history in. So there's a story around Bambu. Back in the 16th century merchants who traveled the West Indies, the Caribbean didn't like the taste of rum, which they called grog, and they would craft their own out of it and they would call it Bambu. And we brought that back. So, once we have all that, then it's, it's, it's, it's birthed into the world.

• 1:58Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:58Speaker 01

  But I don't know what we have yet. So I kind of let things breathe and you figure it out. So now fast forward, not even fast forward, Canada, where you're from, is our single biggest market in the world for Bambu. Single biggest outside of the United States. And I jokingly say, until this year, no one from our company's ever been there.

• 2:19Speaker 00

  That's so funny. So there was a gap in the market.

• 2:22Speaker 01

  Well, it's, it's a, to me, it's always, it's not a gap. To me is it's always with anything, if it's a great brand, people will find it. You know what else I've known? So I used to drink a whole bunch of Captain Morgan. That was like my, my high school drink. That was my go-to drink, but there was no story behind it. Nobody gave a shit. It was just like the cheap, tequila wasn't really that big when I was in like high school, university. So it was always Captain Morgan, but then the second you find something else, you move off of it because you don't really care. There's no affinity to that. There's no story behind it. But you were, I think in one of the videos I was watching, you were saying that, this is in like 30, at least when the video was pushed out, it was 35 countries.

• 3:05Speaker 01

  And you can't even get it in more countries because you're always selling out. But actually today it's in 80 countries.

• 3:11Speaker 00

  Oh shit. Okay. Sorry.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no. But, but it's, it's, but what's, what's fantastic about this story is, and again, it goes back to this idea that if you believe in something, it can happen. We're in, we're in like 80 countries today. And there's only one market in the world, and I didn't even know that's a premium rum market, and that's France. We do well everywhere in the world. And all these markets are not premium rum markets, or they're not even rum markets. And we crush it. It's a great brand. If your brand is great, it'll get talked about. People will find it, they'll consume it. And I also believe in premium. It's like your Captain Morgan example.

• 3:55Speaker 01

  I think premium brands can exist everywhere in the world. Cheap brands, it's difficult.

• 4:00Speaker 00

  When you think about building out a brand, do you care if there's going to be like a wave or a cultural shift towards that thing? Or do you not care? Do you just want to get a little like, are you banking on rum becoming the next tequila? Or do you not care? Maybe you're just thinking, I just want to be a significant part of the existing market. And we're going to be premium and we're going to be talked about. We're going to, we're going to have loyalty from our customers and evangelists from our, you know what I'm saying?

• 4:30Speaker 01

  I think you, you can't, can't see the future, but look at Patron. And I always used to laugh when people would say, and I get presentations, you know, I want to be the next Patron. You know, I just want 1% of the category. And Patron took 30 plus years. So thing, if it happens overnight, God bless, but that's not the way it's supposed to be. And I was that person who had that report, that business plan that said, I'm going to get 1%, 5% of the industry in it. And the multiples are, you know, 20 times, and I'm going to sell it for X. That's where I make mistakes. That's where people make mistakes. If you have a healthy brand and you're growing, you're going to get there no matter what.

• 5:13Speaker 00

  And when you launch these, these are kind of like your kids to a degree. How do you think through, as an entrepreneur, because this is very subjective. People could launch a brand and they want to hold on to it forever. And they never want to exit it, never want to sell it. How do you think through that? Do I want to keep it? Do I want to sell it? Do I want to? What?

• 5:30Speaker 01

  I'd, again, it goes back to this idea that when I was younger, when I started this, my mistake was thinking about the exit before you even start. And I think that to me is my mistake. And maybe it's a mistake for a lot of people out there. I don't think about that. If it happens, great, but I don't think, boy, now I'm ready to sell. Or the brand is mature enough, or this is the time. I don't think like that. I, my goal is build the brand. You keep building it.

• 6:05Speaker 01

  Whatever happens will come, but focus on brand building. That's the key.

• 6:10Speaker 00

  Do you feel like when somebody's focusing on the exit first, they're trying to take shortcuts? So they're not paying attention?

• 6:16Speaker 01

  They're not built, it's not real. It's not, to me, I don't know. I'm, I'm that guy who I have to love and have passion for what I'm doing because the exit may not ever happen. So you gotta, to me, it's about being in that moment of loving what you're doing. Cause exit doesn't matter. That's not the goal. So, and the only reason I can say this, Scott, is, is, and I tell this story to people. So I, I've lost everything in this world and I've gained everything by being in this business. So there was a moment where I did have investors and they wanted to wind up the company. And I remember speaking to my mom, we were having a board meeting that day. And I remember speaking to my mom, who was my hero.

• 7:00Speaker 01

  And I was telling her about it and she says, Brett, I'll sell my, all my rings for you. And I said, no, I'll figure this out. And, but I remember telling her, I was sitting on Worcester and Broom Street in Soho outside. Cause I didn't want, I had a fake apartment, which was my office and a couple of employees up there. I remember telling her, I love what I'm doing. And if I could just survive, make enough money to live this way and keep doing what I'm doing, I'm happy. And I needed that moment because then it's not about the money. It's just, I'm happy, I gotta love what I'm doing and let things come as they go.

• 7:37Speaker 00

  I love that. I wish more, I wish more entrepreneurs would hear that message. Cause I think that, this is a great exercise. I don't think people actually even realize how much money they actually need to survive. And the things that they think are out of their reach, or they would only ever get if they were worth, pick a number, it could be 10, 50, a hundred million, whatever it is, whatever your number is. The things that you actually want in your life are actually not that expensive. And I think that most people screw that. The trips, the work-life balance, that you want to have a private chef. You don't have to have a hundred million dollars to do that stuff.

• 8:11Speaker 01

  I remember I was speaking at a Citibank conference about disruptive brands. And I was the next person to go on. And the person who was up there before me had started a company called Casper, the bed company.

• 8:24Speaker 00

  The mattress?

• 8:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess at that time, Casper was one of those unicorns. And he was saying, it was crazy. He was saying how they're in whatever, seven continents. They've got 2,000 or 10,000 employees. They're global business within a year. And they've raised X billions of dollars. And I remember going up afterwards and saying, listen, if you think I'm going to tell that story, I, I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to raise money like that. God bless them. I only know how to do what I've done. So there's different paths to get there. But I don't know how to do the other one. I only know how I've gotten to where I am.

• 9:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, but then the question is like, are you happy?

• 9:10Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 9:10Speaker 00

  Oh, a hundred percent. So that's really all that matters.

• 9:12Speaker 01

  A hundred percent.

• 9:13Speaker 00

  Are you happy with your business? And listen, when I say are you happy, it's not saying that this has not been highly successful. To have the reach that you've had, you've had, you've sold brands before. And throughout it, yeah, there's been ups and downs, but ultimately you knew your north star.

• 9:28Speaker 01

  But it's, it's true. And it's, it's, you're hitting on which I try to tell my team all the time, success is relative. So this is already successful. This is doing more than I ever could imagine, or anybody else could ever imagine. So I have to be happy with it. It's still small in relative terms compared to other things out there, but I gotta be happy with it. This deacon we just launched is in 60 countries.

• 9:52Speaker 00

  I love the, I love the plague mask on the.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 9:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's good.

• 9:56Speaker 01

  But that's like, it's all relative to what you, what your own expectations are. So I don't want to, just like kids, you can't force them. I can't force my son to be better at soccer, you know? He is what he is. So you gotta be happy with, with how far they've come. And, and that's how I look at it.

• 10:16Speaker 00

  Thanks for tuning in. If you found this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you want to dive deeper into this conversation, check out the links in the description to watch the full episode. See you in the next one.