November 10, 2022 — From the marketing mastermind behind countless iconic booze brands comes an irreverent and wide-ranging treatise on building and maintaining a standout brand in business and life: BRAND MYSTICISM.
Steven Grasse made a name for himself as not only an offbeat distillery owner but also the brains behind beloved brands like Hendrick’s Gin and Sailor Jerry Rum and the guy who made cheap-beer-standbys like Narragansett and Miller High Life cool again. Through his work in advertising and marketing, Grasse has changed the game in the booze world and become an authority on building an authentic, enduring, and deeply beloved brand. Food & Wine has called him “the punk-rock prince of small-batch spirits.”
“Think of me as the Ben Franklin of hooch, the Thomas Edison of booze. Or just think of me as a crazy middle-aged man who is going to tell you some really funny sometimes slightly fucked-up stories that will hopefully make you laugh and maybe realize there’s quite a bit of merit to having fun trolling people doing art for art’s sake, simply trying shit and not really giving a rat’s ass,” said Steven Grasse. “You might wonder how I became such a Big Cheese in the world of booze. I sometimes wonder the same thing, and while everything you read in my new book is true, it is also total bullshit.”
So how did he do it? Through irreverent tips (why being a troll can be so vital), case studies (when marketing cigarettes taught him about virality) and magical ingredients (who knew beaver anus would change his fortunes), BRAND MYSTICISM guides you through the steps it takes to channel your own entrepreneurial spirit into a business, a creative practice, or a life that breaks with tradition to achieve the remarkable.
“Think of me as the Ben Franklin of hooch, the Thomas Edison of booze. Or just think of me as a crazy middle-aged man who is going to tell you some really funny sometimes slightly fucked-up stories that will hopefully make you laugh and maybe realize there’s quite a bit of merit to having fun trolling people doing art for art’s sake, simply trying shit and not really giving a rat’s ass,” said Steven Grasse. “You might wonder how I became such a Big Cheese in the world of booze. I sometimes wonder the same thing, and while everything you read in my new book is true, it is also total bullshit.”
So how did he do it? Through irreverent tips (why being a troll can be so vital), case studies (when marketing cigarettes taught him about virality) and magical ingredients (who knew beaver anus would change his fortunes), BRAND MYSTICISM guides you through the steps it takes to channel your own entrepreneurial spirit into a business, a creative practice, or a life that breaks with tradition to achieve the remarkable.
What is Brand Mysticism?
For brands to break through and have long lasting impact, they need to create worlds every bit as complex as those in literature, cinema, or music. I call that Brand Mysticism.
Brand Mysticism is the opposite of the recent “UnBranding” marketing trends that have become ubiquitous.
Instead of the deliberate minimalism of many of today’s buzzy brands, Brand Mysticism is deliberately layered and complex. Instead of relentless logic and stark simplicity, Brand Mysticism is intricate and purposefully beguiling, esoteric, and puzzling. Like the works of JRR Tolkien, Jules Verne, or David Bowie, Brand Mysticism conjures worlds that are multi-dimensional, offering new discoveries the more and more you peel them back. I call this the Onion Method and it is central to Brand Mysticism’s desire of building authenticity and intrigue.
The overall goal of Brand Mysticism is to create brands that go viral, garner a cult following, and eventually become famous, all without the support of traditional advertising.
-Hannah Church
