Client: Johnny Drinks
We helped Johnny Drinks diversify their pandemic-wave success on TikTok into a full fledged father & son ran entertainment company.
Bored and stuck at home during the pandemic, John Rondi Jr. filmed a video of his dad creating a cocktail. He posted it on a new app called "TikTok" and didn't think. much about it. The next morning, he woke up to millions of views. This is the start of their journey as influencers built during the pandemic.
Realizing that they had to diversify their reach, The Rondi's had their eyes set on expanding their content to new platforms, but weren’t sure how to go about it. They were making a decent chunk of change off of sponsorships via TikTok, but soon realized they could turn their influence into a full-fledged business by further developing loyalty within their fanbase.
Our Services:
• Brand Strategy & Architecture
• Content Strategy
• Video Production
• Value Proposition Design
• Activations
• Succession planning
• Audience nurturing guidance
Our Impact:
• 0 to 1 million YouTube subscribers in one year
• 0 to 500 million YouTube views in one year
• IG & FB from >10k to over 250k followers
• Created a 1,000+ member Discord server
• Doubled revenue in first sixty days
• Quadrupled revenue by end of engagement
• $50,000 product launch sold out in one hour
• Activations with UFC, Kevin Hart, and more
What Our Strategy Work Revealed
After going through our Blueprint process, we had four areas to consider and prioritize over the next year.
Father & Son Relationship
The attraction to the page wasn’t the liquor. Neither of them are professional bartenders. The father & son relationship behaves as a “feel good” for many. Recognizing this would shape our content going forward, instead of prioritizing education and entertainment, we would weigh heavier on “connection” based content.
Content Creation
YouTube shorts was our prioritization for growth, and later, Instagram reels. We had to double down on what was already working with short form to build brand awareness. We developed our approach to long-form video with a main understanding: there is no other platform that is as strong for building connection than YouTube.
Partnerships & Activations
Growing to 1 million followers comes from finding your niche and sticking to it. Growing to 10 million comes through activations. Activations is the process of positioning your brand with other relevant brands, cross pollinating audiences. Our second video to reach 1 million views was an activation with the UFC, making cocktails for Dana White.
Succession Planning
All influence ends someday. Our intention was to help Johnny Drinks future-proof their business. Creating a succession plan into two different sectors: products & an agency model.
The YouTube Page
Growing the YouTube page rapidly allowed opportunities for larger, more involved brand deals. With our experience workshopping these kinds of deals in the past, we were able to help them set new value propositions, command higher fees, and provide more offerings, resulting in doubling their revenue in the first 60 days of the engagement.
Avg monthly viewership on YouTube between June 21 - January 22
Website wireframe
We presented a website wireframe to Johnny Drinks. The numbers were speaking for themselves, but we needed to curate the message behind the data.
This website wireframe positions Johnny Drinks as a strategic partner to any brand looking to leverage their audience to gain brand awareness and convert sales. While other influencers were running at influencer rates, we made it our priority to position Johnny Drinks to be viewed as an advertising agency, commanding higher rates from that industry.
Website wireframe built to be used to position Johnny Drinks as an advertising powerhouse for sponsors
Activations & Partnerships
Our first very successful long-form series was called “Celebrity Liquor Review” where the two would taste different celebrity branded liquors. A few of the celebrities caught the attention of their own review, and their teams set up opportunities for collaboration. Howler Head Banana Bourbon (Dana White, UFC) was the first, followed by Gran Coramino (Kevin Hart).
$50,000 product launch
Before working together, Johnny Drinks launched their first edition Johnny Drinks Bourbon, priced at $82 per bottle. It took nine months to sell out that barrel. When we teamed up with Johnny Drinks to launch their second edition bourbon barrel at the price tag of $300 per bottle, it sold out within the hour.
The difference? It wasn’t the larger audience, it was the loyalty of the fans. The first edition barrel took 100 million impressions to sell out. The second edition barrel we helped launch sold out before 30,000 impressions on a single video. We dedicated an entire year cultivating a die-hard fanbase that you can't gain from short form videos.
This nurturing process paid off big time. We were able to leave Johnny Drinks knowing as long as they respected their audience, they would have true, life-long fans.
Succession Planning
Influencer careers are notoriously short. By the end of our engagement, we left Johnny Drinks a roadmap for a potential “out” if they ever felt their brand presence waning and wanted a jump off point into their next venture. The blurred out document to the left is a mind map that overviews what that would look like, along with supporting documents, video recordings, and research delivered to them.
Within those resources is opportunity for additional product launches, agency service offerings, subscription services, and more. We at Sondor Media believe in leaving a campsite cleaner than when we found it.
