The MAFFEO DRINKS Podcast

Join The Maffeo Drinks Substack for Episode Analysis! "If you measure an ambassador on how many bottles he's selling, forget about the advocacy, he's going to start pushing cases," says Filiberto Amati. 0:15 How do you translate a founder's passion down through the whole sales chain? 1:09 Why will an agent never be the one who tells your brand's story? 2:48 Why is the founder always the brand's first ambassador? 4:46 Why should a brand ambassador never be measured on how many bottles they sell? 6:04 Why does a category like Aperol still need advocacy after a hundred years? 7:28 What happens when you pitch a bar before anyone there has heard of you? 9:05 How did co-creating with one well-known bartender turn into real demand? 11:31 Why is early demand really one-to-one marketing before it scales? 14:30 Why does building real advocacy take as long as raising a person? Find all episodes featuring Filiberto Amati at themaffeodrinkspodcast.com. Bottom up. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. MAFFEO DRINKS is a leading drinks business podcast, listened to in 120 countries with 130+ episodes. How the industry actually works, from the bar and what it means for the boardroom. Wanna know what the conversation above means for your team? It's in the paid section. You get access to Maffeo Confidential (Private Podcast), this analysis, and the full catalog of 130+ episodes, each one translating industry conversation into the commercial decisions underneath it. Find out more at maffeodrinks.com or on Substack.

Join The Maffeo Drinks Substack for Episode Analysis! Chris Maffeo is welcoming Micaela Pallini, the fifth-generation CEO of Pallini and the chemist behind its premium Limoncello di Amalfi. How does a 150-year-old family company keep reinventing itself without ever betting the business? Why did the world's best-selling Limoncello go export first and reach Italy only through duty free? How do you brand a category where half of it is still sold unbranded? And what does it really take to be ready when a trend finally arrives? Find all episodes featuring Micaela Pallini at themaffeodrinkspodcast.com. Timestamps: 00:00 Rome Neighbors Meet 00:26 150 Years of Pallini 01:42 From Anise to Exports 05:05 Healthy Family Growth 12:08 Betting on Limoncello 13:37 Amalfi Recipe Secrets 18:23 Rome Duty Free Breakthrough 24:27 Spritz Boom After Covid 27:21 Branding in Unbranded Bars 29:11 Zero Proof Limonzero 34:07 Chemistry Behind the Blend 40:04 Taking Over as CEO 44:57 Legacy and Final Thoughts This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. MAFFEO DRINKS is a leading drinks business podcast, listened to in 120 countries with 130+ episodes. How the industry actually works, from the bar and what it means for the boardroom. Wanna know what the conversation above means for your team? It's in the paid section. You get access to Maffeo Confidential (Private Podcast), this analysis, and the full catalog of 130+ episodes, each one translating industry conversation into the commercial decisions underneath it. Find out more at maffeodrinks.com or on Substack.

Join The Maffeo Drinks Substack for Episode Analysis! Marcus Pedersen builds the aquavit category internationally for Anora. “We don’t go brand specific, we build the category,” says Marcus Pedersen. 00:00 Why does creating demand for a spirit require a completely different playbook than beer? 00:19 Why does rotation matter less in beer than it does in premium spirits? 02:08 Why does a niche category like Aquavit need to be sold before the brand can be? 03:58 Who is Aquavit actually competing against once it leaves the Nordics? 05:08 How is Aquavit’s traditional-to-modern journey the same one Italian Amaro already made? 06:53 How do you choose which bars to target when a whole category is still unknown? 07:59 Why does a bartender in Milan need Aquavit explained through gin and mezcal first? 10:07 Why do brands fail when they hand bartenders a top-down signature cocktail? 11:43 What is a “local business area,” and why build a city one bar at a time? 12:30 Why does on-trade matter differently in a dark market versus an open one? 15:27 Why has Chris Maffeo abandoned “target consumer” in favor of “target occasion”? 16:24 Why are Swedish students now doing low-ABV shots instead of full-strength ones? Find all episodes featuring Marcus Pedersen at themaffeodrinkspodcast.com. Bottom up. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. MAFFEO DRINKS is a leading drinks business podcast, listened to in 120 countries with 130+ episodes. How the industry actually works, from the bar and what it means for the boardroom. Wanna know what the conversation above means for your team? It's in the paid section. You get access to Maffeo Confidential (Private Podcast), this analysis, and the full catalog of 130+ episodes, each one translating industry conversation into the commercial decisions underneath it. Find out more at maffeodrinks.com or on Substack.

Join The Maffeo Drinks Substack for Episode Analysis! Philip Duff is Founder of Old Duff Genever and Liquid Solutions. “I’m much more of a farmer before being a hunter,” says Chris Maffeo. 00:00 Why do beer and spirits require fundamentally different sales mindsets? 00:16 Why does shelf life turn a brand builder into “a farmer before being a hunter”? 01:46 How do sales reps treat distribution points like sharks chasing an incentive deadline? 04:09 Why do drinkers default to the safe, familiar brand when they do not know a category? 06:40 How did lockdown turn casual drinkers into genuine spirits enthusiasts? 07:54 Why has New York gone martini crazy, and what is the risk of losing the classic recipe? 12:31 Why is Scotch single malt suddenly a better deal than Bourbon? Find all episodes featuring Philip Duff at themaffeodrinkspodcast.com. Bottom up. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. MAFFEO DRINKS is a leading drinks business podcast, listened to in 120 countries with 130+ episodes. How the industry actually works, from the bar and what it means for the boardroom. Wanna know what the conversation above means for your team? It's in the paid section. You get access to Maffeo Confidential (Private Podcast), this analysis, and the full catalog of 130+ episodes, each one translating industry conversation into the commercial decisions underneath it. Find out more at maffeodrinks.com or on Substack.

Join The Maffeo Drinks Substack for Episode Analysis! Chris Maffeo is welcoming Claire Warner, the founder of the Good Measure Guild and former Global Head of Advocacy at Diageo. Why does the on-trade keep getting deprioritised despite being where brands are actually built? Why is advocacy impossible to measure and what happens to brands when they stop investing in it? Are cocktail competitions a genuine learning tool or a shortcut that breaks the ecosystem? And why is the middle tier of bars the most overlooked commercial opportunity in the industry? Find all episodes featuring Claire Warner at themaffeodrinkspodcast.com. Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome and introductions 00:33 The Good Measure Guild, measuring what matters in hospitality 05:21 The measurement problem, why the on-trade gets deprioritised 07:10 Advocacy and brand cycles, why the bartender is the first customer 13:50 The overlooked middle tier and secondary cities 18:30 Competitions as a learning tool 27:14 Beyond competitions, building brand relevance 32:27 Training and minimum standards 37:19 Consumer education, no and low 47:11 The social score vision 49:28 Closing thoughts This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS. MAFFEO DRINKS is a leading drinks business podcast, listened to in 120 countries with 130+ episodes. How the industry actually works, from the bar and what it means for the boardroom. Wanna know what the conversation above means for your team? It's in the paid section. You get access to Maffeo Confidential (Private Podcast), this analysis, and the full catalog of 130+ episodes, each one translating industry conversation into the commercial decisions underneath it. Find out more at maffeodrinks.com or on Substack.