Tito’s Vodka Sends ‘Thank You’ to Fans
Tito’s Handmade Vodka Sends Grassroots ‘THANK YOU’ to Fans
Tito’s Handmade Vodka launches Tito’s Official Tasters, a ‘handmade’ loyalty program, to thank fans responsible for growing the brand strictly through word-of-mouth.
AUSTIN, Texas, June 9 /PRNewswire/ – Created by founder and savant distiller, Bert Tito Beveridge III, Tito’s Handmade Vodka has grown in 12 years from a few bottles crafted as gifts for friends, to a 200,000-plus case volume brand, with increasingly wide distribution throughout the USA and in Canada – with no investors, and an extremely humble marketing budget.
The brand’s growth was kick-started by a well-known Las Vegas mixologist, Tony Abu Ganim, who discovered Tito’s Handmade Vodka and championed it to the extent of entering it into the Worlds Spirit Competition where, in a stunning upset, it earned the Unanimous Judges Decision Double Gold Medal, beating the large imports and other super-premium contenders.
Austin is a proud town in a proud state, and soon its residents were taking Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and the story of Tito himself all over the world with them. His story struck a chord – lone visionary entrepreneur, the first distillery in Texas, a bootstrap distiller who still taste tests every batch to make sure it’s perfect – that made people cheer the brand on. Tito’s Handmade Vodka is for the people – a super-premium vodka selling for a fair price with no flashy packaging or pretense. And its growth has been fueled by the people – a legion of passionate fans, who talk Tito’s in person, on Facebook and on Twitter and have demanded it be carried in bars and liquor stores nationwide and in Canada.
Humbled, genuinely grateful and inundated with a daily flood of emails and posts, Tito is launching an online “Ambassador” program for fans – Tito’s Official Tasters. The online program will give Tito an organized, all-in-one way to stay in touch; and give Tito’s Handmade Vodka fans what they want – news, event updates, videos, special messages, vodka education, and rewards, including special gifts. As the program launches this month, fans are invited to take the online Tito’s Official Taster’s Pledge. And in typical Tito’s style, they won’t get a corporate form letter or any ordinary “thank you.” The first 1,000 Pledge-takers will receive a custom-crafted Tito’s belt buckle, crafted in America just like Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
The Tito back story is a significant reason why Tito’s Handmade Vodka has been embraced by so many super premium vodka fans. After he obtained the first permit to distill in Texas, he worked day and night in his one man-one room distillery, cooking vodka, catching some sleep on a cot. Originally his goal was to make enough money to “stay in Austin and go swimming at Barton Springs everyday.” Unable to get money from investors, he decided to “wing it” and used personal credit cards, up to 18 at one time, for financing. Eventually things started to fall into place, in spite of the trials of being one man-one vodka in a liquor business environment dominated by foreign corporate giants.
Today, despite the growth in his organization (up to 17 people now) Tito still works at the distillery every day when he’s not traveling to tasting events or being interviewed. For more information, or to schedule an interview with Tito Beveridge, please contact Beth Bellanti-Walker, Brand Manager, Fifth Generation Inc. Home of Tito’s Handmade Vodka Beth@titosvodka.com (512)389-9011 www.titosvodka.com
Tito’s Handmade Vodka
Beth Bellanti-Walker
Brand Manager of Fifth Generation Inc.,
+1-512-389-9011
Tito’s Handmade Vodka
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