DENVER, CO., 02/05/2025 – Yesterday, Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) hosted an insightful panel discussion titled, “Getting Your Craft Brand to Market,” at Access LIVE 2025 in Denver, Colorado. The session hosted by WSWA’s Director of Strategic Communications Christina Cross featured two industry leaders:
- Bob Gunter, President and CEO of Kōloa Rum Company. Bob is a craft brand veteran who successfully built Kōloa Rum from a small regional brand into a 37-state success story and a founding member of WSWA’s Access Craft program.
- Dave Lane, Chief Supplier & Growth Officer at Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC). Dave is a seasoned expert in wholesale distribution strategy with critical insights into what makes craft brands successful in the three-tier system.
The discussion covered invaluable strategies for craft brands looking to break into the market, establish strong distributor relationships, and scale up in sustainable ways. Below are some essential takeaways for brand owners and company executives attempting to navigate today’s competitive beverage alcohol industry.
Quality and Differentiation Are Everything: No amount of marketing or distribution can compensate for a mediocre product.
For craft brands, the foundation of success lies in creating an outstanding product consumers will seek out again and again. Gunter emphasized that a strong pull-through effect is essential, noting, “If you’re not making a product that most people genuinely enjoy, it’s going to be a very difficult road no matter how great your marketing is.” This means craft brands must focus on:
- Product quality: Ensuring the beverage delivers consistently exceptional taste.
- Unique positioning: Identifying what differentiates your brand from your competitors.
- Authenticity: Telling a compelling brand story that resonates with consumers.
Kōloa Rum’s commitment to authenticity as a born-in-Hawaii brand helped it carve out a distinct niche in the rum category, proving that differentiation is just as important as quality.
Develop Strong Distributor Partnerships: Getting a distributor is not the end game — it’s the starting point.
Many emerging brands assume partnering with a wholesaler means sales will automatically follow, but that’s not how things really work. Brands need to actively support their distributors, Lane said, explaining: “If you sign on with a distributor, don’t go into that relationship thinking, ‘Okay, that’s it.’ That’s when your real work starts.” In fact, successful partnerships require:
- Ongoing brand investment: Brands must actively drive demand through consumer education, marketing and retailer engagement.
- Market presence: Having dedicated sales reps or brand ambassadors in key markets (boots on the ground) can enhance distributor buy-in.
- Clear communication: Wholesalers work with thousands of products, and brands that consistently provide data, marketing support and activation plans will get priority treatment.
According to Lane, distributors tend to favor craft brands that “own something” — whether it’s a tight local market, a highly engaged consumer base or strong grassroots momentum. And owning a market or demographic can sometimes result from partnerships and sponsorships. (More on that below.)
Be Strategic About Marketing and Sponsorship Investments: Investing in marketing activities should be purposeful and data driven.
For brands with limited budgets (and how many startup brands have unlimited budgets?) every marketing dollar must have a clear return on investment. Sponsorships and activations can be valuable, but only if they’re leveraged properly. For example, Kōloa Rum’s partnership with the Las Vegas Raiders was a high-visibility marketing investment, but Gunter admitted that its success wasn’t immediate.
“A huge portion of our marketing budget goes to support that partnership,” he explained. “It’s expensive, and quantifying ROI can be difficult. But now, people recognize us as ‘the rum of the Raiders’—so I know it’s working.” Leveraging the connection between Hawaii and Las Vegas (a.k.a. Hawaii’s “Ninth Island”) turned out to be a great way to extend the brand’s reach beyond Hawaii’s shores.
Dave Lane echoed this sentiment, warning brand advocates not to approach sponsorships passively. “You better get after it,” he said. “Do not dabble in sponsorships. If you take it seriously and activate it properly, it’s a fantastic tool.” According to the panelists, to maximize impact, brands should prioritize:
- Sampling and consumer tastings: Driving customer experiences is key for all craft and startup brands.
- Retailer activations: Point of sales materials are often wasted; instead, focus on in-store engagement.
- Social media and digital marketing: Brands need an online presence that supports distributor efforts.
Leverage Tasting Rooms and Direct-to-Consumer Engagement: Tasting rooms can be a launchpad for broader market success.
Kōloa Rum’s tasting room strategy on the island of Kauai was a game-changer, helping them scale from a small regional brand to 37-state distribution. “Our tasting room has probably been the most important part of our journey,” Gunter said. If they could provide a positive experience to just a sliver of the millions of tourists who visit Hawaii each year, Gunter knew, success would follow.
Why do tasting rooms work?
- They create brand loyalty: Customers who experience a brand firsthand are more likely to seek it out at retail.
- They provide real-time consumer feedback: Brands can use visitor insights to refine their products.
- They generate retailer demand: Consumers who fall in love with a brand in the tasting room will ask for it in their local stores, driving distribution opportunities.
Lane reinforced this by stating, “Tasting rooms are critical. They’re one of the very best things you can do to develop your craft brand.” Gunter noted how Kōloa began the practice of collecting information (including the home ZIP code) on every person who visited the company’s tasting room in Lihue. When it came time to expand beyond their home state, this data became an invaluable resource to help them determine where customers would be more receptive to the brand and its products.
Own Your Local Market Before Expanding: Proving success locally builds credibility for national expansion.
Probably the most important thing Gunter and Lane both stressed is the importance of craft brands establishing a strong foothold in their home markets before trying to expand nationally. Gunter put it bluntly: “If you don’t dominate your home market, you don’t have a foundation from which to grow.”
For many craft brands, the temptation to expand too quickly can be strong—especially when distributors and retailers from other states express interest. However, Lane cautioned that spreading resources too thin, too early, can weaken a brand’s overall presence and dilute its impact. Instead, he advised craft brands to focus on establishing deep, meaningful connections with local retailers, consumers and distributor representatives before taking the next step.
So why does a successful home market strategy matter so much? It provides a craft brand with some compelling advantages:
- Builds sales momentum: Distributors and retailers prioritize brands with a proven local track record. A strong regional presence demonstrates demand and reduces the risk related to larger expansion efforts.
- Establishes a data-driven story: Hard sales data from a thriving home market can help convince wholesalers that a brand has real potential in new territories.
- Creates organic demand: A dedicated local consumer base helps drive retail demand beyond a brand’s initial launch. As Gunter explained, many of Kōloa Rum’s early distribution opportunities were driven by consumer requests at retail stores.
- Strengthens distributor relationships: Partnering with craft brands that have already demonstrated local success can reduce distributor risk, making the sales process easier.
Lane reinforced this last idea, stating, “The best craft brands that are in the best position to grow with us are those that own something — whether that’s a tight geographic market, a highly engaged consumer base or strong grassroots momentum.”
A Cautionary Tale: Markets That Didn’t Work
While expansion can be exciting, Gunter cautioned attendees that not every market entry is successful. Kōloa initially expanded into Minnesota, but after multiple distributor partnerships failed to generate traction, they pulled out. “We had a distributor bring in a couple of pallets of our rum. We never heard from them again, never reordered, wouldn’t answer the phone, wouldn’t respond to emails,” he said. Later, a different distributor expressed interest, but after about 18 months, that partnership also died on the vine.
Instead of forcing the issue, Gunter’s team made the strategic decision to withdraw and wait for the right opportunity. And their patience paid off. They recently re-entered Minnesota with a new distributor and this time, the partnership is thriving. “You just have to pay attention to what’s going on. Times change, situations change. You have to be opportunistic, but you also have to be very careful,” he said.
Final Thought: Play the Long Game
Lane emphasized that owning a small, tight market is better than spreading out too soon. He explained, “You make sure you’re communicating deeply with those local folks first. That’s the real key.”
Focusing on a narrow geographic footprint can also yield better data, he said, making it easier to secure national expansion later. “There’s another benefit to doing really well in a tight local market — you stack the data. When you go to expand, everybody will say, ‘Wow, I want to jump on this.’ It becomes a magnet, pulling in interest rather than requiring a push.”
Success in the national market comes from persistence and planning, not quick wins. Both panelists agreed: Craft brands that prioritize depth over breadth in their early years are more likely to succeed in the long term. By dominating their home markets, proving demand with real sales data and establishing strong distributor relationships, craft brands can build a foundation for sustainable growth—without burning resources on premature expansion.
To learn more about Access LIVE, visit www.WSWA.org.