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Q: Contracting a company to develop a liquor ( Answered,   0 Comments )
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Subject: Contracting a company to develop a liquor
Category: Business and Money
Asked by: smilecheeeese-ga
List Price: $20.00
Posted: 17 Nov 2005 04:57 PST
Expires: 17 Dec 2005 04:57 PST
Question ID: 594132
Raphael Yakoby is the person who came up with the concept for Hpnotiq,
a blue liqueur.  The concept was not a focus on selling the liqueur,
but to have a palatable product sold by its packaging, the bottle. 
Yakoby, employed a French company to develop the liqueur.  I would
like to know the name, contact information, and any other info on the
French company Yakoby used to create the liqueur.

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 17 Nov 2005 10:25 PST
Smilecheeeese,

According to a New Media Strategies article published un September
2003, Raphael Yakoby created Hpnotiq with his wife in his apartment in
Queens, N.Y.

?Hpnotiq has been on a meteoric rise since the brand was purchased in
January by Heaven Hill Distilleries for a reported $20 million. The
blue drink, a premixed blend of cognac, vodka and fruit juice, was
created by 28-year-old Raphael Yakoby, who grew tired of hawking wines
imported from his homeland Republic of Georgia and, with his wife,
hatched the drink from his apartment in Queens, N.Y.?

New Media Strategies: September 2003,
http://www.newmediastrategies.net/buzz_brandweek2.html


The following article states that Hpnotiq is made and bottled in the
Cognac region of France by American distillers Heaven Hill.
 
?Originally created in 2000 by New York entrepreneur Raphael Yakoby,
Hpnotic is a blend of triple distilled, super premium French Vodka;
the finest pot still Cognac; and natural tropical fruit juices. The
product is made and bottled in the Cognac region of France by American
distillers Heaven Hill and is especially memorable for its stand out
feature; its stunning aqua colour.?
http://www.vogue.com.au/special/2005/08/hpnotiq/


Unicognac is one of Heaven Hills International Partners located in France.


Please clarify if the contact information for Unicognac would be a
satisfactory answer to your question or if you're looking for
something else?

Thanks, 
Bobbie7

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 17 Nov 2005 10:42 PST
I don't believe that Unicognac is the company you're looking for.

It appears to be made by a very small producer in France.

"There's one brand new liqueur-like spirit we're using that's called
Hpnotiq. It's actually cognac with triple-distilled vodka and natural
fruit juices, made by a very small producer in France. It's tropical
fruit-tasting and has a sky-blue color - something very new and
different, and it just has a terrific taste."
http://www.beveragebusiness.com/bbcontent/art-arch/bradford1202.html

Clarification of Question by smilecheeeese-ga on 19 Nov 2005 01:02 PST
Hello bobbie7,

Thank you for starting work on my question.  I very much appreciate
the effort.  However, the question still remains unanswered.

I remember reading some articles on Hpnotiq fairly recently, within
the last two years.  The articles generally recounted the story of
concept, to production, to marketing.  I remember the articles quite
well and always wondered the more specific source of Hpnotiqs physical
creator, the French company.  The trigger to my interest came after
Heaven Hill acquired Hpnotiq from Global Perspectives (Yakoby's
company,) for in their current campaign, they state Hpnotiq is an age
old family recipie.  From the articles I remember, this was not the
case.  The articles stated Yakoby, a former wine salesman came up with
the idea for Hpnotiq while passing through a department stores womens
perfume section.  The elegant bottles sparked something.  He thought
the elegant bottles were a great feature to induce tiral of a
product... liquor.  He contacted a French company to create the
liqueur and I take it, do the manufacturing/packaging as well.

In recent months I have tried to recapture the articles but am unable
to find them.  It seems there are many sites out there with the same
article... like the new media strategies article and Australian Vogue
article, that state Hpnotiq's premium and exotic ingredients, and an
etremely watered down version of Hpnotiq's creation.  I have seen the
articles you posted before, when I was searching for the first
articles I came across.  These new articles only made me more curious.

As for Unicognac, I don't think they are the creator.  Heaven Hill
came after the creation.  The third article, I think, highlights my
point with its reference to the French company.  I'd like to know more
specificly, this French company.>>> Name, contact info, and anything
else you may be able to find, such as a brochure or write up.

To clarify more, I think the reference to Yakoby and his wife hatching
Hpnotiq in their New York apartment refers to the conceptual phase
rather than the creation of the formula.  It is the French company,
the creators of the formula, that I seek.

Upon writing this clarification, I have since found the articles.
Here is one of the articles I read... I hope it can help guide your search.
The other article is an shown in Adobe Acrobat, and I don't know how
to post it... I'll recount some of it after this first article.

--------------------
Out of the Blue 
--------------------

Rap artists help boost new drink's public profile

By Chris Jones
STAFF WRITER

August 5, 2003

It's opening night of the BET music awards and the self-acclaimed "Pied 
Piper of R&B," R. Kelly, takes the stage.

"First, we're going to pop open the bottle of Hip-not-tick," he says. 
The music sets in and the crowd goes wild, responding to his lyrical 
shout- out to the "oceanic blue" drink of the summer, Hpnotiq. But who's 
drinking this mix of tropical juice, vodka and cognac besides Kelly?

Actor George Clooney is, and other celebs such as N' Sync's Chris 
Kirkpatrick are, too. Even rapper Lil' Kim uses the catchy phrase "let's get 
hypnotized" for when she's guzzling her mix of choice, Hpnotiq and 
Moet.

Without formal advertising, Hpnotiq is making appearances in People, 
Elite and Entertainment Weekly magazines, various music videos and 
television shows. HBO's hit series "Sex and the City" is even talking about 
it.

But despite its popularity with celebrities and growing sales, critics 
say this "blue juice" is really just another hard liquor peddled to 
urban youth. (Hpnotiq is 34 proof, or 17 percent alcohol by volume.)

"Considering black kids are trendsetters for their peer groups, which 
transcends to white kids, that's who they're marketing to. We oppose 
anything like this because it's targeting underage drinkers," says Jesse 
Brown, spokesman for the National Association of African Americans for 
Positive Imagery.

But Hpnotiq marketeer Nick Storm, 34, says he's not trying to target 
urban youth. "This is not just another drink; it's a lifestyle," he adds.

Strolling down 26th Street near Broadway with Raphael Yakoby, 28, the 
drink's creator, Storm kids around, as usual, walking with a fake limp, 
comparing their duo to Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder's from the 1981 
hit film "Stir Crazy." "Gotta get bad," he says to Yakoby. Those three 
words were a mantra for their partnership. "We would say that to get 
through the hard times," Yakoby said.

Yakoby, who had been selling wines from the Republic of Georgia but 
says he felt too limited by his product, concocted Hpnotiq in 2001. He 
believed in the dark and light liquor mix from the beginning, so much so 
that he and his wife sold their Forest Hills apartment for $60,000 and 
maxed out their credit cards to launch the drink through a company they 
called Global Perspectives. Storm, a Yonkers native who had spent six 
years in the music industry and met Yakoby through a mutual friend, 
partnered with him to promote it.

Storm says that when he tasted the fruity drink, music came to mind. 
The unique blend to him was like an aspiring music artist, and the best 
way to get it off the ground was to take it to the streets.

"Nick had an athletic background [from college] and I knew he 
understood what it meant to work as a team ... never giving up," Yakoby said. 
"Never once did he question if it was possible. He didn't even ask for 
any money in the beginning."

On foot, Storm and Yakoby hit up liquor stores, clubs and restaurants, 
pleading for them to take in Hpnotiq. Many said no at first. But once 
Storm began hosting promotional parties and underlining special events 
in the city, the places that hadn't taken it suddenly couldn't get it 
fast enough.

In less than a year, Storm and Yakoby went from pushing 1,000 nine- 
liter cases a month out of their car trunks to selling 5,000 cases. 
Hpnotiq retails for $22 to $25 a bottle.

One person Storm says was instrumental in the drink's growth is the 
hip-hopper Fabolous.

"He tasted the drink at P. Diddy's restaurant, Justin's, last year and 
liked the product since day one," Storm says. "He was one of the first 
celebrities to like the drink."

Storm says Fabolous has given so much attention to the drink that he 
mentions it in at least four songs off his latest album, "Street Dreams."

Over the years, hip-hop has had a hand in boosting other drinks' sales 
as well, regardless of their makers' intent. Brand names such as 
Belvedere, Courvoisier, Hennessy, Grey Goose and Alize have all been used by 
rap artists as cultural markers and signs of status with the urban 
community.

"These are luxury items that are all overexposed to African-American 
youth," says Dave Jernigan, research director for the Center on Alcohol 
Marketing and Youth. "Through our research there is reason to believe 
that overexposure to advertising and marketing does make a difference."

The center released a recent study showing that blacks aren't the 
largest demographic consumers of alcohol, but various brands directly 
advertise to them more than non-African-American youth through TV, radio and 
magazines.

"For young people, it's dangerous. It really doesn't matter if they're 
advertising in magazines or not, the industry will use whatever method 
they need to sell a product," says Brown of the National Association of 
African Americans for Positive Imagery.

But despite the criticism, Hpnotiq has become a mega-moneymaker in the 
mainstream and urban markets.

In January, Yakoby sold Global Perspectives to Heaven Hill Distilleries 
of Bardstown, Ky., in a deal worth more than $20 million. Heaven Hill 
made Storm its vice president of marketing for Hpnotiq, at a six-figure 
salary; the company predicts sales will more than double this year.

"The result of the unprecedented trade and consumer demand has been one 
of the most incredible new-product success stories in the industry," 
says spokesman Larry Kass. "We believe, based upon current sales trends, 
that Hpnotiq can easily become a million-case brand in the 
not-too-distant future." 

Copyright (c) 2003, Newsday, Inc. 

--------------------

This article originally appeared at:
http://www.newsday.com/features/ny-p2page33401309aug05,0,7122495.story 

Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com


THE SECOND ARTICLE is entitled: HPNOTIQ Takes the market by storm

I don't have the title of the magazine or website this article is from.

One of the most pertinent pieces of this article talks of Yakoby
contacting "Jim Goldstein at Wingard, a New York based importer, and
they got in touch with people in Europe to create the product."

It may very well be a third article, which I read but don't have, that
told me the company in Europe that created the product was French.  I
hope this helps.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Contracting a company to develop a liquor
Answered By: bobbie7-ga on 19 Nov 2005 08:56 PST
 
Hello again,

The name of the French Company in France that created Hpnotic is
Distillerie Merlet


From a L'Express France article dated  06/06/2005 :

Distillerie Gilles Merlet

« En 2000, alors qu'un businessman américain vient frapper à la porte
de Gilles Merlet et lui demande d'élaborer un cocktail pour le marché
de la bannière étoilée, l'ex-artisan est entre-temps devenu producteur
de jus de raisin, de mousseux, de liqueurs et de vins de pays. Né de
son alambic quelques mois plus tard, le mystérieux élixir couleur
«bleu lagon» baptisé «Hypnotic» fait, depuis, un véritable tabac
outre-Atlantique. Une success story qui étonne encore son concepteur
de 57 ans, fier d'avoir pu doubler ses effectifs - 42 salariés - et
son chiffre d'affaires - 26 millions d'euros - et déjà impatient de se
lancer dans de nouvelles aventures. «
http://constitution-europeenne.lexpress.fr/info/region/dossier/saintes/dossier.asp

To get a rough translation of this article you can use the Babelfish
translation tool.

Distilling  Gilles Merlet

? In 2000, whereas an American businessman comes to knock on the door
of Gilles Merlet and asks him to work out a cocktail for the market of
the spangled banner, the ex-craftsman meanwhile became local wine and,
sparkling wine, liquor grape juice producer. Born from its still a few
months later, the mysterious elixir color "blue lagoon" baptized made
"Hypnotic", since, a true tobacco on the other side of the Atlantic. A
success story which still astonishes its 57 year old originator, to
trust to have been able to double its manpower - 42 paid - and its
sales turnover - 26 million euros - and already impatient to launch
out in new adventures.?

http://world.altavista.com/


----------------------------------------------------------------


On page 2 of this publication it says that Gilles Merlet created  Hpnotic.

« Gilles Merlet, créateur de la boisson »
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:do27AyVCxLsJ:www.lariospr.com/revistadeprensa/db/revistas/dbImages/documento_7446.pdf+gilles+merlet+Hpnotiq+&hl=en


://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2005-18%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22+Gilles+Merlet%22++hpnotic


----------------------------------------------------------------


Merlet et Fils Distillery, France

?Located in Saint Sauvant, between Saintes and Cognac, the Merlet et
fils distillery was established in 1853 by a family of wine growers
from Charente. Until 1980 the company?s business was based on the
production of cognac and pineau.?

?In late 2001, Merlet distillery was asked by an American company to
create a cocktail called HPNOTIQ, combining young cognac, vodka and
tropical fruit concentrate.?

Download the complete article where it says ?Click here to see PDF version (pdf)
http://us.mt.com/mt/productCS/Merlet_case_study_mag1_2005_Editorial-Generic_1116922702911.jsp


----------------------------------------------------------------


Contact information:
Distillerie Merlet And Fils
Chevessac, Saint Sauvant 17610, France
Phone: 33 0546915036, 
Fax:  33 0546914021 

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/product-compint-0001172804-page.html


Website:  http://www.merlet.fr



I hope the information provided is helpful !

Best regards,
Bobbie7
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