Channing Tatum on why he believes his creative involvement will make his vodka brand stand out from the celebrity crowd
Magic Mike star Channing Tatum today officially launched his new vodka brand Born and Bred, and after helping to craft the brand and direct its debut advert believes that his creative involvement will ensure it will stand out in an over-crowded celebrity alcohol market.
channing tatum
Swathes of celebrities including David Beckham, P Diddy and Justin Timberlake have dabbled in alcohol brands to varying degrees of success. For example Beckham’s Diageo-owned whisky brand Haig Club has encountered fluctuating sales, but Tatum told The Drum during Cannes Lions that he thinks his creative position within Born and Bred will set the brand apart.
“I do think that real interest in keeping the brand going – I’m not looking at this as investment – I really enjoy creating a world in which is loveable for me to be inside of and that being the world of the brand and the story. That is going out and hanging with my friends and filming stuff and being creative inside of an environment that you can really try to create these other story lines that just feel alive. I’m looking forward to creating stuff, and I don’t know that there are any other celebrities that are going to be so creatively involved in it, maybe that’s the difference.
“I know when you hear that some dumb actor is launching a vodka brand everyone does the collective eye-roll, but the only thing I’ll say is we’re going to do things differently and create a community of real friends.”
Channing also dismissed the notion of tying the vodka brand to his newly announced live-action version of Magic Mike in Las Vegas, saying that while Born and Bred will be stocked in the Hard Rock Hotel (where the show will take place come next year) he doesn’t feel the need to “marry” the two.
“I’m not going to try to meld the two, they can stand on their own. Other than just having it at the venue and at the Hard Rock and the casinos, there won’t be much of a tie. Maybe we might do some promotional things but I haven’t really felt the need to marry them.”
The brand has been created in partnership with Idaho based Grand Teton Distillery, and is being positioned as a 'life style' brand with the first advert starring Tatum and his wife, fellow actor Jenna Dewan, as they hang out with friends in the woods.