Travis Scott Expands His Consumer Empire
The rapper caps off a prolific year with a new product launch
The last 12 months have been big for Jacques Berman Webster II, the musical artist professionally known as Travis Scott. In April, he capitalized on stay-at-home orders with a virtual Fortnite which reportedly grossed $20 million. In September, he became the first celebrity since Michael Jordan to get their own McDonald’s promotion. And last week, he launched CACTI hard seltzer with Anheuser-Busch.
Fame to fortune
The 2020s are quickly turning into the decade of following-first brands. New companies are coming from actors, actresses, influences, and singers rather than from industrious average Joes. The most in-vogue categories like beauty, alcohol, and apparel are experiencing an influx of fresh collaborations.
Addison Rae—the second-most popular TikToker at the time of writing—launched her makeup brand ITEM Beauty in August and the D’Amelio sisters partnered with Morphe Cosmetics to create a sub-brand called Morphe 2. And these are far from the only brands conceived from TikTok fame.
The alcohol space has also been very profitable for celebrities: George Clooney’s tequila business Casamigos was acquired by beverage giant Diageo for $1 billion in 2017; Ryan Reynolds’ Aviation American Gin was also sold to Diageo for $610 million in August; and LeBron James just invested in a new tequila and mezcal brand called Lobos 1707. Barstool Sports (BS) also entered the seltzer game after a partnership with High Noon was announced in May; BS founder Dave Portnoy is now a vocal supporter of the brand.
Despite the headlines, it’s not as easy as it sounds for someone with a lot of followers to cash out from their name. Last year an influencer with over two million followers on Instagram went viral when she couldn’t sell 36 t-shirts from her new clothing line. She even had to turn off comments on some of her posts because she received so much ridicule.
Right time, right place
Despite the pandemic hurting the alcohol sector this year, hard seltzer has continued its meteoric rise. A new report from The New Consumer and Coefficient Capital showed that alcohol consumption in several markets is expected to have declined by 8 percent in 2020 and the ready-to-drink beverage category was the only one to grow this year. Hard seltzer keeps becoming more popular with younger generations:
CACTI, which launches in spring 2021, clocks in at 7% ABV—compared to White Claw’s 2% and PRESS at 4%. The drink is influenced by Scott’s love of tequila starting with Lime, Strawberry, and Pineapple flavors, and made with 100 percent Mexican blue agave.
In the press release, Scott said “CACTI is something I’m really proud of and have put a ton of work into. Me and the team really went in, not only on getting the flavor right, but on thousands of creative protos on everything from the actual beverage, to the can concept, to the packaging and how it is presented to the world. We always try to convey a feeling in our products.”
If nothing else, CACTI proves that Anheuser-Busch has its pulse on the modern consumer. Scott currently holds a massive amount of cultural weight and hard seltzer is a top drink of choice among the 18-to-25-year-old demographic. I’ll be curious to see if Travis Scott’s drink is as good as his music…
