If you want something done right, do it yourself

Last night I was thinking nothing major had happened this week to write about, however, after a good night’s rest I realized that in actual fact a lot had happened and I had just been too busy to take a step back to decipher the main highlights to talk about. Before I start, just to bring you up to speed on where we currently stand, we are still waiting on our license, that our general council and company secretary (Ronald Gregg) has been handling, I have been informed it will be any week soon.

So what events happened this week that warrant talking about? Well, beginning of the week I got a call from an old contact Jonathan Rosenfeld of Slip N Slide records in Miami. We have done previous work with Jonathan on the marketing side of the business and he dropped me a line to discuss product placement (for Mendis) with one of their artists (Rick Ross or Trina). Working with Jonathan in the past has bought about great results from a marketing standpoint and I am very open to discussing product placement of Mendis in a music video or sung about by an industry leading artist. Our media relations director (Cherise Brogdon) and I will sit down with Jonathan in the near future to see what we can work out.

In addition to this marketing campaign with Slip N Slide records, that we are considering, we have been talking to T. Lang of T. Lang Dance- A Dance Company based in New York this week. T. Lang is in our eyes and many others in the dance industry a fast emerging talented choreographer with impeccable credentials and resume of work that is fast emerging from the underground world of Dance.

We are looking at commissioning (later in the year) T. Lang and her Dance company to compile a very unique piece of dance and music based around the Mendis bottle. As an alcohol company we believe it is important in supporting our community and talented individuals in achieving their full potential, T. Lang is one of those artists we have considered at Mendis to be supported and enabling her to reach her full potential as an artist.

All this work is part of developing a forceful marketing campaign to support Mendis release. Before we commit to any marketing campaign we critique the merits of the medium we are using and if it fits into the image of Mendis as a luxury brand. All too often with the release of new alcohol (from small start ups) they just throw the product into stores and have no idea of how to market it. I think without a doubt, we can confidently say, based on our budget and company size we have done a good job at marketing mendis pre-launch.

The difference with Mendis (besides the taste) is that; most of the concepts of Mendis and the development of it come from me, which I then let others at Mendis review and consider for brand fit. Unlike most, if not all, other alcohol companies that just out source their press work to a third party that knows nothing about the brand or really care about the brand integrity. I always want to have a say over the brand development as being the founder of the image, I don’t see anyone else ever really understanding it as well as I do. As the old saying goes “If you want something done right, do it yourself”, and I have all too often experienced this as I’m sure you all have.

As life goes- time will be the bearer of news, accordingly next week will bring more updates for you on Mendis. In the mean time, I will surely be busy plotting and planning the next moves for Mendis, like a game of chess.


Chris S. Richardson
President
Mendis International