BevNET: “What’s one of the key things you’ve learned about the beverage industry?”
Mark Wahlberg: “That it’s a motherf***er.”
For most beverage entrepreneurs, the phrase “blood, sweat, and tears” is less of a motivational term than a realistic view of a tough and often unforgiving industry. Creating a successful beverage brand is difficult, and as an investor in alkaline water brand AQUAHydrate, Mark Wahlberg is starting to see its challenges firsthand.
As an accomplished rapper, model, and Academy Award-nominated actor and producer, Wahlberg has been eminently successful in nearly every aspect of an entertainment career that has spanned more than two decades. He is keenly familiar with the – often unseen – hard work that precedes a life of fame and fortune. Yet in the blue collar, pound-the-pavement world of beverages, Wahlberg may be facing his most challenging path to success.
The star of a number of blockbuster films, including The Fighter, Boogie Nights, and Ted, Wahlberg now finds himself traveling across the country, calling on retailers and distributors, to promote a relatively unknown brand in a nascent beverage category.
“It’s definitely out of my comfort zone,” Wahlberg said of his experience.
Nevertheless, Wahlberg has committed a significant amount of his time and resources to building AQUAHydrate. In an interview with BevNET Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Klineman at BevNET Live Winter 2012, Wahlberg spoke in-depth about his involvement with AQUAHydrate and how celebrity endorsement of consumer products has transcended from a simple exchange of fame for a fee to that of equity partnerships and the utilization of star power to grow brands at a genetic level.
Watch the full interview with Wahlberg here, and for complete coverage of every interview, presentation, and panel discussion from BevNET Live Winter 12, as well as range of other topics about the beverage industry, visit BeverageSchool.com, BevNET’s on-demand video learning site (subscription required).