Ice and a slice of alternative rock makes tequila cool

Peter Gutierrez, managing director of Jose Cuervo tequila, speaks to Charlotte McEleny about the brand’s new Cuervo Cold campaign, and how he plans to get consumers to think of tequila as something to be enjoyed, not to get drunk with.

Peter Gutierrez (PG): Jose Cuervo tequila is called a ‘Lighthouse brand’ by consultant and author Adam Morgan, and by that he means brands that stand for something that some people might not get and won’t like but others will really like and engage with it. Cuervo is always going to be more like Marmite than it will be Dairy Milk because of what it is, but that’s great. I want us to be the Marmite of the spirits world.

That is a commercial aspiration because I want to have a brand that is going to be remembered and is passed around through advocacy. I want it to be about people telling their friends that Cuervo is cool and tastes great when it is cold, rather than me telling that same friend. Then the friend tries it and maybe she likes it, maybe she won’t – but that’s the risk.