But as a man who’s become the connoisseur of premium wine and spirits in the African American market — working with such as Bacardi, Grey Goose, Remy Martin, Absolut, Jack Daniels and Gentleman Jack — having your finger on the pulse of the happenings of urban sophisticates is a prerequisite for success.
In addition to being charged with engineering and executing the company’s Super Bowl strategy in the wine and spirits space, Laney is an award-winning marketing manager who develops key brands that are relevant to the African American market. “Being able to provide these type of resources to African American clubs throughout the country is a blessing and it’s rewarding from the standpoint of helping to generate additional opportunities for our people and be able to truly understand and bring brand education and seminars and how to consume the product and where the product is made from,” he says.
Laney does this via such effective marketing strategies as the “Barbershop Competition,” “Living like a Genltemen” and the “Taste Maker Educational Series.” “I’m putting together a barbershop campaign to introduce the 1800 where we do tastings in a barbershop [and also] do the black family reunion programs,” Laney said.
Laney’s Secrets to success:
Reading and researching and listening. “That’s why God gave you two ears and one mouth. He wants you to listen more than sometime we talk. What’s helped me is that I listen and then I take advice from a lot of different places. But at the same time, I also able to make decisions that makes sense [based] on what I feel is right.”
Consistent, Persistent and Patient: “I think you can be persistent in your manner of being aggressive and going out here and get it and not panic, it’ll happen for you; Patience: you have to be patient at times, you go to allow for things to develop and sometimes they are not going to develop as fast as you want it to; Consistent: is follow through, being able to do it day after day after day after day. Because that’s what it’s going to take in order to be the best at what you’re doing.”
“Combine all three of those things, and you bring that balance together that’s what creates that harmony and allows you to be able bring purpose to what you’re doing. That’s what it’s done for me.”
Laney’s trendsetters:
1. Barack Obama; 2. Russell Simmons; 3. Lil Wayne
For more information about Republic National, log on to www.rndc-usa.com. –terry shropshire
