Snoop Dogg promotes rum in United States

As much as Snoop Dogg is not an obvious choice to represent one of the most traditional products from Brazil, the rapper took over that position this year to sign a contract to promote the brand of cachaça Cuca Fresca for the gringos from North America.
"You can't be ' cool ' being like everyone else," he says in an ad that begins with an image of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. "Stay ahead of the game: drink differently", he adds.
The market of the United States (us) is a new frontier for the rum, which on the outside always was historically in the shadow of its more famous cousin, the rum. The most popular alcoholic drink of Brazil, and the third most consumed in the world, is made from fermented sugar cane and distilled, while most of the varieties of rum from molasses.
"The rum industry has become in the last 20 years," says Paulo Furquim de Azevedo, Associate Professor, business school in São Paulo. Traditionally, the segment was formed by producers in family structure, in regions like Paraty (RJ) or Salinas (MG). The problem, for the consumer, was to obtain data to distinguish the higher quality product from the rest, says Furquim.
The Brazil has 2 000 producers and 4 thousand brands, with production of 800 million litres per year and 1.2 billion liters, according to the Institute of cachaça Ibrac. In the last two decades, the industry began to introduce certifications to achieve higher standards of production. Relevant producers groups in Parati and other regions have established regional stamps. Premium products, some of which are aged for over 12 years, can cost more than $ 100.
Exports are valued at just $ 18 million, but grew by 10% last year. And the fact that Brazil have hosted the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games next year attracted the interest of multinationals to the giant domestic market of cachaça. In 2011, the Italian Campari bought the Sagatiba premium cachaça production company, headquartered in Sao Paulo. In 2012, Diageo announced the purchase of the Ypióca group, for $ 450 million.
The sector is still quite concerned about the fact that the product be confused with something bad. The Brazil already negotiated the recognition of rum as a product separate from the rum with the United States, Colombia and Mexico. This was the third country to recognize cachaca as a unique product of Brazil, "said Christian Lamêgo, President of Ibrac.
With sales in countries such as the USA, the cachaça still need not fear copies. But, as Snoop Dogg, it's nice to be ahead of the game.