Gay men help make Maine rum a hit

LEWISTON – From the start, Paul Coulombe thought Cabana Boy rum had all the makings of a hit among young women.

It comes in sweet flavors such as pineapple-coconut, vanilla spice and wild cherry and it has a frosted bottle with soft pastel colors. As if that weren’t enough, the labels feature young hunky guys waiting on women on a beach.

But women aren’t the only ones who have made Cabana Boy a success. Sales also have received a boost from an unexpected source: the gay community.

Along the way, Cabana Boy has become the most successful debut of any product from White Rock Distilleries, a family-owned company that is hundreds of miles from any tropical beach. If sales continue at their current clip, Cabana Boy will soon be among the top 15 rum brands nationwide.

Paul Coulombe, the company’s chief executive officer, says he was genuinely surprised when he heard the rum had a following in the gay community.

“I guess what appeals to women appeals to gay men,” he surmised.

The advertising gurus may have been slightly off the mark with the target market, but White Rock wasted no time seizing the opportunity after it got wind of the rum’s popularity in the gay market.

The company has advertised in gay magazines. It has held scores of promotions at gay and lesbian bars and nightclubs. Its Web site features an “Undress the Cabana Boy” section with bikini-clad men.

David Swardlick, owner of Swardlick Marketing Group, a Portland agency that helped develop the Cabana Boy brand, said companies nowadays recognize the gay market as a “powerful buying segment.”

“Products can’t be all things to all people,” he said. “But it’s nice when they have a number of marketing segments that connect positively to the brand.”

When Coulombe first began developing the Cabana Boy line two years ago, he knew that rum sales were growing and flavored liquors were hot.

Rum sales nationally last year grew 8.2 percent – more than any other spirits category, according to Adams Business Research, which tracks liquor sales. Flavored rum accounts for an estimated 25 percent of all rum sales.

White Rock worked with Swardlick to develop the Cabana Boy line – from its frosted bottle design and upscale European-style bottle cap to a $1 million billboard campaign in Florida. Young men with muscles and smooth bodies were hired to strike seductive poses for the label. One of the models is the boyfriend of Coulombe’s college-aged daughter.

The Swardlick agency came up with the name Cabana Boy. Coulombe says the name conjures up images of attractive young men waiting attentively on women at a poolside or on a beach at a resort.

It wasn’t long after Cabana Boy’s launch in March that wholesalers began asking if the product was being targeted to the gay community.

“When I made presentations to distributors in Florida, New York or California, their first comment was, ‘You’re going after the gay community,”‘ Coulombe said. “We said, ‘No we’re not.’ When we developed the brand, it never crossed my mind.”

Nonetheless, it hired a Florida marketing company that created promotions for gay bars and advertised in Outlook magazine, a gay publication in Florida. It has also advertised in Fire Island Tide in New York.

Mark Syner, owner of South Florida Promotions & Marketing Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, created a Cabana Boy ad using “Connie Casserole,” a drag queen disc jockey from South Beach, and four Cabana Boy models.

He has organized 80 to 100 promotional Cabana Boy nights in both gay and lesbian bars, and another 150 or so at mainstream bars.

Some folks question Coulombe’s and Swardlick’s sincerity when they say they stumbled into the gay market. After all, this is a company with a knack for marketing. Back in the early 1990s, it had a big hit when it sold vodka with a “Made in the USA” on the label to the former Soviet Union during a vodka shortage.

But others say the Cabana Boy advertising is ambiguous. Jack Robertiello, editor of Cheers trade magazine in New York, said a recent Cabana Boy ad in his publication could appeal to women or gay men.

“It was an interesting ad because it could have been taken either way,” he said. “They were in the realm of a come-on to anyone interested in the male form.”

But the important thing is sales. For the four months from April through June, White Rock sold nearly 400,000 bottles of Cabana Boy; pineapple-coconut is the top seller.

What percentage of those sales comes from the gay market is anybody’s guess. Coulombe thinks it’s 10 percent or less, while others guess it’s more. Either way, it is having an impact.

Syner said a growing number of alcoholic beverages – from vodka to coffee brandy to beer – have tailored promotional campaigns specifically for gay markets.

“The alternative market is no different than the mainstream market,” he said. “They’re still consumers and they have to like the product.”