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Does the new drink concoction Nuvo seem familiar to you? If it does, it probably reminds you of the drink Hpnotiq, the electric blue colored fruity drink which made a splash in the early 2000s with its name and appearance. Raphael Yakoby created and sold the Hpnotiq business for $60 million in 2003 and hopes to repeat his success with Nuvo,  a sparkling liqueur that blends French vodka, white wine and fruit nectar.

Although the brand was targeted and marketed towards women, as evinced by the ads that will soon be rolling out featuring the actress Eva Longoria, the company found another interestering trend to capitalize upon; Blacks and Latino men also enjoy sweeter drinks. According to the New York Times, “ African-Americans of both sexes who drink liquor are more likely on average to like alcohol mixed with juice, with 54 percent stating such a preference compared with 47 percent of imbibers over all, according to Mintel. Hispanic liquor drinkers, meanwhile, have a predilection for fruit-infused alcohol, with 60 percent liking it, compared with the average of 50 percent.”

Upon these findings, Nuvo has molded its marketing campaign to be less narrowly focused on women and more generally appealing. For starters, they changed the url of their website from Nuvoforher.com to SparkinglingNuvo.com.

So what does this mean to African-American consumers or African-American entrepreneurs? Even though Hpnotiq hit it big, there haven’t been many other success stories of liquor blends.  Black celebrities like Diddy and Ludacris have certainly tapped into the liquor market but they’ve gone the route of  branding pure liquors like vodka and cognac. It seems that Nuvo may need some competition and Black tastemakers may just be in the position to work the market.

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