Nicole PajerLast night, Sean “Diddy” Combs arrived at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills to sip drinks with us. Well, us and the billion bloggers who mention the vodka he promotes, Ciroc, so they will get invited to events like these. See what we did there?
The rapper, singer, record producer, actor, vodka ambassador greeted an eager crowd, inviting them to try one of the many Ciroc-infused concoctions that were being served at the bar. “Ciroc on me. Ciroc on me. Drinks for everybody!” he exclaimed. We were really hoping to he'd finish that announcement by doing the Diddy dance and shouting, “Can't stop, won't stop.” (He didn't.)
Credit: Bjorn Photo
Combs, who became an ambassador for Ciroc Vodka back in 2007, thanked the crowd for being such a crucial part in promoting the brand via the Internet, explaining that Ciroc has been built on and made a success by the web.
We love Diddy's version of market research: “I went and did some research yesterday. Ciroc is mentioned every eight seconds online. Our competitor, Grey Goose is mentioned every one minute and some change.”
He also discussed Ciroc moving from the #45 ultra premium vodka to #2 over the course of the last four years and falling right behind Grey Goose, but is anyone surprised? “This is a dream come true,” said Ciroc Obama of the money he gets for his endorsement his ability to transition from (pretty damn good) life in Harlem, New York to focus his efforts on heavily promoting Ciroc in California.
“I don't know if people realize the things that we've been able to accomplish. We started out at 45,000 cases. We're now approaching two million cases. Ciroc is talked about all over Twitter but it's talked about in an organically responsible way. It's married with celebration and it's related to a good time and positive energy and responsibility.”
As he celebrated the success of his vodka brand, Combs explained that he identified with many people in the room. “We have a lot of entrepreneurs in here. We have a lot of self-starters. We have a lot of hustlers. We have a lot of people that wanted to be somebody and a lot of dreamers in this room.”
Aside from the free cocktails, gourmet appetizers, and custom made T-shirt station, the highlight of the evening was the gift bag, which included a full bottle of regular, peach, red berry, or coconut flavored Ciroc.
Before we parted ways with our new drinking buddy Diddy, he asked us to party like we did our entire four years of college, except with expensive vodka instead of “Russia's Finest,” Popov.
“This weekend I would like to invite you to get with your man or your woman, or your friends and your girlfriends and your guy friends and just get some pineapple juice or some lemonade or some Hawaiian Punch — anything that you have that emotional old school attachment to — and just close your eyes and pick a coconut, red berry, blue dot [Ciroc Vodka] and I promise you you'll have a good time. It' a party in a bottle!”
Alas, Combs only briefly touched down among those of us who are still only dreaming. Explaining he just wanted to stop by and tell everyone hello and extend a thank you, he exclaimed, “I didn't want to stop the music or anything!”
Another round on Diddy, please.
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