Advocacy Program Evolution: From Transactional to Authentic Partnerships

Advocacy is one of the most talked-about topics in the Drinks Industry, but the traditional model of brand advocacy is broken.

Across multiple conversations with industry professionals who've worked both sides of brand-bar relationships, we've uncovered a fundamental shift in how advocacy programs function and what makes them successful. The old model of exclusive partnerships and transactional relationships is giving way to something more complex and, ultimately, more authentic.

Drinks and Hospitality Industries need a Translator.

Danil Nevsky provided perhaps the most stark assessment of how advocacy has evolved. We discussed his observation that brand ambassadors have become intermediaries in an increasingly complex ecosystem: "Brand ambassadors are the barbacks of the spirits world." Like barbacks, they're essential for keeping operations running but often overlooked and undervalued.

This reflects a deeper structural issue. Most brand ambassadors come from the bar industry, seeking to escape the difficulties of night shifts and operations, only to find themselves navigating corporate bureaucracy they never signed up for. We explored how this creates a disconnect where the people meant to bridge two worlds often feel lost between them.

The challenge is compounded by what Danil described as temporal differences. Bartenders operate in real-time, adapting to immediate guest feedback, while corporate teams work with decision-making timelines that create significant lag. This means advocacy programs are often addressing problems or opportunities that have already shifted by the time they're implemented.

Bars <> Brands Relationships are Polygamous by Nature

Further discussion I had brought a different perspective to this evolution, acknowledging the fundamental change in industry relationship dynamics. We discussed how the modern drinks industry is inherently polygamous rather than monogamous. The old model of brands trying to "own" bars or bartenders no longer reflects market reality.

This polygamous reality makes much more sense from a consumer perspective. People choose different brands on different occasions, so why shouldn't bars reflect this diversity? The key insight is that authentic advocacy comes from genuine belief, not exclusive contracts.

The Expectation Mismatch

We explored with Kaitlin how many advocacy programs fail because of misaligned expectations. Small brands often try to replicate the programs of multinational corporations without the resources to support them. "A brand that is not even hitting 10,000 bottles maybe in market, cannot pay the 2000 GBP listing fee to be on a menu. Because they'll do it twice, and that's probably a quarter of their marketing budget gone for the whole year."

This creates a cycle where small brands overpromise and underdeliver, while bars develop unrealistic expectations based on experiences with global brands. The solution isn't bigger budgets, but transparency about capabilities and realistic value propositions.

Modern advocacy requires what Kaitlin calls authentic partnership building. Instead of trying to match corporate spending, smaller brands need to offer genuine value that aligns with bar operations and philosophy.

The Service Revolution

Federico Riezzo's perspective added another dimension to this evolution. We discussed how the most effective advocacy happens through genuine service and connection rather than formal programs. His approach at venues emphasized creating authentic relationships based on mutual benefit and genuine hospitality.

Federico's philosophy centers on what he calls attention to detail and guest service. This translates to advocacy relationships where the focus is on genuinely supporting partners rather than just pushing product placement. The most successful advocacy happens when brand representatives actually understand and care about their partners' success.

This represents a shift from program-driven to relationship-driven advocacy. Instead of standardized activations and contracts, successful modern advocacy focuses on understanding individual venue needs and providing tailored support.