It's not often that my day job and my podcast overlap, but I'm a marketer by day. I saw an exciting marketing campaign hit Instagram hard this week, and people are justifiably freaking out about it.
Few campaigns manage to balance playfulness with purpose quite like Still Austin's latest initiative, "Kentucky Fill-Up Day." This bold campaign takes aim at a common misconception—that good bourbon can only come from Kentucky—by inviting fans to bring their empty bottles of Kentucky bourbon to Still Austin’s distillery in Texas for a refill of their award-winning cask strength bourbon, all for just $1. It’s cheeky, fun, and a powerful statement about the quality of bourbon being crafted outside Kentucky’s borders.
In today’s interview, Bob sits down with Mike Spadier, Chief Marketing Officer of Still Austin, to discuss the origins of the campaign, its impact on the industry, and what’s next for the brand.
Bob:
Mike, thank you so much for being here. Tell us about your history with the brand. How long have you been doing marketing for them?
Mike:
Thanks for having me and for the kind words. I've been working with Still Austin since 2020. I used to own a marketing agency here in Austin, and Still Austin became one of my clients. We handled digital advertising, social media content, design—things like that.
In 2022, I sold my agency and came on full-time as chief marketing officer. I’ve been with the brand since 2020 as a fractional CMO for the first couple of years, then as full-time CMO starting in 2022.
Bob:
Let’s set the stage for this marketing campaign. When you’re starting a whiskey company outside of Kentucky, focusing on bourbon and rye, you're fighting two misconceptions. First, that anything not from Kentucky is lesser quality. Second, that bourbon can’t be made outside Kentucky.
You guys have leaned into educating the public, but I imagine before embracing it as part of your marketing, it was a big frustration. This must be a conversation you’ve had countless times.
Mike:
The first couple of years, it was frustrating. It was always like, “Why does everyone think this? It’s so easy to Google.” After a year, we just accepted it, like, “Okay, who cares?”
In the last six to eight months, it became, “How can we lean into this?” We made videos and social media posts poking fun at the idea. We clipped comments from people saying things like, “Bourbon outside Kentucky isn’t real bourbon,” and just had fun with it.
Bourbon from outside Kentucky will always have an initial stigma, but we’ve worked hard to prove it can be great no matter where it’s from. Then we started thinking, “How do we highlight this further?”
Being the official whiskey partner of the Texas Longhorns, we noticed Kentucky was playing us on Saturday, November 23rd. That sparked the idea for this campaign.
Bob:
Beyond football, the timing is perfect within the industry for staking your claim. The bourbon industry has been in flux over the last year, with big players finding their footing and many acquisitions. It’s a ripe time for Still Austin to position itself as not just Texas whiskey, but a serious competitor to Kentucky brands.
Mike:
Thank you. If we’d come out of the gate saying, “We’re as good or better than Kentucky,” I think we’d have overplayed our hand. Honestly, we didn’t set out to be the anti-Kentucky or even compare ourselves to them. We just wanted to make good whiskey.
What’s happened over the last few years is critics and bourbon enthusiasts started saying, “I can’t believe this is from Texas. It’s as good as Kentucky bourbon.” At some point, we decided, “Okay, let’s embrace it.”
Bob:
What I love about this campaign is how playful it is. You’re not attacking Kentucky. You’re saying, “Good bourbon can come from anywhere.”
Let’s talk about this campaign. My co-host Brad described it as “cheeky.” I think that’s perfect—there’s a playfulness to it without being aggressive. Break it down for us.
Mike:
It stems from the misinformation that bourbon has to come from Kentucky to be good. The campaign’s cheekiness comes from addressing that misinformed consumer in a lighthearted way.
We’re calling it “Kentucky Fill-Up Day.” The idea is, once you finish a bottle of your beloved Kentucky bourbon, bring the empty bottle to our distillery in Austin. We’ll refill it with our award-winning cask strength bourbon for $1 so you can see for yourself how good Texas whiskey is.
People love the $1 whiskey angle—it’s a huge draw. Plus, we’re putting our whiskey into Kentucky-branded bottles like Maker’s or Jim Beam, with our label slapped on top. It’s cheeky, fun, and definitely appalling to some people, but that’s part of the humor.
Bob:
This is brilliant marketing. Seeing your whiskey in a Maker’s bottle grabs attention. The $1 price point feels like an incredible value—$60 off the shelf price. It’s also a win for you since the product is already made.
Mike:
Exactly. I appreciate that. The team is thrilled with how it’s turned out.
I'm sure you understand this, but you sit around with your team, you come up with weird ideas all day long. And then every once in a while you go, "Oh, that's kind of fun" or "That's really interesting. Let's, let's run that up the flagpole." And this was one of those ideas where we were fully expecting once we go run this up, they're just going to say, "Oh, that's funny. But yeah, there's no way we could do that."
And the further we got through the planning, everyone just kept saying, yeah, I love it. Let's go for it. I was like, "Eventually someone's going to say no to this." And, uh, nope. They let us do it.
Bob:
Tell us what’s next for Still Austin after Kentucky Fill-Up Day.
Mike:
Next up is our most premium release ever, called Tanager. It’s a blend of old-world techniques from Nancy Fraley, our master blender, inspired by Armagnac and Cognac. The mash bill includes red, white, and blue corn, and we’re using a unique process called Petite Eau, where water ages in barrels before being added to the whiskey.
It’s our first cigar blend bourbon, designed to create a rich mouthfeel and long finish. It launches officially next Saturday, and you can learn more at stillaustin.com/tanager.
Bob:
Mike, thank you so much for joining us. This campaign is the best spirits ad of 2024.
