Building Sammy Hagar and Guy Fieri's Tequila Brand | Ana Kornegay, Santo Spirit

On this episode, we’re joined by Ana Kornegay, the VP of Marketing at Santo Spirits, the premium tequila brand co-founded by Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar.Before leading the charge at Santo, Ana spent over 15 years at Brown-Forman overseeing iconic spirits like Gentleman Jack and Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel. She's also the founder of Hummingbird Branding & Marketing, and holds a Master’s in Medical Cannabis Science & Therapeutics.We cover a ton of actionable insights and tactics.—---------------Episode Highlights:🌵 How Santo turned a “what if?” into the world’s first “Mezquila”📦 The 3 biggest packaging mistakes she sees new brands make🚀 What to expect if you want to jump from “Big CPG” to an “upstart brand”, and where should new grads start🧩 “Build vs buy” (hiring internally our outsource?)⚖️ Siloing agencies vs spreading across multiple in-house brands🤘 Building a celebrity brand without losing authenticity🧠 When and why to refresh packaging (and when to leave it alone)🔮 The rise of NA and functional beverages—---------------Table of Contents:00:00 – Intro & Ana’s Career in Spirits03:00 – Santo’s Origin Story & Mezquila Launch07:00 – Startup vs. Corporate Marketing Life12:00 – Celebrity-Backed Brands: Behind the Curtain18:00 – Trends in Low/No Proof & Functional Beverages24:00 – Packaging Frameworks for Spirit Brands30:00 – When a Packaging Refresh is the Right Move35:00 – Campaigns That Flopped & What She Learned39:00 – AI in Marketing: Love it or Hate it?—---------------Links:Santo Spirits – https://www.santospirits.comFollow Ana on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-kornegayFollow Adam on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out KitPrint.Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes.Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.