Dierks Bentley seated beside bourbon barrels with a glass of ROW 94 whiskey

3 to 25

states in 12 months

~3X

e-commerce ROAS with 95% new-to-brand buyers

10,000+

cases sold in year one

Challenge

ROW 94 launched into a $19.3 billion U.S. whiskey market dominated by heritage brands and widespread skepticism about celebrity spirits. Co-founded by Dierks Bentley and a team of bourbon veterans, ROW 94 had the liquid and the story, but it entered with just a three-state footprint and needed national awareness and e-commerce velocity from day one. The mandate was to establish a legitimate contender with the sophistication of a top-ten brand.

The Idea

Launch it like a top-ten bourbon from day one. PriceWeber built an omnichannel engine that brought performance marketing and PR together with cultural activation in a coordinated push. PriceWeber also stepped in as ROW 94’s fractional CMO, aligning sales and marketing with PR and production so every channel supported the same launch strategy.

Dierks Bentley performing on stage during the ROW 94 launch period

ROW 94 digital advertising shown on a mobile phone mockup

The Work

PriceWeber built launch buzz where Dierks’ fans already were. Geo-fenced Meta and Google ads reached audiences around concert venues, retail accounts, bars and restaurants, supported by high-impact out-of-home advertising. Conversion-optimized Meta and Google campaigns with click-to-cart turned that attention into trial, selling out e-commerce inventory five times in two months.

A five-pillar organic content strategy built around Product, Dierks, Lifestyle, Cocktails and Homeplace drove a 10% engagement rate, many times the category norm of 0.38%. A limited-time Broken Branches 100-Proof drop tied to tour dates sold out online in a month at 2.5X ROAS. PriceWeber also built an owned-media ecosystem spanning e-commerce and POS, with CRM and QR-enabled data capture helping turn trial into loyalty and more than 20,000 first-party contacts before the end of year two.

PR amplification generated 171 organic brand stories and billions in online readership. Experiential programs included meet-and-greets and radio partnerships, with events averaging 350-450 bottles a night. Over the same twelve-month period, ROW 94 grew from 3 to 25 states. A first-in-category, life-sized Dierks Bentley hologram at Louisville’s airport became a standout activation and sold three months of inventory in two hours.

Dierks Bentley performing under a spotlight during a ROW 94 market activation period

Dierks Bentley facing a concert crowd during the ROW 94 launch campaign

The Results

By treating a launch like a top-ten brand, ROW 94 rewrote the expectations for a first-year celebrity spirit.

ROW 94 is the fastest out of the gate with online sales for any brand we’ve ever seen.
AccelPay

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