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When Jack Daniel moved his distillery into Moore County,
Tennessee, it was to get away from a religious congregation. The former owner was also a
preacher. And the faithful let him know he had to choose between the pulpit and the
whiskey business. So he sold his distillery to
Jack Daniel and told him he had to move it.
By the time Moore County went dry, the Jack Daniel's distillery was too important to the
people of Lynchburg for anyone to seriously suggest that it pull up stakes. Around there
folks say, "don't kick a pullin' mule."
The same expression sums up the company's down-home marketing plan. It amounts to little
more than carrying on a tradition of breaking marketing law
established by Jack himself.
They say he was the first in the business to target the consumer rather than the trade.
The first to fly promotional hot-air balloons. He put his product in a distinctive square
bottle. Unheard of in those days. And he organized and trained a group of locals into the
Silver Coronet Band. The current owners sponsor the band and have even formed a new group—the Jack Daniel's Barrel House Band.
But the best part is the personal attention they pay to their loyal customers.
My dad toured the distillery once. They made him a
Tennessee Squire, gave him the deed to
a square foot of land and wrote periodically to report on it.
And we thought wine cooler boys were so original. Just goes to
show that some of the world's best ideas have been carefully mellowed with age.
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