In 1973, one of the world’s most respected drinks executives looked at a bottle of brown liquid and declared “That shit will never sell!” Fast forward to today – that ‘shit’ has sold over 2 billion bottles, created an entirely new drinks category, and generates billions in revenue every year.
This isn’t just another business success story. It’s proof that sometimes the craziest ideas – the ones everyone tells you won’t work – are exactly the ones worth fighting for.
The Birth of a “Crazy” Idea
Picture this: Two men walk into a dingy London supermarket on a random Wednesday morning in 1973. They buy three things: a bottle of Irish whiskey, some cream, and a bar of chocolate. Total planning time? Zero. Market research? None. Backup plan if it fails? Don’t have one.
David Gluckman and Hugh Reade Seymour-Davies weren’t following some carefully crafted innovation process. They were just trying to solve a vague brief from an Irish drinks company – create “something” for export. Their solution was either going to be brilliant or career-endingly embarrassing.
In the tiny kitchen of their Soho office, they did what any “sensible” drinks creator would consider sacrilege – they poured cream into perfectly good Irish whiskey. Then they added chocolate. The entire development process took just 45 minutes, less time than most people spend in a meeting about having a meeting.
Here’s the truly crazy part: When they finished, they immediately called one of their biggest clients to come and see it. No refinements, no focus groups, no market testing. Just pure, raw belief in an idea that broke every rule in the drinks industry handbook.
Their entire development budget? A few pounds for supermarket ingredients. Their eventual payment for creating what would become Baileys Irish Cream? £3,000. Total.
The Wall of Doubt
It’s easy to look at Baileys today and think its success was inevitable. It wasn’t. For seven long years, almost everyone thought it was destined to fail.
The market research was brutal. Men dismissed it as “a girl’s drink,” refusing to order it in bars. Women compared it to Kaolin & Morphine – a medicine for diarrhea. Not exactly the luxury positioning they were hoping for.
Even in Ireland, where it was meant to be a proud export, the skepticism was fierce. “It’s not for the Irish market. Definitely not,” declared one sales director, cornering Gluckman in a bathroom. “It’ll never sell here.” Sophisticated London advertising executives – Gluckman’s own friends – looked down their noses at it, treating it as something “Mickey Mouse.” After-dinner drink? “Later, perhaps,” they’d say with barely disguised disdain.
But here’s what makes this story about more than just perseverance: The doubters weren’t wrong in their own context. Baileys didn’t fit any existing category. It wasn’t a fine whiskey. It wasn’t a traditional liqueur. It wasn’t anything the drinks industry recognized. And that’s precisely why it worked.
The most damning criticism came from Abe Rosenberg, the legendary figure who had turned J&B Rare into America’s biggest-selling Scotch. When presented with Baileys, he held up the bottle, grimaced at its military-green label, and delivered that now-famous verdict: “That shit will never sell!”
The Power of Sticking With It
What happens when you believe in something everyone else dismisses? For Gluckman and his team, it meant seven years of watching and waiting. Seven years of being the butt of industry jokes. Seven years of wondering if maybe – just maybe – everyone else was right.
But here’s where the story takes its first turn: Australia. While the sophisticated European markets were still turning up their noses, Australians took one look at Baileys and declared it “a bloody good drop.” No pretension. No preconceptions. Just pure appreciation for something new.
One container sold out immediately. Then another. And another. Soon, Australian liquor stores were putting up signs: “It’ll be here in a week. Place your orders now.” Everyone knew exactly what “it” was.
The success bred imitators. Within five years, 75 competitors had appeared worldwide. The same industry that had laughed at the idea was now scrambling to copy it. Spanish Bayla’s. Australian Baitz’ Island Cream. Irish Carolans. Each one trying to capture the magic of that rushed 45-minute experiment in a Soho kitchen.
But here’s the real lesson: Gluckman and his team weren’t just lucky – they were right. They understood something fundamental that all the experts missed. They realized that alcoholic drinks didn’t have to taste punishing. That something completely new could work precisely because it was completely new.
The Billion-Bottle Vindication
Today, Baileys sells around 120 million bottles every year. That’s enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool several times over. The “girl’s drink” that would “never sell”? It’s now the world’s best-selling liqueur, served everywhere from high-end cocktail bars in Tokyo to local pubs in Texas.
Marketing it was a nightmare at first. Where do you place a drink that isn’t quite a whiskey, isn’t quite a cream, and isn’t quite anything else? The team couldn’t even decide if it belonged in the spirits aisle or with the liqueurs. When you create something truly new, there’s no roadmap to follow, no proven strategy to copy. They were making it up as they went along.
And yes, luck played its part. Having Express Dairies as part of the same company meant they had a reliable cream supply. The Australian market’s unexpected enthusiasm gave them crucial momentum. But here’s the thing about luck – it only matters if you’ve stuck around long enough to benefit from it.
Remember Abe Rosenberg, who said it would never sell? He ended up launching it in America with the tagline “The Impossible Cream.” As David Gluckman wryly notes in his book, “That’s some good shit.”
And speaking of that book – if you think this story is inspiring, you need to read “That S*it Will Never Sell!” by David Gluckman. It’s not just about Baileys. It’s a masterclass in believing in your ideas when everyone else thinks you’re crazy. Gluckman takes you behind the scenes of creating some of the world’s biggest drinks brands, sharing the moments of doubt, the flashes of inspiration, and yes, the countless times people told him his ideas would never work.
The title comes from that famous Baileys rejection, but the message is universal: Sometimes the best ideas sound insane at first. Sometimes everyone else being against you is a sign you’re onto something big. And sometimes – just sometimes – you need to give an idea seven years to prove the whole world wrong.
So the next time someone tells you your idea is crazy, remember this: In a small supermarket in London, two guys spent 45 minutes mixing whiskey with cream and chocolate. Everyone said they were wrong. A billion bottles later, they’re still proving them wrong.
Want to dive deeper into this and other amazing stories of innovation against the odds? Grab a copy of “That S*it Will Never Sell!” It’s more than just a drinks industry book – it’s proof that the craziest ideas often turn out to be the biggest successes.
After all, as Gluckman’s story shows, sometimes being told you’re wrong is just the beginning of being proven right.
