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In 1973, one of the world\u2019s most respected drinks executives looked at a bottle of brown liquid and declared \u201cThat shit will never sell!\u201d Fast forward to today \u2013 that \u2018shit\u2019 has sold over 2 billion bottles<\/a>, created an entirely new drinks category, and generates billions in revenue every year.<\/span><\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just another business success story. It\u2019s proof that sometimes the craziest ideas \u2013 the ones everyone tells you won\u2019t work \u2013 are exactly the ones worth fighting for.<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019t have one.<\/span><\/p>\n David Gluckman and Hugh Reade Seymour-Davies weren\u2019t following some carefully crafted innovation process. They were just trying to solve a vague brief from an Irish drinks company \u2013 create \u201csomething\u201d for export. Their solution was either going to be brilliant or career-endingly embarrassing.<\/span><\/p>\n In the tiny kitchen of their Soho office, they did what any \u201csensible\u201d drinks creator would consider sacrilege \u2013 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Their entire development budget? A few pounds for supermarket ingredients. Their eventual payment for creating what would become Baileys Irish Cream? \u00a33,000. Total.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to look at Baileys today and think its success was inevitable. It wasn\u2019t. For seven long years, almost everyone thought it was destined to fail.<\/span><\/p>\n The market research was brutal. Men dismissed it as \u201ca girl\u2019s drink,\u201d refusing to order it in bars. Women compared it to Kaolin & Morphine \u2013 a medicine for diarrhea. Not exactly the luxury positioning they were hoping for.<\/span><\/p>\n Even in Ireland, where it was meant to be a proud export, the skepticism was fierce. \u201cIt\u2019s not for the Irish market. Definitely not,\u201d declared one sales director, cornering Gluckman in a bathroom. \u201cIt\u2019ll never sell here.\u201d Sophisticated London advertising executives \u2013 Gluckman\u2019s own friends \u2013 looked down their noses at it, treating it as something \u201cMickey Mouse.\u201d After-dinner drink? \u201cLater, perhaps,\u201d they\u2019d say with barely disguised disdain.<\/span><\/p>\n But here\u2019s what makes this story about more than just perseverance: The doubters weren\u2019t wrong in their own context. Baileys didn\u2019t fit any existing category. It wasn\u2019t a fine whiskey. It wasn\u2019t a traditional liqueur. It wasn\u2019t anything the drinks industry recognized. And that\u2019s precisely why it worked.<\/span><\/p>\n The most damning criticism came from Abe Rosenberg, the legendary figure who had turned J&B Rare into America\u2019s biggest-selling Scotch. When presented with Baileys, he held up the bottle, grimaced at its military-green label, and delivered that now-famous verdict: \u201cThat shit will never sell!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n 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 \u2013 just maybe \u2013 everyone else was right.<\/span><\/p>\n But here\u2019s 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 \u201ca bloody good drop.\u201d No pretension. No preconceptions. Just pure appreciation for something new.<\/span><\/p>\n One container sold out immediately. Then another. And another. Soon, Australian liquor stores were putting up signs: \u201cIt\u2019ll be here in a week. Place your orders now.\u201d Everyone knew exactly what \u201cit\u201d was.<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019s. Australian Baitz\u2019 Island Cream. Irish Carolans. Each one trying to capture the magic of that rushed 45-minute experiment in a Soho kitchen.<\/span><\/p>\n But here\u2019s the real lesson: Gluckman and his team weren\u2019t just lucky \u2013 they were right. They understood something fundamental that all the experts missed. They realized that alcoholic drinks didn\u2019t have to taste punishing. That something completely new could work precisely because it was completely new.<\/span><\/p>\n Today, Baileys sells around 120 million bottles every year. That\u2019s enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool several times over. The \u201cgirl\u2019s drink\u201d that would \u201cnever sell\u201d? It\u2019s now the world\u2019s best-selling liqueur, served everywhere from high-end cocktail bars in Tokyo to local pubs in Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n Marketing it was a nightmare at first. Where do you place a drink that isn\u2019t quite a whiskey, isn\u2019t quite a cream, and isn\u2019t quite anything else? The team couldn\u2019t even decide if it belonged in the spirits aisle or with the liqueurs. When you create something truly new, there\u2019s no roadmap to follow, no proven strategy to copy. They were making it up as they went along.<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019s unexpected enthusiasm gave them crucial momentum. But here\u2019s the thing about luck \u2013 it only matters if you\u2019ve stuck around long enough to benefit from it.<\/span><\/p>\n Remember Abe Rosenberg, who said it would never sell? He ended up launching it in America with the tagline \u201cThe Impossible Cream.\u201d As David Gluckman wryly notes in his book, \u201cThat\u2019s some good shit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n And speaking of that book \u2013 if you think this story is inspiring, you need to read \u201cThat S*it Will Never Sell!<\/a>\u201d by David Gluckman<\/a>. It\u2019s not just about Baileys. It\u2019s a masterclass in believing in your ideas when everyone else thinks you\u2019re crazy. Gluckman takes you behind the scenes of creating some of the world\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019re onto something big. And sometimes \u2013 just sometimes \u2013 you need to give an idea seven years to prove the whole world wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019re still proving them wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n Want to dive deeper into this and other amazing stories of innovation against the odds? Grab a copy of \u201cThat S*it Will Never Sell!\u201d It\u2019s more than just a drinks industry book \u2013 it\u2019s proof that the craziest ideas often turn out to be the biggest successes.<\/span><\/p>\n After all, as Gluckman\u2019s story shows, sometimes being told you\u2019re wrong is just the beginning of being proven right.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nThe Birth of a \u201cCrazy\u201d Idea<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Wall of Doubt<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Power of Sticking With It<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Billion-Bottle Vindication<\/b><\/h2>\n