Someone finally made Francis Ford Coppola an offer he couldn’t refuse. It was half a billion dollars. More, in fact. A rumoured $650 million. That’s what Delicato paid for the director of The Godfather’s Sonoma winery.
Coppola, being Coppola, then used a chunk of that money to make Megalopolis, a life-long cinematic passion project. But, according to The Guardian, Megalopolis grossed ‘a paltry $14m worldwide against a budget around $120m.’ Ouch!
As the Delicato deal was structured around a significant equity allocation, not just cash, Coppola has now had to sell off his prized watch collection. Telling the New York Times, “I need to get some money to keep the ship afloat.”
From a purely fiscal perspective, then, Delicato seem to have fared a little better.
Decanter says the deal made them the fifth largest wine supplier by volume across all price segments in the US. And that, ‘Coppola brands, like the Diamond Collection – the number three brand in the United States’ super-premium category – will further round out Delicato’s portfolio and bolster annual production, which is around 17 million cases.’
So, tellingly, the deal gives Delicato ownership of Coppola branded wines. A shrewd move on their part.
In his book How Brands Become Icons: The Principles of Cultural Branding, Douglas Holt, formerly of Harvard Business School, argues that the most powerful brands often carry “identity myths” rooted in real cultural figures or narratives. Myths that cannot be manufactured in a marketing department in the same way. And the Coppola name is a perfect example of that.
Drayton Partner Byron Beatty, agrees, ‘It’s a playbook you see repeatedly across the industry. While this is wine specific, the pattern is consistent across premium drinks more broadly. Casamigos tequila, which was closely associated with George Clooney, was sold to Diageo. In each case, a larger player acquires a brand with real provenance, strong DNA, and cultural significance, and then scales it.’
‘The way to exploit that connection is through storytelling,’ Beatty continues. ‘You see this when personalities are brought to life through brands. Don Papa rum is a good example: it’s built around a quirky, almost folkloric story. Coppola, by contrast, is Hollywood gold. His work on The Godfather gives the brand a depth and authenticity that’s extremely hard for businesses to replicate.’
In terms of revealing Coppola’s true character, the bit of his wine business he did not sell is more insightful that the one he did. That’s another passion project – Inglenook, a storied winery, founded in 1879 by a Finnish sea captain and lovingly restored, over four decades, by the director and his late wife Eleanor. The couple reacquired vineyards, rebuilt historic buildings, and reinvested in viticulture and winemaking. And they did it for love, not money.
In Megalopolis, the hero, played by Adam Driver, has the power to shape time. So, if he could, knowing it’s a box office bomb, would Coppola travel back a few years and reverse his decision to invest in it? Everything about the great auteur’s character suggests his answer would be ‘no.’