First there was the Yaad Swag rum, now Aidonia and Beenie Man will be endorsing Yaad Stout for Todd Industries Limited.
Speaking with THE WEEKEND STAR yesterday, Aidonia explained that he was now one of the faces of a new drink, Yaad Stout, that will be on the market by next week. The other face for the product is Beenie Man.
“It’s a quality product. Mi nah just seh dat ’cause I am a part of it. Yesterday the whole day we a drink it. It kinda taste good, sweet taste, nuh too bitter,” he said.
With a career that has been through many stages and faced several setbacks, Aidonia says this new endorsement deal will do a lot for his career.
“It means a lot ’cause over the years we been in the business and the first we a get dem kinda endorsement deal ya so is a good look for Aidonia as a brand, not just as an artiste. Right now a just one positive movement and thought toward the business side of the thing,” Aidonia said, noting that he will be promoting the product in his songs.
Although he does not have a lot of experiencing in endorsing products, the artiste has immense confidence in his ability to endorse the new product.
“Over the years dem always seh Aidonia have a strong underground market which is the streets. So wi know seh di yute dem rate wi and wi have it lock inna di street, so wi know seh we ago do good there so cause is a street product at the end of the day. But we ago tek it pon the commercial side also. So while me get bigger commercially a so di product a get bigger too. We ago do good man ’cause the yute dem a wait pon it,” he told THE WEEKEND STAR.
He noted that the product is not yet available but will be on local shelves by next week. He also said there are already talks to have Yaad Stout exported to several countries.
“Every wholesale you can think of, some supermarkets, inna di Caribbean, pon di corner shop, everywhere. Wi ago bring it to the people, dem nuh haffi look fi it, we ago put it right in reach,” he said, while reluctant to disclose whether or not he has shares in the product.
Corey Todd further explained that Yaad Stout is an extension of the Yaad brand that already has Yaad Swag Rum and Yaad Agency. He added that Beenie Man and Aidonia were chosen to represent the brand for different reasons.
“Beenie Man is the King of the Dancehall and Aidonia is the most promising deejay right now out of Jamaica. He has the younger fans, so it’s only right. I have the King of Dancehall here and he covers a big fan base and we have the future here with Aidonia,” he said.
While Beenie Man and Aidonia will be the faces of the product, Todd said other artistes will appear on the bottle to keep the brand fresh and hot.
Todd also said he has high expectation for how Yaad Stout will be received by the public.
“I feel like we will do what we did for rum. For years it was only J Wray and Nephew and what we did was open it up for not only our brands of rum but other brands of rum were able to be successful because we kind of moved the pigeon hole from J Wray and Nephew to make room for other rums to come in.”
“We plan to do a lot of exports and this is an easier product to export instead of rum, and Yaad Swag is about to begin export outside of Jamaica. It’s just a good look for dancehall, a product that will be giving back to dancehall artistes and giving back to the industry as well,” Todd told THE WEEKEND STAR.
As for having a product of his own, Aidonia said he would be revamping his JOP clothing line that was started in 2006. With more experience and a better team, he said he would be starting off with some ‘Bad People’ T-shirts for men and women.
“Maybe at that time mi neva fully ready fi dat yet. Mi neva understand how fi deal wid it at that time. Mi neva so experienced … but it up and running right now. Wi have more experience and more wisdom and wi have better people around mi at this time,” Aidonia said.
In addition to the new endorsement, Aidonia says he recently released songs like Bad Pickney, Summer Sun, Miss Your Touch and Caribbean Girl, while Stay In Your Arms, Steppa Life and Wine Up Yuh Body will be released in a few days. He added that he would also be doing music videos for songs like Miss Your Touch and Caribbean Girl very soon.
With progress being made, Aidonia says he is pleased with the direction his career is heading.
“It’s great. Over the years we always had the talent and we always had the songs but we just never had the right network to push the songs out there. So since the recent movement, whole heap a people a jump on board. Mi know seh great things ago happen. Mi ago just work hard in the studio and mek the management handle the rest. Just mek the people dem look out ’cause we a come hard at dem. Musical vitamin mi seh, one a day. The take ova it name enuh ’cause the people dem seh it want a makeover,” he told THE WEEKEND STAR.
JamaicaStar
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