The Kentucky Derby has the mint julep. Wimbledon has the Pimm’s cup. And the US Open has the Honey Deuce.
The iconic cocktail—made with Grey Goose vodka, lemonade, raspberry liquor, and garnished with three scoops of honeydew melon meant to resemble tennis balls—has been around for almost two decades, and has become something of a cultural phenomenon. Last summer, Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet were spotted sipping one on a date, and the commemorative cup it’s served in, which includes the names of past US Open winners, was dubbed “the season’s hottest accessory” by the New York Times in 2023.
It’s a grand slam for Grey Goose, which scored record Honey Deuce sales last year and is working to make this season another banner year for the cocktail, Grey Goose’s VP of Marketing for North America Aleco Azqueta said.
“You can’t say you’ve been to the US Open without having a Honey Deuce,” Azqueta told Marketing Brew. “Social media has really been a big part of it. People really want to share their experience, just like if you’re at a Taylor Swift concert and you share the bracelets…At the US Open, there’s no way to really showcase that experience you’re having without sharing your greatest Honey Deuce images.”
Farmers market to Flushing
Grey Goose has been the official vodka of the US Open for 18 years, and the Honey Deuce has been around almost as long, according to Azqueta. During the second year of its partnership, the brand asked restaurateur Nick Mautone to develop a signature cocktail for the event. Azqueta said Mautone got his inspiration after seeing melons at a farmers market—and the rest is history.
While Azqueta says the drink was fairly popular from the start, Honey Deuce mania has only continued to grow. Last year, US Open goers drank about 450,000 Honey Deuces, Azqueta said, up from about 405,000 in 2022, a new record for the drink.
“We call it Honey Deuce season within the brand,” he said. “It’s one of, if not the, biggest tentpole that we have. It’s all hands on deck. We prepare for it almost year-round…we’re constantly evaluating how we can make it bigger and better the next year.”
Get the (melon) ball rolling
Selling upward of 400,000 Honey Deuces—or, one every 1.5 seconds of the US Open—is apparently not enough. Grey Goose is partnering with a player for the first time to promote the brand and the cocktail, striking up a deal with Frances Tiafoe, who’s currently ranked 20th in the world in men’s singles and who has made a few deep runs at the Open in recent years. The partnership with Tiafoe is focused on social content and will incorporate the Honey Deuce, Azqueta said.
Grey Goose is also promoting the cocktail through a billboard on Times Square featuring the drink, and by sending invitations to influencers to visit the brand’s suite at the US Open, Azqueta said. Grey Goose recently started giving fans in New York and Chicago the ability to order canned Honey Deuces for home delivery during the tournament.
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Beyond the Honey Deuce, Grey Goose treats its US Open deal as a 360-degree marketing campaign, Azqueta said, including through a media buy with ESPN, social and influencer components, OOH, and, of course, the experience at the tournament itself. He confirmed that last year the brand re-upped the deal with the US Open for another five years.
Grey Goose’s reason for showing up year after year goes beyond selling Honey Deuces. The profile of US Open attendees, which Azqueta described as people who are “very culturally leaned in,” “stylish,” and “looking for those elevated experiences,” makes for a good match for the brand.
This year, there’s a potential extra benefit, since tennis, as a whole, is perhaps as culturally relevant as it’s ever been, partially thanks to Zendaya and her role in Challengers.
“Tennis has just continued to grow in popularity,” Azqueta said. “Coming out of the pandemic, it was one of the few sports you could play, but then it’s really just taken shape in pop culture…For us, that’s that elevated world of Grey Goose. It fits in really nicely.”