118 | What Bottom-Up Actually Means: Mark Ward, Founder of Regal Rogue on the Behaviour Between One and Ten

118 | What Bottom-Up Actually Means: Mark Ward, Founder of Regal Rogue on the Behaviour Between One and Ten

February 16, 2026 · 35 min · Season 4 · Episode 118

About this episode

Mark Ward discusses the principles of bottom-up brand building in the drinks industry.

The MAFFEO DRINKS Podcast is a leading drinks business podcast, listened to in 120 countries worldwide with 125+ episodes. Honest conversations about how the industry actually works, from the bar and what it means for the boardroom. This Episode is hosted by Chris Maffeo and brought to you by MAFFEO DRINKS . Mark Ward, founder of Regal Rogue, joins for a conversation validating bottom-up principles through 15 years of vermouth brand building. The discussion explores the actual mechanics of turning one account into ten, ten into a hundred, and the behavior that happens in between those numbers. The conversation challenges common misconceptions about bottom-up building: it's not about being small, building slowly, or lacking ambition. It's about the specific actions required to convert relationships, the constant auditing of whether your message connects with buyers, and understanding that past success guarantees nothing about future performance. Through examples spanning Seedlip's category creation, Diageo's Distilled Ventures program, CÎROC's P Diddy turnaround, and Regal Rogue's 15-year journey to simplifying their serves down to three drinks, the discussion reveals how the…

People in this episode

Host: Chris Maffeo

Guest: Mark Ward

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MAFFEO DRINKS

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Regal Rogue, Seedlip, Diageo, CÎROC

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