The Change Mariner

Barcardi Pays Town To Change Its Name to Mojito

Kentucky.com:

The entire Buena Vista Township has only 8,000 people, spread over a 42-square-mile area where about half is agricultural land. Most of the family-owned farms have had to turn to niche crops like mint in order to survive.

The new name has already helped boost business by about 10 percent for Dalponte Farms, which for several years has supplied Bacardi with mint for special events. Mint is Dalponte's largest crop and sold under the Mr. Mint brand name.

"I never expected this to go over as big as it did," said Denny Dalponte, whose family has owned the farm for 80 years but switched to herb farming about 20 years ago.

The boom comes as mojitos have become the latest pop-culture craze, showing up everywhere from HBO's "Sex and the City" to "Bad Boys II." More restaurants have also added mojitos to the menu and some have opened mojito bars.

Anything that sells more mojitos is good news for Bacardi. Given the success of the naming efforts, they don't rule out the possibility it could happen again.
"Maybe, instead of advertising we'll look into buying cities," Gomez joked. "It may be more effective."