By Contributor,Jessica Ourisman,John Shearer
Copyright forbes
Photo by John Shearer/WireImage
A week after her appearance at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, where Elizabeth Banks was a presenter, the actress is sitting on a video call from her home in Los Angeles. There are hints of her star status—she is perfectly poised and camera-ready, her complexion glowing, her hair coiffed and a subtle peek of Chanel lettering to give away her impeccable style—but she is also friendly, warm and incredibly relatable.
“I grew up in nature, in a combination of rolling hills, farmlands and a mill town, so a river float is totally my jam. We were very outdoorsy, very much in nature, and my mom had four kids, so we were very much on-the-go—we were never home for more than fifteen minutes, and it was usually to scarf down a meal,” she tells me of her upbringing in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It paints a vastly different picture than one would expect of the glamourous Hollywood star.
Yet she is also a seasoned professional, having risen to the top of one of the most competitive and public-facing industries on the planet. The self-described cinephile’s success was motivated by passion, but it is obvious that this high-profile career does not exclusively define her identity. Banks has an easy relatability and unguarded warmth that spills over in the personal anecdotes she shares, which reveal that being a mother, spending quality time with her family, enjoying time in the outdoors and going to the movies together.
Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images
Variety via Getty Images
As of 2021, she is also an entrepreneur in the spirits industry, becoming a co-owner and Chief Creative Officer of the canned, fine wine company Archer Roose Wines, with co-owner Marian Leitner-Waldman. She admits that you might very well find her sipping one of the company’s blends from her glam chair as she is styled with hair and makeup before a red carpet event. “By the time of the red carpet, it’s already a celebration,” she explains. “I just got ready for the Emmy’s two Sundays ago and we all had [Archer Roose] Bubbly and Bubble Rosé to get in the mood.”
This paints a vivid picture of what it is like getting glammed by celebrity hair and makeup artists before an exciting industry event, but her first exposure to the brand harkens back to the down-to-earth aspect of her personality that makes her so likable. The first time she sipped on an Archer Roose wine, she tells me, she was inner-tubing down a river on vacation with her family in Utah.
“I was in an inner tube, the can was in the water to keep it cold, so it was the idea that this wine is convenient, outdoorsy, can go anywhere with you and is delicious—everything about it spoke to me personally,” she says. The partnership blossomed when she and Leitner-Waldman, who is also present on the video call, connected.
Archer Roose/Princess
As the brand has grown—they just unveiled their partnership with the Princess Cruise Line today—her contributions have drawn upon her passion and talent for storytelling in a big way. This can be seen in the promotional content, which showcases her famous sense of humor and the infectious way she laughs at herself. We comment on the way that humor not only helps to bring people together, but specifically for women, its juxtaposition with beauty, glamour and otherwise intimidating status signifiers, can be a particularly useful quality.
She names other powerful women whose use of humor has helped to humanize them, specifically mentioning Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, Lucille Ball and Tina Fey as personal inspirations of hers. But in essence, this quality of hers speaks to her willingness to step down from the “pedestal” that her glamour and success would otherwise afford her in order to connect and tell a story. This tact also allows her to speak up about causes that are important to her without coming across as preachy or judgmental—such as at the Emmy’s, when she casually pointed out the rarity of five out the six nominees in the category she presented were women. She did not drive home her point aggressively, yet the underlying issue she gently hinted at—female disparity in the industry—became all the more impactful when the sole man in the category won.
Basically, she is sincere and compelling—but also the type of woman that makes it a point to uplift and empower fellow women; what today’s youth might call a “girl’s girl.” This also makes her business partnership with Leitner-Waldman a genuine success. The two of them have a natural rapport and an easy friendship, which is important as they take on mission that Archer Roose’s success hinges upon: warming up the spirits industry to the idea of luxury wine in a can.
Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images
Variety via Getty Images
“We knew that there was a tide that we had to get over, and we feel like it [comes down to] the storytelling that we’re doing all the time with the wine,” Banks explains. “That’s why I got really excited about it. It wasn’t about putting my name on a wine brand, I was getting behind specifically this format and this innovation in the industry.”
Banks obviously believes in what the company is setting out to do—which is essentially to re-brand the aluminum can as an acceptable “outfit” for luxury wines. But beyond simply being acceptable, it could actually be desirable in a business sense—akin to how haute couture fashion houses expanded beyond their runway collections in order to offer ready-to-wear, sport and even beauty and fragrance collections. As any fashion scholar knows, the bulk of luxury fashion’s income does not come from haute couture itself, but rather these adjacent sectors of the brand.
The question comes down to whether Banks’ combination of public recognition, storytelling acuity, and pivotally, the charismatic way she conducts herself onscreen, can help to move the needle. She points out that comedy itself is “vulnerability,” intimating that part of her onscreen presence is inherently bold and courageous. This exact quality, combined with her taste, talent and charm, could very well be what drives the brand’s mission to de-stigmatize canned wine onward.
“What I love to tell wine snobs is that I’m one of you,” Leitner-Waldman explains. Yet the logic behind it already exists—it’s more efficient in terms of space, easily recyclable, and frankly, has been proven successful in the past. She points out that in 2005, less than 10% of all beer was canned; now, twenty years later, 80% is. Data aside, they are hoping that the social clout and charisma that helped propel Banks to the top of her industry can be pivotal as they do so.
Banks’ active role in this effort sets her apart from many celebrity-headed spirits partnerships. This evident in their Princess Cruise Lines partnership. Princess’ approval is not just in believing in Archer Roose as a product and choosing to serve it onboard their growing fleet of 17 ships, but they are prominently featuring the brand’s promotional content, starring Banks, on the Jumbotron before their onboard movie nights under the stars.
Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images
“That’s exactly what I would want to be doing on my cruise,” Banks admits. “Laying out under the stars, sipping my wine, watching a great movie, surrounded by fellow cinephiles. I think that would just be the most fun way to spend an evening on Princess.”
Banks and Leitner-Waldman are understandably thrilled about what this partnership means as they venture into more niche markets, but their strategy also comes via association.
“We love meeting consumers where they’re already having fun,” Banks explains of their vision of developing longevity with consumers. One of her friends served the aesthetic, pink-canned blends with pink-and-white striped straws at a baby shower; there was also the initial story she shared about enjoying her first can of Archer Roose while inner-tubing down a lake with her family. These are the types of positive experiences they believe can help make Archer Roose a household name.
They are both mothers, thus emphasizing the way that it makes fine wine available to women in settings in which glass bottles can be prohibitive. At a poolside BBQ, watching their child’s sport’s game or even on a weekend getaway where glass bottles are bulky and heavy. Leitner-Waldmanalso loves bringing her own can of Archer Roose with her to her nail appointments—an amenity that is offered at many upscale nail salons, but is certainly not yet the norm, but undeniably can switch the vibe of a beauty “chore” into a relaxing treat. This option to bring your own can—BYOC, if you will—showcases how on-the-go women and mothers can still find ways to elevate their beauty experiences and moments of self-care by winding down with their favorite blend.
Their female-focused vision makes sense; not only is it relatable to them, but it is often the case that women opt to drink wine rather than beer (which can be bloating and gluten-heavy) when given the choice. It also highlights how female entrepreneurship is making headway in the expansion beyond more “gendered” industries like fashion and beauty, into previously male-dominated industries like film and spirits. The spirits industry is now bustling with female celebrities—Eva Longoria, Kate Hudson and even Kendall and Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner all have business interests to their names. Yet Banks’ personal investment in the cause, in addition to her financial investment, perhaps sets her apart.
Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
The fashion industry actually offers one final metaphor that shines light on Archer Roose’s partnership with Princess Cruises, and the pioneering efforts of Banks and Leitner-Waldman in the mission to de-stigmatize canned fine wine. In what is perhaps more than a play on words, it brings to mind the luxury fashion house’s Cruise collections, the presentations of resort wear which tend to take place beyond the traditional fashion capitols of the world and in between the fashion cycle’s primarily Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter schedule. In spite of their off-season and less glamorous associations, invitations to these presentations are still highly coveted and exclusive.
It begs the question of whether or not Archer Roose’s female-headed foray into travel’s formidable cruise sector—representing only 2% of global tourism, yet generating a reported $168 billion in global impact and considered a “vibrant and growing” tourism sector by the CLIA—could be more than just a play on words. It seems a promising sign that Leitner-Waldman’s industry savoir-faire, coupled with Banks’ business acumen and, crucially, her ability to leverage her storytelling strengths into entrepreneurial “soft power,” could potentially transform the aluminum can into much, more than fine wine’s “Casual Friday” attire.
If the glass bottle is fine wine’s version of Haute Couture, Archer Roose presents the aluminum can more like the much more relatable, and much more profitable, line of RTW. Only time will tell, but it seems possible that this female entrepreneurial duo could successful change the tide in democratizing fine wine among the discerning, luxury wine community, as well.
As for celebrity association, there is of course still the fact that Banks’ potential to flourish as a spirits entrepreneur comes down to whether, at the end of the day, consumers would want to enjoy a glass some Archer Roose with her—even if it’s canned. Based on this conversation and the brand’s growth, my answer is already a resounding yes.
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