 In 1996, I was the legal affairs editor for Business Week magazine, and a man came to see me in my office and he pitched me a story. He wanted me to write about some of Smirnoff's descendants who were living in Russia and after communism had fallen, decided to sue in courts around the world to get their trademarks and copyrights back. You can imagine they might want to do this because actually today Smirnoff is still the best-selling vodka and spirit in the world and the most valuable spirits brand in the world. Well, I did write about this, but what interested me most was this long white scroll this man brought with him. And when he enrolled it, it turned out to be a Smirnoff family tree going back to the 1700s in Russia. And he began to tell me just a little bit about the family story. Turns out Pyotr Smirnoff, who was the patriarch, was born a serf. So he was like a slave. He had masters. He couldn't travel without getting permission. He couldn't earn money without giving it to his master. Smirnoff actually wasn't a Smirnoff at all. He had no last name because serfs had no last names in Russia until they had a need to travel. So he was this guy who was uneducated, had no connections, had no money, and yet by the end of the 19th century in Tsarist Russia, he was one of the richest, most successful merchants of all time. And I found myself completely fascinated by the story and somehow in need of finding out how this man had done this. And it turns out it was quite this amazing rags to riches story and ultimately rags. Smirnoff was a very brilliant man. He was lucky during the time that he lived. There was emancipation. There were reforms. There were some things that Tolstoy did. Chekhov wrote about Smirnoff. It was this amazing story. But what I want to do is actually tell you about one of the things that will show you what a brilliant marketer Smirnoff actually was. In the 1860s, before Smirnoff was anything, he just had started his business. Nobody knew his name. Nobody had drunk his vodka before. He realizes he needs to get the word out and he doesn't have email. It is the 1860s. He doesn't have Facebook. He doesn't have Twitter. So here's what he does. He goes to this place called Ketrov Market in Moscow, which was one of the smelliest, grimeous, saddest places in all of Moscow. People would scurry around there with half-clothed rags. Women would sell rancid food that they would keep warm by sitting on their big kettles. So Smirnoff goes there one day and he rounds up 15 men and he brings them back to his vodka factory. He feeds them. He gives them some vodka, of course. And he slaps three rubles down in front of each man and he says, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go out to the pubs in Moscow. I want you to go in and I want you to order yourself a Smirnoff vodka. And when the waiter says to you, I've never heard a Smirnoff vodka. I don't know what you're talking about. I want you to make a scene. I want you to say, how can you possibly not have this vodka? It's absolutely the best there is. This is an amazing vodka. And when he goes to get the manager, I want you to make sure everyone in the bar hears you. And then I want you to leave in a huff and go to the next pub and repeat the performance again. So these men actually do this. They go out to all of the bars in Moscow and they come back to Smirnoff's factory and suddenly, truly within an extraordinarily short period of time, vodka orders are coming in from all over the place. But Smirnoff was a very ambitious man. He's not just interested in being the vodka purveyor for Moscow. He tells these men, now I want you to get on the railroads. And I want you to go out, get off at every stop, go to every pub and do the same thing over again. So within about a two-year period, Smirnoff comes from nothing. So being one of the chief producers of vodka in all of Russia. You can imagine in Russia there were thousands of vodka purveyor, so this is no small feat. And Smirnoff devises a completely different strategy to go after the aristocrats and the royalty. His ultimate goal is obviously to have them drinking his vodka and he wants to be the czar's purveyor. And he does that by becoming a philanthropist, by getting involved in the Russian Orthodox Church, and by traveling abroad and entering his vodkas and other liquors in contests, in world fairs. He goes to Vienna, he goes to Paris, he goes to London, Chicago, Philadelphia, wins all these awards. And by 1886 he becomes the czar's purveyor. It's a great story of entrepreneurship, of really overcoming all odds, truly all odds. I mean, you know, Chekhov called Smirnoff the peddler of Satan's blood. And Tolstoy was one of his chief foes. I mean, you can imagine in Russia Tolstoy says you're a bad guy, you must be a bad guy. And then there's the vodka itself. I mean, alcoholism was a huge problem in Russia, continues to be a huge problem in Russia. And that in part, as well as the Russian Revolution, ends up being the demise of the Smirnoff Vodka Empire in Russia. Had it not been for one of his sons who was sentenced to death by a fiery scot during the Revolution, escaping Russia, fleeing to Western Europe and reviving the brand there, it probably would no longer exist today. So it's an amazing story and I hope you read it. Thank you.