Diddy makes more money

Diddy's not the best rapper, and his production isn't quite as ground-breaking as any number of other rapper/producer/mogul types, but the man sure knows how to make money.

I've written here before about music stars endorsing a strange array of products, and since then I've found these other fine ways to make more money...

A Snoop Dogg rubber duck...



Celine Dion wine...



And Kiss condoms...sorry, that should be Kiss Kondoms...



But Diddy's deal doesn't really involve a particularly bizarre product (it's for a vodka brand called Ciroc), but the really amazing part is that he's cut a deal where he gets half of the profit from the sale of the drink.


So this drink, a vodka based on French grapes apparently, is netting the rap mogul millions of bucks a year.

It sounds like a smart move all round - Diageo, the behemoth of a company that owns Ciroc, gets some solid involvement from their endorsing star because he's got a massive incentive to make it sell, and he gets a great chance to add to his huge stack of cash beyond just the initial endorsement fee.

It reminds me of some of those ground-breaking movie deals that have made fortunes for those who were savvy enough to cut the right deal. I'm not a movie expert, but I think I'm right in saying that one of the Star Wars actors put in their deal that they would take a reduced fee in return for a cut of future profits, including toy sales - was it Alec Guinness? It might even have been George Lucas. Hmmm...answers on a postcard please.

So nice one Diddy - glad to know that when you wrote It's All About The Benjamins you weren't exaggerating. Though, I put it to you Diddy, were you right when you said mo' money equals mo' problems?