The United States

In contrast with what was happening in Eastern Europe, market research in the U.S. showed that Canei was encountering resistance among American consumers, not because anyone objected to the taste of the new spumante, but because it was a little too innovative. If the public was going to get used to this new product, it would take an expensive advertising campaign that the progress of sales in the U.S. simply could not justify. And that was how East Germany saved the day. The profits that derived from the unhoped-for and unplanned success of the new Bosca product in the DDR were reinvested in advertising for the American market. Thanks to that investment, the first three containers shipped to the U.S. in late 1975 grew to a stream of twelve million bottles in 1980 and more than twenty million bottles by 1985.
The story of Canei's triumph in the United States has its own twists and heroes. “Who the Hell will ever drink this swill?” asked Jack Cohen the first time that he tried it. With Abe Rosenberg, Louis Silver, and Raymond Ochacher, Cohen ran Star Industries of Syosset, Long Island, the company that was going to propel Canei to success in America. Ochacher, the former owner of the famous liquor store in Manhattan's Astor Place, on the other hand, fell in love with it at once. A prosperous retiree, with years of experience in the wine business, Ochacher was looking for a way to spend his leisure time, and he decided to hire a little advertising agency owned by Richard Heim to conquer the American market for Canei. It was a good choice. Heim, a well-read and refined man, succeeded in conveying the message quickly and cheaply, capturing the imagination of a clientele that grew so fast that in a few months the new drink was leading U.S. sales in its category.

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