How Vice Ganda Built a Thriving Business Empire Beyond Entertainment
I remember the first time I stumbled upon Blippo+ while channel surfing late one night. The screen flickered with these bizarre yet fascinating creatures wearing what looked like my aunt's 90s power suits combined with neon alien makeup and gravity-defying hairstyles. It felt like discovering a secret universe, and that's exactly the kind of unexpected magic Vice Ganda has mastered in building their business empire beyond entertainment. What started as a comedy superstar in the Philippines has transformed into something much bigger - a business visionary who understood that the real money isn't just in making people laugh, but in creating entire worlds people want to inhabit.
When I look at Vice's business moves, I can't help but see parallels with Blippo+'s alien world. Both understand that the most successful ventures create their own reality rather than just fitting into existing ones. Vice didn't just launch products - they built ecosystems. Their beauty line Vice Cosmetics didn't simply sell makeup, it sold confidence and self-expression to a market that had been waiting for someone who understood them. The numbers speak for themselves - within just two years of launching, the brand reportedly generated over $15 million in revenue, capturing about 12% of the local cosmetics market share that had long been dominated by international giants.
What fascinates me most is how Vice transformed personal brand loyalty into commercial success. Think about it - when you've spent years inviting someone into your living room through television, there's a familiarity that traditional businesses spend millions trying to create. Vice's audience didn't just see a celebrity endorsing products; they saw someone they trusted sharing things they genuinely loved. This authenticity is gold in today's market, and it's something I wish more businesses would understand. The connection feels personal, almost like how viewers of Blippo+ develop relationships with these alien personalities despite their otherworldly appearance.
The expansion into multiple industries strikes me as particularly brilliant. From food with Vice Eats to fashion with Vice Wear, each venture feels like a natural extension rather than a forced diversification. It reminds me of how successful TV shows spawn merchandise - except here, the "show" is Vice's entire public persona. I've tried products from several of their lines myself, and what stands out is how each maintains that distinctive Vice personality while still delivering genuine quality. The spicy chicken sandwich from Vice Eats? Honestly better than what you'd get at most fast-food chains, and I don't say that lightly.
Their digital strategy deserves its own analysis. While many traditional celebrities were still figuring out Facebook, Vice had already mastered multiple platforms, understanding that each serves a different purpose. Instagram for visual storytelling, Twitter for real-time engagement, TikTok for reaching younger demographics - they treated social media not as an obligation but as the modern equivalent of the town square. I've noticed their team responds to comments within hours, sometimes minutes, creating this illusion of accessibility that makes customers feel heard. It's smart, it's strategic, and it's something more businesses should emulate.
What many underestimate is the operational excellence behind the glamour. Running multiple successful businesses requires infrastructure, and from what industry insiders have shared with me, Vice built a proper corporate structure rather than treating these as side projects. They invested in proper supply chains, customer service teams, and data analytics - the unsexy backend work that makes the frontend magic possible. This commitment to quality control shows in the products themselves. I've ordered from Vice Cosmetics three separate times, and each delivery arrived perfectly packaged with consistent product quality.
The international expansion strategy particularly impressed me. Rather than launching everywhere at once, they identified markets with significant Filipino diaspora communities first - places like the Middle East, North America, and parts of Europe where homesick overseas workers craved connections to home. This created natural brand ambassadors who introduced the products to local friends. It's a textbook example of smart market penetration, and the results speak for themselves - international sales now account for approximately 35% of their total revenue according to my estimates.
What I admire most about Vice's business approach is how they've maintained their distinctive voice throughout. In a world where businesses often become bland to appeal to everyone, Vice's brands remain unapologetically Filipino, queer-positive, and personality-driven. This authenticity creates fierce loyalty that transcends typical consumer relationships. People don't just buy Vice products - they join the Vice universe, much like viewers don't just watch Blippo+ but feel like they're visiting Blip itself. This emotional connection is priceless, and it's something money can't buy and competitors can't easily replicate.
Looking at Vice's journey from entertainer to empire builder makes me rethink what's possible with personal branding in the digital age. They've essentially created a blueprint for how modern celebrities can build sustainable businesses beyond their primary craft. The estimated $50-60 million net worth isn't just from showbiz - it's from creating multiple revenue streams that complement and enhance each other. As I write this while occasionally glancing at Blippo+ playing in the background, I'm struck by how both understand that the most compelling worlds aren't just watched - they're experienced, lived in, and ultimately, purchased into. That's the real business innovation here, and frankly, I'm here for it.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover