The rise (and decline) of a ‘Star Wars’ Instagram empire

You’ve never heard of Brett Ferencz, but you may know his work. The former web developer out of Atlanta, Georgia, set up an Instagram profile in August of 2014 after having his first taste of whisky at a Rush concert. Three years later his account, @Scotch_Trooper, had more than 60,000 followers.

The formula was straight forward, although hardly as simple as it seemed: he would artfully pose action figures from the George Lucas space saga alongside bottles of high end booze. By combining his love of aged spirits with his passion for Star Wars, Ferencz stumbled into a new career. Along the way he opened the door for a whole new category of Instagram influencers who are working kids toys into a very adult game.