When it comes to branding, there are some sponsorships that Detroit-based Faygo Beverages Inc. can control, and things that it can't.

Outside its control has been its "unsolicited sponsorship" from a band many companies might not associate with, a band whose followers are classified as a gang by the FBI.

It's meant national attention for Faygo as themade the soda a staple of its culture. And there's anecdotal evidence that it's helped grow into new markets.

ICP is a hip-hop duo from Detroit that gained fame rapping about serial killers, necrophilia, violence, sex and black magic. In addition, however, the group expresses a passion for Faygo soda in many of its songs.

At concerts, in fact, ICP sprays its fans, affectionately known as juggalos, with truckloads of Faygo. As a result, juggalos demand the soda be sold wherever the band tours.

"The impact from requests was substantial," said Al Chittaro, an executive vice president with Faygo.

"Every place Faygo was not found, sales managers complain because they spend so much time answering requests because the requests volume is so huge."

Faygo still receives requests from ICP fans, and many requests come from northeastern states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island and Maine, Chittaro said. Faygo is still primarily a regional soda with about 50 percent of its sales coming from the Great Lakes region.

Although juggalos frequently request the soda, Chittaro doesn't believe it helped Faygo gain traction with any retailers. In spring 2013, the company signed a contract with Knoxville, Tenn-basedto expand the company from 30 states to the rest of the contiguous 48 states, he said. Rather, the deal with Pilot J, not Violent J (one of the two ICP rappers), is helping them expand, he said.