The Brand Wagon:
Airborne with
Avión By Don Winter & Rory Winston
P
rivileged Access… Tips from the Top… Memos from a Mogul…? No. We didn’t need one
more of those columns that brandished recycled quotes from industrial magnates as though they were surefire formulas for amassing fortunes. Our age had a surfeit of howto books where Google-searched aphorisms passed for wisdom and serendipity posed as science. Reading such ‘recipes for success’ often felt like watching a celebrity chef lend his name to a TV dinner. It didn’t bring viewers any closer to earning a Michelin star. And yet, as someone regularly exposed to luminaries in the world of business, I knew there was invaluable information to be had – stories worth sharing, lessons that could benefit both startup companies and newly ordained entrepreneurs alike. After months of raptly listening to stories about my meetings with business dynamos, My Feature Editor finally convinced me that it was time to let our savvy Resident readership in on the secret. And so, I decided to go to one of the most dynamic entrepreneurs I knew, a man who eschews rehearsed re-
46 • Resident March 2015
sponses and approaches situations with childlike fascination and passion, a man who truly lived with both feet planted firmly on a cloud: Ken Austin, founder and chairman of the very aptly named Tequila Avión. After all, when it comes to flights of fancy, gravity defying leaps in branding, elevating the public’s appreciation for a product, and a sky’s-the-limit mentality as regards premium quality, Avión was a perfect place to begin.
Airborne
Armed with an M.B.A., Ken Austin went from Price Waterhouse to Gallo to Seagram to Marquis Jet and also serving on boards such as Steve Case’s FlexCar (merged with ZipCar) – each of these roles an essential component in bringing to life a vision that was about to be born. As Ken is the first to admit, “My time at Gallo and Seagram taught me a lot. I learned about what the ‘drink space’ entails. I could afford to make my mistakes and grow having the safety net of large organizations. Our company President at Avion, Jenna Fagnan, also did her time in this sector working for
Moët Hennessy. This is a real advantage as compared with entrepreneurs who think they can catapult themselves into the billions by whimsically deciding to come up with the next spirit. Experience counts. It helps you know what to look for. The fact that I was one of the guys who started Marquis Jet also gave me clearer insight into high end luxury products and what the select consumer demands. In a sense, I wanted Avión to taste and feel like flying a private jet… pure luxury.” The inception of the Avión Tequila concept, however, did not come by way of careful deliberation but arrived with the force of a revelation. As Ken admits, “Intuition is my best ally… having the spider senses telling me whether this or that person is right to align with, knowing if a brand or product will serve a consumer need or finding a need that people aren’t even aware exists yet comes from a gut feeling.”
The Script
In a scene reminiscent of a Hollywood movie, Ken’s intuition literally took flight: Ken sits at a closed NetJets poker tournament that goes down annually in Vegas. High stakes. (figu-