Mark Wahlberg And Partners Aim High With Flecha Azul Tequila

Actor and producer Mark Wahlberg is diving into the thriving upscale Tequila space in a unique way, with a hefty investment in Flecha Azul Tequila. Flecha Azul was launched by Mexican entrepreneur Aron Marquez and Mexican-American professional golfer Abraham Ancer in 2020, and Wahlberg—star of films like “Transformers,” “The Departed,” and “The Fighter” among others—became an investor last year.

Flecha Azul depleted 33,000 cases in 2022, and is on pace to at least double that volume this year, according to the brand’s ownership team, Dallas-based Wes Brands. Distributed by Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits in most of the U.S., Flecha Azul’s owners have lofty goals of ultimately making the Tequila one of the most recognizable on the market and moving 1 million cases annually.

So far, Flecha Azul is doing well in Kroger, Total Wine & More, and Spec’s Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods stores, and Wahlberg has visited all three accounts, signing bottles for the public. “We want to show the retailers what kind of partners we can be and what kind of excitement we can drum up, and that we’re willing to go to any extent for the brand,” he told SND sister publication Market Watch in an exclusive interview. “We’re not trying to cut corners. We’re in it for the long haul.”

The Flecha Azul portfolio includes five expressions—Blanco ($45 a 750-ml.), Reposado ($55), Anejo ($65), Cristalino ($115), and Extra Anejo ($320)—all produced by the historic Orendain family in Jalisco, Mexico. The brand uses 7-year-old lowland agave plants to make its Tequila, and ages it in ex-Bourbon barrels. This year Flecha Azul is introducing a packaging revamp for its Cristalino and Extra Anejo expressions to help them stand out in bottle service programs on-premise. Among the brand’s key on-premise accounts are La Neta Cocina Y Lounge in Dallas, Bice Palm Beach in Florida, and Dos Caminos in New York City.

Speaking of the partnership with Marquez, Ancer, and the Orendain family, Wahlberg said, “I defer to them on every aspect when it comes to the product, and when it comes to marketing and how we create relationships and build partnerships they defer to me. I have huge admiration for these guys and what they’ve created.”

Marquez noted that when Wahlberg posts about the brand on his social media channels it can get upwards of 10 million likes in just a few days, and that his reach extends far beyond the social media platform. “We needed someone who could help us and who had a tremendous network to get our message and branding out there, somebody who understood what we were doing,” he said.

“We’ll be able to scale this brand to any volume without working with multiple distilleries,” Marquez added. “For a lot of larger Tequilas, they work with eight or nine distilleries to get product out there. But with the Orendain family we can scale to any volume and keep our quality the same and not have to seek someone else to support our product. That consistency is incredible.”

Market Watch has more on Flecha Azul in its May issue.

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