The creators of Avion tequila didn’t have to pay a penny for all the priceless publicity the new booze brand has gotten on this season of “Entourage” — all it took was 35 years of friendship.
Marquis Jet tycoon Kenny Dichter, who just launched Avion in New York and California, grew up with Doug Ellin, the creator of the HBO hit about movie star Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his posse.
“I met Doug 35 years ago at Lakeside Elementary School in Merrick, LI,” Dichter told Page Six. “And we’ve been friends ever since.”
Ellin said he was plotting out this season and asked Dichter for help. “I called him up and said, ‘I need a business for Turtle.’ ” Salvatore “Turtle” Assante, Vince’s former driver in the show, played by Jerry Ferrara, had a bankrupt limousine service.
Dichter and his partner Ken Austin were planning Avion’s debut. Ellin recalled, “I told Kenny I’d love to use Avion on the show, but I told him, ‘You have no control how I use it.’ ”
So far, Turtle has traveled to Mexico to see how the tequila is made, and Vince nearly lost a movie role after drinking too many morning shots with real-life porn star Sasha Grey, who plays herself in the series.
Ellin said he couldn’t charge for product placements even if he wanted to, because HBO is an advertising-free channel. But he uses real brands the way he uses real celebrities, like Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who was in a recent episode.
“I try to keep it as real as possible,” said Ellin. That’s why E (Kevin Connolly) drinks Belvedere on the rocks and Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) orders Johnny Walker Blue. “Guys have specific tastes,” Ellin observed.
Dichter himself made it onto last season’s finale, in a cameo at an airport as Matt Damon and LeBron James boarded a Marquis jet, which helped boost business. ” ‘Entourage’ is an incredible platform,” Dichter said. That’s what friends are for.