How Katie Beal Brown went from agency exec to ranch water magnate

Katie Beal Brown is an advertising account executive turned alcohol beverage entrepreneur—and that’s no coincidence, she said. “I think advertising, in a way, is kind of like an entrepreneurial pursuit, because in advertising you have the opportunity to work across several different industries, many different brands, and you’re really trying to identify their core business challenge, and then come up with a creative solution to overcome that,” said Brown, CEO and founder of Lone River Beverage Co., the leading brand in the ranch water/agave seltzer category. “And doing that over and over again, I think, set me up to be able to do that with my own brand in my own company, and gave me a lot of the foundational tools to be successful in doing that.” See all of Ad Age’s Breakout Brand Leaders here While at Anomaly, Brown came up with the idea for Lone River in 2018 as part of an internal incubator program. She later left agency life to run the brand full-time—and it became a pioneer in the emerging category of ranch water drinks, which are inspired by bartender-mixed cocktails made with soda water, tequila and lime. (Lone River is made from carbonated water, alcohol from sugar, lime juice and agave nectar, among other ingredients.) Read more: Behind the rise of Lone River Inspired by Brown’s upbringing in West Texas, Lone River embraces a Western lifestyle that has put it at the forefront of a larger cultural movement that includes Paramount’s “Yellowstone,” country music and the “coastal cowgirl” fashion trend. Lone River this year announced a multi-year partnership with country star Miranda Lambert and rolled out limited-edition “Yellowstone”-themed packaging. The brand has been owned by Diageo since 2021. Brown said Lone River’s authenticity has helped it to withstand a plethora of brands cashing in on the ranch water trend. “We’ve probably had every major supplier in the industry come out with some kind of me-too product, but it’s been amazing that we’ve been able to continue to lead the category. And I think it’s because we focus more on building the brand versus just putting a trendy product on the shelf,” Brown said. “This comes from a real lifestyle, and a real place and a real family. And that’s something that’s very difficult to duplicate.” Which entrepreneur do you admire the most and why? Amber Venz Box. She is the co-founder and president of [creator platform] LTK. Through the development of her platform, she has been really instrumental in empowering a lot of creators and female creators to be as economically successful as possible, and has given them the flexibility to do that. She has also balanced being a mom and having a family and all of that. And she actually just moved her family out to far West Texas near my family’s ranch. So it’s been very cool to watch her journey and just how she has also balanced being a mom of four and running this incredibly successful business. What’s currently on your bedside reading list? “The Messy Middle” by Scott Belsky. I think that is definitely a book that every entrepreneur should read. You see the highlight reel of the beginning and the end of a lot of journeys, but you don’t always see the middle of them. And sometimes that’s the hardest part to navigate. One book that I go back to every year, just because I think the principles in it are really enduring, is “How Brands Grow” by Byron Sharp. And then I think the final one, on a personal level is “Like a River” by Granger Smith. I just was so inspired by the resilience in his story, how he was able to find purpose, and just this incredible, unimaginable trauma that he endured. What is the best career advice you’ve gotten? Before our business launch, I sat down at a Starbucks with one of our original investors. And he essentially told me that change is constant. And as an entrepreneur, your ability to adapt to that change will determine your success. That is something that has always stayed in the back of my mind through every phase and up and down of the business. Name one brand, other than the one you work for, that you admire. There are many, but I would have to say, Uncle Nearest [whiskey], which was founded by Fawn Weaver. I think they have such an incredible story in the way that she entered the alcohol business and really preserved the heritage of that liquid. She’s been able to really disrupt a tough segment with a lot of big brands. So she is one that I’ve always kept an eye on, and a brand I’ve been incredibly impressed by. What is your secret weapon for business success? I’ve been diving deeper into the concept of operating with a growth mindset lately. And I realized that this is something that has always been a driver in every career pursuit that I’ve had throughout my life, even since I was a young child. And I think the crux of it is that I’ve never really been focused on success or failure, but instead on challenging myself—and knowing that in doing that, I would be better for it, regardless of the outcome. And so, I think that that has, in a way, set me apart no matter what I’ve done. When people ask what my greatest failure is, I have found that it’s difficult for me to think of a specific thing, because in a lot of ways, I don’t think about them as failures. I think about them as a necessary step for me to continue to grow in a certain direction. See all of Ad Age’s Breakout Brand Leaders here

How Katie Beal Brown went from agency exec to ranch water magnate

Featured Stories