• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, August 14, 2006

Twelve days live and more than half a million views later, Smirnoff's two-minute "Tea Partay," uploaded to YouTube, is generating a fair share of buzz.

Created by BBH, the ad features a trio of rich white rappers from Cape Cod accurately spoofing the New England lifestyle. The video is part of an outdoor and radio campaign promoting the brand's Raw Tea drinks.

Strands of pearls, Docksiders, J. Crew pants, turned-up collars and lavish estates are found in heavy rotation. Click here to watch the video.

The video has its moments: "Here's to homies on lock for insider trading," "We may be vanilla but our labs are chocolate" and "We'll send a thank you note... in cursive." Still, I have a beef--one that stems from a voiceover at the end of the spot encouraging me to visit TeaPartay.com.

I went there expecting the WASPy boys from the video to have their own microsite filled with outtakes, deleted lines, and a making of the video section (OK, that one's a stretch). Instead, where did I land? The Smirnoff Ice Web site.

I can watch the Smirnoff Ice TV spots, watch videos, and sign up for something that's "cool under wraps," but I can't find squat about the Smirnoff Raw Tea drink. Not even the different flavors it comes in (lemon, peach and raspberry, for those who watched the video a few times, like I did) There is, however, a banner at the bottom of the page asking me to join the Tea Partay. Only problem is, the banner is non-clickable.

I've been informed that the link will go live later this week, and the video will be hosted there, along with other goodies.

The video's been live for two weeks, and I know I wasn't the only one that visited TeaPartay.com. Did Smirnoff miss the train here by not having anything related to Raw Tea live on the site? I think so.

If only a portion of the viewers went to the site after watching the video and found nothing related to Raw Tea, who's to say they'll go back this week or next to check for updates?

If you're posting something on YouTube that's intended to drive traffic to a microsite, wouldn't you want the content live once the video's been uploaded?

"The Smirnoff video is funny, but it feels incomplete without additional components connected to it," said Tom Ajello, vice president-creative director, Agency.com.

"With viral, the thing you are building is actually never just about the video, game, blog, etc. at all--it is about the reaction and content that the seed catalyzes. Many marketers aren't prepared to act and react real-time according to what their target users generate. If you're not fast, you'll create great "seed buzz," but miss an opportunity in consumer-generated-content land. But then again, we're talking about this right now, so that's a success in itself," he concluded.

Agency.com is no stranger to YouTube. The agency took a gamble and placed a nine-minute long video on the site showing the agency pitching for Subway's interactive account by making a video about the process and uploading it to YouTube. Click here to watch the video.

Clearly a different concept than Tea Partay, but also garnering its share of backlash. Agency.com's pitch has already been spoofed and uploaded online. Click here to watch one agency's spoof.

As for "Tea Partay," I'll be keeping my eye out for a spoof or two. And maybe I'll remember to go back to the Web site and check on the P-Unit.