• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, January 14, 2008

A viral video series for Partida Tequila plays more like an episode of HBO's "Taxicab Confessions."

"Tequila Confessions" approaches people at sporting events or simply on the streets of large cities and asks them to share a tequila story. Most of these stories involve memory loss, puking, bodily harm, and -- my personal favorite -- conceiving a child. Once a story has been revealed, the confessors taste Partida Tequila and offer their opinion.

While some confessions are hysterical, especially the man whose innocent drink with a friend concluded with a child nine months later, the connections consumers have with tequila are usually not positive.

In fact, most confessors have steered clear of tequila since their unpleasant experiences. Why focus on negative connotations to sell your product? Yes, the brand advertises itself as premium tequila, but will one taste test from former tequila drinkers reform them? I doubt it -- especially after watching the reactions of a few of the female taste tasters. "Smooth" seems to be the preferred word to describe the taste of Partida, but many ladies don't finish their entire sample, and their looks after taking a slug tells me that the tequila is not for the weak.

There's also a "Bartender Confessions" section on the Web site, along with a casting call for consumers to include their tequila experience online.

Colangelo & Partners created the campaign, which also included a "Tequila Re-Education" course that uses quizzes and a sweepstakes to encourage people to rethink their previous assumptions about tequila.

In another example of perhaps too-honest-for-their-own-good marketing, Pravda vodka went to Philadelphia, where drinkers blind-taste-tested its vodka alongside a competitor's. Participants left anonymous voice mails describing which vodka they preferred; Pravda then uploaded all the coherent responses online, regardless of which vodka prevailed in the taste test.

In another previous but more completely positive campaign, Level Vodka targeted a luxury audience by recruiting a group of consumers considered "influencers" to host parties sponsored by the brand.