• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, December 22, 2014

In a social campaign that's bound to support the brand's on-premises popularity, Skyy Vodka is suggesting a new holiday tradition: double-tipping bartenders for good service.

The #DoubleTip effort is an extension of the brand's "West of Expected"  campaign from Venables Bell & Partners, which encourages enlivening daily life by "rethinking the conventional."

The holiday campaign features a YouTube-hosted "Holiday Spirits" video in which a festive bar scene is interrupted by a gift-wrapper from the local mall. As a voiceover explains, using a takeoff on "The Night Before Christmas," the wrapper takes a seat and begins wrapping patrons' tips to "turn gratuities into something joyous and new." 

The video ends with screen copy showing the #DoubleTip hashtag and a message stating that Skyy is making a $25,000 holiday donation to the U.S.  Bartenders' Guild Foundation.

The social media outreach includes e-cards that encourage friends to #DoubleTip bartenders with messages like, "Because he’s wise beyond his beers” and “Because they garnish your night with joy."

Some of the current out-of-home ads in the “West of Expected” campaign also include messages suggesting tipping ("Here's a Friendly Tip: Tip: Tip”), or saluting bartenders' hard work and contributions to patrons' good times (“Let’s Call Bartenders ‘Spirit Guides'").

The #DoubleTip campaign will run until the end of December.