Dry January has a new face this year: DIY icon Martha Stewart.
The lifestyle connoisseur starred in an ad campaign for Austin-based liquor brand Tito’s Handmade Vodka. In a one-minute video released this week, Stewart shows off some ironic housekeeping tips, all ways of drinking vodka that don’t require drinking it. She puts it in pasta, puts some in a pair of smelly shoes, and pours it into a vase of flowers for freshness. (Our favorite part of the commercial is when Stuart uses a bottle of vodka to tenderize a piece of meat.)
“It smells like February,” she says at the end of the video, smelling the flowers.
Taylor Berry, vice president of brand marketing at Tito’s Handmade Vodka, told American-Statesman via email that the idea took many forms before the final publicity. It all started with a brainstorming session with creative agency Arts and Letters. The company wanted to capitalize on the “Dry January” trend (when people use the first month of the year as a break from alcohol, presumably after the holiday season full of booze) and looked for alternative uses for their product.
“If you have a bottle, you can use it!” Berry said.
How did Tito attract Martha Stewart?
“After briefly getting to know her team, we shared the overall concept with them, and they brought it to Martha,” Berry said in an interview with the Statesman. “She was excited about the DIY January idea, and by the time we all got on the phone for the first time, she already had a few ideas of her own.”
According to Berry, Stewart took down the Tito’s ad a few days after she provided the information.
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What was Stewart like on set?
“Martha was an absolute delight on set,” Berry said. “She came with the energy, humor and improvisation that resulted in so many priceless moments on camera.”
He added that even on the floor in the editing room there were a few moments left.
“We might have expected it, but she was a master on camera, delivering line after line perfectly with the perfect combination of wit and confidence,” Berry said.
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What was the reaction?
The bottle tops for everything but drinking shown in the ad are sold out on Tito’s website. The kit includes three different attachments for cooking, cleaning surfaces and removing odors.
“We cannot guarantee the outcome of these Tito’s homemade uses – they are not legally binding because this is a joke and we are a brand of vodka,” the vodka company’s website says.
Snoop Dogg, rapper and Stewart’s best friend, shared part of the advertisement on Instagram and said that Tito’s drink is his favorite drink.
Snoop Dogg “seemed to be taken aback by this,” Stewart wrote on Instagram.
