This Partay Looks Familiar

I am certainly not the first, nor will I be the last, person to post a link to Smirnoff’s “Green Tea Partay” video. You are probably familiar with the original “Tea Partay” video, as it was one of the most successful viral campaigns of last year. The wasp-rapping send-up was hilarious. Millions of people saw it, the press wrote about it extensively, and it cleaned up on the awards circuit. Rumor has it that it even sold a bottle or two of Smirnoff Raw Ice Tea.

Which is why it is not surprising that the client and the agency would want to continue the campaign, this time having the “Boyz in the Hills” from Cali doing a West Coast White Boy rap response to a dis from the East Coast Wasps. Green Tea and Californians is a perfect match, and the East vs. West rap thing is a cool idea, too. But, speaking as a creative guy, there is something a little out of the ordinary here.

The original campaign was done by BBH, a fine agency (and, in the interests of complete disclosure, a member of the Publicis family, as is Digitas, the agency for which I work). But the new video for the Green Tea version of the product was done by the client’s brand new agency, JWT.

The thing is, as you will see if you look at both of them, the new video is VERY similar to the original. The casting, filming, music, visual jokes, etc—it’s all extrememly close to the original “Tea Partay”. So close that I wonder if it will be anywhere near as effective as the original.

I am sure there were very good reasons for changing agencies, (politics, economics, a bad day at the office) but, given this video, the work obviously wasn’t the issue.