The Activation
Cîroc Ultra-Premium Vodka is rolling out the Martini Machini — a self-serve, interactive cocktail-mixing installation — alongside a new trademarked signature serve called the Messy Martini, marking the grape-based vodka brand's most operationally elaborate on-premise marketing push to date. The campaign pairs a pop-up event with quick-service chain Dave's Hot Chicken, an Uber Eats retail bundle, and a nationwide garnish collaboration with Filthy Foods.
The debut activation, branded "Tenders & 'Tinis," runs November 6 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 48 Ludlow Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Guests who RSVP at no charge receive a Messy Martini dispensed by the Martini Machini — mixed with a bespoke Dave's Hot Chicken brine — plus a Dave's menu item. The machine allows users to adjust brine concentration, garnish type, and presentation, effectively gamifying the customization that has driven the savory-cocktail trend across on-premise accounts over the past two years.
The Messy Martini
The Messy Martini is a layered riff on the dirty martini that combines Cîroc Vodka with pickle brine and banana pepper brine. The recipe is trademarked, a step that signals the brand's intent to anchor the serve as a recurring platform rather than a one-off stunt. Nick Tran, President & CMO of Cîroc, framed the launch as a deliberate loosening of martini convention: "The Messy Martini takes the familiar dirty martini and loosens it up to create a cocktail that's brighter, brinier and layered with flavor."
The hi-lo pairing with Dave's Hot Chicken — a fast-casual chain that has expanded aggressively across the U.S. on the back of the spicy-chicken trend — gives Cîroc access to a younger, food-forward consumer base that skews differently from the brand's traditional luxury-spirits audience. Co-branded merchandise will also be available at the pop-up, extending the partnership's retail footprint beyond beverages.
Retail & At-Home Distribution
Beyond the event, Cîroc is threading the campaign into retail and delivery channels. Beginning November 1, consumers in select cities who purchase a 750ml bottle of Cîroc through Uber Eats may receive a complimentary Filthy cocktail mix with their order. Filthy, which has been sold in accounts ranging from Total Wine to Publix and Albertsons since its 2009 founding, brings established retail shelf presence to the collaboration. Nationally, CÎROC bottles at retail will carry Filthy-branded neckers, providing a point-of-sale prompt for at-home replication of the Messy Martini.
The structure of the campaign — pop-up event, on-premise activation, delivery bundle, and retail merchandising — reflects a broader industry pattern in which spirits brands look to build a single cocktail serve across multiple purchase occasions simultaneously. The savory-martini segment, driven by the dirty martini's resurgence on cocktail menus, has created measurable demand for brined accompaniments, a dynamic that benefits garnish specialists like Filthy as much as the vodka brands. For more on how premium spirits brands are engineering on-premise activations and how fast-casual chains are courting beverage partners, see related F&B Industry News coverage.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
