Dive Brief:

• Jose Cuervo surprised some Angelenos of legal drinking age yesterday by replacing water in select drinking fountains around Los Angeles with chilled tequila, according to a news release made available to Marketing Dive.
• The out-of-home stunt, part of a National Tequila Day promotion, was intended to swap out the blandest drink (water) on the blandest day (Monday) and provide fans with an unexpected shot via what's being called the "H2Cuervo" fountain.
• "While other tequila brands focus on refinement and conformity, Jose Cuervo encourages all to fight the bland, live lively and embrace the now – because tomorrow is overrated," the news release said.

Dive Insight:

With so much of marketing focused on omnichannel outreach and the growing dominance of digital, in particular, seeing a number of big-name brands lean into out-of-home activations this year has been interesting to watch. The Jose Cuervo promotion is an example of an effort that flips a relatively simple idea on its head — getting refreshed at drinking fountains —  to catch the attention of passersby, potentially getting them to share their experience on social with hashtags like #H2Cuervo and #NationalTequilaDay and generating some earned media for the brand along the way. 

The H2Cuervo installation is also just one of many marketing pushes centered around helping city-goers beat the heat this summer. Taking things to a more extreme level will be a "dishwasher-themed" water park that LG is installing at a festival in New York City in August. The water park will not only allow visitors to cool off, but also doubles as an oversized version of LG's newest line of dishwashers, with features that mimic some of the more distinctive elements of the appliances.

Sparkling water brand Perrier also set up a social media-focused pop-up in the SoHo neighborhood of New York earlier this month that featured a Twitter vending machine, a hashtag printer and an "Insta-worthy" ball pit.