For the second consecutive year, Tito’s partnered with RED VELVET to bring bartenders together at Tales of the Cocktail through The Shift, an immersive experience inspired by the rituals, challenges, and camaraderie of life behind the bar. Building on the success of 2025, the experience evolved with interactive challenges, community-driven moments, and an elevated cocktail program.
clock in for your shift.
Creative Strategy
Environmental Design
Experience Design
Experience Production
B2C Experiential Activation
Photo & Video Capture
697
Total Attendees
403
Shift Cards Submitted
4,000+
Unique Website Views
context.
Tales of the Cocktail brings together the people shaping the spirits and hospitality industry, making it a natural gathering place for Tito’s to celebrate the bartending community. At the heart of The Shift is a simple idea: recognize the skill, camaraderie, and behind-the-scenes rituals that define life behind the bar.
the ask.
Building on the success of the 2025 experience, Tito’s challenged RED VELVET to evolve The Shift with new ways to participate and connect with the bartender community. The opportunity was to amplify the familiar rhythms of a bartender’s shift through relevant, larger-than-life activations that felt authentic to Tito’s, rewarding exploration of the activation while centering the concept around the people at the center of the industry.
the process.
results.
RED VELVET transformed the rhythm of a bartender’s shift into an immersive experience featuring oversized clock-in stations, timed bar setup challenges, blindfolded free pours, and a larger-than-life ticket grab. A custom shift card encouraged guests to explore all seven activations, while Shift Notes displayed community messages in real time and connected participation to charitable giving. The experience welcomed 687 attendees, including returning guests from 2025. Guests submitted over 400 community messages and over 400 shift cards were turned in. Returning guests even brought back their 2025 totes to add new patches, extending the experience across both years.
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