Twitter's Biz Stone becomes Stoli Original

The Stoli ads feature Stone interviewing himself

What does Twitter co-founder Biz Stone have in common with Hugh Hefner and Julia Stiles?  Give up?  Well, find someone who knows because I haven’t figured this one out yet.  What I do know is that Biz Stone (real name Isaac Stone) is joining the likes of Hugh Hefner and Julia Stiles as Stolichnaya vodka’s latest Stoli Original.  The new ads featuring Stone were launched Tuesday.

The theme of the Stoli Originals campaign is originality and innovation, posing the question to consumers, “Are you someone you would want to have a drink with?”  The print and TV ads feature the cuddly-looking 36-year-old Twitter exec interviewing himself over drinks.  In one scene he asks himself, “Has it ever occurred to you that maybe Twitter is just a constant stream of meaningless babble?"  To which the other Biz Stone answers, "You are not seeing the big picture. Astronauts are tweeting from space."

Makes you wonder what Biz Stone’s first drunk-tweet as Stoli’s newest original will look like…

“srrously, effing astronauts man.,,,!”  (I find that drunk-tweets are often characterized by a lot of grammatical overcompensation…)

Previous ads have featured Hugh Hefner and Julia Stiles conversing with alter-egos.  Hugh Hefner converses with himself in his creepy old-man pajamas while doubling as a suit-and-tie businessman.  Similarly, Julia Stiles “meets up” with herself at a bar as both a high-paid ritzy actress and a laid-back everywoman-type character. 

Biz Stone doubles as Twitter Pioneer and Nerd of the Year.  Andrey Skurikhin, partner of SPI Group, which owns Stoli outside of Russia, told the Wall Street Journal that the Stoli Originals campaign is “not looking for face recognition," he said. "What is more important is the core of the person."  Biz Stone was chosen to be the next Stoli Original because he is “just a normal person and he changed the world.”