By R. Peltier

The Classic Margarita by mike’s®, a line of premium, ready-to-drink margaritas available in 3delicious varieties ~ Traditional Lime, Raspberry and Peach ~ invites you to celebrate summer with the fastest way to a fiesta, the Mariachi Maker mobile application. The Mariachi Maker mobile app, free and available now for download, is a fun way to create your very own instant mariachi band.

The Mariachi Maker mobile application enables users to take control of one of three authentic instruments (guitar, maraca, or trumpet) and create their own instant mariachi band with friends. The app is available for download on iPhone and Android phones, and also contains a product locator tool to help find The Classic Margarita by Mike’s® at retailers nationwide.

“We want to give mike’s fans a fun and innovative way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with the Mariachi Maker mobile app and the real margarita taste of The Classic Margarita by Mike’s®” said Andy Horrow, Chief Marketing Officer for Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co. “With our ready-to-drink product and the ability to form your own mariachi band, it couldn’t be any easier to create an instant fiesta at home ~ without the hassle of mixing multiple ingredients or using a blender. Now that’s what we call a fiesta!”

Pulse asked our go-to tech wizard to try the app out, and here’s what he had to say:

The maraca is cool and works well but the guitar is a little hard to use…unless you set your phone down on the table and use both hands to play. As for the trumpet, it doesn’t sound like a real one, let alone a mariachi-esque one ~ And while the “blow into the mic to play” is a nice touch, in this case it’s not quite sensitive/fast enough to get mariachi rhythm out of it.

For each of the instruments, there is this tantalizing “play” button at the top of the screen; I was hoping for a playback of my virtuoso performance, but instead I got a canned track of a mariachi band… Bit of a let-down, but still high on the goofy fun-o-meter

One interesting feature is the locator button, which brings up a real-time map with establishments selling Mike’s products near you.

As cross-marketing apps go this is one of the better efforts I’ve seen. If it were up to me, I’d use this next year to continue to improve the app and be ready for Cinco de Mayo 2012. Might be kind of cool to leverage the same concept with similar apps for 4th of July, Christmas, New Year’s Eve etc.

Meanwhile, I’m definitely using the maraca a bit tonight at the bar for a laugh or two!

iPhone download: itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-classic-margarita-by-mikes/id432343301?mt=8

Android download: market.android.com/details?id=com.mikesmariachi.activity&feature=search_result

MIKE’S IS HARD.  SO IS PRISON.  DON’T DRIVE DRUNK. ®

And remember, you only get to enjoy Mike’s ~ or any other alcohol drink ~ if you’re 21 +!

www.mikeshard.com for more information.