Jurassic Nostalgia

The only ad newsletter that knows your coworker has never seen the Budweiser Frogs.

Dear marketing fans and anyone who wants to eat a giant mound of shrimp with Jeff Goldblum and me.

This year’s Super Bowl ads have an expected yet powerful meta-theme: proving you’re real. Pepsi’s stealing the Coke polar bear and dropping behind-the-scenes footage to show it’s not AI. Bud Light wants you to know they really chased that keg down a hill. Xfinity’s Goldblum de-aging is sloppy on purpose (or at least they’re leaning into it). Everyone’s so worried about looking fake that “we actually did this” has become its own creative strategy.

I think we can all agree that if you’re going to do nostalgia, imagining the world of Jurassic Park with good internet and saving the whole concept is perfect. And as others have said, “This is better than all of JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION.” There are many who are saying the de-aging looks terrible. They even have a behind the scenes video. The sure sign of this being a winner.

If you’re hung up on that instead of just enjoying a great gag and a giant bowl of shrimp around the pool with a sloppily deaged Goldblum, you shouldn’t be allowed to have any fun at all or watch the Big Game.

Now there are haters. Those who claim, “Every Super Bowl ad now is just A-listers and IP. They’re all afraid to innovate and take a risk, but that’s what gave us the greats like Terry Tate: Office Linebacker, Budweiser Frogs, and the Denny’s Nannerpuss.” They are not wrong. The only point is, is that really so bad?

I’m not gonna sugar coat this one. I like Bud Light. I also like Shane Gillis. I have a lot of positive vibes for Post Malone. But chasing a keg of Bud Light like we’re cheese rolling set to Whitney Houston? It’s fine.

But Jackson, ad people are saying, don’t you get it,”they really chased after it”. That’s great and if that’s the bar we need to do - kind of a Tom Cruise real stunts in a world of AI. But it’s not really that funny, and it doesn’t feel that real. Also even I wouldn’t dare to have a keg of Bud Light on my wedding.

I was super skeptical of Instacart’s Super Bowl stuff. Maybe I’m just over Ben Stiller. But the idea all stems from them having delivered 1.8 billion bananas. And that it is the number one item people add notes about (32 million of them). Now that is a Super Bowl ad that started with an idea.

Let me get this straight, Pepsi is stealing the Coke Polar Bear and restarting the Soda Wars like it’s the 1980s again? And they are trying to pull off this, it’s not AI, it’s real and they’ll drop a whole behind the scenes to tell you about it.

Drink Cart Approved™ agency discussion topics

• This $975 million deal for an influencer seems nuts.

• He climbed that building for $500k? That’s even more nuts.

• I would kill to watch the Super Bowl in a basement nostalgia cave like this.

• Did you ever wake up to this ad?

• This is happening to me more and more. There are coworkers among you that have no idea about Terry Tate, Office Linebacker.

• Using AI to create an app to help you time your microwave popcorn time is pretty wild.

• I’m not about the McDonald’s McNuggets and Caviar campaign dropping in 6 days.

• Oh no! .Swoosh is being sunset. I guess all those Web3 Digital things just weren’t the future?

• I feel dumber for reading about “openly Gen Z” Olympic mascots.

• I’m fascinated to see that an 11-month old Chili’s country music video about their Presidente Margarita that seems to have offended a bunch of people on social.

Olympics: Patching together humans for skiing

No sooner had I watched this ad, I read that Lindsay Vonn had crashed just before the Olympics. Despite being air lifted off the mountain, she is still confident that she can compete in the games despite her ruptured ACL. From a marketing perspective, those must be some scrubs.

Last call: A Little Winter Sunshine

Four days until Super Bowl. Four days until we can stop pretending to care about anything else. Four days until advertising’s biggest navel gazing moment. Toronto’s weather right now is pure chaos. One minute it’s gorgeous blue skies and you are thinking "you know, this -18 isn't so bad" and then fifteen minutes later it's a full-on blizzard and you're questioning every life choice that led you to move here 11 years ago.

This cocktail from Nikki Sips is up to the task. It is basically a vitamin C delivery system disguised as a cocktail. Tequila, clementine, lime. Your boy is not getting scurvy. Not this February. Now with wings at stake on Sunday.

• 1.5 oz tequila

• 1/2 oz orange liqueur

• 3/4 oz fresh lime juice

• 1/2 oz simple syrup

• 1 clementine, juiced

• Garnish with an orange slice and rosemary sprig

This newsletter calls for an incredible 1977 ad for Chuck Mangione’s album Feels So Good. You’ll thank me later. And I thank my Dad for having this album around back in the day.

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The Drink Cart is your weekly fuel for pop culture brains and ad junkies. A cocktail of ad insights and hot takes that feel like you’re hanging at your favourite dive bar after launching your latest campaign.