Plows are optional.
The only ad newsletter that is trying to make a collection of mayors disaster jackets.
Dear marketing fans and anyone still watching epic plow videos waiting for the next class 3 storm.
After a giant snow storm and a busy few days, the last thing I wanted to do was read a 38-page doom scrolling essay about AI while I’m watching epic snow plow power edits on the reels. So let’s talk about political leaders and their “jackets.” Despite Toronto having a “Major Snow Event Response Plan” our Mayor was wearing an off the rack winter jacket - an expensive one to be clear, but still. Meanwhile in the Toronto of America, newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani was seen in not one, but two official Mayor jackets.
He’s got the casual “The City Of New York” in the old time-y typeface one - perfect for behind podiums or even shovelling snow for the very first time in his life. Subtle Mayor on the armband for dramatic effect. Socialism is so stylish!
Then if you really mean business, you need the monogrammed patch olive jacket. This screams wartime snow removal leader. Sure Toronto’s Mayor Olivia Chow has that Arc’teryx shell (over top of what looks like 2 other jackets), but where are the patches? Where is the authority?
You’re telling me that with all our city money, the 600 snow plows at your fingertips and we don’t even have a Major Snow Event Response Plan signature jacket? This is bush league Mayoring if you ask me. No one thought to design something from the Mayoral Hoth collection and make jackets with the Toronto logo and city seal on it? As one poster summed it up, “i think more young people would run for mayor if you told them about all the sick as f#%& jackets they give you.” Just not in Toronto sadly.
Okay, that’s enough musing about the jackets and lack thereof, of our elected officials. Stay tuned for my next exciting expose about the signage of political podiums. Less copy, less rounded corners, same idea, more clarity!
Let’s get back to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who dropped that long read “The Adolescence of Technology.” Somewhere, buried in the snow and existential dread is some stuff worth pondering over a cocktail (skip ahead if you want to pair this with something from the Drink Cart).
Is it his prediction that 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs disrupted in 1-5 years? Not eventually. Not “could be.” But will. And he should know, he runs one of the three companies that would know. That’s the kind of thing that can earn you a monogramed jacket.
I think it was this tidbit that I found more terrifying. Imagine 50 million people smarter than any Nobel laureate materializing in 2027. Think 50 million Socrateses. This is some kind of Wrath of Khan thought experiment isn’t it? “Ah, my old friend, do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold?” A national security advisor would call this “the single most serious threat we’ve faced in a century, possibly ever.” Imagine me dropping Star Trek, Bill & Ted and Monty Python in one segment.
Well that kind of puts a damper on my plans for a new collection of outerwear for the future mayor of Toronto doesn’t it. And I say this as we gear up for the biggest day in advertising arriving next Sunday. The Super Bowl. The Big Game. The whole enchilada.
The teasers are teasing. I’m not.
I know I’m supposed to be worried about 50 million AI Khans, but Super Bowl teasers and ads are dropping. We have work to do.
I should have called this “Full glass. Hot takes. Can’t lose.” The rushing of advertising for the game is already in full force. As one comment celebrated, “Heard tomorrow they are dropping a screenshot from the teaser for the extended Jamba Juice Super Bowl commercial starring Alf and CT from the Real World/Road Rules Challenge.”
I’m going to devoting serious pixels to all the ads from now until the post game.
Apparently this is just the first teaser. You’ve been warned. This nails it: “The concept of ‘first teaser’ for a ‘squarespace commercial’” My question: Two Oscars and she's doing Squarespace teasers?
Baby Bald Eagles
You’re trying to tell me that adding a baby bald eagle, a non-heated rivalry friendship with a Clydesdale horse all to Lynyrd Skynyrd was not just some sort of AI hallucination? I’m not buying that “the marketing Linkedin Nerds are going to love this”.
No. I’m not amused with what they did to my boy Guy Fieri
The first of His Name, Mayor of Flavortown, Protector of Triple D, Lord of Diners and Dives, Guardian of the Sauce, Bearer of the Frosted Tips has gone “au naturel” for a Super Bowl ad. This can’t be happening.
It could be worse. He could be in a mayo ad.
Or you could be selling your soul to gamble with the Kardashians.
Kendall Jenner is doing a Super Bowl spot for Fanatics Sportsbook where she leans into the “Kardashian Kurse,” a cute internet theory that athletes’ careers tank after dating into the family. She jokes about betting against her exes, buying a mansion from their losses, the whole bit. It’s funny. It’s self-aware. The track is a banger. It’ll presumably get a ton of press.
But given the frames like the above, here’s my question: who is this ad for? What kind of bettor do they want? Let’s ask Joe Pesci.
Real sports bettors, you know the ones refreshing injury reports and tracking line movement, don’t care about celebrity curses. They care about the spread.
This ad? This is because Fanatics is so late to the market DraftKings and FanDuel already own all of it. So they're not converting bettors. They're hunting first-time depositors who'll throw $20 on the game because a Kardashian told them to.
The "Bet With Kendall or Against Her" promo isn't a bit, it's the whole funnel. Like luring lambs to the slaughter. So in that regard, we’re giving props for knowing the game, exploiting humans to bet. And if you follow them, they are celebrating the comments for exactly this kind of bettor. Tell me I’m wrong.
Drink Cart Approved™ agency discussion topics
I love this story about Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole and gambling.
This: “I’m dipping nuggets you’ve never heard of into sauces you could never understand”
I’m actually shocked we haven’t seen more people-in-a-container activations to be honest.
How can you not be romantic about gondola champagne delivery for apres ski?
The state of social media: Door Dash got nearly 16M views of this.
They’re actually doing this for Harrys with Anna Delvey.
People are mad at Sydney Sweeney, again. Part 276.
Last call: The Snow Day
Despite wanting use this AI-JD Vance Hot Dog Old Fashioned as inspiration, I found a recipe for something called a Pink Tutu—gin, peach schnapps, Campari and pink grapefruit. I can’t do grapefruit. But the city’s under a foot of snow, I’m not going anywhere and the liquor cabinet doesn’t care about my childish citrus restrictions.
So: orange juice instead, a little lemon to keep it honest and we’re calling it a Snow Day. It’s a riff on a riff. The Campari puts it in Negroni territory, the drink Bourdain once called “a satanic delicious broth from hell.” The cocktail Hemingway loved so much he named one of his dogs after it. Negroni is a great name for a dog. The peach schnapps makes it sweeter, more forgiving, the kind of thing you can drink in your “doom scrolling” shorts while watching the plows go by.
Snow Day
1 oz gin
1 oz peach schnapps
1 oz Campari
2 oz fresh orange juice
Squeeze of lemon (about 0.25 oz)
Shake with ice, strain over fresh ice, garnish with an orange slice.
I’m not mad about that Hello Fresh container activation.