The Drink Cart: Easter Edition

Some kind souls liked last week's experiment. So let's bring it back for another round of advertising, design and pop culture things I collected like a hoarder over the past week.

It’s Easter. And cocoa just hit a crazy meme-coin like high on the commodity market. Are we panic buying? Let’s get into it.

Things people like right now

This is the Croissant Gym from eyewear brand Gentle Monster’s cafe brand NUDAKE. It’s absolutely bonkers. I’ve never needed a croissant kettle bell more. Originally spied from Andrea from Snax Shot. Full disclosure, she also had me bookmark these rad Tito’s vodka matches.

If this Norwegian Mcdonald’s print ad hasn’t gotten to your feed yet. Just wait.

My feed has be filled (okay maybe not filled, light salted?) with people praising this new brand Cliik. I’m not convinced we should be getting too excited about a modern tupperware product, but even I can admire that footer - incredible.

And this deeper look at the branding from It’s Nice That with a logo the creatives call, “Fun, bold and chubby.” I can only hear Hugh Grant from Love Actually right now. PSA: There will be no fat shaming logos on this newsletter.

Things people hate right now

Let’s get right into it. Since it’s Easter. Creme Eggs suck. And there’s no better spokesperson for this than Garron Noone who makes sense of it all and the superior Mini Egg (and no, I’m not buying this Mini Mini Egg billboard stunt either. Please discuss.

And bonus Easter-themed hate goes to the Lindt chocolate. They are celebrating the big day with a home rental in Carlsbad, California for 3 days. According to Adweek, “The destination is full of bunny-themed and gold décor and stocked with a hare-raising amount of the brand’s signature Lindt Gold Bunny chocolates, Lindor chocolate eggs and new Gold Bunny filled offerings in double milk and hazelnut flavors.” With the price of chocolate in this economy, that’s pretty great.

I might question that this stunt’s insight, “that Easter has become a travel holiday among millennials and Gen Z, with searches for travel deals during that period increasing 76% over the past year.” I’m not sure that means you want to vacation with giant chocolate bunnies. Terrifying.

It’s not just me, most people are not super impressed with Kylie Jenner’s new ready to drink canned vodka, juice and seltzer brand, Sprinter. It could be the let down of all the same flavours everyone else has. It could be there is already too many of these brands.

I absolutely love this take: that sports teams like sponsorship money so much they would put a literal garbage brand on their uniforms.

A few other things worth hating:

I really like my Dog, but I’m not buying $2.99 cans of Birthday Water Vanilla Cake Flavor water. We’ve gone too far, right?

I saw a post about adding walk-in fridges to your house. But all I can think about is that this rich person is eating individual Jello dessert cups?

Things I can’t stop thinking about

• This super interesting 11 minute video from Molson Hart on, “The 7 major ways China has changed between 2019 and 2024” makes me want to see how much it’s changed since I was there last.

• Just knowing that consulting company Accenture sold $1billion in Generative AI consulting from September - February. Quite the powerpoint haul. That team’s getting Patagonia vests for sure.

• That Marriott has 30 different hotel brands. Like what? This from Emily Sundberg’s must read Feed Me newsletter.

• The latest podcast from VinePair. They had traveled to Vegas and their working theory was that, “Las Vegas is perhaps the ideal place to get the pulse of what America, writ large, wants to drink.” In short, people just want cocktails, they don’t think about the fancy ice that much. They want the wine they want to drink and not have to think about anything but cabs from California (and never merlots). I 100% agree. And yet. And yet I was contemplating this clear ice maker on Amazon for $70 this week.

• This photo stuck with me all week. It’s a photo by Aart Klein from 1948 in Belgium. I found it reading the always fun MessyNessy. They captioned it with, “Life before TV, internet and social media” and that just made so much sense.

  

Bonus, Self indulgent, Opening Day baseball content

Like I said, I’m not even gonna hide that I’m sneaking in some baseball content into this newsletter like a parent sneaking broccoli into a kid’s dinner. This time, branding for collegiate summer-level team the Kenosha Kingfish who will take the field for a Home Alone Night as the Kenosha Kickers.

The Kickers of course were led by John Candy’s Gus Polinski, the so-called “Polka King of the Midwest” in the 1990 film. I’m conflicted on the merch.

Since baseball is really starting today, i’m also thinking about these new stadium foods and maybe some more another hat:

• Meatball garlic knot sliders (Texas Rangers)

• Renegade Hot Dog featuring pot roast, mini pierogis, carmelized onions and pickles (Pittsburg Pirates)

• The Wichita Chili Buns because for some reason they serve cinnamon buns with Chili.

Last call: A Drink Cart Newsletter Recipe

I kind of blew the whole concept of this newsletter on issue one, by not adding a cocktail. I didn’t want something that would be too festive - fat washing with mini eggs or something dumb, so I found this recipe called, Jacko's End - a cocktail created upon the death of Michael Jackson. Kind of an apple old fashioned.

Make it with whatever kind of ice you have and contemplate this quote from Leo Burnett: "Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people."

Jacko’s End - Drink Cart Version

• 1 oz Calvados

• 1 oz Mezcal

• 1⁄2 oz Bénédictine

• 4 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters

• If you want to get fancy, add an apple slice. Or don’t.