The Drink Cart: It's giving brat vibes

Oh dear god no, the political world has discovered brat and falling out of coconut tree memes. We're doomed.

Dear Drink Carters. Congrats on navigating three of the wildest weeks online since, well, we invented online. We’re completely inside the eye of the brat summer storm. So this newsletter is all about what can be, unburdened by what has been. Or whatever that is supposed to mean.

Today’s “newsletter” is sharing the brat and everything else that came across our feeds this week:

• How brat is taking over and Nike may be a dinosaur legacy brand

• Continuing to pile on Ryan Reynolds, advertising sugar highs and cookies are back

• Fun brands, Presidential 404 pages, Montreal Expos sneakers and good dogs

• Plus we’re making up The Last Word, a cocktail perfect for brat summer

1. If you relate to this video, you’re the oldest person in your agency

This is exactly how agencies sound talking about the latest social trends around the boardroom table when there isn’t a Gen Z around. This everything you need to know about brat and how to sound completely out of touch in front of clients. The amount of mainstream articles about this is wild: The Brat-ification of Kamala Harris. How this ‘off-putting’ color shaded the internet and beyond. Kamala Harris Clinches the Crucial Brat Vote, Thanks to Charli XCX.

If you don’t want to click any of those links, here’s the OG brat, Charli XCX describing what it is: “just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it”. So what are the brat essentials? Easy, “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, a strappy white top with no bra”. That clear it up?

Are we all a little brat now? Or are you just the oldest person around your boardroom table?

2. Has Nike turned into a dinosaur brand?

Two things can be true at the same time. Nike can hire Willem Dafoe to voice a very nice - albeit completely smug - Olympics TV spot about winning. At the same time Ad Age pens a doom and gloom article about Nike titled, Behind Nike’s Sales Troubles And How Marketing Could Fuel A Comeback.

The article talks about where the brand is and then why it’s not the brand people are talking about anymore. “With revenue near $50 billion and an advertising budget in excess of $4 billion, Nike has long seemed untouchable—until now.”

But even $4 billion dollars in advertising and promotion or what Nike has apparently rebranded as “demand creation expense” can’t manufacture street cred. And it’s clear that while they have risen to some of these challenges before, trying to be relevant might be like making Microsoft cool.

As Oren John writes about the actual Team USA uniforms Nike created, “Nike spent all the funds on their massive self-serving commercial and giving Japan transcendental skate uniforms and leaves their own nation with the outlet team.”

3. Ryan Reynolds Cringe Advertising Playbook Content

Since I got a comment last week for my Ryan Reynolds content, I’d figure I’d do some serious fan service (Hi Scott!). I’m fascinated by the roll out of the new Deadpool & Wolverine movie. Turns out today stars have to do Hot Ones, Chicken Shop Date and every other Youtube show and podcast in existence to promote. And I’m sure the studios love Reynolds as he’ll do and sell anything and everything.

Last week was the shameless Heinz movie crossover with mustard and ketchup. Now, in this completely brazen Tim Hortons crossover, Deadpool is giving Ryan Reynolds back. The brand crossover you absolutely did not need.

4. Advertising Sugar High

I don’t care how many billboards you have made in your career, or how many you’ve approved as a client. We should always react exactly like this this to launching your ads. It’s so wholesome!.

Yes, I’m cynical as hell about a lot of this business, but if you’re going to spend money on ads and pour blood, sweat and tears into making ads you should love them. This is how we should all react whether it’s your first one or your 1,407th.

5. Cookies are back, baby!

Oh cool. After Google making agencies create deck after deck for clients about the future of cookies, they have decided to change course and keep them in Chrome. According to Google in their blog post, “Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time.”

No big deal, they’ve only been prepping us for four years about this and have now pulled a 180. This is that rare case of the cookie crumbling but advertisers being excited.

6. Jarred pasta sauce is dumb, this is funny

There are so many consumer goods hitting the internet and stores, it’s hard to keep up. This new jarred pasta sauce, Sorry Nonna, nailed with this social image. It tells you everything you need to know about the brand. $12 a jar for some Arrabbiata Sauce - even if it has “a hit of Gochujang” - is just kind of outrageous. I still like the branding where they stole it and spiced it up. Smart.

I was doing shopping online this week and saw Carbone pasta sauce and it was $13.99 - and Instacart is rocking over $15 bucks for it. For some old tomatoes in a sauce? Are you crazy? I’m going to need even more out of famous sauce or Nonna flipping me the bird to not make my own sauce.

7. Presidential 404

Who wins the 2024 Presidential 404 crown? I saw this a few times online this week, and I’m impressed that the Harris Campaign is having fun with their 404 page. Although, when I first arrived on the site the favicon still was the Biden ‘B’ that was cached. Don’t get me started how on the home page Harris isn’t looking at the one of the donate buttons. Obama would never.

Favicons and 404 pages are the unsung hero of websites. Meanwhile it looks like the Trump campaign who’s own 404 was pretty classic, needs an update.

8. Hat Sneaker of the week: Expos Kicks

We couldn’t resist including a non-hat this week. These Montreal Expos shoes are just too perfect not to share. And better if you are wearing these while watching this 1980s game.

9. Shameless dog and baseball content

Can you tell its midsummer and there isn’t all that many interesting ad things going on? So I’m stocking you up on on some well placed dog content in this newsletter. As we marveled in the Expos Sneakers, let’s now pay tribute to the Clearwater Thrashers Bat Dog, Layla, who retired this week at 13 after many years of great service. Such a good dog.

10. Last call: The Drink Cart Last Word, brat edition

The Last Word probably isn’t quite brat or green enough. Even though I picked it solely for that lovely shade of green with the inclusion of one of my favourites, Chartreuse.

Quick Cocktail Story time: The early 1900’s cocktail was created at the Detroit Athletic Club. It was on the clubs menu as early at 1916 and was the most expensive option at 35 cents which is ironic because in my research it was made with bathtub gin in prohibition. So if you have some of that in your bathroom, by all means. The drink was nearly lost to history until a Seattle bartender found the recipe in an old book and revived it in the early 2000s. And now you can make it this week for your cart.

• ¾ oz Green Chartreuse

• ¾ oz Gin (preferably home made)

• ¾ oz maraschino liqueur

• ¾ oz fresh lime juice

• Shake with ice and strain into your frozen coupe glass - I don’t make the rules.

The real last word

If you want to know where I’ll be after a few more campaigns and years down the road, it might look something like this:

Drink up the brat! What did you think of this week’s newsletter? Drop me a comment or question below or tell me how your weekly drink turned out.

The Drink Cart is a weekly newsletter of advertising, pop culture, baseball and cocktails from Jackson Murphy.