The Drink Cart: Let It Foam
Warning, this may be better than a Game 6. Cause it ain't no party like a holiday foaming hand soap review party.
Dear Drink Carters
Yes, it’s Halloween today. Boo! But we’re skipping (mostly) past that, passing go, collecting $200 in our Boo Buckers and spending it on another holiday’s Foaming Hand Soaps from Bath & Body Works. Welcome to Your Nightmare Before Christmas.
“What's this? What's this? There's something very wrong. What's this? There's people washing hands. What's this? The Sinks Are Filled with Holiday Bubbles Laughing.” Or something like that.
Before we jump into it, I did want to share something cool that proves there is still some wonder in the world beyond Trump riding around in a Dump Truck in a safety vest. Some modern day Dr. Joneses found an entire lost Mayan city - the second largest ever found in Latin America and its the size of modern day Edinburgh. The hidden former city was home to 30-50,000 people at hits height from 750 to 850 AD. The city is called Valeriana and was found with laser survey that maps structures buried under vegetation. That’s just amazing in 2024.
In other news, very quickly after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the World Series last night, Nike dropped this film credit-style ad to celebrate the winning team just after the confetti flew. My take: It;s just a really fun, simple ad for the most timely moment for a team’s “Storybook Season”.
And yes, we’ll be dropping one more 6ix Baggers later this week to wrap up the whole series, the World Series merch, ads and anything else random we can squeeze into it. And more importantly, we are now just 104 days until Spring Training. So maybe 6ix Baggers will live on. We’ll see.
So grab a drink from the cart, crank up the Monster Mash and trick or treat your way through some advertising and marketing news:
Your Special edition Holiday Foaming Soap Guide
New Campari ads, Netflix sharing and Cocktails Mate
Double shot of cringe AI with Keanu Reeves and Apple
The return of L’eggs, goodbye to Teri Garr and authentic political ads
Plus, a Dodgers World Series wining hat and a Revolver cocktail
1. Pumped for the Holidays
You knew it was coming. But it’s finally here. It’s The 2024 Official Drink Cart Bath & Body Works Holiday Foaming Soap Guide. The foamy and soapy run down you didn’t know you ever needed or wanted. Just like Hans and Franz, I want to pump, you up with completely useless foaming hand soap commentary! Or you can be like Washington Post subscribers and mass unsubscribe from this - you’re call. The headline is working overtime on this email graphic that popped into my inbox earlier this week.
Here are our hot takes on the latest flavours of Bath & Body Works foaming hand soaps for the holidays:
Perfect in Pink: The smell of “that all eyes on you moment.” While you’re opening a present, I guess? Arriving at your holiday work party, maybe? It’s actually just some cherries, pink flowers and whipped almond crème flavour. Like a sad cherry-flower-flavour latte? 4/10
Christmas Kitchen: This one claims to smell like holiday baking day and “all of your fave holiday treats being baked right in your kitchen.” Hopefully not baked by you. That sounds like work for the Keebler Elves. Cookie smelling soap is cool, but these scents of “soft baked bread, candied fruit and vanilla sugar” sound like work. 7/10
Cozy Winter Cottage: Of course it smells like, “sipping a warm beverage inside after a brisk winter walk.” You get winter spices, warm cedar and amber musk - which is thankfully different than Elon Musk. 7/10
To All a Good Night: A baffling description that promises to smell like, “sleeping in on a snow day.” And somehow that really is a cool winter breeze, lavender but in dream form, not real lavender, all nestled in a cozy blanket. Sound like you’ve had one too many egg nogs Bath & Body Works. 6/10
Whipped White Cocoa: Um, “frothed decadence” sounds wrong somehow. Froth smells but make it rich? The fragrance notes seem like they ran out of gas, “white chocolate, frothy milk and whipped.” Whipped what? Like 50 Shades of Grey-style whipped? 5/10
Pomegranate Citrus Fizz: This one promises you a “celebratory picnic in the park–cheers!” Whatever that means. Oh, wait, I get it, it’s a basic pomegranate orange mimosa. Like if Earl’s brunch vibes was a holiday soap. 7/10
Holly Berry Spruce: A Holiday smelling masterclass over here with, “classic holiday memories with a burst of brightness.” I feel like this smells like when Clark Griswold is trapped in the attic and getting all sentimental. Throw in those notes of “fresh holly berries, evergreen spruce and a hint of clove” and you’re practically in 1989 thinking about how awesome it was 1955 (34 years of nostalgia). Knowing that 2024 is actually further from 1989 than that (35 years of nostalgia). 9/10
Chai Sugar Cookie: You know, that “sweet, spiced baked good that feels comforting and warm.” So just a cookie then? Yes, but its more sugar cookie dough with chai spices and vanilla icing. 6/10
Frosted Forest: “Tonight's forecast... a freeze is coming!'“ So this is that totally memorable smell of “snow-covered trees in a vast forest.” Sure it is. Translation: pine needles, eucalyptus and peppermint, but only if you say it in an Arnold Schwartzenegger Mr. Freeze voice from 1997’s Batman & Robin and were super into holiday soaps instead of hating on Batman. 8/10
2. Wes Campari-Anderson
A few weeks back, I shared the new Campari film appreciation campaign. This week they dropped their latest version - a Wes Anderson story of a travelling mixologist. Good news it is as amazing and charming as you’d expect.
3. Sharing is caring
Here’s another quick one. This seems like it is a smart, if almost too late to matter, and probably won’t end up working that great type of feature to allow Netflix users to share clips of their shows.
4. Boozy Sounding Non-Alcoholic Mixers
Are cocktail themed creamers from Coffee Mate crazy or genius? The 1980s called and they want their creamers boozy themed. “The Nestlé-owned brand is due to release two new non-alcoholic mixers as part of a ‘Cocktail Mate’ series: Espresso Martini and Crème Espresso Martini.”
5. Keanu Reaves Slumming for AI
Is it just me? Or is it super weird that Keanu Reaves is now working for the machines in these Palo Alto Networks ads? I don’t get this for him, or the brand. Did Agent Smith flip Neo?
6. The Smug of AI
Meanwhile, Apple is out with more new Apple Intelligence ads. I’m also not sure I get the Mom in this ad. Within seconds she uses AI to make a video. But it’s giving the equivalent of a Gift Card worth of thought vibes.
How I see this ad is basically: “Honey, totally forgot about your day, I’m also weirdly super competitive with my stupid bratty kids and I got AI to make your video in 3 seconds. I literally did nothing. I care about you AI-worth of time.” It’s as baffling as this one. Question: Is Apple deliberately trying to make AI cringe?
7. The Return of L’eggs
I was interested to read after a longish day yesterday, from bunch of newsletters about the return of this brand and iconic logo I remember from the 1980s. I’m not usually up to speed on brands like this. But thankfully my go-to source of Emily Sundberg’s newsletter Feed Me had an interview with the new Executive Creative Director Cami Téllez along with the case study which is super cool to check out. Especially after refreshing our brain with classics ads like this one from 1972.
I really liked Téllez’s story of her own brand an how she got to this moment and taking over such an iconic brand. More important is her take on being a creative director for a brand saying she sees herself much more as “a modern reader and image maker” that drives “aesthetic mechanics” through “historical obsession”. That’s a cool way to look at it, as was this thought:
“Creative Directors have one single task now–write a new cultural script that catalyzes your brand into the arena of interest. After that, it’s making a bid for the ultimate rarity: timelessness.”
1989 really was a vibe wasn’t it. Iconic:
8. Taking Away the Garr With Gusto
The always excellent actress Teri Garr passed away this week at 79. I still remember her from her performance as the stellar ad executive from 1983’s Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton - something I talked about on Linkedin a few months ago. So i’m unearthing that quality content for your newsletter pleasures.
You got the treat of wood panelled boardrooms with no windows filled with smoke. Pre-powerpoint creative on actual boards and sketches with incredible headlines like "Yum Yum Tuna Bits."
She would propose that a Tuna brand discount cans by 50 cents during the recession, tugging at the heartstrings with a tagline of "The tuna with a heart." Of course, the CEO of Schooner Tuna loved that "bleeding heart" stuff. Who doesn’t.
But only in an advertising movie would you see an agency from Detroit flying private and drinking champagne all the way to LA to shoot the commercial. It’s like getting Swedish directors and shooting in weird locations on a brands’s dime. So I guess it makes total sense to fly to LA to shoot this ad:
Like how much were they billing Schooner Tuna? I want that account. Anyway, Immediately this 1977 ad for Schlitz beer started flooding my feed after the news. After some digging, this MJB coffee ad with Garr was pretty great too.
Anyway, if you were casting for charming, she had it. Just watch some of her on appearances on Letterman (or over here). It’s kind of funny seeing Garr in a beer ad in 1977 while she had been in theatres that year in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of The Third Kind. It is like watching something from a different world. These taking away your gusto ads are a complete time portal. There was also an outdoorsy one with a cougar and a boxing one.
And like Garr’s character in Mr. Mom, who parlayed her agency president’s creep-like sneaking into her hotel room behaviour into an unthinkable hybrid-work schedule almost 40 years before Covid and Work From Home. She probably could have gotten quite the payday from that bar and Schlitz for the guy dragging her on to his lap in a TV spot too.
9. If political ads were honest
This one is is making the rounds again. It first popped up 10 years ago. And you know what? It’s still pretty damn funny. Worth the watch as we head into the final home stretch of the American election next week.
10. Hat of the week: World Series Chaos Hat
The chaos of this Los Angeles Dodgers hat is pretty strong but it does have the clutch 1988 World Series patch and a little of that on the front too. And I guess they can make a new one with the new patch someday now.
Last call: The Drink Cart Revolver
My first thought this week was a Ramos Gin Fizz to match the whole foam party-like theme of this newsletter. But that’s way too much of complicated drink. You do not want to be shaking up a a bunch of theses - especially for ad agency people. That would be a nightmare. They probably would want it with egg substitute of something like that. Not on my watch.
So then I started looking around for a cocktail that might offer a coffee buzz and wasn’t an espresso martini - As I’m still a little traumatized from those Cocktail Mates earlier. I ended up finding a recipe in one of my favourite cocktail books, Drinking French by David Lebovitz for an Evolved Revolver. But I was thinking that it would be nice not to use any vermouth. So we’re improvising a little for a Halloween inspired cocktail to help wash away the week’s filth from timesheets, project management tools and Google Slide comments.
But before we go too far, now this is a drink cart, right?
So let’s do a super simple but kicked-up Revolver, with some extra bitters - if you have ‘em around - and just keep it chill for Halloween.
Take Three Revolvers and call me in the morning:
2oz Bourbon
3/4oz Kahlua Coffee Liquor
2 dashes Orange Bitters
2 dashes Chocolate Bitters
Stir with ice until well-chilled then strain into a coupe glass and service with an orange peel.
Your Bonus Drink Cart Approved™ agency discussion topics today are paired down to a five mega Halloween links.
Sink your teeth into the 1976 TV masterpiece that was the “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special”
The scariest thing you’ll read this week: How comic sans became the crocs of fonts
A Halloween playlist from the Pixies:
Drop me a comment below or tell me how your Revolver turned out or if you scored any soap.
The Drink Cart is a weekly newsletter of advertising, pop culture, baseball and cocktails from Jackson Murphy.
Thanks for the weekly recap! I have my to-do list. 1. Buy Cozy Winter Cottage Soap. 2. Find and drink White Flower Negroni. 3. Watch Mr. Mom. Are you an influencer now?