The Drink Cart: Southern Inspiration
We interrupt our deluge of holiday marketing and advertising for content and ideas collected from nearly a month working and adventuring through Texas and Louisiana.
Hey Y’all Drink Carters
A few weeks ago, I dropped some hints that I was on the road, but this week, I’m spilling all that road trip tea. Picture this: my wife and I working and road tripping from Austin, Texas through Waco, soaking up seaside vibes in Galveston, inventing Natchitoches—a town so magical it might as well be a Hallmark Christmas movie set. Then capping things of in New Orleans. This isn’t a travel recap. it’s a look at the sights, sounds that have imprinted on my brain.
If you’re wondering what I’m doing from Christmas Eve and New Years, it’s probably binging Hallmark movies, drinking eggnog and likely drafting my own script about Natchitoches - the small town that goes absolutely bonkers for Christmas. How does this sound: A Bayou Noel. When a skeptical big-city travel writer visits Natchitoches for the famed “Christmas Festival of Lights”, she’s drawn into the town’s enchanting celebrations, gossip and a budding romance with the bartender at the best restaurant in town, Mayeauxs. Does he have a pet alligator? Who’s to say. Does he say y’all a lot? Absolutely. If not, I’ll be woking on my ones about Christmas in the French Quarter or the All Inclusive Family Christmas in a resort in Mexico.
Don’t worry, like any great post-rationalized strategy deck for the creative idea, we’ll work a few tenuous very lessons from marketing in here somehow. Or at the very least some crude or rank punditry of random 2024 cultural insights. Unlike recent newsletters, we’re just going to jump into it.
The Magnolia Extended Universe
I don’t want to bypass a solid and great week in Austin, but remember this was a road trip where working was the priority - my agency timesheets can validate that. Don’t get me wrong, our adventures included watching the election results come in on a pizzeria’s patio with predominantly Harris voters (awkward) and stuffing our faces with iconic Tex Mex and BBQ. Getting to witness the rare transition from Halloween to Election to Thanksgiving/Football in a week was incredible. That Thanksgiving football turkey was out immediately after the election.
Okay, i’m already getting carried away. The restaurants in America are absolute machines. Our first stop, after a Best Buy pick up of the cheapest monitors you can get, for the trip was Matt’s El Rancho. This is the kind of place where your queso (and boy did we eat a lot of queso) comes out faster than your drinks, the parking lot is larger than anything the Canadian mind can comprehend. The same can be true of The Salt Lick - yes, there’s better bbq to be had, but the experience out in Driftwood, is still a favourite of mine. Everything is gigantic - the parking lot, the restaurant and the portions. I really don’t want to underscore the all you can eat aspect of this - which quickly defeated us at 3-plates.
But after a week, we packed up and moved North to Waco, Texas. Wait, wut? You mean with the Branch Davidians? Well, yes, but now its the home of Magnolia. If you don’t know Magnolia, this is the empire of Chip and Joanna Gaines. The pushers of “shiplap” from their renovation show Fixer Upper, and now the ultimate lifestyle destination that’s turned Waco, Texas, into a mecca for design lovers and dream chasers.
The iconic Silos is packed with vertically integrated consumerism you have see to believe. The sprawling complex surrounding, you guessed a pair of rusty old silos is transformed into a Pinterest board come to life. So the complex features a Magnolia Press, a coffee shop (don’t worry, they sell merch at 7am and the patio had incredible wi-fi and was great to work at - did I mention the weather was insane?), two main stores (Magnolia Home and Magnolia Seed & Supply, which I couldn’t really tell apart), Silos Baking Co., Katy Ballpark (a wiffleball stadium), The Old Church (pretty self explanatory), an outpost of the Magnolia Table (food), and then a series of smaller stores called The Shops at the Silos which feature a rotating cast of concepts featuring guy stuff (Thanks Chip), clothing, kitchen stuff, the list goes on and on and on. And even though it was pre-Thanksgiving Magnolia was already in full-on Christmas mode. Christmas music was blazing all day long and it was running on festive vibes.
Throw in stunning gardens (complete with an overpriced paid tour), places to hang out (but never drink - shocker there is no alcohol at The Silos), incredible food trucks and you've got a full-blown branded empire. And that still doesn’t count the stuff like their Hotel 1928, Magnolia Table (restaurant), a Castle, The Mill (where they shoot Joanna’s cooking show) and the Magnolia corporate headquarters complex.
The whole thing is nuts. From 7am at the coffee shop to 6pm Magnolia is hustling product. There is no night shift (No Silos After Dark?). They are leaving money on the table, while clearly swimming in it. And the other weird thing - outside of the US, you can’t even see the website. You can’t even order things online. It’s the craziest commerce model ever. The impact on the city of Waco is clear - our Airbnb with our new friends at Poppy & Rye clearly knew what they were doing setting up flawlessly designed places steps from the Silos. The Cottage even came with a cat for the week. I kid you not, we hung out, worked in the backyard, fired up some Baywatch on the outdoor TV and fed their stray guest cat “Little O” for the week.
Here’s three marketing lessons from Magnolia:
Immersive Lifestyle Branding is so hot. Magnolia at the Silos is an experience that embodies the Gaines’ modern farmhouse style and warm hospitality. An experience meticulously curated to reflect their brand values at all costs. I have no idea why more brands aren’t going fully experiential.
This seems like it would be great for Bravo TV, Alcohol brands like Guinness or even Netflix or A24. Maybe our clients like Paramount or Arc'teryx need a whole vertically integrated destination village somewhere. Or the OG, Martha Stewart.
Fan-centric Rules. The Silos is designed as a gathering place for super fans of Magnolia. It gives fans a place to connect with brand and live the brand. It’s lifestyle Disneyland. Yes, it works if you don’t know, but then when you’re there and it’s Chips birthday and you’re getting free Texas Pecan roast coffee you feel like freaking insider.
A lethal potent combination of Retail, Food, and Entertainment. The experience cleverly combines multiple elements—shopping, dining, and entertainment—into one seamless experience where there’s hardly a chance you could leave without spending hundreds of dollars. I mean, to be fair, they were giving out free coffee and I managed to escape without buying anything.
How do you top the Magnolia effect? Buc-ees forever
How can you get more American than Magnolia, it’s got to be Buc-ees. This is like America turned up to 11 - maybe 13. It’s hard to summarize this concept and what it really means. Imagine a gas station so legendary, it makes your road trip the destination. My wife thought I was completely insane dragging her to a gas station, twice, like it was a theme park. You see, Buc-ee’s isn’t just a pit stop—it’s a mega-mart of dreams with endless snacks, fresh brisket sandwiches, fudge stations, endless towers of merch, like my new Christmas hat and the cleanest most efficient bathrooms you’ll ever see.
If Magnolia is Lifestyle Disneyland, Buc-ees is Gas Station Disneyworld where Texas-sized magic awaits!
Here’s a couple of Buc-ees lessons for you to chew on like some Beaver Nuggets (trust me):
Fans First. The two we went to were massive and the brand’s rep for unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction is everywhere - you think it’s going to be long, but everything moves fast and it’s all humans. No self checkouts. Just vibes.
Employees Also First. I’m not going to lie, the company offers competitive wages and benefits, with starting pay often exceeding industry standards - right out front is the transparent wages - ie: a GM pulling in $175-225k had me questioning if I should stay and work at Buc-ees.
Everything I learned about marketing in November can be found in these nine signs
Let me summarize my findings through OOH and signage: Happy Hours should all be 8 hours long. “Slice, Slice, Baby” is the greatest Pizza headline ever. The Poop Deck’s tagline of “Where Elite Meet in Bare Feet” is terrifying. The “Jason Mimosa”, chefs kiss. “No Guns, No Fighing, Mind Your Biscuits” is just solid all-around good advice. The anti-Ozempic “Health Camp” is America. The combination of Dolphin World’s key value props of “Swimwear, Fashions, Gifts, Shells and T-Shirts” is still melting my brain. Which is better. Espresso, Champagne and Chain Lubes or Donuts, Coffee and Vibes? It doesn’t matter they are practically beside each other in Austin.
Dranks and Other Road Trip Miscellany
Let me walk you through this journey. Yes, I had to have the obligatory Hurricane at Pat O’Briens. I also had to sample the “Purple Drank” (aka Purple Voodoo Daiquiri) as well as the featured Eggnog Daiquiri at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar - a joint built between 1722 and 1732 and reputed to be the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States featuring a website that feels like it was made in the 1700s too. Both slush drinks were great, mostly because they were served in sacrilicious styrofoam cups - did we time-warp into the 1980s. It was incredible. I felt alive.
We hit up the famed Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29 which was operating as Sippin’ Santa - a Christmas Tiki Pop up bar. They had custom Christmas Tiki Mugs - you see Surf Santa, Frosty The Merman and the very festive shark. Tiki Christmas is such a perfect concept. Yes, shameless selfie of me and the cardboard cutout of the Queen of Christmas at Mariah Carey’s pop up Christmas bar. This, as we covered last week, was probably the worst brand experience I’ve had this year. Sadly it was not “Timmmmmeeeee”
The next two pieces are from Dutch Bros. Coffee. It’s not even a brand from Texas, but the coffee chain was a close third after Magnolia and Buc-ees for just blowing my mind. Was it that every store had what seemed like a 4 lane drive-thru? Was it the friendly staff with tablets that helped moved things along? Was it the giant coffee called The Kicker with non-alcoholic Irish Cream? Despite not being brave enough to order one, I’m still thinking about whatever an Iced Shark Attack Rebel is - turns out its Blue Raspberry, Coconut, Lime w/ Pomegranate Float Energy drink, duh. That can’t be good for you. Can we all agree that Tim Horton’s has innovated like this since the Tim Bit?
That last image was the Electoral College shots you could get for $1 at the Election Night Pizza place. They had Pina Coladas for Harris, and Orange Creamscicles for Trump. I think we were the only ones who took them up on it. There should be way more election watch parties like this.
What’s interesting to me is that I left so much out of this newsletter. Tasting Texas made whisky in Waco. I could probably write a whole newsletter about the Crazy Wings (Chicken, pepper jack cheese & jalapeno wrapped in bacon, fried & served with enough ranch to fill a pool), the Chick-Queso Potato (Chicken fried chicken & queso - spoiler alert it was 2 baked potatoes, enough fried chicken to kill you smothered in queso) and the Big O’s (Just absolutely giant cocktails, okay), at George’s. Watching Monday Night Football Galveston’s finest establishment, The Spot offering 5 Venues. 1 Spot. All Beachfront. Being almost the only people at our Galveston resort Airbnb. Visiting NASA. Taking in jazz at Preservation Hall. Seeing Nicolas Cage's Pyramid Tomb. Checking out the National WWII Museum. It was a lot.
What we wanted was a bit of an adventure. We got it. The weather was incredible. Even the days where we were cooped up inside working were still pretty fun. And if you want to know if this is happening again in 2025, the answer is yes. Coming home to -2 whether was not cool Toronto.
Hat of the week: Holiday Hats
It’s Holiday Hat Season, so we can’t leave you hanging (and technically this newsletter has two festive hats!) This one is the North Pole Flurry "Jolly" - by Clinker Create or Destroy and Obvian. The write up, “Did you know a group of Yeti is called a Flurry? I as today years old when I found out. This is the coolest new iceball team from the North!” But they have five more versions if you’re not into Yeti.
Last call: The Drink Cart Eggnog Daiquiri
Yeah baby! In honour of privateer Jean Lafitte and his little blacksmith bar, we had to do this amazing festive and slushy nog. We’ve augmented the recipe inspired by the time we made fresh nog “Martha Stewart-style” and it was very powerful stuff. That was with bourbon, but we’re sticking to the classic rum, but making it spicy.
Here’s our take on the surprisingly awesome Cajun Eggnog Daiquiri
1 1/4 cups crushed ice
1.5 oz ounces spiced rum
1 oz cognac
1 teaspoons granulated sugar
As much eggnog as you need to blend to your desired slush factor (just get the best store bought you can get)
Even the dive bar in the French Quarter rocked some nutmeg on top, so break that out too.
If you’re not looking at your nog daiquiri - sidebar, can we call them “NogDaq’s”- That’s some real Tom Haverford stuff if you ask me - like this kid looking at the Eggnog Shake, you’re doing it wrong.
This is the 50th anniversary of The Year Without a Santa Claus and the battle between Heat Miser and Snow Miser - contemplate that with your nog.
5 Bonus Drink Cart Approved™ agency discussion topics, quick clips, ads or random links to chat about:
I like that there is already a potential over/under on how long Alex Cooper’s hydration brand lasts. Celebrity brands aren’t what they once were. (a barely 4-week prelaunch, terrible landing page, this is Unwell Hydration)
McDonald’s addressing a screenshot of someone searching on the brand’s site for “How does Grimace breed” with a *sigh* is incredible community management.
The danger of asking people what they want: A helpful Netflix example.
Ozempic Christmas Trees or the insane opening montage in Lindsday Lohan’s new Netflix Christmas movie.
Drop me a comment below, ask me a question or give me a reco. Or just tell me how your cocktail turned out.
The Drink Cart is a weekly newsletter of advertising, pop culture, baseball and cocktails from Jackson Murphy.
Sounds like such an amazing trip. I’ve always wanted to go to a Buc-ees!! Maybe one day.