The Drink Cart: The Magic of Holiday AI

A week of fighting over AI ads, rebrands and sauces we can all come together when you can get half-gallons of McRib sauce for the ultimate in holiday branding moves.

Hey Y’all Drink Carters

Get in losers, a polar bear in a Santa suit driving a truck full of sugared water to all the boys and girls. Robert F. Kennedy isn’t watching as he’s still recovering from his Big Mac on Air Force Trump as the bear swings by to pick us up and deliver marketing and advertising stories to all the good little boys and girls of The Drink Cart.

I’ve been working from America the past few weeks. I’ll likely do a full work from road trip newsletter in the next few weeks. Fun Fact, when I say it here, like I did with my 6ix Baggers Newsletter, I will be compelled to do it. Pretty great having a newsletter to hold you accountable.

With our lead story about Coke and AI, I couldn’t resist sharing a few pictures on the theme. These first snaps of an Orange Crush Cake in the wild (from a very random grocery store in Waco, Texas) and Orange Crush Christmas Ornaments spotted in the Dr. Pepper Museum (Yes, a real place. And it made me almost pick this as the hat of the week). Lesson: Do not get in the middle of soda and the American people. Even if the ads are using AI.

I’m also pleased to report that I have finally crossed off the hollowed ground that is Buc-ee's gas station from my bucket list. Witnessing the brand’s incredible domination of OOH in real life might be a life changing moment moment I thought to myself underneath the World Famous Wall of Beef Jerky (see: Small Town Vibes).

The road from Austin to Waco was the most incredible roadside OOH takeover I have ever seen. A tour de force in advertising. There must have been 20 or 25 versions. If you’re in advertising, you simply have to see it. The Beaver delivered iconic branded holiday wine bottle sweaters, grenade shaped hot sauces and the yelling of the ceremonial “Fresh Brisket on the Board” have occupied my brain more than the Roman Empire. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to drink regular wine for the next six weeks if it’s not in a Christmas Sweater.

Get a drink from the cart, pop that cute little holiday sweater on your wine bottle, crank up the Christmas tune-age and slide down the chimney of advertising content:

• Coke’s AI backlash, Pepsi’s latest, McDonald’s brings back the McRib, again

• Smirnoff’s Chief Vibes Officer, Sauce wars, Pop-Tarts plans for Bowl Season

• Postal Social, the infamous Jaguar rebranding and one really great headline

• Plus we’ve got a Big Lebowski hat and the infamous White Russian cocktail

1. The Hot Takes of Coke’s Holiday AI Ad

If you thought last week’s Christmas Bowl of UK ads was the end of holiday content, buckle up. As Churchill once said, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

This one in particular has been interesting to watch. Of course there were there ad industry folks who immediately criticized. There was those who want Pepsi to recreate the ad with real people. Are the new AI versions better than the original ad? No probably not. Do average consumers really know the difference or even care when they see cute animals, dogs and Christmas overloaded images, probably not. As Gizmodo notes, “AI Coke Ad Shows We’ll Argue About Advertisements While the World Burns.”

Then there was what people actually thought. Ad Age reports that, “System1 Group, which tracks consumer attitudes around ads, ran Secret Level’s commercial through an analysis and found it scored as high, if not higher with audiences, compared to the original ad. ‘It’s the highest going Christmas ad we’ve seen’ this year, said Andrew Tindall, senior VP of global partnerships at System1.”

John Long the SVP Digital of Digitas argues that that positive sentiment is because, “These are decades-old characters (polar bears) and elements (the truck) that have had billions of dollars of media behind them. Of course people like it!”

If you imagined that the hottest take on AI in the last week would be from Ben Affleck, then you’re not online enough. But Affleck seems to understand where AI could be going suggesting, “Craft is knowing how to work. Art is knowing when to stop.”

2. Meanwhile Pepsi is doing this

It’s cute that Pepsi is instead doing this Undercover Cups creative. This new spot follows a pizza version and shows what happens when the brand, “went undercover to make sure every burger is followed by a Pepsi – kind of.”

The “Food Deserves Pepsi" platform features the undercover team opening up their trunk to unveil a soda dispenser to get people the Pepsi they really want. It’s all kind of fun, but there is no way anyone wants anything but fountain Coke. It’s the goat. Next question.

3. The McDonald’s Christmas Offensive

I wasn’t even going to talk about McDonalds in this issue. But when you launch a half-gallon of McRib sauce in a holiday sweater design, we rang a bell and screamed out, “Stop the presses!” And it’s not just this ridiculous sauce for $19.99, the McRib, which I thought they had put in the vault like those old Disney VHS tapes, is coming back out of retirement, again.

And they made this into a holiday jingle ad too. Turning the McRib into a holiday promotion and calling it McRib Season is pretty genius. It’s kind of like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters, but then again they get to say things like, “is it too early to start listening to bbq-flavored sandwich music yet.”

And the brand, hot off the news that it is spending over $100 million after the recent E. coli outbreak, has also dropped cute cups and even more music vibes for their McCafe cups and mega lights for their Christmas Bowl ad contribution in the UK.

4. Chief Vibes Officer

Last week was Cottage Cheese, this week it’s Vibes. Smirnoff has named the often mocked pop star Troye Sivan its new Chief Vibes Officer in a multiyear deal. He kind of just wants you to go off. Who doesn’t love a good faux press conference. Classic.

5. Are we even ready for the sauce wars?

If you thought the Chicken Sandwich wars were intense, we’re starting to enter an era of sauce conflict and branding the likes we’ve never seen before. As Snaxshot newsletter described the sauce opportunity, “Our generation’s yearning for fusion sauces, in what I can only describe as a sort of God-like complex, has led Kraft Heinz to develop these digital dispenser machines that allow for customized mixes, found in fast food chain restaurants, they also serve as intel to the condiment conglomerate on what they should probably be focusing on next”

Ayoh! is the brainchild of chef, author and social media influencer Molly Baz who also brought the very Instagrammable Drink This Wine to life. As Fast Company tells it, follows the same playbook of Graza, the squirable olive oil brand’s master stroke. As the website notes, “We're gonna let you in on a little secret: sauce is the answer to almost all your food related problems. It's a vehicle for flavor, it activates your palate, and keeps things (sorry to say it) moist.”

I haven’t yet told you the most shocking part of sauce wars. These bottles of flavoured mayo are $12/each (Okay fine, $9, if you buy 6 of them). This isn’t just sauce wars, this is sauceflation to the maximum.

6. The Only Thing Better than One Pop Tart is Three

For December 28th’s Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando, Florida the pastry brand is tripling down on it’s success from last year and bringing three Pop-Tarts, including a mystery comeback returning flavour that will be revealed to sacrifice in the giant toaster. Or as the brand tells it, “The three mascots will compete to be the snack eaten by the winning team and ‘ascend to ‘mouth heaven’,’ Pop-Tarts owner Kellanova said in a press release.”

The brand is also rolling out limited edition football packaging for the remembrance of Frosted Strawberry who was lost last year and Apple Turnover flavour. I have to say, this brand is having more fun than a lot of brands out there. Sacrificing mascots, then making them into limited edition products is genius. The Pop-Tarts Instagram feed is living their best life if the Sexiest Pastry Alive cover post is to be believed.

8. Some social accounts can chill out

The reactions to this seemingly harmless USPS post using the now weeks old “in da clerb” meme is exactly what you’d imagine and is worth the scrolling. “Just put the mail in the box bro” or “For the love of God, stop trying to be online relevant and get better at delivering mail again.” I think my favourite is this one: “You literally fired my cousin(Randy) for drinking while delivering the mail. He wasn’t even that drunk, I thought this was America.”

After a lot of scrolling someone said they should go back to making ads like this. This is an epic ad. AI could never.

8. Lane Pryce Voice: Jag-u-ar Rebranding

I’m not sure anyone knows what’s going on with this new direction from automaker Jaquar. They say it’s “copy nothing.” As Layne said, “Who'd've dreamt of the word "Jaguar," hm?”

The comments are a kind of a hellscape as it always is these days. Elon Musk asks in the comments, “Do you sell cars?” The answer, “Yes. We'd love to show you. Join us for a cuppa in Miami on 2nd December? Warmest regards, Jaguar.” When someone asks where the cars are, the brand says, “Think of this as a declaration of intent.” Kudos to the social media person manning the channel - nerves of steal as the ship is under attack.

I’m sure Don Draper would tell Layne something Draper-ish like, “People want to be told what to do so badly that they’ll listen to anyone.” But I really love Grace Walker’s take, “This feel like something Emily Cooper would pitch.” I’m not sure even Emily in Paris could be this random. Maybe if Luc was left in charge for a week while Cooper was in the French Alps again and Sylvie was three sheets to the wind at the Ritz’s Bar Hemingway drinking dry martinis thinking about what the ads used to look like. But there is a certain subset of online creators who think this is all just fine. Oren John asked if this was, “Masterclass in attention getting loading?” Is attention over everything - aka burning your brand down around you, for instance - worth it?

I guess the mood R/GA was talking about in this X Post was Jaguar, “OK what brand are we all going to be mad about tomorrow.” Yep. I guess Coke and the US Postal Service are off the hook, for now. Then Hampton Inn says hold my beer. The only brand having a worse week than Jaguar at this point might be Hampton Inn hotels with the news of Jay Leno staying there and falling down a hill, very hard. Like impossibly hard.

For perspective my branding and advertising friends, “There’s far more terrible things going on in the world than a Jaguar rebrand. I’m envious of anyone who only has that to worry about.”

Porsche just entered the chat. In the wake of this and the volume of commentary, some how, almost in response to Jaguar, Porsche launched the Aimé Leon Dore Porsche 993 Turbo with an incredible over 60 second spot showing off the beauty of a timeless car and iconic scenes of driving on the road. “Porsche social manager seized the hell out of that moment,” wrote Lulu Cheng Meservey. Volvo also dropped a nearly 4 minute spot too.

9. Just A Banger of a Headline

Before we share our favourite feature, a great hat. Let’s leave you with a wonderful ad and perfect headline.

I love the line from Nike after Rafeal Nadal announced he’ll be retiring after the Davis Cup. Just love the idea of “Greatness. It only takes everything.” Just a great expression and so true. It would even work for this incredible fact that there is a Window Cleaning World Cup. See more great Nadal ads over the years in this wonderful thread.

10. Hat of the week: The Dude Abides

If you know, you know. Sam Elliot Stranger Narrator Voice: “I only mention it because sometimes there's a hat... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a hat. And I'm talkin' about the The Dude Abides hat here. Sometimes, there's a hat, well, it’s the hat for our time and place. It fits right in there.” That’s what I was feeling when this hat slipped into my feeds.

Last call: The Drink Cart White Russian

It only seems fitting to double down on The Big Lebowski theme with that greathat - after all, we’re not nihilists dude. it goes without saying that, “The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners.”

A Very Merry Dude White Russian Holiday

• 2 ounces vodka

• 1 ounce Kahlúa

• 1 ounce heavy cream

• Make that over rocks. No garnish or Nihilism. Drink.

Keep this Holiday countdown going with the legendary Mr. Tony Bennet singing and bopping out Winter Wonderland.

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5 Bonus Drink Cart Approved™ agency discussion topics, quick clips, ads or random links to chat about:

• Quibi lives! I’ll never not read or post about the ill-fated short form video app. Especially if Tiktok is doing the.

• So streaming really is taking over sports (Good episode of The Powers That Be: Daily Podcast). Bonus: Beyonce is doing the Netflix NFL Christmas Day Game half time show.

• If you haven’t seen it already, highly recommend reading Pound & Grains article in the new SoDA Report on Storytelling in Modern Web Experiences by Thomas Morton titled, Unnovation: Is Technology Sidetracking Great Storytelling?

• Post Malone does so many brand deals I thought this was another one for Post Cereal.

• I’m not sure about this whole “chicken wine” tag stuff on the apps. But they are selling over a million bottles a year in the UK and US right now.

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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.