The Drink Cart: Let them eat nuggets
The only newsletter that knows ad copy is 90% humidity, 10% juniper, and it still needs to be delivered before the ice melts on a hot day.
Dear marketing fans, vintage gin ad appreciators and anyone who has dreamed of selling overpriced chicken nuggets on the Champs-Élysées.
I’ve noticed a new model for success floating around. It’s not just another ghost kitchen or monthly tote bag club (is that a thing? I’m still in awe of the power of the Tote bag from our time at the Canadian Gaming Summit, “Sir you’ve grabbed 4 totes for an ad agency?). It’s built on variety, not sameness. Flexibility, not scale. And this week, two things caught my eye that somehow connect across a few centuries.
I’m very fascinated by this little bit in Emily Sundberg’s newsletter today about Molly Boz, who is redefining what a creator brand is all about as she “now has a CPG brand in Whole Foods, a wine brand, a successful YouTube business, and a fast food restaurant.” This seems a lot more interesting than just having a chain of all the same things.
I saw in another newsletter this week that the idea of subscriptions have been around for some time. One of the most notable pioneers was poet Alexander Pope, who famously used a subscription model to finance his English translation of The Iliad around 1713. Subscribers, often wealthy patrons or members of the aristocracy, would pay in advance for a copy of the book, their names sometimes listed in the published edition as a mark of prestige.
This early form of crowdfunding not only allowed authors to retain creative control and financial independence but also laid the foundation for today’s subscription economy, where access and early support often matter more than ownership.
So whether it’s a 1700s poet promising you a fresh new translation of the The Iliad or a modern creator giving you plant based fast food, wine, sauces and a video recipe at the same time, the model is always evolving. But it always starts with the same thing: people willing to bet on your next big idea.
If you’re interested in my next idea it is starting a food cart in Paris that sells Eiffel Tower shaped chicken nuggets at inflated prices to tourist kids. Don’t worry, the London version of Big Ben Nuggets is in development. Who’s in?
Drink Cart Approved™ agency discussion topics
I love overheard at Wimbledon. This should be for all sporting events.
How did it take from 1972 to 2025 for McDonald’s to drop a Spicy McMuffin?
For the design nerds: Figma’s AWS charge is $300,000 per day.
If you were super rich, what restaurant would you have 24/7 in your house?
Would you ever drink an $8,000 martini?
Every Tom, Dick or Crumpets
Only the amazing Olivia Colman could pull off this over 2 minute absurdist ad for Warbutons crumpets. She comes in to eat the crumpets and the scenery as the head of the Department Of National Treasures (D.O.N.T) doing a surprise inspection to see if the crumpets are good enough to achieve that status.
Kudos to whoever convinced Olivia Colman that it would be awesome if she burst into this ad as Britain’s top crumpet cop, only to then shift gears and drop puns in this deliciously mischievous twist. It’s playful, perfectly British and leaves you actually craving a crumpet (I think). Just imagine writing up this article about this campaign.
Ad History: Gilbey's Gin (1970s)
This won’t be your last taste of the wonderful Terry Thomas in this newsletter today. Imagine the famed actor working his magic in a sun-drenched Mediterranean hotel bar, delivering a hilariously mangled mash-up of European languages. All with a giant glass of gin in hand and a ridiculously 70’s club cravat, he toasts to the “dolce vita anglaise.”
He is playing the ultimate Englishman abroad in this cheeky Gilbey’s Gin ad from the 1970s. As his Wikipedia page notes, “He often portrayed disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads, toffs and bounders, using his distinctive voice; his costume and props tended to include a monocle, waistcoat and cigarette holder.” (We should all be so lucky to have such a great description of your life’s work.) They don’t make actors like this or pure charm in a bottle ads anymore.
Throwback sports graphics are so awesome
To celebrate the anniversary of the 1975 World Series NESN used the series between the Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds to go retro with the on screen graphics. I would love to see more of this - and the minimalist looks so good. If you don’t believe me, just watch this incredible dart game from the 1970s.
Superman at The Shard
While everyone’s busy dreaming up AI-powered AR stunts, here’s a reminder that nothing beats real, or at least metal. The hyper-realistic 11-foot Superman sculpture, modelled was suspended over 300 metres above London atop The Shard.
Weighing 120kg and rigged with steel cables, it took four months and 2,000 hours to create, and it's the highest public sculpture the UK has ever seen. The perfect articulation of working off the brief of the new Superman film with the tagline “Look Up.”
Last call: The Drink Cart Proper Gin & Tonic
If you're sipping a gin and tonic on a sun-soaked patio in someplace like Brighton, you’re not just enjoying a drink. You’re unwittingly participating in a centuries-old medicinal hack disguised as leisure.
The G&T began not in some overpriced London bar, and maybe not in the humid outposts of the British Empire where the forces of the East India Company stationed in India were dropping like flies from malaria. It was actually first invented in Leiden, Holland by Dr. Sylvius de Bouve and was indeed originally prescribed as medical treatment. And some reports state, “By 1750 over 11 million gallons were being consumed by Londoners annually.” That’s a lot of G&T’s.
What was this magical cure? Quinine. Extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree. The problem was, it was so bitter it made your face fold in on itself. So, as drinkers ingenuity often dictates, they added booze. A shot of gin, some sugar, a squeeze of lime, and a splash of carbonated water turned their daily dose of anti-malarial misery into something resembling a happy hour all validated by Scottish doctor George Cleghorn.
You can tell your bartender it’s medicine. Winston Churchill once declared that gin and tonics have “saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.” It’s science.
Here’s my take on the recipe:
2 ounces gin
3-4 ounces tonic water
Pack that cup with ice
1 squeezed lime into the drink
1 lime wedge to garnish
I told you there would be more Terry Thomas. Remember, the key is to never run out of tonic.
The Drink Cart is your weekly fuel for pop culture brains and ad junkies. A cocktail of ad insights and hot takes that feel like you’re hanging at your favourite dive bar after launching your latest campaign.
Yes, please. I’ll take that $8K martini. Also, I’ve never wanted a crumpet more. But I would eat the mustard one.