The Drink Cart: Sun's out, Ads out.

The only newsletter guaranteed to pour Aperol Spritz directly into your Figma file and somehow improve everything in your campaign.

Dear marketing fans, Aperol Spritz lovers, patio squatters and branded hot dog vehicle racing enthusiasts.

Sunshine is kind of a debatable factor so far this month in Canada. But the brands are out here in full summer mod already. My feeds awash in summer drinks, tennis pop ups, ice cream treats and the Wienie 500.

A ridiculous summer branding moment featuring six Oscar Meyer Wienermobiles racing at the very unexciting speed of 30mph. The need for speed, this was not. But the branding moment was immaculate. If you must know, and can’t watch the full video below, Slaw Dog narrowly beat Chi Dog. It was in fact: “Victory by less than a wiener length.”

There is something magical about six giant wiener shaped trucks racing each other that fails to capture the grip that real world marketing has on the world. I mean it’s no “Sack O’ Sauce in a Can O’ Meat”, but deploying your summertime signature vehicles and getting them to slow race is pretty iconic. This is why every brand needs vehicles in their brand books.

This is the perfect way to start off what will be non-stop summer ads for the next few months. Let’s get you into the mood with nearly 9 minutes of classic 80s summer ads.

Not only do you get the classic Juicy Fruit jingle, there’s a Coors Light ad with animated cans, a jingle and summer injected into its DNA. There’s McDonald’s sandcastles, an iconic Ramblin Root Beer ad, nostalgic California Coolers and even some Spuds MacKenzie.

It’s summer! Here’s your weekly thought: I’ll never forget early in my career listening to a media person politely explain to some clients that yes, people still see ads in summer despite warm weather and vacations. And now that we have phones, do we even escape them? Think about that.

You can’t do summer without the spritz

You simply can’t have summer without the requisite Aperol Spritz ad. This year global marketing efforts landed on DDB to tell a universal ad set in that perfect Italian piazza with a perfectly cast waiter serving them up in the sunshine.

I do like how the brand calls the way the drink lands at one table and spreads to others an “orange wave”. So smart (Don’t let the NDP find out about this). If you could bottle this very central casting from Italy waiter you would sell them to every single person at every table in the world I’m guessing. This is one of those rare occasions when the vibes really do sell the product. That’s summer.

Everything is a tennis club

In the winter, brands are all in on Apres Ski. In the summer, every brand is a tennis brand. Lululemon imagined a whole Tennis Club in Beverly Hills a few weeks back and created a pretty insane world that really took tennis balls to life in vibrant green. And props to them for getting some Bravo talent in on this with Summer House Alum Hannah Berner.

But other brands are out here in the tennis world. I walked past a Roots Golf and Tennis Edit pop up on Ossington on the weekend that had people lining up to play mini-golf. There’s also this Adidas and Sporty & Rich Tennis collection that will be selling like cold beers on a hot day. No wonder fans or bots are just using AI to imagine other Tennis things like a Lacoste Tennis Resort in Bali.

Ghost Beer Summer

To celebrate 100 years Corona is shining a light on the beautiful, sun-faded and iconic hand-painted signs all over Mexico. They call it a, “true testament of stories lived under the sun.”​

I have a real soft spot for old ghost branding and signage so these jumped out of the feed for me. These feel like summer to me.

Hot take: Use your damn brand assets

More tennis? How is this possible? Unlike the AI, this Lacoste French Open ad where the brand logo is played out on the iconic clay of Roland-Garros is so wonderful.

Ad History: Honda Civic Del Sol

There’s not much more 90’s than a Honda Del Sol. Talk about the car built for summer and that iconic tagline,"the sun comes standard."

Here’s the really fun part, they made the towels from the ad which are now going for nearly $300 a pop on eBay.

Brand towels have been a big part of summer for a long time. Remember when Budweiser kept making these towel ads? Brands were crazy for towels. They did them for cigarettes. Movies, popsicles, sodas and even soup.

The legend of Topo Chico

I really like these Topo Chico ads. Designed to celebrate the brand’s 130th anniversary these legendary tall tales are wonderfully cinematic and fun series of ideas that touch on the rich history. Those ideas paired up with the iconic brand elements are just gorgeous. I love faux legends.

Quintessential Summer Ad

I’m not really a Cornetto guy. And i’m most certainly not a feet or flip flop guy. But you have to give it to this simple ad for Cornetto ice cream and more specifically the end of enjoying one.

I’m not sure the end is the best part, or that the end justifies the “At Last!” line or even seeing your stupid feet is a good thing. But the nostalgia and summer feeling trumps everything with this inner cone POV.

Last call: The Drink Cart Pimm’s No. 1 Cup

It’s going to be June this weekend. Let that sink in. The drink of the summer on the feeds for the last few years has been the Aperol Spritz. St. Germain is using Sansa Stark in the South of France to shill Huge Spritz’s from last year. Don’t get me wrong, I would totally have a few. But the unsung hero of the summer cocktail season and patios has to the Pimm’s Cup.

Here’s the story: The Pimm’s Cup started as an oyster bar’s unusual marketing flex in 1840s London. James Pimm’s house blend of gin, herbs and botanicals was served in a pewter cup to help his seafood go down easy. There’s no way I’m eating seafood before refrigeration. Not a chance.

This was part digestive tonic, part marketing genius. By 1859, it was bottled and everywhere. Variants were made with Scotch (No. 2), rum (No. 4), rye (No. 5) vodka (No. 6) and even tequila (No. 7). They all came and went, but only the OG, Pimm’s No.1 and No. 3 (brandy, you know for a Christmas or winter Pimm’s) have stuck around.

There’s been some wild ads for Pimms over the years . I think my favourites have to be this Pimm’s O’Clock ads with the amazing Pimm’s cocktail basket like something out of James Bond. The classic cocktail is now a Wimbledon (selling over 300,000 each tournament), garden party, yachting and sailing regatta staple. The thing that James Pimm figured out? Summer tastes better with some fruit in your booze cups. Yes, it’s a little like a drinking a fruit salad cocktail. And that’s okay.

Here’s the recipe:

• 2 oz Pimm’s No. 1

• 1 oz Gin (for an extra kick - trust me)

• 1/2 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• Throw a couple dashes of bitters in there

• Ginger ale or ginger beer, to top (Or a lemon soda can work)

• serve over ice

• Garnish this one with cucumber (slice or spear), a few mint sprigs, a slice of lemon and orange (and if you want to really blow people’s minds, a few strawberry slices.)

I think the smartest play, say for that Agency Drink Cart is this note from Pimm’s: "Best make a jugful, you never know who’ll turn up at the sound of the ice tray leaving your freezer." Then it’s suddenly summer!

---

Drink Cart Approved™ agency bonus discussion topics

• If you need some summer mood board inspiration this is a good start.

• If this newsletter was being sent out in 1988, we’d be talking about the WWF Superstars of Wrestling Ice Cream bars. The in show ads were incredible.

• I was doing some vintage BBQ sauce ad research but struck gold with this ad showing Kraft BBQ sauce mixed with Cheese Whiz recipes.

• Has Lindsay Lohan done the best rebranding of the last 15 years? This will date me, but more importantly how is Charo so timeless? Shocked she is 74 years young. Cuchi-cuchi!

• This is the greatest endorsement video of all time. Post Malone endorsing the Shoeless Joes bar at Queens Quay in Toronto with a blue fishbowl cocktail.

---

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.