Cardi B Unveils New Whipshots Summer Flavor in Santa Monica: “Everything About Me Is Fun”
Whipshots, a vodka-infused whipped cream product from Starco Brands and co-founder and partner Cardi B, has launched a new limited edition lime flavor just in time for summer.
On a misty Monday night in Santa Monica, the rapper, entrepreneur and media personality revealed the flavor’s new “Whip It, Beaches” advertising campaign, and made Whipshots-topped cocktails for guests at The Bungalow.
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Joining vanilla, mocha and caramel, the lime flavor is available for a limited time in retail stores (across 25 U.S. states) now and will be online starting June 14. By the end of summer, Whipshots – which first launched a year and a half ago, and has sold over 2 million cans to date – is expected to be available for purchase in 37 markets (including Cardi’s native New York).
“I’m not a real big fan of sweet lemon or lime flavors. [But] I love lemon and lime,” Cardi B told The Hollywood Reporter in an exclusive interview. “We tested three different lime flavors and [this] was so good and it was so perfect – like, it wasn’t as potent. You know how sometimes key lime pie be too strong? This was perfect, it tastes to me like fruity pebbles.”
With the help of celebrity mixologist Rob Floyd, Cardi B whipped up a range of cocktails, including a special Cardi-Rita and Mojo Mojito finished off with the whipped cream, which contains 10 percent alcohol per volume. “Me personally, in my house when I started using this Whipshot, I’m thinking of doing a cereal milkshake. I feel like adding a little bit of vodka in my milkshake and then I use this whipped cream for it because that’s the type of taste that it gives. It tastes like a cereal, birthday cakey…” Cardi shared.
She was also joined by RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Violet Chachki and competitor Gottmik to celebrate Pride Month by pouring up a limited edition Absolut Vodka bottle. In an exciting twist, Cardi – who told THR she is “putting music out very very soon,” adding, “It’s a lot of pressure. But I’m coming” – asked them both to direct her next music video. (Their response? An emphatic “yes.”)
It’s the five year anniversary of the rapper’s debut album Invasion of Privacy, and though she’s been holding fans over with features since, her sophomore album remains hotly anticipated. In the meantime, she’s been busy working on being Whipshots’ co-owner, among other things.
“I told the owners, ‘I’m all in if you guys are all in. I’ll put the work in on my side – I’ll be in the events, I’ll promote it, we are partners so I’m going to go all in for this product – just make sure it tastes good, make sure the cans are great, make sure there are no complaints.’ And then it’s like boom, here we are now,” she said. Beginning in June, Whipshots will embark on a special partnership with AMC Theatres across the country, where the new campaign commercial will be seen on the big screen, and patrons will be able to buy the spiked whipped cream in over 250 theater locations.
“She’s an absolute force. And honestly, she has such vision and she knows her audience so well, that she can instantly go, ‘This is what we’re doing, I want to go this way, I don’t want to go that way,'” Dave Dreyer, chief marketing officer at Starco Brands, told THR at the private event. “She just honestly is a great person who wants to do right by her fans.”
As far as how she thinks her fans will take to the summery product? For Cardi B, the brand alignment (with her own personal brand) is clear.
“I feel like people can do different types of spirits but I’m a person that likes things light, I like light liquor, and I’m a mom so I cannot be drinking like hardcore, I just can’t do that anymore,” she told THR. “So I feel like this is very sexy, it’s very fun – everything about me is fun. I wanted a fun product and it just tastes good.”
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