Mike's Hot Honey Raises Drizzling to High Art

Adding fresh flavor to the culture

“Don’t think, just drizzle.”

Words to live by from the Roots’ Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, delivered in the spot below for Mike’s Hot Honey. He runs a pizza joint, but needs someone to pour Mike’s over pepperoni slices, gelato and more.

The work taps into a cultural moment and attempts to make it synonymous with Mike’s. As no brand owns drizzling at present, that goal might just be attainable. It all depends on the flow.

Which brings us back to the restaurant, where some young dude—”technically I’m on the verge of manhood”—works hard on his finishing moves:

The team hopes to foster a community of like-minded folks “who don’t just love the product but where it comes from and how it shows up in culture,” Nick Kaplan, CCO at agency Another Thing, which developed the campaign, tells Muse.

Anthony Jamari Thomas of Scheme Engine directed the spot with comic panache. It’s amusing stuff, with Black Thought and his co-star Omig Flojo smartly rocking a Karate Kid-style sensei-student dynamic.

“It felt less like a commercial and more like making an indie film about a neighborhood pizza shop in Brooklyn,” Kaplan says. “Another Thing and Anthony built back stories for each character. There was a whole subplot where the front of house guy played by David Ventura was a failed Drizzler, so he was secretly competitive with the main character played by Omig. That didn’t make the final cut, but maybe for the feature when Hollywood options the story!”

They filmed at Carmine’s on Graham Ave. in Brooklyn. “Carmine himself was there the whole time,” Kaplan recalls. “We didn’t know this before we secured the location, but he’s a long time Mike’s customer and drizzler himself.”

Noble People manages the overarching initiative, which includes a partnership with the Chicago Fire FC, a Chi-town pizza box takeover and cross-platform media appeals.