FOR THE MOUNTAIN DUDES

0:00To be fair to LeBron, the fact that he's been doing this at this high level for 21 years. LeBron rocks. I love LeBron. It is miraculous. And they do show a lot of behind the scenes body work. Nice. Which is something I love to see. But LeBron talking about his body and how much work he does every day on it. And he talked a lot about sleep, which that was probably the most inspiring part for me. Wow. Someone who loves sleep. How does he sleep good? What's his secret? He does not compromise on sleep. Wow. That's amazing. King. How does he do it? He goes to sleep every night. He takes naps. He's like a big sleep guy.

0:38Oh, good. I mean, that's how you be. That's like, yeah, everyone says that's like the key to health. Yeah. He says it's the he spends over a million dollars on his body, you know, with chiro therapy and hyperbaric chambers and ice baths and massage therapists. But the number one thing he does is is free and not sleep. Wow. So good for him. Shout out to all the listeners out there. Utilize that free recovery. I know. I need to be getting better sleep. No, sleep is... I'm with LeBron. Me and LeBron on the same page.

1:133, 2, 1. Kevin! You got it? Yeah, I got it. Nice. Just killed a fly or something. We are back. And the New York Liberty are the WNBA champions of the world. I watched the game. Really? It was electric, yeah. I missed it. I watched the game just to see Jason Sudeikis in the front row. Yeah. They love cutting him. Yeah. He loves the sport. Now, I mean, shout out to them, but they were really trying to lose that game. Really? Down the stretch, yeah. It was Sabrina Ionesco was like one for 12 or something. Like she was stinking it up. Really? But luckily her teammates picked her up. Brianna Stewart like literally missed two free throws in the clutch in the fourth quarter.

1:56Wow. And somehow they kept fighting through and they should have covered the spread. They should have won by at least 10. Not that you're complaining. They should have covered the spread. They should have covered. But they missed a lot of shots down the stretch. But good for them for winning. Finally a New York team. Wins a championship in my lifetime. You love to see it. Can I ask a question? What game was this? It was game five. Wow. Of a five-game series. Well, shout out to Sabrina. Shout out to the whole New York Liberty fan. You love to see it. And unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily wipe away the pain that I'm feeling from my New York Mets being eliminated.

2:37But it does help. I mean, luckily for you, you guys had an incredible season with a lot of events. The pop culture was circulating the team. They were kind of America's team for a minute. They really were. We had Grimace. We had Lucky Pumpkins. Haley Welch. Yeah, we had the OMG song. And then they brought out the big guns for Game 5. They brought the Rizzler. The Rizzler was in the house. I loved it. He is the most recognized person on the internet, but yet the least recognized person on the internet. Oh, as soon as he puts a hat on, you're like, who is that chubby kid? Yeah, he's showing up at games.

3:12He's on the Mets' social media. He's making rounds on everything, all the platforms and pages, and then I still have to explain it to people. I'm like, my damn. You're still going around telling people the backstory of the Rizzler. Preaching the good word of the Rizzler. I mean, what a star. I am sad about the Mets, but here's the thing. Borrowed money this season. It was supposed to be a rebuild year, and we had a lot of fun. And unfortunately, we came up short. We couldn't get to the subway series that we all were hoping for, but it was fun while it lasted. And we must have sold tons of McDonald's Big Macs.

3:52Oh, 100%. We increased shareholder value significantly, and that's what we're all here for. right? Yeah. I mean, I think it'd be a disservice to everyone involved if, uh, there was not a McDonald's in Citi Field next year. Yeah. I mean, listen, we were the best marketing that McDonald's had for at least a couple of months here. Oh yeah. I mean, everyone was showing up in those knockoff grimace suits. Yeah. Yeah. And we were just promoting the shit out of McDonald's and I will say I still haven't had a chicken Big Mac, but, uh, that's gonna, I'm going to make that happen soon. Good, as you should.

4:25And I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm starving right now. But yeah, Kevin, it was a big week for New York sports. I also went to EatsCon. So shout out to the good people at the infatuation. The weather was beautiful. The vibes were on point. The design looked great. And I just want to say, a tremendous event. It was my first time going to EatsCon, believe it or not. What'd you see? What'd you eat? I loved it. I saw Matty Matheson from like 10 to 15 feet away he was on stage doing some talking. Was he talking about his new book? He was talking about his books, talking about food he was talking about the bear still haven't finished season 3 but Did you tell him that?

5:05I didn't let him know but he could tell. I did meet the girl from TikTok who makes people the middle finger. I don't know her name I forget her name as well. I know who you're talking about Yeah she's delightful Her videos are always set to some sort of mid-2000s. The killers. It's funny because when I was talking to her, Jackie didn't know who she was, so I had to explain to Jackie right in front of her what her brand was. Oh, great. She appreciated that because I said she's a tremendous chef who seems to not care about cooking. She was like, it's funny. I get that a lot. And she's like, that's not necessarily something that she is trying to do, but that is her brand, I think.

5:52Yeah, she doesn't give a fuck. She doesn't give a fuck, but she's also mega, mega talented. And I think that's what people appreciate. I ate a lot of good stuff. So do you want to know? Yeah, I want to know. So the first thing I ate was this partnership between Apollo Bagels and Community Goods, which I never had Apollo Bagels before. People claim that they're the best bagels in New York. Very strong. Yeah. Really good. I had this cinnamon bagel honey thing, and it was just sweet and savory and incredible. Again, my stomach is growling just thinking about it. I had a slice of an industry pizza, which I've had before, but it was hot.

6:28It bangs. It bangs. Yeah. The burrata right on top. It was just, oof. Forgot how good that slice is. I had some wings from Dan and John's, which I've never had before. Just love wings. You can't fuck that up. Dan and John's is great, too. I had some salt and straw, I believe is the name of the ice cream place. Seen that around. I think that's a West Coast thing. Yep. It's infiltrating. Yeah. I'm not a huge ice cream guy, but the ice cream was very strong. Yeah. Very sure. Yeah. Really good. And yeah, that was it. It's funny because I went in. I was like, how am I going to eat all this kind of different types of food?

7:03And am I going to get full? And the portions are small. They know what they're doing? Yeah. And the prices are lower because of that. So you can – it's like you get small bites and then you get like four or five of them. So you go to EatsCon. You pay for the ticket and then – Yeah, you got to buy the food, which is – yeah, whatever. That's the event. We can leave it at that. We can leave it at that. But there are things. There's music. There's free promo. There's speakers. People were – like brand activations. Yeah. So you're getting free soda from Coke. You're getting free seltzer from LaCroix.

7:45You're getting merch from different brands. Nice. Honestly, it's totally worth it. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And again, realistically, I probably spent like$60 on food between the five different stations. Yeah. And I had like a banging meal. Yeah, that's awesome. And so I really enjoyed it. I mean, was there a line at Lundistry? There was, but it wasn't too bad. That's great. Probably five minutes, ten minutes max. Yeah. I was walking around the West Village the other weekend, and it was literally – there were, like, several pizza shops down there that are very good. Yeah. Everyone had a line out the door.

8:20It was crazy. Yeah, yeah. It was insane. I've never seen anything like that. It was like, oh, let's go to Lendistry. Yeah. Line. Let's go to Joe's. Line. Like, it was crazy. Stars, yeah. It was always line. Yeah. I mean, the lines were totally manageable. Yeah. And I was meeting people, and, you know, it was great. It was a really tremendous event, and the vibes were immaculate. The weather was a 12. We're in the prime time of weather here. Yeah, and it was while the Mets were still in it, so there were Met fans everywhere. I was wearing a Mets hat. We were all congratulating each other, and yeah, it felt really good.

8:53I also went to Ohio, Kevin. Oh, I saw Columbus. I was outside of Columbus for a wedding, family wedding. That's where all the freaks live. And I will say Reynoldsville. Really, really nice, Kevin. I didn't know Ohio was - Oh, dude. Ohio in the fall is great. It was beautiful. It was really outstanding. Again, the weather was part of it too. Yeah. It was 75 and sunny and Ohio was looking - You get that crisp air. It's super fresh. Yeah. Yeah. It felt fresh. There was a lot of land and - Yeah, dude. Room to breathe. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Nothing like it. It's nice to get out of Brooklyn and see land.

9:29My cousin had a house with a backyard. Amazing. We're doing some can jam, you know. Oh, they had can jam? They had can jam. Yeah, yeah. In the backyard. Yeah. Tremendous. And yeah, the wedding was on some sort of ranch thing. Oh, that was this weekend. It was this weekend. Nice. So yeah, Ohio showing out. People like to shit on it, but you know, it's a nice place. Yeah. And the people there were very nice. Especially when the weather was nice. And yeah, the weather was excellent. So it was nice. The past month of my life has just been truly way too busy. I have come down with a bit of a cold because the body keeps a squirt.

10:02Yeah. All right. So if I sound sick, it's because I am sick. You know what I sound sick? I'm a soldier. How are you, Kevin? How are you? I'm fine. Your hair is looking tremendous. Yeah. I'm about to cut it. Yeah. Did you see the meme that the Throwing Fitz boys put out where it said, when you mix phenostagyl and Phinex or whatever, and it's like some guy with just like crazy hair? That's what you're giving. yeah i'll look into that meme yeah yeah yeah verify if it's true or not yeah yeah let's see but i am i'm not on i'm not juicing you're not juicing yeah yeah i believe it that's all natural yeah it's just uh goat goat soap yeah that's all i use i believe it dude i mean you're you're you're known for this uh tremendous hair that uh you bring it every week well it's yeah it's uh it's about to go way to go about to go uh bye-bye really you're chopping it off kevin is i'm gonna buzz it yeah he is it's about time more so than anyone else on planet earth he is uh he's he's gone through 15 to 20 different hairstyles over the past five years that i've known you kevin probably probably more like five or six really you think so yeah well i mean one of them is just a buzz cut yeah and then growing out from a buzz so well kevin this is uh i'm i'm live slacking you uh this meme so you know what i'm talking about and well i don't have slack on oh get out i don't have slack on my work phone oh here it is um here's the meme then i'll show it to you oh oh my god when you double up of minoxidil and finasteride yeah that uh that guy's that guy's face is so small well kevin it's been a minute uh since you and i have had a chance to sit here in the seats and talk about what's going on in the world of brands yeah should we start with ourselves uh what about ourselves i was gonna say uh there's a brand called beer at the launch with oh yeah Yeah, sure, sure.

11:48That was done by the good people over at Center. So we can finally talk about it, which is amazing. I've been holding this secret for 11 months that my close personal friend Tom Holland and I and us have a beautiful brand. Yeah, it's great. It's out there in the world. It looks beautiful. Yeah. Please support us. Beerabrewing.com, a non-alcoholic beer brand for the peoples. It's been a really fun journey, and the brand is out there now. And congrats to us. Yeah. That's all I'm going to say. Congrats to us. Kudos to us. Congrats to us. And when we haven't done podcasts this year and we've been like, sorry, guys, we've been busy.

12:27That's probably what we've been doing. That was what you were doing last week. That's right, actually. So thanks for giving us some slack. Here it is. It made it to the shelves, which is the best feeling. Yeah, I think. It's in the world and it's on the shelves. And now you can see it on YouTube. Oh, this isn't going on YouTube? Oh, shit. Well, hopefully this is a clip. Bureau brought to you by Tom Holland. Tom Holland's a really great guy, and his sobriety journey is really inspiring to many people. So now there's a beer brand out there with the same great taste but none of the alcohol, and we're very proud of it.

13:05Absolutely. It's real, and it's beautiful, and it's in the world. I can't wait to drink a million of them. That's right. That's the way to get drunk. I'm just kidding. that's the loophole, is if you drink one million bureaus. I think people have debunked. I don't think you can physically drink enough less than 1 % alcohol beers. Or like less than 0.5 % alcohol beers and ketchup buzz. I think it's been debunked. Well, I wouldn't recommend it anyway. That's not the point of Bureau. The point of Bureau is that beer actually doesn't need alcohol to be delicious. and it's as good tasting as a beer is and a regular alcoholic beer.

13:49It just doesn't make you feel shitty. Yeah, but if you want to drink a million of them, you should. You should. By all means, you should drink a million of them. By all means, you should drink a million of them. But I think the key to Biro is that it tastes delicious and you can enjoy it in any beer drinking scenarios. Have you tried it? I have. I have tried all three of the delicious flavors of Biro, and I put some in the fridge here so that we can all have some this afternoon. I'm going to freaking shotgun it. Well, I'd love to see that. Kevin, we should talk about Lunchly because we talked about Lunchly last week, right?

14:30On the pod, right? And we talked about how the good people at Lunchly, which is Mr. Beast, Logan Paul, and KSI. Yep. They were going after Lunchables. And they were talking a bunch of shit about Lunchables, if I remember correctly. Right, Kevin? No preservatives. No preservatives. The cheese is garbage. Real cheese, real meat. Yeah. And how - Less sugar. They were going for the throne. Less sodium. That's right. Slightly all less in each category. Correct. Marginally. What we said was, this is a good idea because Lunchables have been iconic and have been running the lunch game for kids in schools for, what, three decades, four decades?

15:18Who knows how long? And they had something here. But there's one problem, Kevin. if you come for the king you best not miss and the challenge which with putting cheese real cheese or real meat in boxes and shipping them around the country is that sometimes just like better bagel you run into a little bit of problems with mold and uh apparently all of the uh lunchlies that are making their way into people's homes have mold. Maybe not all, some. A lot of them. Some. A lot of them. I have not seen a single picture of Lunchly without mold. So what do we have to say, Kevin? I mean, I guess spin zone, this is what you do when you have real, actual real cheese, it molds.

16:14So you can't be mad because... Yep, that's what they said. That's what real food does, it molds. and yeah, so just be happy that it's real food. Even if you had to throw away the$8 box, it's real. And that's just proving their point that they've done this Lunchable thing. They've done it better because they're using real ingredients and they mold. So third eye open here, are you saying this is all marketing? because you know what doesn't get moldy artificial fake yeah preservatives yeah when you take the preservatives out things mold things go bad no i don't know i mean this just probably seems like a um a hasty mistake that they probably didn't think about and then now like they've messed up and you have to make it right and it's probably costing them a good amount of money yeah but i'm sure they'll be fine.

17:19Yeah, I'm sure they'll figure it out. But I do think I'm not surprised. It is some shit that it's like, oh, this new CPG brand that was probably rushed to market. Like they didn't think about this. And then, you know, first run is just moldy. Yeah, I mean, you're right. Like when I when I think about this in terms of the, you know, barrier to entry being lowered for entrepreneurship, where people can launch businesses at incredible fast rates and raise money and get their ideas into decks and then into the world. And yeah, it's hard to do CPG. It's hard to do product and it's hard to do food. And yeah, it's much easier to put TikTok ads and Twitter ads and meta ads with good packaging or good branding and celebrity influencers into the world, but the logistics in the back end of actually supplying the demand is a lot harder.

18:19And so I think this will hopefully make people spend a little bit more time on their product and making sure that the product is right and that things like this don't happen because this is going to hurt business big time. Yeah. I'm looking for, I thought that they had a line on their website about like something about like color or something but yeah have fun for lunch yeah i mean i think it's just it's just it it's it's it's so obvious i mean it's so predictable that this would happen is it's almost comical but i am uh yeah i mean this is what happens when you're shipping food and you don't necessarily yeah focus on the back end and the logistics of it and i think these influencers are running so many brands and doing so many things at once that maybe maybe just focus on your you know maybe just have one brand or two brands and do them really really well and not try to get greedy trying to take down four or five different categories and different types of things at once like i think that's probably the message here for both of these guys yeah or all these guys absolutely is they're they're probably doing too much and they're doing too much prime is like you said it's been one of the most successful brands the last decade and you know feastables the chocolate bars they rebranded they look out better i haven't had one but they supposedly taste good and mr beast has got such such tremendous success on his videos it's like did this did they need to do this i don't know and if you're gonna do it then do it right and clearly shipping moldy product all everywhere is not is not get that lunch on lock yeah get it right well leave no crumbs leave no crumbs even plenty of crumbs kevin moving on speaking of of of crumbs did you see that ketchup now has sprinkles what's the deal with this oh i did see that that's pretty cool yeah so heinz is they they're innovating on uh on their their beloved ketchup i was actually in pittsburgh uh this weekend as well kevin And yeah, on my way to Ohio, I broke up the trip and stayed in Pittsburgh.

20:35Yeah. Stayed at a hotel and yeah. Great. It was also very beautiful. Wow. Thought about getting a Permanente's sandwich, but it was a bit early. I should have. You should have. I know, but Pittsburgh was really beautiful. You probably would have fallen asleep at the wheel. That's right. Exactly. That's why I didn't do it. It seemed like a bit of a heavy breakfast or it just didn't fit with the schedule. It is. Yeah. She puts you to sleep. But Pittsburgh, famously known for Heinz, and ketchup, the best ingredient. I heard that city smells like ketchup. Is that true? I didn't smell it. Okay. I'll just say it.

21:11But they're innovating on ketchup. So now they have something called ketchup sprinkles. So this is something that you can put on top of. I guess you need another condiment to kind of put this. Yeah. In the photo, they have French fries with mayonnaise and then ketchup sprinkles on top of it. I think that is what makes sense to me. But yeah, crunchy ketchup. I'm here for this. Yeah, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, this is like an activation for the Dutch. Yeah. They love putting mayonnaise on fries. So I think it was supposed to go on top of mayonnaise, which I'm here for 100%. Yeah, me too. call that fancy sauce where i'm from ketchup and mayonnaise yeah i love mayonnaise with fries yeah it's great yeah when whenever i'm in europe i do think that they they're onto something there and i think they know how to live they they're living life um better than we are and i think i these i haven't tried them but they kind of look like those crunchies you get like sometimes on soft serve ice cream yeah like cookie crunchies oh yeah but imagine those Those were ketchups.

22:20Little pieces of ketchup. It's electric. Yeah. This is the type of innovation I'm here for. I hope this comes to America. It's better. And yeah, this is starting in Amsterdam. Yeah, they need them there. They need the jimmies. This is a big, bold idea. I'm going to just say it. But when can we try this? I don't know. Hopefully it just comes across the pond. Yeah. And the packaging is great. They just put it in the Heinz bottle. and then they just filled it up. Yeah, what a cool, easy, like not easy, but like, you know. Yeah. If you got to like as a packaging designer there, it's like, oh, what do we do?

22:57Just throw it in the iconic bottle. Yeah. Yeah. Done. Fastball down the middle. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Run the ball. Yeah. Run the damn ball. I'm here for it. Yeah. Run the ball, Heinz. And yeah, we, everyone loves ketchup. So let's, let's try some new ketchup formats. Let's do it. Yeah. Let's do it. Ketchup jimmies. Ketchup jimmies. What else do you want to talk about, Kevin? I don't know. We're skipping around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about Mountain Dew. So Mountain Dew announced a refresh. It's a visual identity this week. PepsiCo's Mountain Dew brand known for doing the Dew is bringing their spirit towards the great outdoors.

23:33And so Mountain Dew has been known as Mountain MTN Dew for the past 10, 15 years. 2009 is when they moved from Mountain Dew to MTN Mountain Dew. And they were kind of a bit of a skateboard, extreme sports kind of play, I think was the main push. They have that funky logo with the sort of type and going in all sorts of directions. Very sharp. A bunch of shards around it. Yeah, a bunch of, yeah. Sharp shards. Super sharp, super shards. and they're going backwards. So they kind of dug up a bunch of old logos and it looks like they're going back to the one probably closest to 1996. And yeah, and they are kind of going back to their outdoors roots.

24:32And the brand apparently is also bringing back some of its yee-haw, hee-haw is what they call it. And they have something called the Mountain Dude, which is a mascot. And they got Jason Momoa to play that. The Mountain Dude? The Mountain Dude. I love that. And yeah, apparently they're going back to the mountains. Yeah. I mean, it's funny. To the great outdoors. The inception of this beverage is to be a mixer with moonshine. Oh, yeah? Yeah, that's where this beverage came from. Yeah, it started in the Appalachians. Oh, wow. And yeah, it's just cool to see. I don't know. I'm not a huge Mountain Dew guy.

25:16Never have been. Probably never will be. But I like the logo. They got an iconic logo. It's maybe a bit of a shame they didn't go with the 1969 logo because that one's really nice. Yeah. You know, that's just something to look forward to in 10 years when they redo this. Yeah, this seems to be them kind of following the trend and the trend being that people are really into the throwback package movement of kind of seeing the brands in the world like we remember them from our childhood in the 90s, speaking about millennials like myself. There you go. And so I kind of agree with you. The current packaging always felt a little crazy to me.

25:58That didn't sort of feel like it was very modern. It did kind of feel a bit dated in sort of a very early 2000s way, which I guess that's when it comes from. So I think now, and we're in 2024 going into 2025, stuff that feels like early 2000s doesn't necessarily feel fresh. And so they're going back to the 90s and trying to spark that sweet, sweet nostalgia that a lot of brands have done. I'm with you, Kevin, in that I have not really had a lot of Mountain Dew in my life. I was asked by the Dialine to participate in an article where there was a bunch of sort of rapid reactions the day that the brand announced this rebrand.

26:40And I, yeah, I kind of wrote about my experience with Mountain Dew, which is mostly at a Taco Bell. I think I've had Mountain Bear. Sorry, what's it called? Baja Blast. Oh, you got Baja Blast. I would say Baja Blast is probably the most Mountain Dew I've had in my life. Fair enough. And Taco Bell. And so I don't really have much in an affinity for the brand. So therefore, that sort of play to kind of spark that nostalgia for the 90s doesn't really hit for me because I don't really have much of that sort of connection with that old brand. So I just, it doesn't really do it. And then the design is, is, is a bit rough.

27:20They kind of have this kind of sort of cheesy outdoorsy imagery and then this sort of, uh, uh, sunshiny kind of, uh, sun motif. And it's, it's not really working for me. It doesn't really feel exciting or fresh or new in, in any real way to me. It just kind of feels, yeah, I don't know. It kind of misses the mark. And I think strategically it makes sense where I think the X Gamesification of the world is, I don't know, it feels like it's not necessarily at the center of culture anymore where the outdoors and brands like North Face and Patagonia feel much more in vogue and much more trendy. And I think that's because people are inside and on screens all the time.

28:06So people want to celebrate being outside, whether they're actually outside. Yeah, people want to feel like they're going outside without going outside. That's right. So I think strategically this all makes sense, right? You got the nostalgia, you got the sort of outdoors, and you have this brand that has a right to be there. And there's a lot of kind of brand sort of assets and iconography from the past that allow you to make this move. So I think all of the thinking and all of the strategy and it was the right intention. I just think the execution falls a bit short for me. Cool. And I think if they had done this a little bit differently, I think it would be, I think it could have been a bigger splash.

28:52Sure. For me. I think it looks nice. I think it looks, it's an improvement. It looks more approachable, more comfy, like more sunny. I like that. I don't know. I'm not, again, you know, not gonna. You're not a Mountain Dew guy. I'm not a Mountain Dew guy. Yeah. But if I were, maybe I'd be fired up about this. Yeah. I mean, there are definitely Mountain Dew guys out there. Yeah, absolutely. Right? They're Mountain Dudes. Mountain Dudes. Yeah. Which is also cool. I'm happy to see them bringing a mascot back. Finally, a drink for dudes. Yeah. That's what I've been saying. It's just there needs to be more drinks for dudes.

29:30There's also something interesting about the fact that Sierra Mist is a lemon-lime soda, also owned by Pepsi that is now Starry. And so Mountain Dew is a citrus soda, right? But it's different. Like Mountain Dew and Starry and Sierra Mist. Starry is for people who live in cities. Mountain Dew is for people who don't live in cities. Gotcha. So politically, this is - No, no political. Just, you know, city versus county. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't know. Do we need that many citrusy beverages, PepsiCo? Like, do we need that much, many carbonated lemon, lime, sodas? Alex, if you start pulling the string, there's - That's what I'm saying.

30:14The whole thing unravels. Why don't we make - Why don't we just be content and say, I love Mountain Dew and call it that? Because if you start pulling at this, do we need this? Do we need that? Do we need this? Yeah. Yeah. You bring up a good point. And then we go back to being primal. That's right. You don't want that. There's no graphic design in a primal society. That's fair. So why don't you stop pulling those strings? Fine, fine. I will stop pulling the strings and just say, I'm going to keep drinking Sprite. Yeah. That's it. Sure. That's where we're at. One lemon, lime, citrus soda to rule them all, and that is Sprite.