FUN IN FUN OUT: with Sam Houle

29:11And we could go into that. But I think what's interesting about what you said, it was has nothing to do with client work. It had nothing to do with how you help brands be more inclusive or how you help others. It's about starting with the company that you were working for first. And that's really important and mostly from a protection perspective. Yeah. And a lot of that has to go back to the states that, you know, it's that state protection and the state regulations. And I think what a lot of people maybe misunderstood at the time is that marriage equality equaled full rights for queer community members.

29:49And I think that's where some of that education and what I wanted to do in Landor is be like, wait, but look at this information and look at what this state's protections are as opposed to what New York or some of our other offices are doing. And so how do we make more of an inclusive environment when it's not up to the organization in some respects? They can't go write a bill. They can definitely support and get involved and take a bigger stance. So that's really what we were kind of contending with at the time. Yeah. And it makes a lot of sense, right? coming from Ohio, which, again, I'm not talking about politics of Ohio, but it is not New York, and it's not, you know, sort of as progressive.

30:31Yeah, they're a little behind. They're a little behind, and that's, you know, again, that's not their fault. It's fine. The chili's disgusting. That's fine. But like, yeah, they're, you know, they're maybe see things a little behind. And I think a lot has been made about, obviously, how companies are trying to get better, and they're working on it, which is wonderful. But it takes people inside of those companies leading the way. And I think also forcing companies to say, what are my rights? Or what are we doing to try to make me feel comfortable in this space? And everyone has the right to feel comfortable.

31:04Because I feel like as creatives, let's just be honest. We're emotional. We're sort of anxious. Some of us are crazy. You know what I mean? We're artists. And that's part of who we are. but I think to make the best art, you have to feel comfortable and you have to feel like supported. And I think even talking about sort of people supporting other people because they don't know skills, but it's also to feel supported in your job, to feel like I come to a place every single day and I could just be myself. And I think that didn't exist 30, 40 years ago. I think people were wearing ties and maybe hiding who they were at home.

31:42And I'm thankful for the change that's happening and for people that do it. So thank you. Yeah, it starts from within. It does. And I think it takes the culture too. When I brought the idea to HR, I was met with nothing but overwhelming excitement and welcoming spirit of like, yes, please let's do this and And let's get everybody involved in pride and start to understand and learn about the community. And so I think it goes to where people definitely need to have the passion to make the change. But then that accepting the acceptance of being able to really implement those changes are great. So it was a small thing that kind of got evolved into much more of a regional global effort as time changed and expanded.

32:34beyond what I would have ever expected. That's awesome. Yeah, it's amazing. And I think the more diverse people that you, you know, again, if you make a place that feels welcoming to all people, then you'll get a wider, you know, diversity of people that are inside your doors. And again, like what we do is for other people, like so much of our work is for, you know, society and culture at large. And if you're gonna, I would say, if you're gonna do work for people, you have to understand people. Because so many brands are failing at doing this, what do they need to know? Like, what do these brands, like, obviously, like, we're, you know, we're talking about the organizations that do the work, the advertising, the branding work, the marketing for these brands.

33:17What are these companies that continue to trip over themselves, trying to, you know, be supportive, be, you know, brands that are allies or, you know, sort of, you know, a part of a changing movement. How can we, what do they need to know? And how can they all stop failing so hard? You know, from your opinion, obviously, one person's opinion. Yeah, I definitely do not speak for the entire community by any stretch of the imagination. But But I think for me, if I have clients that come to us or to me wanting support in that area, I always start by asking, well, what do you do internally? Do you have ERG set up?

34:04What are your health care? What does that coverage look like? Mostly when we start looking at inclusive language and things like that. So it's really kind of assessing where you are as an organization, specifically for the queer community. The HRC does an incredible corporate equality index that can really help guide you to make sure your organization's inclusive. start partnering with organizations that can really get that good foundation for you internally. Because I think you need to make sure that your employees feel safe and comforted in the space that they're working in, that they have the rights, that they have full access to all of what they need as a member of your team.

34:50And so I think that foundation is really important to then start to bridge into more external facing language. Thank you for answering and helping people out there that are in positions where they maybe don't feel safe or they don't feel like they have a voice. And I just I think it's important. And Sam, thank you for for for, you know, inspiring people and also encouraging. Yeah. What what is seemingly a little too late, but is better than never. Yeah. I think it's really sick that you've like you saw an issue in your workplace. And then you took the steps to bring people in and then rally troops and get people stoked.

35:30And you created some support and raised awareness for these issues within your own organization. That's awesome. And Landor is an older institution. You know what I mean? And I think that's what's important. That some of these institutions have been around for a while and they need to change. And listen, they need people like you that are going to champion that kind of change. And that's wonderful. wonderful um we're gonna shift gears a little bit because how long you're at lander uh probably like seven years it's a long time it was a long time it was i learned so much and i think that's what kept me there as long as i was and also just the acceptance that i felt you know every day and that's that's another huge point like when you feel accepted and you feel welcome somewhere and you feel supported somewhere you stay there i was at coke for tell you do your best work yeah i was there for 10 years and i think there were so many people i remember that were like this place i want to leave and i'm like yeah but like is it gonna is the grass greener and are you just saying that because you had a bad day versus like going somewhere i always felt supported i always felt you know encouraged i always felt welcomed i always felt you know um like it was home and i think that's really important and i think it's yeah you gotta gotta hit that maslow's hierarchy of needs right that's true we're just we're constantly thinking about maslow that's what i think about every day when i walk in here it's like maslow's needs like how can i fulfill them for my people.

36:49Siegel and Gale, that's the current place of business. How long have you been with them? I think now just probably about over a year. I think I might have, or I'm just coming up on a year. How important was the fact that they had two names, Landor and Fitch and Siegel and Gale? Is that something that you really prioritized? I think I just work for brands with plus signs and ampersands. I think that's just my thing. In Magara, Jesse, we just need to add a plus. That's true. two different founders. I think there's something in that for my career. You could say you like interesting characters. Apparently.

37:24I like a good origin story coming from somebody. Unfortunately, it's no longer Sagmeister and Walsh, but that could have been another place. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Siegel and Gale, there was a lot of mention about simplicity and this idea of an economical, design mindset, sort of simplicity reigning supreme. Is simplicity really best, Sam? You know, I think the misconception sometimes around simplicity is that to me as a designer, it's not minimalism. And so I think simplicity for me personally is taking something extremely complex and finding a really intuitive, easy human way to deliver it to whoever your consumer is, whether it's a B2B brand, a B2C brand, doesn't matter.

38:20And so for me, it's all about, does it work? Is it intuitive? Can you interact with it? Is it visually communicating things as quickly as you need to see something? So I think that's an interesting tension around the word simplicity. Yeah. I think a lot of people would think minimalism, which I agree is sort of, it is interesting because minimalism is sort of finding its way somewhat out the door and maximalism is in, more is more at this moment. And I think that's a good thing. Ultimately, that's what the kids are saying. The kids are saying more is more. Personally, you know, I love things that are simple and make sense.

39:00I agree with you. But it is interesting to think about sort of a more is more mindset and sort of how we can get abundance and how we can, And how we can flip the paradigm and go for it all. But I agree, ultimately, less is more when it comes to ideas. When it comes to having a really strong, simple execution that's rooted in something that people can understand. I believe that to be true. Whether it's expressed maximally or minimally, it still should be simple. Yeah. Yeah, or easy to use. And I think a lot of my in-house experience have helped, like even if the end output aesthetically looks in line of maximalism, you still have to make sure that someone can recreate this quickly.

39:49You know, I can definitely empathize from working in-house, you know, how quickly you need to flip things sometimes or you need to make it adapt to a ton of things. And so that's where simplicity can fit in. And so to me, it's more of a methodology of delivery in some respects rather than that like end output. Is that because people are stupid? Yeah. No, it's just because it's complex. And like, you know, when I was working in-house, I would have like 20 projects that needed to get out all at the same time. And, you know, you're designing everything. People are stupid. I was talking about consumers.

40:28Yeah. Consumers. Designers are smart. We can all agree there, but people generally, dumb as shit, we can all agree there right now. Consumers, yeah. Consumers, the general public. You know they don't take enough time at shelf. That's consumers. It's just that quick glance. Yeah, designers do. That's what the show is based on is designers are smart, people are stupid. That's the alternative. I mean, I go into stores. You're just looking at stuff? There it goes. Oh, we were waiting for the box to fall, and there it is. I have two hats. I have a critical design thinking guy. And then I got a dumb consumer guy.

41:05Wow. I mean, I get God in the grocery store all the time. Yeah. Find a guy who can do both. Or what's the fucking quote? I don't know. That sounds good. Yeah, that's enough. Yeah. No, people are stupid. And yeah, no, simplicity and easy to use, I agree, when it comes to sort of design systems. Because I do think a lot of times designers, we do like to make things complicated because we are so smart and so, you know, adept at sort of critical thinking. But the average person, maybe not so. And so you do have to make things, I believe, that people can understand. I think sometimes, yeah, no, I think a lot of times there are things that go over people's heads.

41:44And I think there are a lot of times that, yeah. Like the FedEx logo, like not everyone knows there's an arrow in there. Wow. But yeah, I mean, you know, I think that's the beauty of that. It's that subtlety that you get as a consumer over time that's really lovely. It doesn't have to be so in your face and obvious. Absolutely. But it's there. And when you see it, you can't unsee it. And so it forever changes how you see that identity. It's getting pretty hot right now. It's good. There are a lot of TikTok creators who are recreating sports logos. And they're like, here's a bunch of hidden imagery that I hid in the shadows on this dog illustration.

42:20Yeah. There was a Cleveland Browns logo contest, which was inspired from a TikToker. The TikToker didn't even win. The TikToker did not win, but they basically made, there were dozens of entries where they made like dog faces that had like, you know, different lakes from this or different buildings. Yeah, it was like a guitar pick and the collar and like Ohio in the ear. Gotta love Ohio in the ear. Yeah, like a section of the stadium also on the collar. It's just like... How many different references and shapes can you put inside of a logo that have dual meaning? And then have it reproduce at all sizes.

43:01That's right. That's the true challenge. So that's apparently very hot. And it's, yeah, the arrow inside of FedEx is inspiring a new generation of designers. Every single stroke is going to have to have a meaning. Yes. Yeah, you can make something with that meaning. Sam, we're going to switch gears a little bit. Let's talk about some topics. I'm going to jump right to WeWork. WeWork is a co-working space. You guys heard of WeWork? I have. WeWork had a bit of a controversial founder story. I don't know if you've watched that show on Apple TV Plus as well. It was a sort of recreation of the WeWork origin story.

43:46Jared Leto played Adam Neumann. There's been multiple documentaries about WeWork. Everything about sort of how they were, you know, they had a huge, huge moment, but they also had a sort of, you know, kind of a crazy founder and sort of crazy origin story. But again, a lot of brilliant people are crazy people as well. And but sort of they need to shake off that story. I think they're, you know, again, needing to find a way to, you know, kind of put that behind them. And in a weird way, WeWork is also perfect for this moment. We talk about offices and how most people are working in this hybrid way now.

44:29And there's a new office landscape. And so a lot of ways, having WeWork, it's the right product at the right time for a lot of people. but I think they needed to sort of rewrite some of the sort of problematic or potentially, you know, the narrative and the feeling that I think people have about WeWork, which has been negatively impacted by a lot of different factors. So they have a new identity. It's done by Franklin. And I'll start by saying it doesn't change much. It re-works some of the typography. It's a little bit more legible. The W's don't connect anymore. But outside of that, it is a really beautiful and really clean and simple sort of identity system, custom typeface.

45:20The work is done by Franklin. And I think they did a nice job with it. My main critique and challenge is it just doesn't feel like a rebrand. It feels like a polishing refresh. and I don't think that it's going to change too much of people's perception of the brand. I think the average consumer, as we talked about before, not that they're stupid, but just that they're not looking at the Ws quite as much as the average graphic designer is. And I think for me, if you're trying to change the way that people feel about a brand, trying to change the narrative, you have to signal change. And in my opinion, this isn't really signaling change as much as it feels like something that is just tightened, I guess.

46:17And I think tightening something is something that you should do if you have a brand that doesn't have an identity crisis and is beloved and maybe doesn't need to change its public perception. But I think this isn't going to do that, in my opinion. I don't blame Franklin for that. I imagine that's something that they knew going into the project or something that they were directed to, which is we want to update, but we don't want to change. Yeah, I mean, I think when a lot of organizations find themselves in a tough position, there is typically at least what we've seen historically happen for some other organizations in similar places is more of a radical departure from the identity.

47:07So I was too surprised to see. I think it's a beautiful refresh. I thought the illustration was incredibly beautiful and I thought there was a really nice balance that they had a beautiful story around this you and we and how the business kind of took on more of these simplified graphic shapes and then more of that like personal expression came in through gestural line work. It was just really refreshing to see such a distinctive approach to illustration come through and through the animations. I thought it was activated in a really beautiful way. I was surprised, but I think the refresh and what they did with it is quite lovely.

47:48Yeah. I like the illustrations as well. Me too. In my brain, I'm thinking, you know, how long is it before we see the next like rough kind of charcoal-y type illustrations from a tech company? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I think the illustrations are the strongest part of this. I think like sort of delineating between like furniture and people was really nicely done here. And sort of all the furniture and, you know, sort of feels very sort of flat and all the illustrations and the humanity part comes through. And, you know, in all these different ways about how we are now working in all these different new ways where, you know, you may be in your house.

48:24You may be in an office. You may be at a coffee shop. You may be in a conference room and, you know, kind of all these different ways in which we work. And some ways like WeWork is perfect for that. and it does make a lot of sense to try to like yeah turn the page and move forward and i think um i guess i was hoping for maybe something a little bit more um drastic but listen i also understand that they got probably a ton of buildings with that logo really big on the side of it in massive massive uh you know sort of a million multi-million dollar sort of uh that sort of renovation would be required to change 700 locations.

49:03So I also understand that. But they did make a change, but it's just very subtle. So listen, I think it's a beautiful job. I think it's nicely done. I think the new logo is better. I think the typography is better. I think everything about it is better. But I just think as someone that, yeah, identity crisis is the right word to say, or just had some baggage when it came to sort of like people's perception of it. But literally there's documentaries on every network, Hulu, Netflix, HBO, about sort of how problematic and sort of how the company culture and all that stuff was really damaging to the people that work there.

49:40You have a recreation of the show with superstar Oscar winning actors and actresses. Like it is, it is tricky to try to just pretend like that doesn't exist and just kind of move on. But I will say I've seen a lot of this. That's what they're trying to do, I think. And I've seen a lot of TikTok ads actually about WeWork and most very recently, like within the last couple of weeks here. Yeah. Have you ever worked at a WeWork or been to a WeWork? Me? Anyone. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. No? No? No. They're pretty nice. No, WeWorks are beautiful. Yeah. And they are, yeah, no, they're a great place to work.

50:18I've had many meetings and I've had, you know, my wife had a WeWork for a second in the very first WeWork office. Do they have some nice amenities? Yeah, of course. Like, it's a great place to work and it's a really brilliant idea, right? People don't need to have offices and they don't need to have, you know, sort of like all the overhead of like printers and coffee machines and all the stuff. You can just plug in and, you know, get a pass and get a space and sit down and work. And I think it's more relevant right now than maybe it ever has from a product perspective. I just think the brand of WeWork is just, yeah, like I said, it needs to be, it needs to change.

50:56And this is, I don't know if it's going to change, but it's, listen, it's a start. And I think that's ultimately what they're trying to do. And these TikToks are kind of funny to me because they're like, have you guys heard about this new place called WeWork? And it's just like, I think everyone knows about WeWork. You can't like pretend, like, you know what I mean? And it's like very hip, cool people talking about WeWork. And I'm like, guys, I think we're forgetting that everyone knows WeWork. And we're just that. Yeah, we're trying to erase the people's memories and just say, hey, move on. You know, move on.

51:27But hey. They did. They did, didn't they? But also, I guess, don't brands like people deserve second chances, I guess, right? Like Adam Neumann is long gone. He's not a part of this anymore. It's a new group of people. And I imagine they've learned a lot from the mistakes that they've made. So let's give a brand a second chance. How about that? Sure. Is that a positive way to be here? Wow, that's very positive, yeah. As a design podcast, you know? Yeah, they put a little bit more space in the W, and now they get a second shot. That's right. That's all you need. A little bit more clarity, and yeah, you know, again, people can make mistakes.

52:00Speaking of comebacks, Kevin, Grimace is back. Oh, yeah. You know, I had to Google. I was like, what is Grimace? because I remember being a kid and like the McDonald's cookies and Grimace was always around. And so from what I gathered, he's either a purple blob or a taste bud. Oh, okay. So that's what I learned about Grimace this week. I thought he was like a purple chicken nugget. I don't know. I mean, that's what my little kid brain has held on to for all these years. Wow. Purple chicken nuggets. That's a great question. What is Grimace? So you got some clarity on it? You know, I don't think there's a definitive...

52:40I don't think we can really put a label on Grimace. What is Grimace supposed to be? It's just Grimace. Yeah, he's just Grimace. Ready for this one. McDonald's has previously suggested, this is just a rumor, that Grimace may be a swollen purple taste bud. I didn't get the swollen purple taste. I just got that it was a taste bud. It's an odd detail to add. Like a very large taste bud. The embodiment of a milkshake or a tastebud. Wow. I never thought that. I'm with Kevin. I mean, tastebud's a great concept to get behind for a fast food mascot. Wow. I really enjoy that. I just assumed just like shaped blobby character.

53:18But tastebud has now broken my brain. Like, what? So Grimace is a character that was introduced in like the 60s, I believe. And so, or actually no, let's do the math. was introduced in the 80s? I don't know. Grimace is 51 years old. Yeah, whatever that. Whatever 2023 minus 51 is. Clearly, we're not the math people. I don't do math. Neither do I. Let's look at that. 1972, I guess. It's 51? Yeah, that's 51 years ago. Shout out to math. It's an odd birthday to celebrate, like this big. They have the Grimace meal with the Grimace shake, which looks kind of good. It sounds pretty good. Yeah. I'm not a huge McDonald's enjoyer, but I might.

54:07I mean, I probably won't. But in theory, I would make it. Yeah, I'm tempted. You're tempted. So Grimace is back, and we're celebrating Grimace's 51st birthday. Yeah. This is a big deal. We're introducing a milkshake, a purple Grimace colored milkshake, and a Grimace birthday meal, which comes with a choice of a Big Mac or a 10-piece nugget, a fries, and the special purple shake. The pastel lavender treat is made with vanilla soft serve and berry-flavored goodness. Okay. And we also have a Grimace-inspired merch collection that includes T-shirts, socks, and even a pool floatie. And they're even creating a sort of Grimace-themed racing game.

54:51Alex was playing the racing game when we were doing our little meeting. our little pre-show meeting last night. Was it fun? He sounded like he was doing alright. There was a lot of setup for the game. You had to go through lots of storytelling, sort of introductory, sort of like, you know, when you play a game and they're giving you the backstory before you can actually start. That happened to me for like two minutes. I was like, oh man, I need to get to this game real immediately. And it was not very fun. But you were able to skate. Here's the big thing, and you already brought it up. Why the fuck are we celebrating a 51 birthday?

55:21What happened last year? You know what this feels like? They were like Grimace's 50th birthday party. They had a lot of plans and they just weren't able to put off. 51 is so random. To bring this character back who I feel like I haven't seen in a long time. And then to be celebrating the 51st birthday and making the birthday the center of this whole new marketing campaign feels so strange. Well, they did that big merch drop last summer. I can't remember the brand they worked with. cactus plant flea market, right? Maybe. It was like Don't Trip or something like that. Yes. But I bought a Hamburglar shirt because it was great.

56:00They did really good merch and they had no Grimace merch. He was on maybe one shirt in the crew. It was kind of weird. I'm like, what are they holding on to Grimace for? And then - Here it is. If you remember maybe like six months ago, the end of the year, they were like, the Hamburglar was back. So I think they're rolling out all these old nostalgic characters, getting some play on them. Maybe they're going to roll them out one at a time. I don't know. But yeah, I agree. 51 is a little weird. And also the merch is eh. Yeah. I think they could have maybe collaborated or pushed it a little further.

56:36I sound like Alex here. Sam, I always say I'm going to push things further. That's my big sort of creative direction brain. What do you think, Sam? Are we feeling characters? Like, you know, how do you feel about McDonald's nostalgia? You know, I'm here for it. Like, I think I think it's pretty fun. Like, you know, it definitely felt really nostalgic for me. It made me actually think about my my Nana, who's passed away. She worked at McDonald's for many years. And so it just kind of brought me back into the time where, you know, I could run in and see her and experience the mascots that were there.

57:16So I definitely think for me, it hits a little bit more personally. and I'm like 51 you celebrate it like you celebrate whatever birthday like any birthday is worth celebrating so I'm here for it I just feel a bit that it is a bit odd that it's kind of why I like it yeah we're celebrating like 51 because clearly 50 would have been a really nice big round number but I'm now looking on the McDonald's fandom page and yeah he was a purple character debuted in 1971 as evil evil grimace these characters are they do have a tinge of sort of like yes 70s and 80s like characters and i think it's interesting we're talking about trends and things how they cycle through i think for a while these characters would have been seen as super bizarre and strange and i think now that we're kind of entering this sort of the the strange weirdness of brands in a way that's we're welcoming these type of characters and like grimaces the mcdonald's twitter page turned to like grimace and it's sort of they were sending some somewhat strange weird horny potentially like grimace tweets did you see this kevin i didn't see any horny tweets neither did i they were sending like kind of like screen grabs that were like suggestive of grimace like just being like showing little parts of grimace's body so are you projecting this i believe wow listen what i saw is maybe different than what the average person maybe it's what you wanted to see but um yeah no there was definitely some interesting grimace mcdonald's social media activity and we've talked a lot about brands being more experimentational on social media and like yeah kind of playing up their you know their weird sides i guess is just what else how i'd call it and i think it's kind of cool yeah right like when brands get a little weird grimace had his own ad on uh the nba finals last night and you'll never guess who was the narrator who was it it was uh brian cox aka logan roy from uh succession really with grimace yeah there it was narrating the commercial yeah that's interesting yeah yeah i mean i guess it i like it i like that characters are back i like that they're getting weird i agree with you the merch collection here is a little i want more purple yeah it's not really fun and wearable enough bucket hat you know kevin i looked it up yeah it's cactus plant flea market which is the brand that did sort of the last which is like a cool streetwear fashion brand So it's like, if you're going to do merch, I think if you're a giant corporation, you're going to do merch, like find a good partner.

59:44Yeah, bring some experts in. Yeah, bring some experts in. Like us. Yeah, and don't expect that other people are going to, yeah, just going to want to wear a shirt because that's grimace on it. Like find a way to make it wearable because people do want to support things like weird characters from McDonald's history. Absolutely. But I think people like Kevin, who Kevin, you know, dressed up like the Hamburglar. Yeah, even though my childhood alliance was Burger King. That was my, that was more of my spot. I'm also now doing a lot of research here into other characters Mayor McCheese, Captain Crook Hamburger Patch some characters I'm not familiar with Uncle O 'Grimacy They're all coming back They're all coming back They're all going to have their own moment and it's going to be great I'm here for it, bring them all back I will say the shake feels like the only thing that's somewhat new here and I did read a review this is some heavy research I did someone said it just tasted really artificial special that's the product review i don't know that you go to mcdonald's to get a berry shake i don't know what do you expect it's not gonna be they don't have fresh berries in the back what are you talking about yeah the blackberries are coming from the local farm yeah pick them right off the vine yeah that's right exactly uh moving on slurpee gets a brand refresh um slurpee uh kevin revealed some very interesting facts before the show kevin can you let our listeners know what that fact was about Slurpees?

1:01:04I've never had a Slurpee. What the fuck, Kevin? I've never had a 7-Eleven Slurpee. I've had like a slushie. Sam, what do we do? Should we just pause the show and stop right now? I think we gotta go. I've had an icy. I think we have to go and fix this situation. Yeah. So Slurpees are trademarked of 7-Eleven. That's probably why, right, Kevin? Because you've never been to a 7-Eleven? I've been to 7-Eleven. I've been to 7-Eleven. But you never were like, oh, I'm familiar with these iconic frozen beverage. I'm familiar with the Slurpee. I just have never gone to 7-Eleven and purchased a Slurpee. I've been to other gas stations and gotten their ICs and slushies wherever you want to call them.

1:01:41But I've never had a Slurpee. This is a sad day. We need to immediately write this wrong. I mean there is a 7-Eleven pretty close to where I live. There's one around the corner here. Is there really? Yeah, there's one right down the block. Right by Dunkin' Donuts. So 7-Eleven has one of their most famous brands I think is the Slurpee. I can't think of any other sort of like brand in the 7-Eleven universe. But we have a rebrand, a complete new identity and a logo, a giant S that is sort of in the general sort of flow of how a Slurpee comes out of a machine. I think it's really cool. And we have a quote from 7-Eleven's Marissa Jarrett, who is the 7-Eleven's CMO.

1:02:24And it's my first quote here on the program from a CMO that I actually find really refreshing yeah much like a slurpee on a hot day quote i like to say it's the drink that there's not really no good reason why it should exist but also that's exactly why it should exist fucking right it does not really have a reason to exist and that's why it should exist perfectly said um it's not like other drinks it's a frozen carbonated beverage i guess there's carbonation in this machine? Again, yeah, it's spicy. Allegedly, I've never had it. Seven-Elemons flavored slush wormed its way into a plastic cup for the first time in 1966, meaning that customers have been drinking Slurpee for close to six decades.

1:03:13Now, finally, has its own logo and its own brand and, of course, its own merch. Sam, what do we think? I love it. I love a good Slurpee. I'm here for it. I have had a Slurpee before many, many times. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. You know, I definitely fancy myself an icy connoisseur of sorts. And so Slurpees are definitely at the top of the list for me. At the top? Yeah, I thought the refresh was really welcomed. And I thought there was a little hint on their website of the pattern that came to life. And I'm really excited to see how that unfolds. And it's the identity, the S kind of interlocking in this kind of continual angular pattern.

1:03:55That was really kind of a beautiful touch. And I'm curious to see how they play out. And some of the ad spots, you know, really made me want to go get a Slurpee immediately. They had these very iconic intro shots where you just saw this macro shot of a cup. And then there was a really beautiful sonic that came with it where it's just all of that icy goodness kind of dropping into a perfect dollop. And I'm like, man, I really need to go get a Slurpee. It works. It works. Anything goes. That's the campaign. Oh, wow. Actually, no. Sorry. anything flows that's the campaign there we go um interesting um i didn't watch the commercials but i applaud you sam for for watching and i here's my one my one piece of critique uh anything flows and the shape of this s icon um it's just reminding me a bit of the poop emoji It's got a bit of a poop emoji feel to it.

1:05:02And yeah, that is something that I'm going to have a hard time getting out of my brain. Well, I mean, if you think about it, the top of a Slurpee, you know, it just kind of doesn't. I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying here. I think we should probably move on. But there's another good quote from sort of Marissa Garrett. She says, beverages are competitive industries. There's so many different options. So why would anyone choose a Slurpee over something else? And I think that is a really good question. There's so many different things that are happening in the sort of 7-Eleven shelves and the sort of coolers.

1:05:39And yeah, it's a very, it's a unique drink. So fucking lean in. Did she have an answer for that question? Nope, nope. Just a question. Just a question. That CMO. Yeah. Top tier CMO right there. Yeah. I guess the answer is that it's a Slurpee. And it's unlike anything else. So that's why you should get it. That's because you want a Slurpee. That's why somebody would choose it. Yeah. It's a destination. You go for the Slurpees unless you're Kevin. I'll go get a Slurpee. You have to. Yeah, I will. You have to. I promise. I think the logo is awesome. I think the design of this is great. I'm watching the commercial right now without any sound.

1:06:12It's fantastic. I'm looking at the merch. The S is really well deployed across a lot of different things. AirPod cases, plush toys, dad hats, socks, T-shirts. Oh, no. Okay. maybe a little too many pieces of merch here, but hey, look, you know what? Is there such a thing? You had fun with it. And a cropped hoodie, a crew neck, multiple tote bags. Okay. Maybe we went too far, but like, honestly, I think some of this is well designed. And I think the most important part is this S feels like a fun, playful visualization of what it's like to get a slurpee. Kevin would not know. Sam and I. Yeah. Very familiar.

1:06:47Yes. I just love seeing just fun, creative work. That's really gets me going. It just looks like they had a good time doing it. Yeah. It looked fun. Yeah. And it should be. It should be a fun process, mostly for a fun product like a Slurpee. And, you know, you take the same level of seriousness. And if you put fun in, you're going to get fun out. And I think one of the pieces of swag I love. That might be the episode title right there. Oh, my God. But what I loved, one of the merch pieces, they did Slurpee umbrellas for your drink. And it's just like only a Slurpee could do that because it's got the right consistency.

1:07:26So I love unique moments like that with swag collections that can only be done for your product. And so I thought that was a really cool moment amongst all of just the fun print and pattern that was happening. But that swag piece, I was like, right on Slurpee. Are y 'all calling them swag collections at Siegel and Gale? Because that kind of goes hard. I don't know. I think that, I mean, it's a swag collection. It is. It is a swag collection. Yeah. Yeah. No, when people say swag, I think it always is intriguing to me. I use it sometimes. I think I use merch now more because swag makes me uncomfortable because like calling something both swag, which is what it is, but also the sort of slang term swag.

1:08:10It's like, it's just a little too confusing. Yeah. I mean, my definition of swag is like 07 Soldier Boy swag. Yeah. Yeah. it on yeah you have to turn it on but the way to turn it on is often by wearing a piece of swag yeah from a branded corporation swag swag yeah swag swag no i agree like what i love about this is that it is a uniquely summer product i feel like you can get a slurpee in the winter there's no one you know denying that yeah or declining you at the store but it is a deeply summer thing on a hot summer day to go to uh your local 7-eleven uh promo code front and center to get a 99 cent product it's a cheap product it's 99 cents it's it's like you can get like a million ounces of slurpee for like two bucks i do love the slurpee day content where people are bringing in like fucking buckets like gallon buckets and throwing it up and then like the the store clerk is like get that out of here like what are you doing like that is that is not like you can't fill that up in here remember like a couple years ago there was some sort of like soda ban where you couldn't get like giant sized sodas anymore i think that was just in new york was it just in new york okay Okay.

1:09:16That does not apply for Slurpees. You can fill whatever container you can fill with a Slurpee. Yeah, it's not a soda. You're legally allowed to. And I believe 7-Eleven really pushes the limits on what is a cup and what is a trough. I think those are something that – Slurpees, only Slurpees. I have a memory burned in my head of the Speedway ones where they had those giant, probably like 64-ounce reusable cups that looked like a coffee mug with a straw coming out. That's what I want. Another fun fact about Slurpees, in my opinion, is like while if you go to a movie theater and you get like a little Coke and a little 7-Up and a little Root Beer and a little something else, like that's disgusting and gross.

1:09:59When you do that with a Slurpee, totally acceptable. Like that is 1000 % part of the experience. That, in my opinion, is something that they could have played up here. I think it's very common knowledge to get like a little cherry, a little Coke, a little blue raspberry, like just mixing all those flavors up. That's probably why they did the gradient. Yeah, the gradient, I think, is supposed to harken to that. And there's a spot that celebrates it a little bit more. You guys are really smart. That's why you're both here. And I think this is a good place to end the show. Thank you so much, Sam.

1:10:30We really appreciate you coming on and talking about literally so many random things. but somehow Kevin is going to make all of this sound coherent and professional and acceptable for a human audience. Great. The best audience in the world. Our listeners, thank you very much. Thank you, Sam. Congrats on everything that you've done and your amazing career, and thank you for looking out for people. Not enough people do that. Do you want to plug anything? Yeah, do you want to plug anything? No, no. I'm just happy to be here today. Not even your dog's Instagram? Yeah, we didn't even talk about that.

1:11:04You didn't even talk about my dog. He's the best. We didn't want to overshadow your career and story because your dog is very famous. Thank you. He's very cute. He has more followers than I do. We didn't want to bring it up. It's fine. I embrace that about him. I can be secure in my success while letting my dog just shine. Well, I feel like there's a push from where I'm seeing it. There's a push for the dog. to like, you know, the social media presence is going, it's going towards the dog, right? Sam is comfortable being a bit behind the scenes while the dog is front and center. He's cuter than me.

1:11:41I mean, he's adorable. The dog is pretty cute. The dog is adorable. Thank you. What are we thinking monetization-wise about this dog's career? Are we thinking movies? Are we thinking photo shoots? No, none of that. I'm not going to be a stage parent. I want him to live the best life he can while he is on this earth. Wow. What a mistake. He just needs to celebrate life in the Instagrams really for my parents so that they can see all of his cute photos. Wow. That's really – That's very pure. His cuteness deserves to be shared. So no dog shows? No. Yeah. No. No. No. He doesn't need that. He just lives his life and goes to the river.

1:12:18No branded content. Yeah. He just lives his life. Brand partnerships. You're telling me if Puparoni knocks on your door, you're not going to answer? Well, he's allergic to a lot of stuff. So he would be a terrible rep for Puparoni. Okay. Sam, you know what I've learned here today is that you're a very good person. Thanks. And you do things for the right reasons. And for that, I'm very confused. Good. Glad to bring that in. You're looking out for other people and you want your dog to be happy. Yeah. Like you want other people to be happy. Wow. Wow. Kevin. What a wholesome note to end on. It's probably because I drink Slurpees all the time.

1:12:54It's just like the sweetness raging through my veins. You've quite literally Drinking the Kool-Aid I have The frozen Carbonated Kool-Aid Available now At 7-Eleven Go get one For the summertime A refreshing Delicious Beverage Thank you Alright See you next week Peace

1:13:27I thought about the beat, turn my swag on. Took a lick and a mirror, said what's up. Yeah, fuck me and money.

1:13:57Thank you.