MOVING THE NEEDLE

28 Feb 2024 · 1 h 3 min

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In short

Podcast Episode Summary: Front and Center - MOVING THE NEEDLE

Episode Overview

  • Host: Alex Center and Kevin Batory
  • Release Date: Wednesday
  • Main Topics: Branding, design, pop culture, NBA All-Star Weekend, and various product collaborations.

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Key Discussions

  1. Cultural Commentary
  2. Separating the Art from the Artist:
  3. The hosts discuss the ongoing debate around controversial figures in pop culture (e.g., Kanye, Dave Chappelle).
  4. The idea that rebellion in contemporary culture may manifest as anti-mainstream ideas and actions.
  • Media Attention and Provocation:
  • Discussion on how provocative statements from artists can generate significant media attention, leading to increased interest in their work (e.g., Kanye's album releases tied to controversies).
  1. Post-Vacation Updates
  2. Skiing Adventures:
  3. Kevin shares his experience skiing across multiple mountains.
  4. Alex discusses his recent vacation in Jamaica, highlighting local cuisine.
  1. Pop Culture Highlights
  2. NBA All-Star Weekend:
  3. The hosts critique the recent All-Star events, particularly the dunk contest, expressing disappointment in the lack of competitiveness and excitement.
  4. Discussion around the production value of the event, including the LED floor.
  • Product Collaborations:
  • The Trump sneakers and their marketing implications are discussed. Despite disdain for Trump, the hosts acknowledge his branding savvy.
  • Tyler, the Creator’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton is praised for its artistic merit.
  1. Innovative Products and Marketing Trends
  2. Liquid Death Products:
  3. Liquid Death introduces electrolyte powder as a new product line, hinting at potential future brand acquisitions.
  • KFC’s Cheetsa:
  • A new menu item combining fried chicken and pizza, referred to as Cheetsa, is discussed alongside the marketing strategy behind it.
  • Dude Wipes Auction Drama:
  • Discussion about an auction for branding space that resulted in some controversy regarding bidding methods.
  1. Brand Activations
  2. Fanatics and MLB Jerseys:
  3. Commentary on the poor quality and design of MLB jerseys produced by Fanatics, leading to social media backlash.
  • Brand Collaborations at NBA All-Star Weekend:
  • Puma's collaboration with Cheetos is highlighted, showcasing creative merchandise and installations, including a giant Cheetos bag.
  1. Trends in Design and Marketing
  2. Dual Purpose Products:
  3. The emergence of iPhone cases that serve dual purposes, such as holding lip balm or being a flask, is noted as a popular trend.
  • Guy Fieri’s Sauce Line:
  • Guy Fieri’s launch of a sauce line called Flavortown is discussed, with critiques of the branding and packaging aesthetics.

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Key Takeaways

  • Cultural Relevance: The podcast reflects on how current events and figures influence branding and marketing strategies.
  • Consumer Engagement: The hosts emphasize the importance of engaging with consumers through innovative and appealing products.
  • Artistry in Branding: The conversation highlights the intersection of art, culture, and consumer products in contemporary society.

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Conclusion The episode navigates through various cultural touchpoints and trends in branding, showcasing the hosts' insights on pop culture narratives, product innovations, and the importance of maintaining cultural relevance in marketing. The humor and critique embedded in their discussions make for a lively and engaging listen for those interested in design and branding.

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Transcript

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0:00This is probably not a thought I should have on the podcast. And this is not an original thought. This is something that I... Are you going to separate the art from the artist? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is an interesting theory. This is not my theory, but this is a theory that I... Borrowing from another podcast. What, John Carmonica? Yes. Yeah. He was talking about how to be a rebellion in today's world means to be anti-monoculture or anti-wokeness. Yeah. And so in a way, Shane Gillis or Dave Chappelle or Kanye, like these are, this is today's form of rebellion. Doja Cat, like all these people who are like a little bit like.

0:39Yeah, fringe. Fringe. Matt Healy from 1975. Yeah, yeah. And what I realized, and this is not what they said, I'm just, I'm taking what they said. It's like, that's what makes people, people are riding with these people that are a little like, And people have been riding with people that are anti-pop culture for years. Eminem was this. Fucking punk rock was this. Hip-hop was this. This is as storied as anything in culture is people, counterculture. And counterculture right now is anti-woke, anti-establishment, anti-media, anti-internet. These people that are provocateurs. And in a way, it made me actually understand Kanye West a little bit more, who has always wanted to be a contrarian, has always been this guy that's like, you don't tell me what to do, I do whatever I want.

1:35Again, he has always been someone that has to push against the system. That's what makes him exciting. That's what makes him dangerous. Think about it. George Bush doesn't care about black people. That's what he has been doing this for a long time. This is not a new playbook. This is another thing from the John Caramonica School of Thinking. It's like, dude, how do you get attention for your projects? It's really tough out here. Justin Timberlake has a new album, new songs, blah, blah, blah. No one gives a fuck. He has a new album for real? Yeah. JT. JT. It's a good song too, Selfish. It's good.

2:07But I don't think people... That's not moving the needle. Dua Lipa putting out a new song isn't moving the needle. What moves the needle is shit that fucking pushes up against the fucking creates tension in culture. And I'm not saying that's a good thing, but it's keeping Kanye. Kanye's been doing this move for 10, 20 years where it's like, you know, album season. He says a bunch of controversial shit and all of a sudden everyone's like, oh, check out the new music. Yeah. It works. North's verse is fucking hard, though. Yeah, yeah. Mr. Westy. Yeah. That's my bestie. Westy. Yeah, I mean, it's good.

2:51Ready? Three, two, one. Kevin! What's up, man? What's up, dude? We're back. We are back. Back in the New York groove. Yep. Kevin was shreddy for - I was very shreddy. How many days were you actually on the mountains for? Eight. Eight? Two travel days, eight days of skiing. Pretty fucking hard skiing, too. I was going to say, how fucked is your body right now? I'm pretty tired. I'm pretty sore, and my nose is fucked up. It's like some sort of wind burn, sunburn, going too fast, skin melted off my nose type thing. Yeah. I have a little bit of a sun situation on my nose, too. So we're just two guys back from vacation with red noses.

3:32Sounds like you went a little bit harder than that. I went really fucking hard. I just was in the sun. I was shredding my face off. Was it the same mountain all eight days? No, I did like four. I did... Four different mountains. Yeah, so we did one day at Vail, like five days at Breck, one day at this place called Loveland, and then one day at Copper Mountain. Sick, dude. I'm so jealous. It was great, yeah. We had good snow, laying fresh tracks pretty much the entire time, like the last couple days. It was fucking awesome. You see Sean White was teaching Kikuddy. I did see that. That was cool.

4:07In Park City. Yeah. I get a lot of snowboarding content on my TikTok. Probably they want you to start it up again. Yeah, they're like, come on, Alex, dude. They all want you to get out to the mountains. You know that guy Ryan on TikTok? Do you ever see he shoots from POV perspective? And he's like a snowboarder, and he's just like this lovable guy. Is it Snowboard Jesus? No, he's got long hair, but he's just this guy that is on TikTok snowboarding, and he's progressively getting better, and he hits rails, and he hits jumps, and he's just like, he's just always like, you know, very excited. Like, woo, got it.

4:39And then he falls sometimes. He's just like, it's just fun. He's just, I like wholesome ski content. He's a stoked motherfucker. He's a stoked guy on the mountains learning. And he's like not, he's like good. He's like backsiding rails and stuff. But not like really too good where you can't like relate to it. Yeah. Do you know Davis Clark? I don't know. He's a, he's this finance bro from Boston. he kind of he's a little unhinged but like in a cool positive way where he's like i'm gonna grind so hard today because you know because everyone else is sleeping he's kind of like a gary he's kind of gary v pilled but like got a screw loose so it makes it a little interesting skier or just a content guy he's a content guy but he's a big runner and work he works out but so you're just putting me onto something yeah he's like he's sincere pilled he's he's in my sincere pilled uh Rolodex of people I follow There's only so few There's so few sincere people On Kevin's page He knows them all Should we shout out Salt Hank Do you know who Salt Hank is?

5:45Yeah he's a guy on TikTok He makes fucking bomb ass sandwiches And he reached out to us to do some work Maybe together He makes videos with Matty Matheson and Benny Blanco Reach out to us as a pod or us as a studio? as a studio okay great but um yeah man i'm still cooking on tiktok i was in jamaica man it was a it was a ding-mock four days on the beach beautiful vibes uh yeah chet haze shout out chet haze um beautiful food jerk chicken jamaica beef patties that sounds great oxtail that kind of shit was banging you get some nice time to relax you know it's hard for me to relax but i did get there you know it took a couple days and some edibles and some stuff and yeah i was chilling uh good good Just Negril.

6:29Check it out. Never been to Jamaica before, so first time. I love Caribbean. Water's clear. Fucking sun's shining. It's only a three and a half hour flight. Really? Yeah. Oh, my God. Dude, it's easy. That's crazy. You're there in like 10 minutes. Damn. Three hours, nothing. Yeah, three hours, nothing. Yeah. And, well, you know, a little customs, but not too bad. But, yeah, there was a Jamaican church skit on SNL with Shane Gill. That was you. Yeah, that was me. I was going to church in Jamaica. what do you think of Shane? I'll say it not my guy I think I've you know warmed up to him he's funny I'll say that he's a funny guy I thought his episode was underwhelming I expected a lot especially because of the bigness of like a guy getting cancelled and you know kicked off the show and then coming back to host I don't know I thought I thought it was I thought there were a couple decent skits I liked the I liked the HR one I thought that was pretty good HR one's funny yeah And the Trump shoes one was pretty good, too.

7:28Although I felt like they did miss an opportunity to have him. He's got a pretty good Trump impression. He did the Trump impression. No? Yeah, but he did on that skip, but I feel like they could have had him. Pushed it further? I feel like they could have had him in character. He was just kind of like. He was Trump? Yeah. I mean, he wasn't. He was embodying. He was like an embodiment because at the end, they had that other guy who wasn't as good at, you know. No, that other guy doesn't kill her, Trump. Eh, you know. Yeah, it's fine. He's all right. Um, yeah, we should talk about the sneakers, the hottest sneakers, the hottest brand.

8:01The Trump ones. On the Trump, uh, yeah, the January 6th's. Um, I have to say it, man. The second I saw that he was going to be at Sneaker Con. Fire, bro. No, I said this. The second I saw that he was going to be at Sneaker Con, I was like, this motherfucker. I was just, just the fact that he was going. I was like, this guy is good at branding. Like, I hate to say it. I fucking hate this, you know, I hate this guy. but man he's good at branding like he just is people love him you could say he's an awful person he is he's got terrible fucking beliefs and he's a liar and he's a fucking sociopath convict con artist he does some things right when it comes to branding and the sneakers go to sneaker con and And not just going and just walking around and doing it, but just to release a$400 all-gold Trump shoe.

9:01Yeah, also$400 for that. Those are got to be dog shit. No, they're trash. Well, they're made, obviously, overseas in some fucking factory. Well, yeah. Aside from aesthetics, the production on those things are probably super trash. They're hideous. You see, they're fucking - No, dude. They're fire, bro. They're reselling for$45 ,000. No way. Yeah. People are fucking buying them. Wow. The reason why I say he's good at branding is just because the same way that everyone's talking about Shane Gillis or everyone's talking about Kanye for doing these fucking awful crazy things. The sneakers, that's just such a sticky thing.

9:36It's just you know that everyone, SNL and late night shows and everyone is going to be like, Trump is selling a$400 all gold sneaker. It's just like, it works. He's good at getting. Yeah, people bought them. Whatever. It doesn't even matter about people buying them. It's just how much cultural zeitgeist-y attention. Yes. Sneakers are over, though. No, sneakers have been over. They've been over, yeah. But for a politician to put out his own pair of sneakers, it just works. It's a good story. It's a good punch. It's a good setup. Oh, Donald Trump is releasing his own pair of wands. Oh, yeah, yeah, the January 6th is or whatever that.

10:16Well, he knows he's going to get the positive reaction from Fox News, and he's going to get the mortified reaction from CNN, and then everything in between. There's going to be a lot of conversation around it. It's just going to circulate his name. Yeah, exactly. They're going to get mocked on SNL. They're going to get mocked on fucking Jimmy Fallon. They're going to be conversation. He put him out like a week ago, right? New York Times article, fucking SNL. It's everywhere, and that's exactly what he wants. Exactly what he wants. You got to get the shoes. Yeah, dude. I got to put them on the wall.

10:51Yeah. 45K. So worth it. Also, the fact that they're all gold is like so. I think he had two colorways. I think he had a white one and all gold. There's two colors. But the all gold, that's what really matters. I will say the thing about him being good at branding, right? And I will argue anyone about this. Ready? The greatest achievement that that man has made is that a guy who has an all gold apartment, gold toilets and gold utensils and gold appliances and marble cares at all about the most disenfranchised, poorest people in this country. The fact that he has somehow convinced those people that he cares about them is the greatest con piece of branding or marketing or whatever, however you want to describe it.

11:44It blows my mind to this day that that guy has convinced that audience that he is their guy. It's shocking. It's crazy. The only thing hotter than Trump sneakers, NBA All-Star Weekend. Oh, my God. What a transition. Was this last weekend? I already forgot. Yeah, it was last weekend. Was it last weekend? We've been kind of out of the way. It was two weekends ago. No, it was two weekends ago. Well, I was in Jamaica when it happened. Yeah, it was Presidents Day weekend. I had to tap in. It was Saturday night. I was like, what's going on? NBA All-Star Saturday night. Dude. How'd you like it? I mean, it's - How much did you watch?

12:22I watched the highlights. Okay. And it's so boring. but it's it has a hold on me it's the same way with SNL I watch SNL every week and is it good? no but do I watch it? yes that's fair that's the same thing about All Star Weekend and like every time I'm like this is the year the slam dunk is gonna be better and this was probably the worst one I've ever seen I feel like every year they find it every year it's worse and worse and worse the only thing worse than the slam dunk competition was Kenny the Jet fucking and on the announcing saying that Sabrina should shoot from the women's line. What is wrong with you?

13:02Don't you understand the whole purpose? What we're trying to do here? Those guys are so out of touch. Can I say another thing about fucking post-retired athletes speaking on podiums or in announcing? We have to fucking cut down the amount of people that talk. They need to start vetting them a little harder. They need to start vetting them harder, and we need to start saying, Should these people be talking into a microphone? And before the Super Bowl, fucking you watch seven guys around a fucking table. It's like we can't get one woman here. We can't get one person who has a different perspective than these seven ex-athletes, ex-NFL players that all have the same fucking general experience.

13:43I like Teresa Thompson on Amazon. She does a good job. Yeah. I mean, they should put fucking – Get her in there. They should put Taylor Rooks. There's plenty of women that could be part of the judging panel for a slam dunk. They could be part of the fucking announcing. Like, what is going on here? Get Kenny the Jet and fucking Charles Barkley and Shaq. Get these guys out of here. They have the goaded sports program, in my opinion. Inside the NBA, are you going to sit there and tell me that's not the just number one sports program around right now? I'm going to tell you that. Have you watched SportsCenter recently?

14:20SportsCenter is bad, too. SportsCenter is horrible. I had it on on one of my flights because I wanted to watch highlights. Yeah, for sure. And there was no highlights. All it was was weird stories about athletes hanging out with other athletes. On my flight, I watched McAfee, and I never really watched his show. It is good. It's entertaining. He runs a good program. Yeah, he knows. He had Adam Silver on. I thought that was really cool because it was like Adam Silver was in Indianapolis for the All-Star weekend and he went to McAfee. It was a good conversation. Moving on. Do you see Tyler, the creator for Louis Vuitton?

14:59Yeah. He bangs. He's so good. Yeah. Tyler does not miss. I think he's upstaging Pharrell. No. I think Pharrell has always been his guy. And I think the fact that Pharrell brought Tyler in is very smart of Pharrell. I don't think that makes him look bad. I think that makes him look even smarter. I like how Tyler is able to, like he's got kind of an aesthetic and like a visual feel to basically anything he does. I like how they let him cook and it comes through. And some of those pieces are really sick, like the hand-painted Louis shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. If only I could afford that.

15:36Yeah, no, I mean, I love it. I think, I'm totally with you. I think Tyler, like I will say this about Tyler. He is one of the great artists of this generation. and I think music is one piece of his talent. And I think it's like, even if at times where I've been in and out with the music, I always think his visuals, his aesthetic, his album art, his personal style, his performances at award shows, all of that, and his personal brand, Golf and LeFleur, whatever all those brands he has, he's very good as a creative. He's fantastic. And it's cool to see him get the Louis Vuitton budget to do whatever he would want to do.

16:19And it's very sick. Yeah. It's cool seeing dudes use rap as a vehicle to excel their career. Like Vince Staples has a show on Netflix. I haven't watched an episode, but I'm probably going to tonight. I'm excited about that too. Yeah, it looks sweet. Yeah. It's like a comedy, right? I think so. Yeah. That's awesome. I agree. He rules. I love Vince Staples. He's hilarious. His music's good. Yeah. He's got good visuals. I'm excited about that. I do want to watch that. I haven't seen it yet. But no, I agree with you completely. I think it's amazing to see Tyler get this sort of high fashion nod. And I think it makes Pharrell look good.

16:56I think it makes Louis Vuitton look good. I think it makes everyone. I mean, obviously, it's incredible for Tyler. So yeah, I actually want to check out. I'm not going to buy any of it, but it's pretty fucking sick. Oh, come on, dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm excited to see that. Come on, dude. Buy some. You know what? I have been starting. I don't want to talk about football anymore, but I started the 10-part Patriots doc on Apple. It's called Dynasty. I mean, listen. Is it good? It's great. I mean, I'm not a Patriots fan. I'm fucking not. It's just good sports documents. Those franchises, the stories are great.

17:29Like Drew Bledsoe going down and Belichick sticking with Tom Brady and Spygate. There's so many good stories in that run. So I'm excited to see where it goes. I need to get on there. yeah i mean i think i don't know if you'll love it but it's it's it's i mean i'll love it i love oh i'm a big sports doc guy yeah you know you know that love sports yeah love sports uh you excited about dune 2 kev i'm excited to get that popcorn bucket we didn't talk about this i know i don't i can't believe we missed it but i know this is the episode of like hey guys we missed some things over the past couple weeks that was last week's episode too what yeah so we're trying to catch up it was literally called we missed some stuff or stuff we missed we're still missing shit i guess that's okay the sexiest popcorn bucket i've ever seen yeah i mean the fact that that got through and produced and do you think you don't think anyone called it out it was like damn no i think this bucket is wild i think that they probably did and the fact that it got through is maybe a testament to you know kind of what we're talking about earlier with like but like the media cycle and how it works it's like you post a picture of that crazy looking flesh lady popcorn bucket thing.

18:41And it looks like a thing you would buy at a Hustler Hollywood. Yeah. And people are going to flock to buy it because it's fucking weird. Yeah. Salute to them. That's what makes the economy go round, I think. Did you ever see Dune 1? No. No, me neither. I kind of want to see it. I almost watched it. And then somebody was like, if you didn't see it in the theater, don't even bother. Oh, man. I almost watched Oppenheimer on the plane. I think that's probably the worst place to watch it. That's the opposite of the Dolby whatever they were talking about. That's what Christopher Nolan wanted, right?

19:21It was me to watch Oppenheimer on a fucking three-hour plane from New York to Jamaica. What did I? JetBlue, I think. Same thing. Oscars, I don't know when those are, but those are coming up. I got a lot of movies to catch up on. I haven't seen shit. But yeah, Oppenheimer, Dune. I just don't have the fucking attention span for these fucking three-hour movies. But I think I'll enjoy Dune more, probably. Yeah, you love Timothee. That's my guy, Timothee. Yeah. Timothee Chalamet. I mean, listen, I'll say this. You loved Wonka. I did like Wonka. They did have a bucket there. It was like a hat. I did not buy that.

20:02Timothy Chalamet's episode of SNL was about 30 times funnier than Shane Gillis' episode of SNL. Yeah. And I will stand by that. I think it's probably just because of the expectation of how... Timothy does not look funny at all. He's very funny. I don't know. I think the writers did a really nice job with Timothy and that SoundCloud rap. The SoundCloud rap skit was pretty good. The SoundCloud rap skit actually made me smile. Wow. It actually got through the first one or the second one? They did too. The first one is the one that went super viral with Pete Davidson. It's Yeet. Yeah. Yeah. And then there was a second one, Clang, Clang, Clang.

20:47Yeah, the Clang, Clang, Clang one I liked. That was the second one because they had already done one. It was him and Pete Davidson being SoundCloud rappers. Where it was like the history of rap or something? Yeah, it's the same premise. but then when he posted the show again this year, they ran it back. And it was almost, I mean, it was the same exact skit and it worked. They just put in a different song. Clang, clang, clang. And the first one was Yeet. It's great. But yeah, Shane Gales has nothing on Timothy. Yeah, that's what's going on in the world of culture. Kevin, we got a couple more things.

21:21Coinbase was the one who bought the Liquid Death side of PAC. They bought it for half a million dollars. Good for them. I think that's probably a good investment right i mean sure i guess so how's your nft portfolio looking awesome as your sorry how's your crypto portfolio i haven't looked at a minute but i should probably take a look uh is crypto up again i don't know i don't know that's what's happening yeah i mean listen coinbase shout out to jordan esteban we should we're gonna we should have them on the show uh our friends over at coinbase they're i like what they're doing i think they're doing cool stuff i think they brought in good creators i think they're doing smart ads i think this is a good blue yeah their nba also are um nba all-star game shit was cool exhibition or sorry experience yeah pretty sweet yeah good job on that yeah that's been a turn into a brand moment i guess is the nba all-star game is so much brand content but yeah no gotta have an experience there coin base bought the ad um they thought it was a good deal it's probably a good deal and then they uh They ask their fans what they should put on the side of the pack.

22:26So, yeah, I guess they're using the whole thing as a means to start the promotion. If I had 500K, I'd buy it and just put my picture on it. Just a picture of you, Kevin? With a thumbs up? Yeah, put my picture on maybe my Instagram handle. Yeah, I wonder how many people are actually going to notice this. Or is it just the idea of this? I don't know. I'm actually kind of surprised. I was thinking about this on the slopes, dude. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. All I was thinking about was brands. Yep. I know, yeah. Why would Liquid Death sell upside of their pack? It seems a little off-brand for them, especially.

23:08They're a bit of an anti-brand sometimes, but honestly, whatever. Who cares? I don't think they were hoping that another brand would buy it. That's true. I guess your point is like, if you're going to go, if it's going to be half a million dollars, it's not like you and I can. They probably didn't know it was going to be. Yeah. I wonder if they thought it was just going to go to like some like dry cleaning business. Did we already talk about the drama with Dude Wipes? No. Okay. So Dude Wipes won the auction. Oh, really? Yeah. On eBay. And it was like 300K or something. And they promoted it. They're like, we won the auction.

23:43It's us. We're the winners. And then Liquid Death came out and said that actually people were having a hard time using eBay for the bidding. And people wanted to bid more money, but eBay wouldn't let them. Oh, that's a red flag. That's a bad eBay seller right there. You can't do that. That's breaking the rules of eBay. And so Liquid Death decided to say, we'll take the highest offer. Doesn't matter if it's on eBay or not. Dude. So this offer from Coinbase actually came not on eBay. It was like off platform. That's a bit shiesty. Which I think if I'm Dude Wipes, shout out to Dude Wipes, sponsor the pod.

24:27I'm a little upset. I'm a little, you know, I'm a little butthurt. Yeah. Damn, that's a good one. If I'm Dude Wipes because they won the auction. And listen, I hate to say this, but like rules are rules. So I think I'd hope that liquid death finds a way to make it right. Yeah. I mean, as a person who is and who's tapped in with the vintage reselling on eBay, if that happened to me, if somebody went off platform and, you know, put a higher offer on a on something I had, you know, quote unquote sniped. Yeah. For a lower price. I'd be fucking pissed. I know a lot of vintage resellers who would be very pissed because I see them sounding off on Facebook about that same situation happening quite frequently.

25:16And I will say this, not to criticize Liquid Death, they could have done an auction on a different platform. They didn't have to use eBay. They could have had this auction on their website. They could have been like, highest offer on our email by tomorrow. Also, who has trouble using eBay? It's been around for like 25 years. I guess there was some issue where the highest bidders weren't getting through. People were trying to bid more. That sounds like cap. And eBay wouldn't let them. It is a little fishy. It's a little fishy because if I'm liquid death, do I want to give my packaging real estate to dude wipes?

25:50Probably. I don't know that you do. I think you'd rather give it a course. I mean, you get an extra$200 ,000. But I guess the question, money aside, who would you rather share your packaging with? I don't know. Dude Wipes is probably... I just don't know. I don't know. It's interesting. I wonder... My third eye is open. Did they... They took the extra 200K, but we'll see. I saw on Twitter. This was a thing on Twitter where Dude Wipes... What's the discourse? Well, Dude Wipes was saying, like, we won the bid. They announced that they were the winners. Did they say anything after their bid got revoked?

26:30Yeah, they were pissed. so um yeah i i don't know what they're supposed to do other than just kind of move on and just you know call it a day but um it's a red flag for ebay yeah i don't i don't really like that but you know i don't really care i don't love it either you know what brand is actually getting torched online fanatics fanatics oh my god god those fucking you know the see-through uh major league baseball it's bad oh my god i saw one where like the type on the back is very very small i've There's a bunch of TikToks on this, and some people have been sending this in, so thank you to the listeners, because that's the type of shit we like to see.

27:07So we should talk about it right now. The uniforms, so in the past, it's been not Nike. It's been, I believe— Majestic was before Nike. Okay. Majestic, you're right. So they're the official title sponsor for the uniforms. So Nike gets the deal to be on the uniforms. but nike brings in fanatics to make the product i don't understand like why does nike make their own fucking jerseys for major league baseball players absolutely it's a great question like why would you not just handle that yourself and make them you know the best that they could be you know that probably boosts sales a lot if you make high quality yeah high quality shit yeah but But I think that's what Fanatics does is make dog shit products.

27:55Oh, dude, they have. Have you seen like – There's a Twitter page. It says like Fanatics sucks. It's hilarious. And they just misprint stuff. People getting like upside down numbers. Yeah, yeah. Things spelled wrong. It's a very funny account. Nameplates curving the wrong way. Yeah. Apparently, it's like pretty fucked up. I think it's just because they make so much stuff. Yeah. They make it for so cheap that like mistakes are just bound to happen. Oh, yeah. Well, I saw on the Guardians jerseys, the cuffs on the arms were a different cuff. That's crazy. It's not even a uniform. So what people are saying, or sorry, what the story is.

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28:33So Fanatics, they're making the new uniforms. And spring training just started. And the players are wearing these uniforms. And the names on the back of the jerseys look 50 % smaller. and the numbers are like you know still roughly about the same size maybe like 20 % smaller but like the relationship between the numbers and the name plates are really fucked and it just looks like a it's bush league it looks like a shitty t-shirt jersey that they would give you at a giveaway which is fine when like you're going to a ballpark and you get a free t-shirt or you get a free jersey it's like yeah you think the quality is going to be the lowest it could be but like if I'm a professional fucking baseball player and I make it to the league and I get my first jersey and my fucking nameplate on the back looks like it was made at the dollar store.

29:21That's fucked. Yeah, it's not a good look. It looks bad. Yeah, they need to be like, there should be some gravity to those jerseys. Yeah. Even if those aren't the jerseys that are sold at the stores within the, you know, if those aren't the replica jerseys that they sell to the masses at the ballparks or online, that's one thing. But the actual players' jerseys, those should be a high quality like fabric and the the highest quality jerseys that you can make i had a little fanatics issue with the bangles jersey i got last year um shit which i got like a white you know sam hubbard jersey and i tried it on this year like at the beginning of the season and the the sleeve was like well past my elbow it was just like it's like unwearable like what am i supposed to do with that yeah the sleeve was past my elbow and it was like tight in the armpit it's like what What is going on here?

30:14Yeah. So the biggest story about the jerseys, not just how shitty they look, is the white jerseys, which I would say almost every team in the league has a white jersey. I think they have to, right? They have to have a white jersey. It's classic. And the pants are so see-through that you can see the tucked-in jerseys to the pants and also more. Yeah, and more. And more. Emphasis on the more. And so these guys are wearing skin-tight, translucent white pants. Everyone's saying they're trying to boost viewership in baseball. I mean, listen. This is maybe a good— Stay woke. The NFL had Taylor Swift.

30:53The MLB has see-through pants. It's not a bad idea, but it just makes everybody look particularly bad. It's Bush League. Yeah. But this is the most anyone's been talking about baseball in years is these shitty jerseys. Do they change them? I guess they kind of have to. I can't imagine they go into opening day. Some people have been saying that this is the same quality that they've had for years. I think the white jerseys have always been a little... White jerseys are just tough. I think it's hard, and especially in the sun or whatever. You're telling me Nike can't figure out a way to innovate that material, so it's not only light but also not translucent at all?

31:35These are particularly tough, and I think the images that are coming out of them are pretty funny. Yeah, they are. So that's a thing that's happening online. People are certainly big mad about the jerseys. You've seen a lot of baseballs. Yeah, exactly. A lot of baseballs. A couple of bats, too. Liquid Death also released a powder called Death Dust. First product line outside of liquid canned beverages, I guess, for Liquid Death. It's a thing that everyone has been doing is just electrolyte powder. I mean, electrolyte powder rules. Yeah. And so I guess they're putting powder. You put the powder into the water and make flavored water, or you could just buy the flavored water, right?

32:18So this is a thing that kind of has become pretty mainstream. And I think this all leads. To me, this reads as a brand that's right about to sell to Coke or Pepsi. Yeah. It's kind of gearing up for acquisition or showing how the brand can expand in an effort to kind of say, we've taken the brand to the peak of its ability. And now it's time for... Here you go. Run it into the ground. Run it into the ground. And we'll take our billion... We'll take our$10 billion. Damn, that's crazy. And we'll... Mike and Andy and all those guys that fucking have been building that brand are going to get super, super mega paid.

32:58and the brand will then be distributed all around the world and it'll probably start to maybe potentially have last. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. I'm kind of surprised that they didn't rock a small plastic baggie for this powder. What type of powder? Is it a bag? Is it a paper bag? No, it's like a little sachet, foil pouch. I think people were a little upset with the plastic involved. Is that plastic? I know that Dylan was a bit upset about it. That makes sense. I kind of was like, if they've got this aesthetic, maybe it should just be a little dime bag. Okay. But they ain't cool enough to rock that.

33:41Yeah. Someone said they should have called it Ashes, kind of leaning into the death theme instead of death dust, ashes, or liquid, some sort of ash play. Do you think they're going to promote people snorting it on their - Probably not. I genuinely think this is – I think they're trying to – they're going mainstream. This is – listen. That's okay. It's fine. The world needs canned water. No, it's good. They changed the world. They changed the fucking world. Well, not really. No, they did. They did the first thing that actually is a – they took water, that plastic water, which there's a fuck ton too much plastic water out there, and they're forcing people.

34:22They showed them the path towards canned water. That's fair. And they did it in a really unique and exciting and cool way. So shout out to Luke Doug. Talking about brands that are pushing culture forward, Kevin, Taco Bell. Taco Bell's back. We talked about this, right? About how they did like a keynote, Apple-style keynote. We did, right? I think so. Yeah, and they introduced a bunch of new stuff. And I think they introduced this, which was the sort of Taco Bell version of a Choco Taco. which we talked about famously on the show. Choco Taco was a beloved sort of franchise and product that was always a little soggy and never really kind of that good.

35:07Yeah, but then people had developed an affinity for as they were getting rid of it. Yeah, getting rid of it. Oh, we said it was riding off of its name. Yeah. Great name, Choco Taco. But Taco Bell has their finger on the pulse of the internet and Taco Bell does a great job of marketing. And so they're like, we're going to bring the Choco Taco back. And so they partnered with an ice cream brand called Salt and Straw, which is... Have you ever had it? I've had it. It's really good. Yeah, I've heard it's good. I've heard it's very good. Yeah, and so they're bringing back a version of the Choco Taco, which is...

35:42Yeah, it's a taco-shaped waffle cone filled with cinnamon, ancho, ice cream that's been dipped in single-origin chocolate sauce. Each will be served... There's three different versions of them. with different sauces and a cheesecake dip. That sounds pretty good. I'm pretty damn hungry, too. Me, too. I'm also starving. So, Choco Taco, great name. And I think it's very smart that Taco Bell is like, we can get in here. We'll pick up Klondike wherever. Klondike, you know, we see his trash. We see treasure. Yeah. I won't lie. This headline got me. For a second, the headline was Choco Taco is back. And I was like, oh, no way.

36:23Klondike's coming back with it and then I click into it and it's Salt and Straw which at first I was a little disappointed and then when I thought about it I was like oh Salt and Straw will do a much better job than Klondike will so this will be a win-win we talked about how Taco Bell like very like I feel like we called it didn't we say this is gonna happen we said Taco Bell's gonna come in there we may have called this roll the tape roll the tape we talked about how they wanted Taco Tuesdays and how they stole it from a fuck of Taco John's so now do they just they're not gonna they can't call this thing a chocolate taco probably but i think it's gonna be like a inferred i think it's gonna be like chocolate taco or something like i think it's gonna be oh man they're they're they're calling it the iconic ice cream chocolate taco it's like the big game i feel like they just need to go ahead and buy that trademark yeah get some sort of license yeah they should talk to the contact but maybe they don't need it but it is a great name uh speaking of great names kevin should we talk about the cheesa the cheesa yeah yeah absolutely so kfc uh fine purveyors of fried chicken has uh decided to launch a pizza item which is just a piece of fried chicken with tomato sauce cheese and pepperoni on top cheese and they're calling it the cheesa pronounced cheesa cheesa cheesa cheesa cheesa so this has been on the menus in the Philippines since 2015, apparently, and went pretty well, and has regularly featured in Germany, India, Korea, Mexico, and Spain, and also Thailand and Taiwan.

37:56So it has not made its debut here in America, but they're coming in hot. Actually, Alex, they had a New York City pop-up on February 23rd and 24th in the Lower East Side. So we missed it. We did miss it, but I know exactly which KFC this is. The one in Manhattan. So that's like the most like – Apparently, it's supposed to be a really good KFC. I've heard that that KFC is like whoever runs that place. They got to run it like the Navy. They got to run it like the Navy and the chicken is crispy and shit is like quality. Well, if they do a lot of volume and they keep those fryers moving, it's got to be good.

38:35I've heard it's a pretty – like as far as KFC goes, not all of them are equal. That one is actually really dope. So they turned it into a cheatseria. Cheatseria. So they changed the awning. Yeah, fried chicken and pizza. Collaborate to create something even better. That's New York, baby. Yeah, Nick Chavez, the chief marketing officer for KFC United States, said in a statement, the fan-favorite mashup is finally available in the United States. So if you're in New York, you have to go back in time a couple days, but East 14th Street, the KFC location, will be slanging cheats. Are you into this, Kevin?

39:14I would try it. I would probably try it. Me too. I actually won't try it, but I don't know. I'd like to entertain the idea that I might try it. I have another hot take. I'm not super offended by it. I'm not a New Yorker, so I don't know. Is this just chicken parm? That's a good take. This is just chicken parm. This is truly chicken parm. Good job. Good job, guys. This is chicken parm. You put pepperoni on chicken parm. Yeah, you put pepperoni on chicken parm. Congratulations. This is chicken parm. You can get chicken parm from anywhere. Yeah, but now you can get it at KFC. Yeah, it's chicken parm.

39:55It's chicken parm. Now it's Cheetza, bro. And they call it Cheetza. The real innovation here is the name. Yeah, that's a good name. Yeah. And honestly, I'm pretty hungry right now, I would eat. We got to talk about a trend that is sweeping the nation, Kevin. Yeah. You know what it is? What? Dual duty iPhone cases. Oh, I need an iPhone case. I know. Me too. My iPhone case is actually falling apart. I've probably had it for like three years. I don't have an iPhone case. My shit's all busted. Yeah, man. It's broken on both sides. You can't go caseless. I look like a psycho right now, dude. So, Hayley Bieber.

40:36is patient zero for this hot new trend. Introducing the Rode iPhone case. Have you seen this piece? The Rode iPhone case? Yeah. Have you seen it, Kevin? I have not. Wow. I'm going to show it to you live. I'm going to show it to you live for the first time. You ready to see this? Yeah. Where are you sending it? I'm just going to turn my computer around. All right, sweet. In three, two.

41:00Okay, sweet. What is that? Face cream? It's an iPhone case that has a lip balm that you can slide into its crevice. And she just started posting this on her stories. And people are like, that is sexy for more reasons than one. I mean, it looks cool. That tension and friction is making me all hot. That's right. And so that, also Haley Bieber, very famous. and trendsetter in many ways. So that happens. And the hottest new trend, similar to like, remember when that guy put a piece of duct tape on the banana? Yeah. And every brand was like, what's my duct tape banana there? So this is now, this is the second brand I've seen it, which is Body Vodka.

41:56And so they have an iPhone case that's also a flask. so my question about this also looks pretty cool did they have this in the works they must have had this like they must have had this prototype or maybe had this as an idea and all of a sudden when when because when hailey beaver came out with that road thing i was like brands are going to do this this is going to be a thing because all you need is your iphone your phone and your lip balm and then boom bring them together just like the cheese brings yeah you know pizza and fried chicken together this is very smart how can you make your phone a case for your product and so a flask makes a lot of sense but i just was really impressed by how quick this happened yeah it did happen pretty quick i guess because now that you're telling me the timeline and i'm just learning about this yes it did happen pretty quick a flask into a smart they're both good ideas i don't know i'm i'm out of the flask smartphone flask that That thing's nasty.

42:53I don't know. I don't want to put my lips on my iPhone case. Well, maybe, but you... iPhone cases are probably one of those things that, you know, if you ask like a... I think it's just a holder. If you ask like one of those fancy scientists that's got a Petri dish, they'd be like, oh, that shit's dirtier than your toilet bowl. I believe them. I think iPhones are some of the most dirty things on the planet Earth. Yeah, but I don't think you have to drink the case, Kevin. I think it's just a holder for a little flask. I think that's the way it's going to be. Oh, it's just a holder? Still. I mean, it's in your pocket.

43:20I don't know. Shout out to Body. It's a low-proof vodka brand. Low-proof vodka brand? Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. Are they like a... It's not non-alcoholic. Are they doing like an experiential innovation on low-proof vodka? Are they taking like, you know, corner store alcoholic vodka and turning it a little premium? It looks good. I mean, Body's a... It's a well-designed brand. I don't know. Good for them. It's about time we start innovating on those brands. Yeah, it's a low ABV vodka, which I gotta ask what the point of that is. It's for alcoholics to buy a gas station. But I guess if I'm getting a Bloody Mary, maybe I don't want to get – maybe I just want a Bloody Mary with like – you get a virgin Bloody Mary, which is totally fine, and then you can get a vodka Bloody Mary.

44:07Maybe this is like a – I just want a light buzz kind of thing. I don't know. But yeah, shout out to innovation. Innovation. Innovation that excites. Innovation that excites. Too big. The iPhone. A little fronty watch. Yeah, the iPhone. I think the lip balm iPhone case is something you'll be talking about. We'll be talking about at the end of the year. I think it's made that much noise. Wow, interesting. Before we get out of here, Kevin, two quick things. Your boy, Fieri, is back. Thank you for pronouncing his name correctly. I know how to pronounce it. Yeah, Fieri. A lot of people come up in here and say Fieri.

44:41I say get that shit out of here. Pronounce the man's name correctly. He has launched a line of sauces, which to be honest, it feels like... About damn time. I mean, how does he not already have sauces? They're called Flavortown, but it's also Donkey Sauce. So what's going on here? So it promotes his restaurant? Donkey Sauce is the flagship sauce from his guy's American Kitchen. I don't know if it's at other restaurants, but I vividly remember. I've been there. I was at the Times Square one back in 2016, and it's the signature sauce from his line of sauces. Great name, Donkey Sauce. Yeah, Donkey Sauce.

45:24Got it. So it's a line of sauces called Flavortown, Donkey Sauce being the lead skew, while he also has jalapeno, hickory, Carolina, something else. Top secret sauce. A top secret sauce. so this feels late and I will say but sure good for him getting into this sort of consumer package good game I like how he put himself on it I think the packaging is terrible yeah I think the packaging and the reason why I'm going to say it's so bad is because the man he's got a bad aesthetic we know that but he could have done this in a cool way and I don't think He's got a good aesthetic. No, sorry. You're a hater.

46:07Sorry. His aesthetic is defined. It is like, sorry, it's very ownable. It's very recognizable. It's got flames. It's got this like very sort of vintage car, you know, sort of vibe. Like it's like LA. It's like whatever. Like I don't even know how I would describe it. I think it's pretty Vegas. Yeah. It's like Vegas meets car culture meets, you know, black letter type meets flames. Seems like it's America, baby. It's America. But this doesn't do it well, in my opinion. I think this could have been done well. And I even think the bottle itself looks like this sauce is going to like, I don't know.

46:46It just feels cheap. It's in plastic. I'm not a fan. Matty Matheson just came out with a brand of his own flavored sauces. Well, of course, that one's going to be fucking tasteful. And that shit looks gorgeous. Yeah, of course. Shout out to Wedge, man. So this could have been done well. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying I'm all for Fieri making sauces. This is the fact that he already didn't have this out yet is. But this is what Guy Fieri does. This is his aesthetic. This is why we love him. No. Yes. But a big picture of him on the side of the pack and on this shitty bottle. We got to know where it's coming from, bro.

47:20You got to know. I'm sorry. This is not working for me. I'm just not here for it. Shouts of Dylane. They said that the man transcends aesthetics. He does. I mean, that is not wrong. But here's the thing. There's bad, and there's so bad it's good. This falls into bad for me. I can see where you're coming from with that. Thank you. Now that you've put it into Kevin terms. Yes. I think this could have been so bad it was awesome. Let him cook. And I'm looking at it, and it looks bad. Also, I will say these mock-ups look pretty bad, too. In his hand, they look a little bit better. Now I'm looking at a second picture.

47:58but also man don't put a picture of yourself on the fucking side of this thing i disagree uh shout out to i want to be looking at guy when i shout to fred hart shout out to fucking interact boulder they just redid the fucking feastables packaging and they took mr beast down a notch wow yeah it says mr beast's feastables in big letters before it was mr beast bar and then feasible is real small they got that right this this is not getting it right this is yeah we should uh this is wrong we should go we should get fred on to talk about that process you You know what? Shout out to Fred. Look for an email from us coming shortly.

48:29We want to talk about it. I want to hear what it was like to do 100 plus rounds of work for Mr. B's. Did he need to see 100 because he had to cure 100 people of their blindness and see 100 designs? Did you see the video where he said he trapped 100 people ages 0 to 100 in boxes? Did you see this video? And on Twitter, people just posted, they reposted the thing. and just the first sentence just said, I trapped 100 people ages 0 to 100 in boxes. Like, what a weird thing to say. Like, just if it wasn't Mr. Beast, you'd be like, I wonder if that sentence has probably never, ever been said before in the entirety of human history.

49:08I trapped 100 people ages 0 to 100 in boxes. Like, that's a sentence, you know. That's just a tremendous sentence. It's just content, dude. We got to start doing that. Sorry. You want to be popping? We want to start trapping people in boxes? I looked it up. It said, the actual page, the actual quote says, I found 100 people ages 1 through 100 and trapped them in cubes. That's the sentence. That's it. Shout out to all those. Shout out to the parents of those children. Let's just say the four and under children to be trapped in those boxes. So people are just tweeting, I found 100 people ages 1 through 100 and trapped them in cubes.

49:48That's all the tweets. that's just what people are tweeting. Wow. Which is amazing. Shout out to Mr. Beast. We have a great society. I will say, shout out to Mr. Beast. This content is A+. Last story of the day, Kevin, is from Under Consideration. Shout out to Brand New. I'm speaking at First Round. Wow. I should probably start promoting that. Yeah, you should. If you're in the New York area, First Round is an amazing conference where designers show their first round presentations for projects. So if you ever wonder how a brand pitches or sells in their work or presents their work in the first round, first time that clients are seeing work, this is a conference that is fully focused on first round.

50:29Should walk out to it feels like the first time. It honestly is an awesome conference. You know that song? Yeah, of course. And I'm going to be presenting most likely not 100 % sure or guaranteed, but probably United States of America, the first round. because people always say, like, how did you guys get that through? Like, how did you possibly get it? I feel like, yeah, what else would you even do? Yeah, I mean, there's so many. Play the hits, Alex. Come on. Play the hits. So shout out to Armin. Shout out to Brand New. Under consideration, has the scoop here, Puma and Cheetos come together for All-Star Weekend to do a line of sneakers, part of the Puma basketball sort of range of products, with Cheetos, bright neon orange, and pretty cool.

51:17Pretty cool-looking kind of collection here. I kind of love a sneaker collab. Yeah. It kind of hits, and especially Cheetos. Scooter Anderson's maybe not the best basketball player this year. Great name, though. Great name. I think he's having a bit of struggles in his rookie season. The stats aren't looking too great. but hey I think the shoes are actually kind of dope the shoes are fire yeah and then the auxiliary merch is also fire they had like some sweaters and shit yeah yeah it was great and the box they came in was sort of looked like a sort of a box that a bodega would get like sort of like industrial sort of Cheetos box which is pretty fucking cool and then I have to add another thing that I saw that stood out to me at All Star Weekend they had a giant oversized Cheetos bag that you can walk inside of.

52:09The inside was all metallic foil. That's pretty sweet. It was all silver and really cool looking on the inside. All the Cheetos, bright orange merch and some of the art stuff that installations or whatever that was inside of this bag. It literally looked like you were inside a bag of Cheetos. That's sweet. I really liked that. I don't know who did that. They got a good brand. They don't really miss. Yeah. No, and I think this is like, it was just a cool activation. I find those things to be kind of cheesy most of the time. But you talked about how... Brand's got to activate. Brand's got to activate, but you talked about how Coinbase did something particularly cool with sort of the moonshot thing.

52:54And then this is a pretty cool activation inside a bag of Cheetos. I have a picture here, Kevin. Oh, sweet. That's not the best picture, but... I mean, it's dope. It is cool. It looks like it was actually... Also, say what you will. I guess I'm talking to me because I was talking shit on the All-Star weekend. But say what you will about the dunk contest. But that floor, the light-up floor was fucking sick. I think you're 100 % right. We almost didn't talk about the light-up floor. I'm excited to see how that evolves in the future. The absolute coolest part of All-Star weekend by far was the LED floor that they played on.

53:26I'm hoping to see. Well, actually, I don't know because I didn't watch any of the dunks. but I'm hoping to see some cool maybe like custom routine syncing or like interaction on the floor because I don't know. I don't really know how much there was. Oh, you're saying like the floor interacts? No, dude. When the players in the dunk contest were like, when they were moving, fire was like tracking them on the floor. That's sweet. It was fucking cool as hell. I'm saying I would maybe I want like a personalized one that goes with their dunk in a little considered show. Yeah, I mean, that floor is amazing.

54:04They didn't play the main game on that floor, I don't think. Yeah, I don't think. I don't think it's ready to be played. I don't think the players would want to do that. No, I guess. So there's something. I mean, it must be tough to run on. I don't know. There's some reason why it's not ready. Well, those dudes don't want to get hurt. Yeah, on an LED fucking experimental basketball court. That's why the game sucks. you know why can't they figure out a way I don't want to turn into a sports podcast here again but like why can't they figure out why can't they figure out a way to make the all-star game competitive I don't understand I don't know I just I don't think dudes it doesn't mean anything so like they don't want to play hard I wouldn't want to play hard in that like that's kind of you should go and entertain the crowd and it's kind of like the Harlem Globetrotters a little bit right you're just kind of hooking up threes and they score like it's like a 200 point game right it yeah no they had the highest scoring like game in the history of basketball whatever whoa yeah i mean but i just there i saw some clips online of old like all-star games yeah dude and like they were playing hard so when did they just stop giving a shit after kobe left the league yeah man kobe they don't have that mama mentality no i mean it's true like i remember catching one when Jordan was still in the league, like when he was on the Wizards.

55:28And that one was like, they were going fucking hard in that game. I just don't understand. Why don't they want to compete? I used to be stoked to watch that. Yeah, me too. I said this before. I love All-Star Weekend. I watch it religiously and I'm just constantly being let down. But you have the best basketball players on planet Earth. You split them into two teams. Why can't we figure out a way to make them play hard against each other? It's not like these guys are going to get super hurt. It's also like they don't even need to be playing at 100 either. If they stepped it up to 75. Yeah, they're just shooting from deep range.

56:03Here's the thing. Why can't they play defense? Just play defense. I don't want to. I don't know. It's just turned into something that's just not fun to watch. They don't care. Someone said this, so this is an original thought. They don't care, so I don't care. And that's what it comes down to. That's fair. If you don't care, I don't care. I think this year is the first year that I haven't, like, I, like you, I'm a big dunk contest guy. As a child, I loved it. Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, Nate Robinson, Dwight Howard, you know, Jason Richardson, Vince Carter. Like, those are my guys. Like, I love the dunk contest.

56:42I want to dunk my entire life. I still do. Yeah, of course. I'd give my left lung to dunk. Do you think that we've just hit peak dunk ability? Do you think that we can't do anything more interesting? Because I feel like you should. I think it's not like snowboarding where people push themselves further to do crazier things. Like Sean White used to win a fucking Olympics with a 1280. and now a 1280 doesn't even get you into the competition. You know what I mean? So it's like I think people are expecting that, myself included, to where the thing goes up. But because there's nothing catapulting them, so what we need to do is introduce a trampoline of some sort or something that people can push themselves a little bit further.

57:36They got to get rid of – I think it's the opposite. They got to get rid of the props. No props. No props. No people. No people. I hate it. It's like we've already seen. Someone dunk over tall people. Yeah. I don't understand. Why is that impressive? It's not that impressive. No. They dunked over Shaq. That's it. They dunked over Taco Fall. Not impressive. Not impressive. Fucking Nate Robinson dunked over Shaq like 10 years ago. It's been done. It's been done. We don't need to see that anymore. Yeah. I don't know. Try something new. I don't know. I don't know how you fix it. Because I feel like these dudes aren't really practicing.

58:08You're not practicing like crazy dunks. and maybe we've hit a ceiling of like the dunks that you need to go beyond. Like you actually probably need to be practicing them like, you know, well in advance. Because there are people doing crazy dunks, but they're not in the NBA. They're just dunkers. There's Matt McClung. You know how I feel about Matt McClung. I'll say it again. He's your boy. No, that dude should not be in the All-Star game. Yeah, I agree. I think last year I disagreed. I was like, that's good for him. But two years in a row, yeah. And I guess he earned it. It's not the fucking G League.

58:43He earned it last year. He can be in the G League dunk contest. He earned it last year. I don't have a problem with him being in this year. Why? Because he had a 10-day contract? No, he earned it last year because he won the dunk contest last year. And you get to defend. That dude should not be in the dunk contest. He's not in the NBA. Yeah. I mean, he is a dunker. He's a good dunker. But here's the thing. If you want to open it up to the best dunkers in the world, then fine. Open it up to every person that's ever dunked on YouTube. Bring in all the fucking best dunkers and be like, can the NBA players dunk better than the YouTubers?

59:13And make it interesting. Find some YouTuber that can do some fucking crazy shit and bring him in. Bring in all the best dunkers. But to pretend that Matt McClung is an NBA athlete and put him in the dunk contest against fucking real basketball players? I don't know. I said it last year. I'll say it again this year. Matt McClung needs some help with the aesthetic. I mean, I kind of like his vibe. He looks like a creative player with stock tattoos. His tattoos are pretty bad. Yeah, he does. He needs to do more. He needs to cover up that arm. One last thing before we go. The Clippers. New uniform, new logo, new branding.

59:52I saw it. I think I like it. Yeah, me too. It's clean. It's clean. It's just simple. And it's just like a script and nice colors. And it's nothing crazy. But that last one, the one they had introduced two, three years ago. It's been a while, though. It's been way longer than two or three years. Oh, fuck, man. That was like CP3 era. CP3 Blake Griffin when they first rolled those out. Tell me that was like 20 years ago. Sorry, tell me it was like 10 years ago. I think it was 10. It was 10? I think. That's what my head says. Okay, I'll look it up. That was really bad. Yeah, those sucked. I'm glad that they moved.

1:00:31I'm glad that now they're actually like, you know, the people who I know who follow the NBA say that the Clippers have a nice shot of... They're playing the best basketball right now. Really? Okay, Kevin, they introduced them in 2015. That's what I would have guessed. That makes sense. Because the thing, 2015 does feel like two to three years ago, and also was nine years ago, which is practically ten years ago. So it is both of those things, and I could get that wrong, because I got married in 2015. That feels like just a couple years ago, but it will also be ten years next here. Wow. So, um, that's the show, everybody.

1:01:05Thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. Uh, Kevin and I are, we're back. We're back, baby. Like each week we appreciate all the people. We'll get it. We'll get this rolling. We're trying to get this thing right. We'll get some new, uh, some new apps. Thank you for listening. Uh, yeah. Thank you for caring. Leave a review, leave a review the other day. Actually, uh, the other day today I was looking at the reviews cause, um, you know, I want to share them with someone and there were some pretty nice, really wonderful comments that you guys have left. So leave a review, follow the Instagram.

1:01:32Kevin, can you send me the password to the Instagram? I'm logged out of it. Oh, yeah. Sorry. I recently just... I had to change it recently. Let's start posting there again. Guys, we've just been busy. Sorry, but the podcast matters. Design matters. Yeah, wow. Shout out to Debbie. Yeah, sweet. Peace. Later.

1:02:13I love it here we gonna take over the year for another year is your bestie miss miss Westy don't try to test me it's gonna get messy it's gonna get messy just just bless me bless me it's your bestie miss miss Westy just try not bless me just bless me bless me

1:03:12Yachi

From the publisher

Alex and Kevin are back from Vacation and ready to tackle the ever-pressing stories in branding and design! This week they talk about NBA All-Star Weekend, Trump Sneakers, Tyler the Creator x Louis Vuitton, Dune 2 Popcorn bucket, Vince Staples, Coinbase x Liquid Death, Dude Wipes, Liquid Death Electrolyte Powder, Choco Taco is kinda back, the Body Vodka Phone Case Flask, The KFC Chizza, Guy Fieri's Flavortown Sauces, Flaming Hot Kicks, and more!

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