PERHAPS WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM

25:22We have to move on because it's springtime and baseball is here because we need hobbies. That's the thing. These people need hobbies and baseball. Baseball, springtime in the air. It smells like pitchers and catchers, you know, the grass. I could just smell the hot dog at Citi Field on a beautiful Sunday while the sun is out. It's a little cold, so I'm wearing a jacket. And Juan Soto's hitting smashes, oh, runs in the Mets. Hitting fingers, dude. Dingers only. And so baseball is here. And to celebrate, New Era released a cap collection nicknamed the Overlap because it overlaps each team's monogram on top of the team's full word mark.

26:00Kevin, what could possibly go wrong? Well, I guess they probably didn't look at the whole gamut of the teams. I would guess that they maybe did one of these hats and was like, oh, this is sick. Which is the one you think they went with first and were like, oh, yeah, this rules. I personally think the Yankees is pretty tight. I think the White Sox looks good. There are a couple that actually look good. I'm not super into it. I would just rather rock a plane logo. Like, you know, there's just a classic like new era fitted or, you know, if you want to get a little vintage, you know, go classic sports specialties, you know, snapback plane logo.

26:39Oh, yeah. No, no Mitchell Nest. None of that fake vintage shit. I'm talking sports specialties. If you know, you know. Okay. I don't know. But I'm a new era guy. Yeah. I guess they didn't really look the oversight. And when they flushed the system out, there were some things that – there were some words that were formed. There were a couple of stats that stood out. Specifically, the Texas Rangers had tetas on there. Yeah. And the Spanish for tits. Oh, thank you, Kevin, for translating for those at home. The Houston Astros kind of looked – ash-hoes. The quick eye kind of looked like assholes. And then the Los Angeles Angels, which I think is probably the worst offender here, really just reads as anals, really.

27:28That's really what it looks like. So these hats went quickly viral, and they shut it down. Yeah, they shut it down immediately, which is crazy. And now you can really only get these on a secondhand on eBay, which the prices have come down considerably. I saw them trending upwards of$1 ,000. when this story first dropped. $100? No. But now they've kind of leveled out to I saw like$180,$200. Probably like double, triple what the hat's actually worth. But I don't know. If the Cincinnati Reds had one that said something crazy, I'd be buying it. That's fair. If I was an Angels fan, I would probably want to get my hands on the Anals hat.

28:13You're right there. It's a sacred hat. Forbidden hat. I got another take. Yeah. I think they knew exactly what they were doing. Interesting. I'm calling BS here. I think they knew that these hats kind of looked like Tata's, and I think this is a setup. I think they saw it. I think they knew it, and probably someone was like, do you think we should be concerned about this? And someone very smart said, well, maybe they'll go viral, and we'll sell more of these hats. and that's what I believe, Kevin. I see you, MLB internal hat design team. You got your third eye open. You can't fool me. My third eye is open.

28:54It's actually in between, overlapping my first two eyes, Kevin. Listen, you're wearing a ball cap, but it's not covering your third eye. That's right. And I think the Mets one is kind of trash, but yeah, I think they knew what they were doing and good on you, MLB baseball, that you got people talking about baseball. It's the first time in 10, 20 years that people are talking about Major League Baseball because the MLB is historically bad at marketing. So I hope that this is an inside job. But we're so back, and all it took was a hat that kind of looked like it said anal on it. So, Kevin, did you see my Mets were on the cover of Sports Illustrated?

29:30I did not. Oh, yeah. Everyone was saying the SI was going out of business. Nah, they're still kicking. And my New York Mets are on the cover. We got Aura, Kevin. Wow. Aura. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. And you know what that means. World Series or bust. I mean, you guys definitely do have Oro. I will give you that. We do. The Oro left over from last season and enhanced by one of the top Oro guys in the entire league, Juan Soto. That's what I'm saying. You just add Oro to some Oro. And yeah. What's better when he does his little Soto shuffle and kind of grabs his crotch a little bit at the pitcher? That shit rocks.

30:09That's what I live for. And that's what I – I'm excited that we're here and spring training is here. It's going to be a very exciting year. You're going to hear us talk about it on the show way too much. You're going to be like, I thought this was a design podcast, and I'm just going to be talking about the mix. We'll keep it moving. We've actually got a good system in place for talking about sports now where we do it pre-program. That's true. That's right. We get out the sports takes before we get on the show. I think we should put that out separately just as a sports center kind of – you know, and, and for the sports heads and then, uh, the design show for the design head.

30:42So yeah, I guess I'm, I'm not buying this Mets hat though, but Kevin, uh, I, I, if I did, I'd put it on layaway with Klarna and that is how you do a transition. Wow. Uh, DoorDash and Klarna went, uh, made some news this week because they announced that there was now a way for you to pay later when you were buying your DoorDash delivery food. and people on the internet thought this was quite funny. Lots of memes, quite some stories. You can now put your tacos on layaway and you can finance your pizza from Domino's or Raisin Cane's. What do you, what do you think, Kevin? Are you going to be using this new feature?

31:20I will not be, I will not be using Klarna. I don't, I don't, it doesn't resonate with me putting things on layaway. Yeah. It doesn't seem like smart money moves as a guy who's, you know, Only making smart money moves? I'm not making smart money moves. I'm throwing it all at my hobby and my passion. Okay. That's right. Yeah. You're just putting it all into the shred. Yeah. I mean, if I could put that on a little bit, maybe. But yeah. I mean, here's my take. We live in a society. Yeah. We do live in a society. Do you think this is an inside job? Do you think Klarna was like, hey, let's make some noise here.

31:57What would be funny? We'll take some heat. We'll be the butt of the jokes. But at the end of the day, more people will know what Klarna is than they did the day before. Facts. The tweet of the announcement got 34 million views, 7 ,000 likes, and 8 ,000 retweets in 15 hours. And the memes are going pretty hard. So yeah, I mean, now your third eye is open. I'm with you, man. I think this was earnest, and I'll tell you why. these fees and prices on doordash grubhub seamless whatever the fuck they call this app like they're getting out of hand dude like i was on there you know again like i order a lot of delivery on on the weekends right and there was a service fee and like a delivery service fee and then like a delivery fee i was like what the fuck are we doing here i'm ordering two salads for dinner and it's 60 bucks so i don't know like i'm not gonna put that on layaway but i mean i could kind of understand why maybe you could if you've got a family of five so you've got kids out there and you're ordering a dinner uh for for your family you know that's a zillion dollars so i don't know that that's that crazy to be like okay now my dinner's 200 bucks i don't want to pay all that right now i'll put this in small installments over the next couple of weeks fair enough i mean that's a good point i mean i'm sure it will be helpful for some people like with big orders.

33:21Alex, you got a problem. You're paying too many fees on DoorDash or Seamless or whatever. And I'm a notorious problem solver here. So let me rip. Hear me out. Pick up your own food. So here's the deal, Kevin. I'm down with this plan except for two problems. One, I got to go outside. That's not happening. And then two, the fees are still there even when you go and pick it up. So when you look at the options of picking it up yourself or getting it delivered, it's not like it's a night and day difference. The fees are still there. The only way to avoid these fees is to call the restaurant, place the order on the phone, and then go pick it up.

34:09And you know I'm not doing that. I don't got the time for that. What is it, 1999? I do that. We are not – I'm not calling in an order and going to pick it up. It's better for the restaurant if you do that too. No, I know it's better for the restaurant. I'm just saying. But convenience over everything, I'm not – that's just not happening. So these fees are going up and I do feel bad that the restaurants don't benefit from the fees. It goes to the apps. So I mean I'm aware of the problem. I'm also aware that they've got me hooked on the teat, the tatas of these apps. and then from there, those fees were smaller.

34:47It was very convenient and not as expensive. And now they're just slowly raising. Uber did the same thing. Uber got us. Uber prices are fucking through the roof. Everybody does that. I mean, if they've got you, you're got. You're already got. YouTube TV did that. YouTube TV is almost as expensive as cable now. Yeah, and Spotify, Netflix, same thing. It's like, oh yeah, it's$4 a month,$5 a month. 10 bucks a month. And then just like every year, it's like a slow drip. They just like, it's 12. Now it's 17. Now it's 19. It's just like, they're just, they got you. And what are you going to do? Stop watching love is blind.

35:23Never. I know we live in a society. Yeah. And you're, you're in Denver right now. They're filming. That's where you're there to the, for the pods, right, Kevin? Yeah. Yeah. I know. I know what the show is and I am aware of it. No, this is what these apps are doing, but I'm onto them now. They got you, but it's so slow and methodical. It takes years, but they got you right where they want you. And it's at your home, watching Netflix, ordering food, and going broke out here. And it's fucking tough, man. So I understand. It's a very funny meme to be like, oh, I got home and I got my pizza sort of financed.

36:03But I don't think it's that crazy because prices are going up, man. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of prices going up, eggs, you know,$14 a carton these days. Yeah, you got to put those on layaway. You got to put those on layaway. And so this week, a brand known as The Ordinary, known for sort of selling their minimalist skincare products, is getting in on the egg game. And they're selling eggs at their store for four bucks, Kevin. Pretty good. That's a steal. Pretty good. Pretty good. Two stores in Manhattan. And I saw this everywhere over the past week. And I thought it was genius. Like it's bringing so much attention to the brand.

36:43Their packaging is minimalist. So obviously it works really well on the top of an egg carton just to sort of put the ordinary eggs. And this is not easy marketing, but it's just like they put two fridges in their stores. They put some packaging on top of eggs and just jump right in on this moment. And I love that shit. I love when people take advantage and jump right onto the zeitgeist. And, you know, this is a crazy idea for a skincare brand, but it's not that crazy. Yeah. Millions of impressions. This is, like you said about Klorna, like this is going to put The Ordinary, a brand that maybe doesn't have as much recognition on the map.

37:21Yeah. It's definitely a cool way to get in the conversation. Like, I mean, eggs are a pretty hot button issue right now, you know? Yeah. Can't afford eggs, yada, yada, yada. Yeah. It is kind of crazy. I mean, I bought my eggs at the farmer's market and they've gone up. How much are those going for? $10 a dozen, but I gladly will pay Nestor Trello$10 a dozen for eggs. Actually, the egg guy or the egg lady rather is like my top Venmo recommended. Whenever I open Venmo, it's in the top two. So shout out to Nestor Trello. Trello Farms, good eggs. damn kevin's got an egg lady yeah i mean listen they're gas like i mean i'll take those i'll take those over any supermarket um any supermarket eggs i just feel i just feel real good when i eat them yeah no that's that's right eggs eggs are weird like if you think about them too much then immediately it gets weird and i do think the eggs in the average supermarket are kind of trash so definitely i think i think you're right here like try to try to get some uh some some some quality eggs but yeah no the price is it's a hot button issue of course it's political it's become this big thing so i i just think it's i think it's smart for a skincare brand uh to do something like this and then uh i saw it everywhere and i was like oh this is a good story this feels very front and center and then i found out who was behind it oh yeah classic it's like classic mischief getting into the advertising game a little bit here and uh yeah no it makes perfect sense they clearly get culture they clearly get how to crack that uh zeitgeist and get people to pay attention and i can't remember a time where they did something like on behalf of a brand yeah obviously they've done like some some promo stuff with like crocs right or whatever but i feel like it's i feel like it's always been kind of on their court definitely like it's always been in their the the mischief definitely and it's like i like it because it's not like super aggressive It's just like, hey, we got like cheap eggs.

39:22Like that's it. Like that's the promo. It's like, hell yeah, that rocks. I'm all for like cheaper eggs. The ordinary is like, their shtick is like, we're giving you high quality products for like a good price, right? So it fits. And it's a great brand fit. And I do like how a lot of mischiefs, activations or whatever you'll call them. A lot of what they do is like pretty loud and pretty aggressive. And it's nice to see this one. I'm like, you know, it's just like a fastball right down the middle. Like, you know. No, you're 100 % right. Yep. Just easy. Just easy. And it feels good. It's a good, it's a really good club.

39:57I'm here for it. You're right. It is a fastball right down the middle. It's, you know, it's just run the ball. Yeah. And this is, and it's funny. Yeah. Like, I mean, if Mischief was like an advertising agency, like this is, this is, they would be mega successful because I feel like brands would be lining up to just get some of this juice. And I don't think it's that hard for them. I feel like they get it. They understand what they're doing. They know how to take an idea and apply it and sort of execute it. And it's just the numbers. They put numbers on the board. And I did a quick little Google search this morning.

40:36I'm like, yeah, every single publication I've written about. And it's just like, yeah. And I don't even think it's because of mischief. I think it's just because of the purity and the quality of the idea. Yeah, it's a great idea. Just cheap eggs from a brand that doesn't sell eggs, but is known for high quality sort of affordable products. It fits. I do think the packaging is also helpful here, right? To put sort of skincare-looking packaging on eggs, it's giving lumen a little bit, which I think is kind of fun, which I think is one of my favorite parts of that show. It's just like the lumen-branded sort of everything.

41:10That makes sense. You would like that. I like it too. Yeah. I mean, it's just – you know that they're putting time and craft into those details, the set team. Yeah. I mean, Lumen's a firebrand. It's a firebrand. Looks great. A lot of talk on the internet about the Lumen brand, which I am here for. I'm here for that conversation and nerding out, maybe not on the literary references, but the Lumen typography and the branding. And the Lumen product placement in the Severin show is just very strong. It's great. Every time it pops up, you're just like, oh, nice little detail. Nice little detail. Kevin, before we get out of here, we got to talk about the big story.

41:52PepsiCo acquired Poppy for$2 billion. Damn,$2 billion? Wow. $2 billion. PepsiCo today announced the fast-growing prebiotic soda,$1.95. So we'll round that up to$2 billion. And I think there's been talk about this. There's been kind of like smoke and fire here and they were denying it. No, no, no, no, no, not us. But it is now officially official. And congrats. Yeah, good for them. Good for them. Congratulations to all involved. And I really, the founders, it's a husband and wife duo. They posted a really sweet Instagram post that I saw that was just like them starting the business at farmer's markets and this brand called Mother.

42:37And yeah, it was very – it touched my heart. I was like, well, you know what? The American dream is still alive. And this is – people working hard, making something happen, and they did it. This is the goal. Yeah. Thank you, Pepsi, for telling me that the American dream is still alive. That's right, Pepsi. Thank you. We have a quote from Ramon LaGuarta, chairman and CEO of Pepsi. He said, we've been evolving our food and beverage portfolio over many years, including by innovating with our brands in new spaces and through disciplined strategic acquisitions that enable us to offer more positive choices to our customers.

43:16More than ever, customers are looking for convenient and great tasting options that fit their lifestyles and respond to their growing interest in health and wellness. Poppy is a great complement to our portfolio transformation efforts to meet those needs. Wow. Yeah. All right. Don't clap. This is Kevin. No clapping in the mic. If you can't beat them, buy them. That's what this is, Kevin. And that's – Poppy is a soda for a new generation. That's what they say. Pepsi famously has been trying to be that for many, many years. And yeah, Poppy did it a little bit better than they could. Yeah. Yeah. Poppy popped off and it just goes to show you the power of the brand, Alex.

44:00Power of the brand. We're branding podcasts here. We are branding progress. So I got to say, yeah, quick shout out to my old boss, Rohan Oza, who did a deal on Shark Tank. He was a guest shark. And he bought, ready for this, Kevin, 25 % of Mother, the company that was, for$400 ,000. Wow. So my quick math, 25 % for$400 ,000, he turned into$500 million. Holy shit. So not bad ROI there for Mr. Oza. Shout out to Roh. And yeah, shout out to one of my good friends, Andrew Haynes, who was working for Rohan at the time and did the rebrand. And so he is the one that did the packaging that turned mother to poppy.

44:40And he crushed it, obviously brought color and energy and this visual identity system. And yeah, he deserves his flowers here on this program. So congrats to Andrew and Roh. Yeah, Andrew, come on. Let's get them both on. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, bro might be harder to get. He's probably upgrading his homes and looking at super yachts. Yeah, if he wants to throw us a couple mil, I wouldn't complain. Yeah, I mean, listen, it would be the right thing to do. Again, we had nothing to do with this, but we deserve it, right, Kevin? Yeah, definitely. Can I also get one more take off of here? Yeah, go ahead. Some more take.

45:22So first and foremost, we got to remember that vitamin water was bought by Coke for$4.1 billion. So from my math, that's two times better than poppy. So vitamin water is still the greatest. And then, yeah, everyone, we need to chill out about acquisitions. I feel like when companies acquire other companies, yes, I think it's great for CPG. It's great for the people. It's great for the industry. but like, man, we got to just chill out. Like, why are people getting so goddamn excited online? They're like, Poppy just got acquired by Pepsi. We got to talk about it. It's like, chill out, guys. It's an acquisition.

46:07This is part of business. And you had nothing to do with it. So just calm down. Just calm down. I mean, I don't know. Just relax. Just relax. I don't know. I just don't think people really have a lot of trust in big corporate entities. And to think that – I think we talked about this with the CSA acquisition. Corporations are maybe not great. I'll go on the record and say maybe they're not the greatest companies. Maybe their ethics are a bit shoddy. Not Pepsi or Coke. We're not these, Kevin. These are great companies. I'm just saying maybe, perhaps. I think people like these small brands because it's like, we made a product and we didn't compromise.

46:55And in a lot of these big corporations, there's a lot of compromise. And not that Poppy wasn't thinking about margins, but if you're talking about ingredients and better for you, that type shit, that's not really synonymous with Pepsi or big corporations. So while it is good that they are moving in that direction and they're taking steps for that direction, I can see why people are like, you know, upset or feel some type of way about big corporation just gobbling up other brands. Yeah, I don't know. That's what I saw, though. I mean, I think I saw. Yeah, I think there's always a part of people online that are like a little bummed that their sort of local favorite sort of band is now playing arenas.

47:34But I thought people were more happy for them. I think people were like, celebrating. I thought that's what you're saying no i was saying that people were excited and happy for poppy yeah me personally i'm excited and happy for them that's cool good for them no i know but like i i guess it just speaks to the sort of uh content uh society that we live in that like people need to make videos and uh we got to talk about it i think that's the part where i'm just like what's there to talk about it's a brand that did really well that clearly cracked something in terms of gen z and soda and Alex Earl and bright colors and prebiotic sort of fake health claims.

48:18And yeah, and built a nice business. And Pepsi is going to take that business and run with it. And$2 billion is a lot of money, of course. But if Poppy is a big, giant, global brand for the next 40 years, then they'll make their money back easily. Yeah, sure. I get why it's a flashy headline, but I don't get why people are – yeah, I don't know. I guess it's just something to talk about. We are talking about it. We're doing – I know, Kevin. We're talking about it on our show. That's the point. My brother in Christ, you are literally talking about it right now. Oh my god, Kevin. What? Wait, what?

49:01I'm the one – I'm the problem? It's me? Perhaps we are part of the problem. Perhaps we're part of the problem, but that's why we do this show. Kevin, enjoy your time in Denver. Enjoy the beautiful sunshine. Enjoy. Do you have more Shreddy to go? How many more times are we going to hit the slopes before we get back to Brooklyn? As many as possible. Hopefully four. Perhaps three. Damn, Kevin. We'll see what the weather does. Okay. Well, we need to get you back to work, Kevin. On the weekends. On the weekends, Alex. weekend trips thank you to all the new fans and shout out to everyone that's maybe listened for the first time this is the program Kevin and I talk about what's going on we have some more guest episodes coming up some really great people conversations oh we should talk about this next time is that we're doing more pods we we took the number of pods down a bit and uh i think the the the opinion from uh our massive global fan base was we want more podcasts not less and uh we hear you so we're just gonna keep uh yeah we'll be we'll be three three a month run the ball yeah run the ball kevin you know we didn't come this far to come this far actually absolutely yeah three per month oh three a month yeah three a month you heard it here first yeah three a month we're gonna keep running and uh thank you for listening yeah definitely thank you

50:54Astro Yeah Sun is down, freezing cold That's how we already know When it's here My dog will probably do it for a Louisville That's just all he know He don't know nothing else I tried to show him Yeah I tried to show him Yeah Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah Gone on you with the pick and roll Young to flame, he in sickle mode

51:39Make this here with all the ice on in the booth At the gate outside, when they pull up, they get me loose Yeah, jump out, boys, that's Nike boys hoppin' our coops This shit way too big, when we pull up, give me the loot Was off the Remy, had a papoose Had to hit my hometown to duck the news Two-four hour lockdown, we made no moves Now it's 4 a.m. and I'm back up hoppin' with the cool I just landed in Chase B mixes pop like Jamba Joes Different color chains think my jeweler really selling fruits And they choking man, all the crackers wish it wasn't new Someone said Surrender a treat, we all in 2D Play, play, play, play for keeps, don't play us a week Someone said Surrender a treat, we all in 2D Play, play, play, play for keeps, don't play us a week This shit way too formal, y 'all know I don't follow suit Stacey Dash, most of these girls ain't got a clue All of these hoes I made off records I produced I might take all my exes and put them all in a group Hit my essays, I need the booch About to turn this function in the bottom rope Told her I been, you coming too In the 305, bitches treat me like I'm Uncle Luke Had to slot the top off, it's just a roof She said, where we going?

52:58I set the move We ain't even make it to the room She thought it was the ocean, it's just a pool Now I gotta open, it's just a ghost Who put this shit together, I'm the glue Shorty face, Tommy out the blue Someone said Someone said Someone said Don't play for weed

53:35Yeah! Astro Yeah, yeah Hey, hey She's in love with who I am Back in high school I used to bust into the dance Now I hit that FBO with duffels in my hands I did have a Xan 13 hours till I land Had me out like a light, yeah, like a light, yeah Like a light, slept through the flight Not for the night, 767, man, this shit got double bedroom Man, I still got scores to settle, man I crept down the block, made a right, yeah Cut the lights, yeah Pay the price, yeah, niggas think it's sweet It's on sight, yeah Nothing nice, yeah, bag is in my ice Jesus Christ, yeah Checks over stripes, yeah That's what I like, yeah That's what we like Lost my respect, you not a threat When I shoot my shot, that shit wetty like on Shaq See the shots that I took, wet like on Book Wet like on Lizzy I be spinning valley circle blocks till I'm busy Like where is he?

54:43No one seen him, I'm trying to clean him She's in love with who I am Back in high school I used to bust it to the dance Now I hit the FBO with duffles in my hands I did half a Xan, 13 hours till I land Have me out like a light Like a light Like a light Like a light Like a light Like a light Like a light Yeah, past the dogs of Sally Sending texts, ain't sending kites Yeah, he say keep that on lock I say you know this shit is tight Yeah, it's absolute Yeah, I'm back with boo It's lit La Ferrari, the Jamba Juice Yeah, we back on the road They jumping off no parachute Yeah, shorty in the back She say she working on the blues Oh my God Ain't by the book, yeah It's how it look, yeah Bout to check, yeah Just check the flits, yeah Pass this to my daughter, I'ma show her what it took Baby mama cover Forbes, got these other bitches shook, yeah