⌚ “Watch University” — Rolex’s apprenticeship. Advent Calendar Marketing. Ken Burns’ loooong strategy. +3am Cyber Monday.

0:28This is Nick. Turns out the best thing to happen to Rolex was the Apple Watch. For our second story, the marketing move every brand is doing today is actually biblical. The advent calendar. It ain't Christian, it's capitalist. And our third and final story. Over Thanksgiving, someone in your family made you watch the new Ken Burns documentary. Mom, turn off the subtitles. Ken Burns' The American Revolution proves how a really long documentary can beat a 15-second TikTok. Dad, is there 1.5x speed? 2x speed. But yet he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories. Love coming back to this mix, Jack.

1:09Happy Cyber Monday to all those who celebrate. And those who celebrate it dropped$13.3 billion, a record number in last year's Cyber Monday. The biggest e-commerce day in American history. But besties, pause the pod because this should really be called Cyber Middle of the Night. Because the shopping actually spikes at 3 a.m. Get this, according to Zip Finance, 48 % of shoppers now make their big buys after midnight. And it's not even just a Cyber Monday thing. Overall, one out of 15 e-commerce purchases happens between midnight and 6 a.m. Yeah, you know who you are. There are a few reasons for this.

1:46One, being that you're just too busy during the day. Two, being that you're scrolling your phone in bed even though you shouldn't. And three, awkwardly, the more you drink, the more you buy. Yeah, drunk shopping peaks at 2 a.m. But here's the wild twist. The bigger the product buy, the more likely it's past midnight. Airfare purchases tend to happen at 1 a.m. Coffee tables are getting bought at 2 a.m. 3 a.m. in the morning? Yeah, Jack. Big appliance. Time for a new fridge. Call it vampire shopping or midnight mastercarding. I like Z-commerce because you should be sleeping. So besties, our college coaches used to tell us that nothing good ever happens after midnight.

2:21But coach, the brand. It disagrees. Yeah, they do. Let's make it two handbags. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. Fifty percent, that's a fat tip. T-Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're here to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.

2:53Start the show. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

3:04Monarch. Yeah, he's one lobster roll. No joke. 50 bucks on Nantucket. And why is that a problem, Jack? Because we're going to Nantucket this summer on a joint family T-boy trip. It's a write-off. It is expensive, but we will travel with peace of mind because our finances are organized in Monarch, despite the lobster rolls. Monarch is the personal finance app that tracks everything. Accounts, investments, savings goals, and spending. Get your first year of Monarch Core for half off, just$50 with promo code T-Boy. Monarch shows visually how much you're spending this month compared to the average month, which is really useful.

3:36So like, honestly, this month, been a doozy jack. Booked a lot of travel, but I know the future months won't be as bad after lobster roll season. You know because Monarch showed you. Last year, you had a spike in May for travel bookings, but a dip in the summer because the travel was already paid for. You can even ask Monarch's AI assistant anything about your finances. Like, what are the key changes in my spending so far this year compared to last year? And how much was spent on lobster rolls last summer? Use code TBOY at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core at half off. Just$50.

4:06That's 50 % off your first year at Monarch.com with code T-Boy. Beer-O Premium Non-Alcoholic Beer. All right, Yeti, it's a little behind the scenes here. Before our New York City live show back in April, Jack and I went sober for two weeks. True story. Couldn't risk getting sick. I didn't want to be groggy. I couldn't afford a hangover. It was New York, baby. Okay, but Jack, celebrating the wins is what we do. And so for our live shows, we crack open something special. So we drank Biro, the premium non-alcoholic beer brand co-founded by Tom Holland. Yeah, I actually first saw it at my grocery store.

4:40Delicious tastes like a celebration. Feels fantastic and looks legit. More on the looks in a sec. And if it's good enough for the actor who played Spider-Man, it's good enough for us. You see, it pairs well with a pickleball game, a profitable earnings report, or with the best podcast. So, Yetis, if you want to celebrate the wins with all the taste of a premium lager or IPA, but none of the alcohol, there's no better choice than Bureau. Okay, pause the pod. Did we mention the can is straight up gold? This thing will stand out at every one of your next parties. Trust us, we've done it. Only beer we know that actually upgrades the scene like a promotion.

5:13So, Basties, if there's a win you're celebrating every day, Bureau is the non-alcoholic brew brand you gotta bring. So use code T-Boy for 20 % off your first order at BureauBrewing.com. For our first story, Rolex is doing record sales right now, and their CEO just made a rare public comment. The biggest surprise? That the Apple Watch is actually good for Rolex sales. But Jack, let's start this story with the billionaire's bingo card. What do we got on it, man? Birkenberg, Cuccinelli cashmere, Rolex. Check, check, check. Rolex. It doesn't show you the time. It actually shows you your net worth.

5:53But while Rolex brand is known, their CEO isn't at all. This dude is super secretive and Swiss. Yeah, super Swiss. In a rare interview, though, with Esquire magazine, Jean-Frederic DeFour, CEO of Rolex, revealed he basically does the opposite of every other business CEO. Focus groups, Rolex doesn't do them. Interviews, he avoids them. Decisions based on data? Nope. For Rolex, it's 100 % based on the CEO's data. A spreadsheet? Not possible, Jack. But Jean-Luc can say whatever he wants because it's working. Again, Rolex is a super secretive company. It's Swiss, so they don't report the numbers, but they've been estimated.

6:30And Jack, what do they look like? Sales are estimated to have jumped 31 % in the last four years to a record$13 billion. Oh yeah, those are Gucci numbers. Rolex is putting up twice as much revenue as Swatch these days. But Rolex's greatest product may not be the$30 ,000 Cosmograph with quartz-encrusted dials. You're going to drop a Batik Philippe on us next, Jack? Rolex's greatest product is their school. Because Rolex runs an apprentice program that trains an entire luxury watch industry. Yet in America, education and job training tend to be separate, but in Europe, they're often combined. Companies over there sponsor trainees and pay them while they learn a trade.

7:10They're called apprenticeships, and they actually go back to the guilds of the Middle Ages. Rolex began their watch guild about 50 years ago, because during the 1970s, Rolex needed to hire watchmakers, but nobody in the country knew how to make watches. Right. So Rolex launched this apprentice program to teach a chronometer from a caliber. Rolex's apprenticeship is three years long, offers 900 different courses and pays you while you're learning. Yeah. In case you were curious how this is different from an internship, all of that. So now Rolex has 500 apprentices learning the secrets of priming a bezel.

7:43And now Jack, we should point out that some American companies with European roots are introducing the apprentice model here in the United States, like Volkswagen, which partners with Chattanooga State Community College to train their workers. But besties pause the pod because the wildest part here is what happens after the apprenticeship program. Well, they have no commitment to work for Rolex, the company that just trained them. So these apprentices with the Rolex secrets go on to work for Rolex rivals. They could. And yet the CEO of Rolex doesn't even care about that. He says it's better for Rolex if the whole Swiss watch industry is healthy.

8:18In fact, this CEO of Rolex even thinks an even bigger threat is actually its biggest booster. So Jack, can you just check the time and let us know what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Rolex? Rolex is winning not despite, but because of the Apple Watch. Yetis, when Apple launched their watch years ago, it felt like a disruption moment that would kill, crush, and disrupt the whole luxury watch industry. Just like Apple killed the regular camera, it was going to kill the regular watch. But Rolex accurately predicted early on that this would not be a bad thing. And why is that, Jack? Because an Apple Watch isn't actually a watch.

8:55It's, as the CEO says, an iPhone you strap to your wrist, which is a totally different category. In fact, he said the Apple Watch helped us, in a way, by getting young people to wear something on their wrist. Apple Watch increased the size of the wrist market and increased people's willingness to pay. And that is why Rolex actually loves the Apple Watch. Sometimes the competition can actually be a catalyst. For our second story, the hot new marketing trend begins today. The branded advent calendar. You've seen them. We'll tell you how a religious artifact became a marketing hack for whiskey, perfume, and even lingerie.

9:36Ah, December 1st. When every email starts ghosting you with, let's circle back next year. I love this excuse. I know it kind of bothers you, dude, but it's a nice little escape for me. I mean, guys, just pick up the phone. Let's talk. But 12-1, December 1st, also is the start of the Advent, which, Jack, I have no context on this, so why don't you sprinkle it on? Well, it's the tradition of counting down the 24 days until Christmas. Why don't you sprinkle on some historical context for us, too, please? It began with the German Protestants in the 1800s. The Germans actually came up with a lot of our Christmas traditions.

10:08Thank you, Santa. And in this case, with the Advent calendar, kids would open a door each day to reveal an image, a poem, or a prayer. Amen. But after their defeats in the wars, Germany needed some brightness. They did. So they swapped out the prayers for some treats and some chocolate instead. And that sweet treat version caught the attention of American consumers in the middle of the last century. And now it's caught the attention of our American marketers. In America, we have separation between church and state. Yes, we do, besties. There is no separation between religion and capitalism. No, there is not.

10:40One second, Jack. Yeah, I was looking for that. button. This year, we are experiencing peak advertorial advent calendars. Brands are filling their calendars with 24 samples of whatever their product is, and Jack and I are noticing it everywhere. Bon Maman, the French jam brand, started a 24-day mini fruit jam calendar in 2017. And how is it doing now, Jack? It's sold out, so they've increased their production by 400%. Consumers are praying for more. What about Kraft Heinz, Jack? No way they're doing an advent calendar. They do fake cheese. No, they have a calendar with real cheese, I think. Probably fake, actually.

11:1524 days worth,$250 per calendar, also sold out. Yetis, this is across industries. Armani perfumes, Stouffer's frozen food, Legos, the toy, all doing advent calendars. Kim Kardashian Skims has a$315 underwear advent calendar. 24 nights, 24 surprises. The advent calendar has even gone 180 degrees from virtue to vices. Johnny Walker's whiskey advent calendar can be yours for 700 bucks. Jack, over the weekend, I walked into Bergdorf's, found a$1 ,200 Swarovski crystal advent calendar. It's a real thing. I'd rather have one big crystal than 24 tiny ones, though. Besties added all up and the advent calendar is the hottest marketing hack since the Ten Commandments.

12:00Can I say that? I don't know if I can say that. Either way, Jack, I'm surprised there's not a Hanukkah version. Like, how is there no menorah with like eight nights of Christian Dior perfume? Spoiler, there probably is. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies seeing the advent calendar trend? And I believe this is a quote from Spider-Man. With great patience comes great marketability. It's not Spider-Man, it's his uncle. Great call. Yetis, the reason why the advent calendar is so beloved by consumers is that it's the opposite of everything else we buy these days. We live in an instant gratification economy.

12:35You can impulse buy anything ASAP. Overnight on Amazon, same day on DoorDash, watch any video on YouTube on anything, anytime. The advent calendar started with a religious element, but even without it, it's about patience, delay, and discipline. Because this calendar spreads out over 24 days and it can only be opened one time a day and it limits you to a tiny little sample. Thanks for explaining what an advent calendar is. Thank you, Jack. Well, those limitations create tension, which make every dopamine hit even more intense. The attraction of the 24-day advent calendar is the opposite of everything else we consumers buy.

13:13Besties, the advent calendar market and trend. It proves the powerful profitability of patience. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Top hats, baseball hats, Von Dutch hats. We wear so many hats on this podcast. Honestly, we're not great at all of them. No, we've been avoiding hiring someone to wear those hats instead of us, especially the Von Dutch one, because hiring and training can take forever. Well, proud to say that we are hiring right now at T-Boy, and this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Because sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95 % more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs.

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15:50Yetis, what you think the ultimate embarrassing dad move is? Pausing the whole 4th of July party to stand on a picnic table and recite the entire Declaration of Independence. Yeah, that does seem like a dad move. Maybe Big Ted would do that. Ken Burns does that every single Independence Day. So Yetis, as two people who appreciated history and personally as someone who went as Thomas Paine three times for Halloween, when Ken Burns finally began working on the American Revolution film, we said it's about time. Ken Burns is the most famous documentarian ever. His past works include the Civil War, baseball, Lewis and Clark, American jazz, Mark Twain, Muhammad Ali, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

16:32Yeah, it's your favorite one, isn't it, Jack? It is. That was his first one, too. But we should point out Ken Burns, despite his talents, has not gotten rich producing these epic tales of America. At least not mega rich. This New Hampshire resident, his net worth is believed to be$3.5 million. And what's the reason for that, you think, Jack? Well, all of his documentaries he does with PBS, a non-profit, and he lets people watch for free. Another reason Ken Burns isn't rich? Well, his movies are costly to research, to write, to film, and to edit. The American Revolution, the one he just published, it took Ken and his team nine years to create.

17:07Which is longer than the actual American Revolution. Is that true? Yeah, by one year, Jack. So, Besties, if you're from a history family like we are, you probably watched an episode or 12 over the last weekend. Did you know that George Washington was the richest American? And he was also the head of the army? I had no idea. Picturing Elon Musk fighting in the U.S. Army, I can't do that check. Now, Besties, this begs a really interesting strategy question. How do you bring to the big screen something that happened before screens even existed? Yeah, this is a documentary, after all. He's not going to hire actors to go perform fights on the field, is he?

17:44So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style, we watched the first two episodes, and we noticed how Ken Burns got creative. First, he uses copious amounts of paintings and maps. Yeah, the Battle of Long Island really comes to life when you see the Brits marching down what's now the Long Island Expressway. And for the first time in this film, Ken Burns used reenactors. You actually see red coats for the first time wearing real red coats. But Ken also used voice actors to read actual letters written during the American Revolution. Oh, but not just any actors, Jack, right? Eight Oscar awards and 46 Oscar nominations are there among the voice acting cast, including Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep.

18:19Plus, Jack, you have the Ken Burns effect, an actual style that is named after Ken Burns himself. Yeah, he uses so many photographs in his movies that panning the camera across the photograph gives you a sense of, like, dynamic visuals. Okay, Jack, pause the pod and the revolution for a moment, though. Still, this documentary is six episodes, two hours each, 12 hours. That is 1 ,000 TikToks, man. And to fill up all that space, Ken had to use the same painting of young George Washington seven different times. Now, besties, in the past, critics have told Ken Burns that nobody would watch his documentaries because they were more interested in watching MTV.

18:58But MTV just shut down, while Ken Burns is still making documentaries. And yet now, they're telling Ken Burns that no one will watch his films because of TikTok. Well, Ken's got a response for that too. And we thought it was fascinating, so it's our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies watching 12 hours of a documentary? No matter the platform, narrative beats noise. Yeti's Ken Burns told Vanity Fair that he's not a documentarian or a historian. He's actually a storyteller. And he'd argue that just because it's long doesn't mean it's boring. And we agree. The best YouTubers, TikTokers, authors, filmmakers, makers, podcasters, they're all really just storytellers.

19:36Books and films don't go viral as easily, but each platform can still produce mega hits even today. This drives us nuts. Jack and I always hear how millennials will only watch 60 second videos these days. But didn't you watch every episode of eight seasons of Game of Thrones? And didn't you watch all of Stranger Things in one day? Those aren't 60 seconds. Those are 60 hours. Besties, it's not that our attention spans have gotten shorter. It's just that we demand more engaging content. And no matter the platform, narrative beats noise. Hear, hear. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the month?

20:12Rolex's CEO did a rare interview and glorified their watchmaking apprentice program. Rolex says that the Apple Watch actually helped their watch sales. Didn't hurt them. Sometimes competition can be a catalyst. For a second story, brands are using the advent calendar format to drive excitement and sales over the holidays. It's the advent advertising hack of the season. It's patiently profitable. And our third and final story, Ken Burns gifted America a 12-hour documentary that's competing with your TikTok feed. But he says he's not a documentarian. He's a storyteller. But besties, this pod's not over yet.

20:46Here's what else you need to know today. First, Zuck caused NVIDIA's stock to drop. Get this, Meta is reportedly switching from NVIDIA chips to Google chips. Google is everywhere right now. Googly, googly, googly. Google's mojo is relentless. It should ask Siri out on a date right now. Jack, maybe Apple should start paying Google to be the default search these days. Yeah, pull the old switcheroo. And second, American Eagle just signed Martha Stewart to a sponsorship deal. America's queen of domesticity is American Eagle's newest denim diva. If you want to know the resurgence of anyone with Gen Z, it's Martha Stewart.

21:24And finally, Amazon did something that their head of AI and robotics probably hated. Get this, Amazon hired 250 ,000 seasonal human workers to handle the holiday shopping surge. Just that 250 ,000 seasonal workforce would be the 23rd biggest company in America by workers. Boom, drop that in your next conference call. Now time for the best fact yet, which because it's Trivia Monday, Jack and I thought we would mix things up a bit. Jack, what are we thinking over here? Well, there's Green Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. There's Thanksgiving Thursday. There's Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

21:59Then Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday is tomorrow. The only day in the seven days without a nickname is Sunday after Thanksgiving. It's Sunday and therein, we believe, lies an opportunity. Drop in the comments what the Sunday of Thanksgiving should be called. Because it's the only day without a nickname. Because currently it's like Slack and Sunday. Nothing's happening. You're like sleeping in Sunday. That's what's going on right now. Well, slacking Sunday might imply you're working, but I don't think that's what you're getting at. Sundays are for the toys. I don't know. Maybe you buy toys on Sundays.

22:29There's like a lot of opportunities here. Drop in the comments what America should formally call the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We'll give the best answer on tomorrow's pod. Sunday Bunday. It's when you actually go out and you buy buns for baking. There's like a lot we can work with here. What is the answer, Yetis? Nick's suggestions are for illustrative purposes only. Yetis, you look fantastic to kick off December. Jack, you are glowing over there. And so is our Yeti doll right here. Jack, I got him with us. Here he is. I'm holding him. He's squishy and soft. Yeah, it's Cyber Monday. I guess we're supposed to push our product.

23:02Yeah, Yetis, if you are looking for a gift for a buddy out there, then you can buy our Yeti doll. Jack and I are selling it on our website right now. tboypod.com slash shop. Give it a squeeze. It's an economic support toy. when the markets go down, you squeeze the Yeti doll. Great to be back, Yetis. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow.

23:24And before we go, a happy birthday to Trevor Baldwin down in Hotlanda, Georgia, listening since 2021. Thank you for being with us, Trevor. Happy birthday to Karen Hobbs in Brooklyn, New York. And Kimmons Non-Nast, congratulations on the new job down in Mountain View, California. And good luck to Brandon Nemo of Cheyenne, Wyoming, who just moved from New York to Texas to take on a new job. You got this, Brandon. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick, and I both own Stock of Apple. This episode is brought to you by Bill, the intelligent finance platform that helps businesses scale with proven results.

24:03Yet he's paying and getting paid? That is a pain for small and medium-sized businesses. Jack, did you send the invoice? Did they see the invoice? Did you remember to remind them to see to pay to remember to pay the invoice. If you drop the ball in any one of those steps, you don't get paid. Nope. And you're missing out on cashflow. You should not have to chase your customers. This isn't tags. So powered by AI, Build does all that simply and automated so that you don't have to. ACH, credit card, check, international wire transfers. They probably do carrier pigeon Bill Pay if that's how you want to get paid.

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