Right About Now with Ryan Alford - The Week of May 19, 2023 Marketing and Business News: Candy Crush ‘Candifies’ the Jonas Brothers

Starting point is 00:00:00 I said hallelujah to the 16th oil phoenix, you're getting down on your knees, said it's time for you to get down, cause I'm making what you need now. You're listening to The Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. It's Friday, May 19th, 2023. Welcome to our weekly marketing, advertising, and news of the world week. Of the world week.

Starting point is 00:00:45 World week. It's the world week. Of the world week. World week. May 19th. It's the world week of news. What's up? Did you have a good birthday? Hey, you know, we're celebrating this weekend. There you go. That's the smart thing to do.

Starting point is 00:00:55 Yeah. Nash had a baseball game last night. That's fun, though. Yeah. So, family fun at the ballpark. You going to the lake? How are you celebrating? Yeah, we're going down to the lake.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Somehow I worked my way into that. It was looking gloom and doom of lots of stuff. And somehow Nicole worked it out. So like a good wife. There you go. Yes. So lake weekend for numero 46. Exciting.

Starting point is 00:01:21 Yeah. Wow. Yeah, it's a number. It's like a satisfying number though sure i made it yeah 46 there you go 23 was 23 years ago it's wild hey thank you for that you're welcome you're welcome he's got demoted to assistant producer there it is there it is are you gonna be grilling out at all at the beach oh maybe some hot dogs some wieners or some Franks. Frank and wieners. Yes. Wasn't that a dog?

Starting point is 00:01:48 A movie, Frank and Weenie? I'm getting off topic. I really hope it was. Frank and wiener cock. Back to summer grilling. Yes. Oscar Myers, Wienermobile changing its name, at least for the summer, to the Frankmobile. The Frankmobile. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:03 So the Frankmobile rolls out with a new recipe for the foods brands hot dogs so it's a better percent all beef yeah okay so it's all beef in those franks no no beef in the wieners the wieners are a mixed bag of meat and shorter supposedly i just need our listeners to understand that this has been going on for 10 minutes prior to when we hit record. It's an iconic marketing machine, which is the Franken-Wiener. Wienermobile. Wienermobile.

Starting point is 00:02:38 Frank-Mobile. Franken-Wiener. That's right. Yeah. That's what they should call it. That way you get both names. Exactly. The Wienermobile.

Starting point is 00:02:43 But then it feels very, maybe Halloween, Franken-Wiener. Because then you're really capitalizing on proud interest. Exactly. Yeah. That's what they should call it. That way you get both names. The Wienermobile. But then it feels very, maybe Halloween, Frankentiner. Because then you're really capitalizing on proud interest. Exactly. All about the Wieners. Cocktails, as you brought up, like it's like a never ending. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:55 You might be 46, but we both think like 14 year old boys. And hey, if your name is Frank, there's Franks for. Franks for Frank. You can go up to that Frankmobile and get you some wieners frankly i don't give a damn sorry are you a hot dog eater i love hot dogs oh yeah

Starting point is 00:03:10 chili or no chili yes oh yeah but no ketchup no i'll i can be tempted mustard yeah oh yeah oh yeah okay no corn dogs hot dogs hot dog Summer with a little chili on it. Baseball game. That's peak comfort food. I'm so hungry. We always do this. We do this every single week. Yes.

Starting point is 00:03:33 What a great marketing thing of all time. You had fun with the shape of the wiener. You created a wienermobile, frankmobile, whatever the hell they want to call it. It shows up around town. It makes everyone happy. Yeah. Clever. Smart makes everyone happy. Yeah. And. Clever, smart.

Starting point is 00:03:46 Yeah. So check out. Yeah. Check out the Wienermobile. Frankmobile. Pardon my French. Get your buns ready. There you go.

Starting point is 00:03:54 Buns on buns. But speaking of things that make me happy, Candy Crush and the Jonas Brothers. These are two of my guilty pleasures. Candy Crush is candifying the Jonas Brothers in a new gaming tie-up. I think this is fun. The Jonas Brothers just released a new album called The Album, which is really good. Sawyer, have you listened to it yet?

Starting point is 00:04:12 I haven't. It's good. It just came out like last week or? Yeah, within this past week. I think it came out last Thursday. I like some of the Jonas Brothers stuff. I have loved them for a very long time. I'm ashamed to say that. Not all of it, but some of it. I think I bought their very first album at a Christian bookstore when I was like... They sold the Jonas Brothers at a Christian bookstore?

Starting point is 00:04:30 Yes, at a Christian bookstore. Because at the time they all wore... Was it the cleaned version? I mean, they were Disney Channel stars. And I think it was because they all wore purity rings. And so Christian bookstores were like, ah, we'll promote this. But yeah, so this is like a nice throwback. I love Candy Crush. Feels smart. Feels fun. we'll promote this but yeah so this is like a nice throwback i love candy crush feels smart feels fun and this says that the tie-up also includes promotional video and a candy crush

Starting point is 00:04:51 exclusive remix of the brand's single waffle house the game continues to be popular having celebrated its 10-year anniversary last year and surpassing 3 billion downloads since 2012 billion huge gaming still huge on the phone. I still play Retro Bowl personally, which is Tecmo Bowl copied, but football game. I was never into Candy Crush. I definitely played the Fruit Ninja or whatever

Starting point is 00:05:16 it was called. Was that what it was called? Fruit Ninja. Yeah, I played that for sure. Did you do Temple Run? Oh yeah. Temple Run or Skate Surfer or whatever it was. Like all those, like that format got duplicated a hundred different times. Candy Crush, I still play. And all those things followed the same kind of trajectory and the same game engine.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Oh, yeah. But they just changed the graphics. This is fun. Good combo. I assume Candy Crush still makes money from just like leveling up and stuff. Yep. And they still have ads. Do you ever spend money on Candy Crush?

Starting point is 00:05:48 I think I may have spent $1.99. Oh, wow. On some lives at one point. High value customer. No, no, I'm not. I'm cheap. But man, those ads get so annoying. I've been tempted before.

Starting point is 00:05:59 Yeah. I see it at, they have it at Dave and Buster's, which we should own stock of at the Alford House. I see it at they have it at Dave and Buster's which we should own stock of at the Alford house they have Candy Crush

Starting point is 00:06:07 and Fruit Ninja or whatever on these game boards that they're still making extensions of making a profit yep so it's fun

Starting point is 00:06:14 nice we've got some rad news big rad news this week number seven in business and marketing on the Apple Podcast Network so thank you everyone

Starting point is 00:06:24 listening on keep listening on the Apple Podcast Network yeah big deal it is number seven in business and marketing on the apple podcast network so thank you everyone listening on keep listening on the apple podcast network yeah big deal it is number seven there's only six people we've got to go take down we're coming for you sabotaging cease and get my developers to send some some brownies yeah oh your podcast software stopped working i'm kidding sad we're gonna do it the old-fashioned way. Just make it more popular. So I appreciate everyone that listens and continues. And if you want to go, if you want to listen

Starting point is 00:06:50 to us twice, listen to us on Spotify once and on Apple. I think we're like top 25 on Spotify. YouTube if you want to watch our faces. Yeah, exactly.

Starting point is 00:06:58 What's not to love about this 46-year-old Frankenweener? This week, we did have Jen Larson speaking of men's dating coaches. Sorry. 46-year-old.weener. This week, we did have Jen Larson. Speaking of men's dating coaches. Sorry. 46-year-old.

Starting point is 00:07:09 TikTok star. Keep going. I'll recover. Jen is awesome. Huge TikTok fandom, like many others, including Cry Comedy over here. She's great. Very blunt. Very down to earth.

Starting point is 00:07:20 Really enjoyed having her and giving tips and advice for how to grow on TikTok. So it was very functional as well as informational if you're a man out there wanting to date she gave actually some good tips if you're a single man out there for how to get ahead she knows because she had four brothers ah and learned all the tips and tricks and it still goes to them so they older she cuts it like it is a little bit of both both. Nice. She's a middle child. Yeah. Next week, we have the founder and CEO of Good Ranchers. You've probably heard of that name before on our show. Oh, yes. Yes.

Starting point is 00:07:50 Ben Spell. Ben's awesome. Family company. Very down to earth. Very transparent about how he's built the business and the ups and downs of going all in and the pains of that and then where things turned around for him. So this is a great entrepreneurial journey, how to get ahead, how to learn from what you're doing and how to go with your gut. Ben was really great, really just down to earth as much as anything. So I think

Starting point is 00:08:16 people are really going to enjoy both his story and then his foundational values for how and what. And it's going to validate everything we've talked about on the show, which I think it's a good spin right into it, which is good ranchers and good ranchers.com. The official meat sponsor, meat delivery sponsor of Ryan offered and the rad cast get $30 off with code rad cast. And Hey,

Starting point is 00:08:40 go listen to Ben's episode while you're listening, go to good ranchers.com. Look for the best deals. Put it in the Radcast. You'll get $30 off. You'll thank us for it. It's steakhouse quality meat delivered right to your house. I have stuff sitting on the counter as we speak to take to the lake.

Starting point is 00:08:55 So it's going to be grilled this weekend. Good weekend. There you go. There won't be any hot dogs. It's going to be all Good Ranchers meat all weekend. Solid. No franks, no wieners, no cocktail wieners, whatever. Just cocktail beverages.

Starting point is 00:09:10 Yes, that's right. Canned cocktails. There you go. I know you enjoy it. Yes, I do. I love it. Nice and easy. Go give them some love and go listen to Ben Spells' episode next Tuesday on the Radcast,

Starting point is 00:09:23 everywhere you listen and watch our show. We got some social media news. AI is not only taking over the world, but also our episodes. Google is boosting AI chatbot BARD with a visual search and third-party plugins. And I, in my opinion, I think that BARD is going to end up dethroning

Starting point is 00:09:41 or could end up dethroning ChatGPT for the most used. You got the whole Google thing behind it right small you know money success yes you may have heard of it and users already on the platform so if they figure this out and build it in where people already naturally using it it's gonna blow up and the plugins that are in the work this is interesting are zip recruiter instacart open, OpenTable, Kayak, Wolfram, and Khan Academy. The new feature arrives as OpenAI's ChatGPT has garnered considerable attention in the marketplace. Yeah. I do want to see the image-based stuff come along a little better. It's a little clunky trying to Google Lens or whatever the hell it is, like doing an image

Starting point is 00:10:19 search. Because sometimes I do, I literally had a part, I was taking apart one of my 547 Bluetooth speakers and trying to fix it. And I had this one cable and I was like, all right, I literally had a part. I was taking apart one of my 547 Bluetooth speakers and trying to fix it. And I had this one cable. And I was like, all right, I'll take a pic. I was like, I had a use case for searching for it to know what part to order. That was clunky as hell. Let me just tell you. Never found it.

Starting point is 00:10:37 Never will get that 30 minutes of my life back. But now I know. Now you can say back in my day. Yeah, back in my day. Once the technology works my kids have it like all they have to do is think about something and it's implanted in their head the search findings ridiculous you know where it's coming right yeah probably but all this stuff's coming along all you have to worry about and know is that we are real and not ai there's no artificial any of the brit any of the Britney Spears stuff about her?

Starting point is 00:11:06 There are like all of these theories that all of her, you've seen this? That she's AI? That all of her videos, because there's like the conservator, conservatory ship, whatever it is that she's been under, and that all of the videos that have been posted

Starting point is 00:11:17 have been completely AI generated. It's a little like Twilight Zone. But that's what we're going to get into, is what's real and what's not that's like that's what's going on with the writer's guild strike right now it's like the battle for real but it's real real what makes it real that's a podcast for a different day yes r-e-l or r-e-a-l we'll have a philosophy spinoff a real about real reels that could be hey there's a business idea for you real reals right no ai yes so this is coming along and i do think if google can figure it out because a lot more people are using chrome and they have google search like naturally embedded so they need to

Starting point is 00:11:57 figure this out because chat tbt is ahead of them and setting this pace for the category yeah so we'll see next up google is deleting accounts that have been active for two years in a big security push. Yeah, inactive. Inactive. Did I say active? I think you did. I meant inactive.

Starting point is 00:12:12 I was like, wow. Yeah, wouldn't that be awful? Google will send multiple notifications before deleting an account and begin with those that were created but never used. Smart. Yeah. This makes me wonder, is the cloud running out of room is that what's happening or are people just not there only have so many christina yasi 4384922 at google.com i am so

Starting point is 00:12:33 lucky with how weird my last name is though i'm almost always available online yes it makes sense we talked about the blue check right and verifying, but this. And Twitter's doing this as well, going through and getting rid of certain accounts that have had usernames tied up. I will say the only reason I don't fit in effect. I have my kids. I have every username on every social platform. Their first and last name. Hogan, Richie, Clayton, Ryan. I'm remembering all my kids. Steven this is quite I have four

Starting point is 00:13:08 boys so back off the but I do have all their like they dot coms and everything like Nash Alford dot com yeah Clayton Alford dot com Hudson Alford dot I got all those every once in a while I guess so yeah I think I don't think I bought just the or got there just their straight Google Googles. I do have Instagram handles and TikTok handles as just their first names. Wow. So that they're ready. They're the one.

Starting point is 00:13:37 See, they're the one. Hey, raising a brand. I'm writing the book. I'm going to have to live in all the ways with which I'll teach. Practice what you preach. Exactly. So we'll see where this goes. Tinder has been up in our notes recently too, which is interesting.

Starting point is 00:13:51 And they are now removing social handles from bios as part of its updated community guidelines. Again, I think this is super smart. I haven't been on the apps in a long time, but this feels like a very wise decision. Tinder is updating the community guidelines to keep the dating app safe and respectful. Social handles will be removed from users' public bios and it is discouraged to post private conversations with their matches on other platforms. The platform has a clear policy

Starting point is 00:14:14 that prohibits using it for business promotion. Users should never post private chats with other matches without consent and accounts should be for singles only. Yeah. I mean, I don't really know the point of having the social handle anyway. It's like you, as long as you have a way to get to them and you're messaging them and I mean, I don't really know the point of having the social funnel anyway. It's like you,

Starting point is 00:14:26 as long as you have a way to get to them and you're messaging them and you just, I don't know. Especially if people are dumb enough to put like their own personal information in their handle. Yeah. And people can stop.

Starting point is 00:14:35 John Smith. Especially in a small town. Like when I began, it's been years, but when I was on them, I'd have people be like, oh, were you in that show? And then I was like, all of my information was just very easy to find. And I was like, eh, I don't like that at all.

Starting point is 00:14:49 Thank you. It makes sense. It's good for privacy. And TikTok is adding a new mental health awareness hub to provide users access to resources. The platform is also donating over $2 million in ad credits to organizations dedicated to mental wellbeing. I think that this is on the heels of those two girls. Their names are escaping me, but there were two 18-year-olds who recently took their own lives on TikTok, and they had millions of people who followed them, and they were 17 and 18. So my algorithm has informed me of that a little bit. But with great eyes and great dollars comes great responsibility. You got to, they need to be ahead of this. So they have a lot, billions of people using their platform.

Starting point is 00:15:29 And billions of young people, like so many young people. And this technology is so new and happens so quickly that we don't understand long-term effects of it. So I think that's a wise step for them to be taking. Yeah. And I hope it works. I hope it reaches the right people. Two million in address doesn't quite sound like enough. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:15:45 I would be like to add a couple zeros to that. Yeah, totally. It's just, it's a problem. And they need to be ahead of providing solutions to it if they're going to provide free and open access to potential things that have harm. Hats off to them for trying to get ahead of it or responding quickly.

Starting point is 00:16:04 But I think there's not enough they could probably do to stave this off. To really prevent it. Yeah. You just got to be careful out there. If you've got kids that are using the platform, just don't be naive about it. And it's not easy because they're going to want to use it. Their friends are using it. But it's got to be limitations.

Starting point is 00:16:22 And they need to understand that it's an entertainment platform. And a lot of people are, it's not always reality. People are sharing, they talk about things and yeah, you can get your feelings hurt, but people are doing that for entertainment. Don't find your value from it.

Starting point is 00:16:35 Yeah. Absolutely. None of that's easier said than done, especially when you're 13, 14, 15 years old. But that's where the parents have to step in and the platform's trying to step in, but it can't do. It can only do so much. It can only do so much. Yeah, absolutely. But good for them. It seems like a step in the right direction. That's all we've got for social media news. This one kind of

Starting point is 00:16:54 connects with marketing and social media, but the WNBA app is rolling out TikTok style video feed to attract younger fans. So Women's National Basketball Association has launched a brand new app that has short form, quick swiping videos to help up their downloads. They have recorded 260,000 downloads since 2020 and 101,000 monthly active users in this past season. Look, this is smart. Also on the coattails of the Women's NCAA tournament, which is one of the more exciting and followed tournaments for women's basketball, this is smart to try to take advantage of new fans and the attention that got on that. The women's game has improved a lot. It's sped up. The athletes are incredible.

Starting point is 00:17:39 At a certain point, women's and men's were always, like, compared on an athletic level. But there seems to be storylines and different things that are making the women's game a lot more interesting. I watched more games on the women's tournament this year than ever before. No, me too. And I think it's smart for the WNBA to tap into that and to create platform and to do things that leverage that popularity growth. So this is smart because this is where that target is obviously spending their time. And again, building onto those stories to making.

Starting point is 00:18:10 And I think we always thought that, and I did think this, I'll admit, I'll call me whatever you want, but the men's game, more action, jumping higher, athletic. And of course that has something to do with it. But I think it's just that the stories around the players were more known. Yes. And so when these women's stories get out where she's got this persona, she has this persona and they're showing their attitude, they're showing their

Starting point is 00:18:34 energy. And these stories got built around the players the way the men's do. Suddenly it got more popular. Now we live in a narrative society. So as soon as you attach narrative to something, it's going to be more popular. Yes. And so in a narrative society. So as soon as you attach narrative to something, it's going to be more popular. Yes. And so I think if they want to learn from this, it's bringing more of those stories to life so that we relate more to those players or we have more,

Starting point is 00:18:55 oh, I love that one, that person's sass. No, I love her, how hard she plays. No, I love, and it's the same thing in the NBA because like guys get labeled as, well, he's a defensive shutdown guy, you know what I isn't that exciting but that's his persona and so i think the wmba can tap into that needs to bring more of these personas to life yeah and i think you'll see the popularity grow so smart play here completely agree this next one i think you'll like taco bell is seeking to liberate taco tuesday as a phrase that has been trademarked by their rivals.

Starting point is 00:19:27 What is it? Taco John has this, has Taco Tuesday copyright or trademarked in 49 states while a small business called Gregory's owns it in New Jersey. So Taco Bell has a campaign to liberate Taco Tuesday and break it from being this trademarked phrase, which I think is hilarious. Yes.

Starting point is 00:19:48 Taco Bell's marketing has been on the money. Taco Bell said it's not seeking damage, but instead common sense usage for the term. I guess they can't use it at all, which is funny. It's like, I feel like, did Bron James talk about Taco Tuesday or something? Like, I swear he has something to do with this too. Maybe. But anyway, I've never even heard of Taco John. No, me either.

Starting point is 00:20:11 And people use Taco Tuesday. I guess just the brands aren't. I guess I see it so much from people and the hashtag on different promotions and stuff. I feel like we've worked with a couple taco chains, maybe not as big as Taco Bell that definitely used it. But Taco Bell is so big, They can't get away with it. It's one thing to put it on a sandwich board outside your location, but if you're a giant chain and you're running a marketing campaign, exactly. Yeah, exactly. You can do half price Margs, but the only thing I'll say is, and I love

Starting point is 00:20:38 Taco Bell's marketing and I have no, and I like their food too. Uh, so I have no problem with it, but I'll say this. They are the biggest taco name in the world. And I don't feel sorry for them that someone was wise and trademarked this. And they're going, wow, we can't make another billion dollars because we want to use it too. Sure. Like part of me, like I respect Taco Bell. I like their marketing and all that. But then the business side of me is too bad, sad that's the point of the trademark is so that big bad bears can't come hurt the little

Starting point is 00:21:09 guy that might have taken an idea before them i don't know might fall on the side of taco john here maybe we'll get taco john taco john who knows we'll blow you up on the number seven podcast give us a call if you gotta get outside the other 49 states yeah so there you go. Give us a call. If you gotta get outside of just New Jersey. The other 49 states. Yeah. So there you go. And Elon Musk, because we cannot have an episode. I feel like we need our own segment just on what's Mr. Musk up to.

Starting point is 00:21:34 But he's now saying that Tesla will try a little advertising. And Tesla, as we all know, traditionally eschewed conventional advertising and instead used email referral programs, Elon Musk's tweets, and customer-made ads to build brand recognition. But at the 2023 annual meeting of shareholders, Elon Musk revealed that Tesla may try out some new advertising.

Starting point is 00:21:54 So if you need an agency, Mr. Musk. Yeah, exactly. But I think it might happen on Twitter first. What about you? Oh, yeah. I mean, I would be on Twitter. I'd say screw, I don don't know my ego and everything else if i said we're never gonna run advertising or whatever and then he hasn't had to if you own

Starting point is 00:22:11 twitter you own the platform there's a lot of eyeballs there yeah and it skews towards people that want these electric teslas so i would be promoting it on on at least twitter yeah maybe doing some trade some other networks so it does say maybe using credit in Tesla. Twitter may be used for credit. Yeah, exactly. So it would be. They have both the marketing team and the platform. So why wouldn't you do that? I think it's smart and

Starting point is 00:22:37 I love and respect some of the things Elon does strategically in business. I dislike a lot of things too, but this one just seems to get out of your own way and do it. Right. Run it.

Starting point is 00:22:50 Right. It sounds like he's going to. We might try a little advertising. Oh, little. Ha ha ha. But I could care less about Tesla's though. That's just me.

Starting point is 00:22:58 Sure. Sure. I don't know. It's through, through. Again, I don't know enough about cars. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:23:04 I don't know if I really put much thought into it. I won't like those Rivian trucks that go like zero to 60 in three seconds. Oh, yeah. Sure. You know. If I could just walk and take public transportation, I would. I would. I don't have time for that sometimes.

Starting point is 00:23:17 True. We'll see. Anyway, we're always sponsored by a company that I'm part owner of. There's your little asterisk discretion, but Take a Vacay. Vacay.com. Best way to get away. Plant-based premium products right to your door from Take a Vacay.com. We've got gummies.

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Starting point is 00:24:16 The only way to spell. The only way to spell. V-A-Y-K-A-Y. The way it sounds. You know where we're at. Theradcast.com. You can search for all of today's content. Search for all of our sponsors as well.

Starting point is 00:24:27 They're there. We'd love for you to give them a shout out. And you know where to find me. I'm at Ryan Offer on all the platforms. Verified before you could buy it. For Sawyer Rice on the ones and twos, my lovely co-host, Christina Yossi. Cry Comedy on TikTok.

Starting point is 00:24:43 All platforms, yeah. All platforms now. Indeed. We'll see you next time on The Radcast. To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, the.rad.cast

Starting point is 00:24:59 or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.

Right About Now with Ryan Alford - The Week of May 19, 2023 Marketing and Business News: Candy Crush ‘Candifies’ the Jonas Brothers

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