Right About Now with Ryan Alford - The Week of November 03, 2023 Marketing and Business News: Elon Musk Unleashes in Fiery Joe Rogan Podcast: Warns of the Woke Mind Virus

Starting point is 00:00:00 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 your first Radcast of November 2023. It's November 3rd, our weekly marketing and business news of the week. I'm joined by my friend, my business partner, my co-host, Chris Hansen. What's up, Chris? How you doing today, man?

Starting point is 00:00:38 Hey, it's rocking and rolling, baby. Got a successful Halloween? Hey, yes, it was successful. I had two bucketfuls for Nash. Nash took the crown. Even with a busted hand, he filled up two bucketfuls. And he proceeded to categorize his candy when he got home. And he's like his mother.

Starting point is 00:00:59 He's very organized for a seven-and-a-half-year-old. And so he put all of his candy into piles. The chocolate based, the gummy based, the hard candy. It was completely organized. And I went in there and I said, which ones did daddy get? He said, daddy, I like them all, baby. He's zilch, brother. See your way out.

Starting point is 00:01:23 He said, fortunately, daddy, this year i i think i got everything that i like i'm like you son of a that's so funny i got nothing and then i went proceeded to one of my older sons hogan he i stuck a couple out of his while he was in the shower but it was successful we we had two spider-mans nash was a hot dog and clayton was an escaped prisoner love it hopefully hopefully the only time he's gonna be wearing that arnstown suit yeah and if you knew clayton like of all sons, like literally like the best kid, like the least likely of any of them to ever get in that kind of trouble. And that's fine. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:13 So it was good. It was successful and a good Halloween week. Lots of candy laying around. I'm going to be having to fight it off. Or I just lean into it. That's one or the other. I say lean in. We're in that season. Yeah, exactly.

Starting point is 00:02:31 Speaking of seasons, it's the Joe Rogan-Elon Musk season this week. For those of you who didn't see, he got a couple things on Elon this week. He was on the Joe Rogan podcast and doing his best of the woke tales which i can get behind i think he's he's right more than he is wrong i'll say that right is is a little crazy he gets a little he throws money around and says things that might impact my bottom line maybe a little faster than i would have but maybe once you get that much maybe once you get that much money you don't care which he clearly doesn't and Joe asked him about the valuation of Twitter he bought it for like 44 billion and now it's worth about half that and he said basically he was his concern was over the corrosive effects on civilization and its spread of the woke mind virus.

Starting point is 00:03:30 The way he words things is so eloquent. Yes. He's a true guy, I guess, with the way he phrases things in headlines. But he critiqued the way COVID, the ventilation treatments, and like all this other stuff. And then they said that they were shooting arrows at his cyber truck in the parking lot. A bet that Musk won or something. He's made electric armor plated vehicles now.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Yes, exactly. Have you seen those things? Yeah, they're gnarly. It it looks straight from the future do they drive are they around in miami anywhere i think i've may have seen one i want to say like in houston to be honest with you i don't i don't even know are they available to the public i don't know i. I heard there were a few in the wild. I don't know that they're commercially available. I figured if there was anywhere you'd see them, it'd be Miami.

Starting point is 00:04:34 I'm surprised I haven't seen more, honestly. But Musk seems to be starting to be a regular on Rogan every now and then. And I'm sure Rogan doesn't mind. It jacks the ratings. Yeah, exactly. Same thing like Aaron Rodgers, his Tuesday spiel on McAfee. So we'll stay down that line.

Starting point is 00:04:56 McAfee had Aaron Rodgers on this week. And Aaron went dressed up as like a molecule or something from COVID for Halloween. And they were talking about that whole segment. And it was on ESPN and it blanked out. Supposedly just accidentally. Isn't it funny how that happens? Yeah, free speech. The stream just cuts out.

Starting point is 00:05:21 how that happens. Yeah, free speech. The stream just cuts out. It's happy to cut out when ESPN knows how many sponsors they have that are going to get pissed off. Not a fan of the Rogers. Not a fan at all. I don't know where they're going to go with all that shit. It's...

Starting point is 00:05:40 Once you get Pat McAfee on your show, I don't know what they expected to happen. Aaron Rodgers is coming on every week. Did you think this would be a controlled environment? Exactly. It wasn't just going to be some F-bombs and shits and cursing. Pat's going to head down a few avenues, especially if Aaron Rodgers and whoever else is on. He's going to have to either give, they're going to have to either give it up or,

Starting point is 00:06:05 I think, who knows? It's hard to know whether it was truly a mishap or not, but it seems fucking coincidental as shit. It was very suspect. Exactly. And so it's like, free speech or not, it's hard to say. In other news,

Starting point is 00:06:23 I thought this was pretty interesting, and I think this is where you're going to start to see things going. I worked on wireless a lot with Verizon back in the day, and they have these things that are called MVNOs, which, for another word, these are like these subcarriers that roll off of the Verizon, the AT&Ts. They work off of the same networks. Some of the agreements, so they don't have antitrust laws with wireless networks, is they have to allow other subcarriers to use their networks and to lease their networks.

Starting point is 00:06:59 And I'm simplifying a fairly complex business name, but they call them MVNOs. But they're going to start having, and there's already one that's called TextNow, that's allowing free service, free phone, free service to the younger audience. Because essentially what you're buying is ads are free-flowing on the phone at all times. So, again, it's no different than, I guess, if you think about some of the streaming networks that were free or have ad support. So it makes sense because think about it. A cell phone serves, what, 50 bucks for a single line or whatever? And if you serve unlimited ads across these

Starting point is 00:07:46 and what people are paying for ads now, you can understand why it starts to add up. There's plenty of margin there to give away $50 a month to a captive audience. Yeah. And so there's this article on Ad Age about TexNow, and I'll read a couple of the highlights. TextNow is capitalizing on Gen Z's mobile usage by offering a unique ad-supported free phone service.

Starting point is 00:08:15 Right now, they've already attracted over 10 million users in the U.S. It offers a platform for brands to reach the digitally native and diverse generation who prefer experiences over possessions and value inclusivity and diversity. It's like they got to throw in every stereotype for that generation. That has nothing to do with this article. Gen Z making up 40% of global consumers is cautious about sharing personal information,

Starting point is 00:08:37 but is open to engaging with creative and non-intrusive ads. I have a hard time believing that's what they're getting in this experience. But textile's model challenges traditional mobile services offering cost-effective solutions and strategic advertising opportunities and collaborates with major carriers for expansive coverage their ad strategy includes tailored integrated user experiences providing value both to consumers and brands looking to connect with young audiences.

Starting point is 00:09:06 Interesting. And I don't know how much I believe that how intrusive they are. other monetization channels and what you choose to give away versus what you monetize. Because sometimes you can give away a portion of what you do as a business because you monetize at a higher level across different things. So in this case, they can subsidize the cost of the phone and the service because they get enough ad agreements for the number of users that they have. And so I would think it's a scale thing. I'm not sure how they made this work when they only had 500 users, but now they've got 10 million, it becomes scale. And it's no different than a little bit.

Starting point is 00:10:05 Like you talk about, and I've had people in the show this week talking a lot about like online coaching and everything. I give away all the advice, but then the like execution and doing it for you, the service is then the cost, right? So like for us as an ad agent, and I deploy this sometimes, I get away, I don't hold back any of my recommendations, like as far as my learnings in marketing. But then, but if you want to execute it for your business, if you want to get it done, you got to pay us to do it. And so I think there's a lot of instances of this in business where if you think about what you the service that you could provide and the knowledge that you have, because a lot of people get real. Oh, I got my secrets. I've got all this stuff.

Starting point is 00:10:53 But knowledge has gotten cheap. It's really execution that still takes the getting things done and making it happen where you see the difference. I can have the knowledge all day, but if I don't have the strategy to execute, it's useless. Implementation. Yeah. It's related a little bit, I think, to this on a different level. But I do think it's interesting because if I'm trying to reach this, I would be researching this channel as a way to hit this target most certainly and it will be interesting

Starting point is 00:11:30 watching the wireless landscape if this starts to hit a bigger dent there's gonna be more and more of this and because certainly had a big play on streaming video and all those things yeah now it's funny they've all kind of gone backwards. Things that were free now cost money. And all these platforms now have ads supported. Disney has ads supported. Netflix has ads supported. So

Starting point is 00:11:55 we will see. I just think it gets a little slippery slope when you start giving away devices and things like that, but I don't know. I just have a hard time well and they really give it to the consumer it's all right they're gonna hit me with ads but is it gonna be before i want to make a phone call i've got to watch a 15 second clip you know yeah exactly maybe is it gonna slow down my daily phone usage is my kind of question it says it says it's non-intrusive.

Starting point is 00:12:26 Oh, well, in that case. I think what you're describing is intrusive. But you know what? The first example of this was back when Amazon came out with tablets, they were cheap as shit. They were like $40 for an Amazon tablet. But it had all of their stuff built into it right movies the videos the program pre-shopped everything was pre-installed you couldn't customize it and so you had that

Starting point is 00:12:55 experience ads were baked in there's different things and it was sure was easy to shop on those things of course so they did this i don't know five eight years ago when they first came out with tablets and devices and i think it has cooled off because i know i bought they had the kids version of the tablets that had like the bumpers on it and everything yeah at the time like my clayton and hudson were my oldest they like three and five. And I think we bought those things for them because they'd kick it down the hall and it would stay together. But the reason we got rid of them, eventually moved to iPad, is because the experience was so ad heavy. It was just like, okay. Again, trying to get the content or do what you want to do, you're just like bombarded with shit.

Starting point is 00:13:43 Yeah. or do what you want to do, you're just like bombarded with shit. Yeah. There's this fine line of ads versus branded content versus user experience. So we'll see where this goes. If all cell phones become free, as long as you're willing to watch unlimited ads. Watch, yeah. As long as you're willing to get targeted.

Starting point is 00:14:11 Yeah. But the only ad that would be okay would be Caldera Lab because they provide a service, Chris. I need to look good for these podcasts. They send me a hat. They know I'm a hat guy. So I get the Caldera hat going on. I've got all the good stuff, including the good, my favorite. This is the, you get lotioned up and you're like, okay, I'm done. Nope.

Starting point is 00:14:29 You got to get the serum, baby. Makes you feel good. Makes you look good. It gets rid of these fine lines. I wake up the next morning and if my wife wasn't already gone, she'd be like, ooh. Oh my gosh, you look so handsome. On Saturdays though, she reminds me. At least you get one day a week.

Starting point is 00:14:48 Exactly. One day a week. I'm excited. My Caldera Labs arrived yesterday, so I got to go scoop that. Oh, yeah. You got to go get that. You got to get face washed and put that lotion on. Yes, exactly.

Starting point is 00:15:06 My before and afters are on the show. You go watch the show six months ago, before Caldera Lab and after Caldera Lab, and you'll see the difference. But loving all their products. I really love, actually, and look, I only talk about what works. You guys may go, oh, it's just an ad. He's talking about it.

Starting point is 00:15:22 But look, if it didn't work, I wouldn't talk about it. The bath bar, let me tell you, it's the best soap ever used. You buy the grocery store stuff. I've always been like, okay, whatever. It's a bath bar. It's a bar of soap, right? I didn't know what suds were until the Caldera bath bar. I'm talking like explosion of soap suds.

Starting point is 00:15:43 I'm like, whoa, this is what it's supposed to feel like. My traditional store-bought stuff is out the door. You've been denying yourself luxury, Ryan. It's like what we talked about yesterday. Most men get a bar at Irish Spring and they're like, here's my body wash, face wash, shampoo. Yes. No. No more.

Starting point is 00:16:01 I can't go backwards, Chris. So go to calderolab.com. You got to taste to the good. Once you go good, I can't go backwards, Chris. So go to calderalab.com. You got to taste of the good. Once you go good, you don't go back. Calderalab.com. Use Rad Ryan. You'll get 20% off. You'll thank me for it because it works.

Starting point is 00:16:15 And then you might curse me because you're like, I can't go back, man. This stuff's too good. Yes. Give them some love. The official skincare provider of the Radcast from Ryan Alford. CalderaLab.com. Rad. Ryan.

Starting point is 00:16:29 Yes, I did like this, Chris. I am a Philly cheesesteak guy. You know, if you love them. Any kind of food guy, just about. But I do love Philly cheesesteaks. And this probably backed, I remember growing up as a kid having Steakums. My mom would make those at home and and it didn't quite taste good. It's like the Philly G Steak at a restaurant, but it was the closest thing.

Starting point is 00:16:51 It was pretty tasty. I didn't even know Steakums was still around because I just don't make Steakums at home. But they've got a new campaign out, and it's pretty funny. out and it's pretty funny so steakham has turned real vegans into meat lovers to demonstrate the dangers of deep fake technology and it's a new campaign called deep steaks using deep fake technology to illustrate its potential dangers real vegans were filmed eating what they were told was a vegan cheesesteak but were then shown deepfakes of themselves appearing as meat lovers. This initiative aims to raise awareness about the risks of deepfakes, demonstrating that anyone could be a victim of this deceptive tech.

Starting point is 00:17:39 The campaign also encourages the public to learn about deepfakes and supports legislation for accountability on their use. encourages the public to learn about deep fakes and supports legislation for accountability on their use. Stakehams, known for its stance against misinformation, continues to build on its reputation as an advocate for media literacy. I thought this was really interesting, but for one, it's really clever. Very intriguing. But it's obviously a key issue and i think from a brand standpoint it's interesting that stackems which has nothing to do with digital media literacy and media and all that but they've they're building this fandom and this being known around something that brings equity to the brand and people that are going to be brand lovers.

Starting point is 00:18:27 And I guess in theory, buy more steakums because of their standing up for consumer rights. And I think if as brands try to think about ways to be less, they can be clever, but maybe less hard hitting from a just buy, like all that, and be salesy. I think this is something you can learn from the way that they're tying their brand to something completely different. And it's pretty interesting. Interesting they're educating people, but nothing to do with steak. Yes. But they were clever enough to tie it into deep steaks, deep fakes.

Starting point is 00:19:08 So they make it fun and interesting. It's a hot topic right now. Exactly. It's really a curveball, but I think it's really cool. Yeah. Maybe we need to do like a steak-ay instead of a vacay. Like a deep fake of... We got to do something with it. instead of a vacay, you know, like a deep fake of, we got to do something with it.

Starting point is 00:19:28 Yeah. What can we learn on this? Deep fake, stay K, vacay. Like you're actually really on an Island somewhere and you call it a stay K. I don't know. What do you think?

Starting point is 00:19:37 I like that. You got a brainstorm on that. Other marketing news, best buy. I've been a big, look, I've been a big, I've always thought that live streaming had a place for shopping. Because, look, I've watched my mom, certain in-laws, the QVC effect was real back in the day.

Starting point is 00:20:01 And it's still real for Sheila Beasley, which is Nicole's mom. She is one of my favorite people in the day and it's still real for Sheila Beasley which is Nicole's mom she is one of the my favorite people in the world and she's only one of the but she actually still buys stuff in case of a QVC and then I love it I love consumers of all type yeah and she's amazing but it proves that and I'm like there's like communities still, tons of people that still buy and shop through that live experience. And so Best Buy is live streaming their holiday sales events for the first time this year. This article comes to us via thestartribune.com. Didn't even know they still still around, but they are. Best Buy is venturing into live commerce by hosting its first shopping event

Starting point is 00:20:52 on Talk Shop Live. Scheduled for November 8th and 15th, this event will feature virtual sales experts from Best Buy's virtual store demonstrating holiday gifts in categories like beauty, wellness, e-transportation, outdoor living. Viewers can interact, ask questions, and make purchases during the live broadcast where exclusive promotions and prizes will be offered. So I like this.

Starting point is 00:21:20 I think that people, and especially seasonally, I think that people, and especially seasonally, I don't think people necessarily, the masses will do this all the time. But for seasonal things like this where you need a bit of education and you need some ideas for gifting and things like that, I think it makes a ton of sense. And I think it'll be interesting how they judge success of the campaign. But I still think there's a place for this kind of stuff. And I know in Asia and other markets, it's been huge. And in the U.S., it's been lukewarm. But I still think there's room for more retailers to bring this on in the right ways.

Starting point is 00:22:08 So there you have it. If you're selling retail, sets you up a live streaming store. I mean, you can still do it like on freaking Facebook or Instagram. So implementation is not that difficult. And I don't think people expect like you to have a stage like qvc i mean it can be done it can be done fairly rudimentary i've seen small local i don't say local but small online businesses i like guys that i follow they they go live like once a week whether they have a shop or not and just explaining some of their inventory or product, education, whatever, it's essentially what we're doing with influencers.

Starting point is 00:22:52 Like all these influencers are live stream selling you. Like why not just the company itself be doing it? Exactly. Why not one of the guys from the Geek Squad technically explaining to me why this TV or computer or whatever might be better for my dad for Christmas or something. Especially when you have a product that needs education, that needs explanation of what it is, benefits, what it isn't, so that you're part of educating and explaining. and explaining because let's face it when you have ads and you have different things it's hard to get into every explanation that would make sense and in these platforms you have the ability to also field comments and so that's how i was just gonna say you can live interact exactly so you can ask the questions in real time and it's like scheduled i don't know scheduled live chat on top of having a video component of streaming

Starting point is 00:23:54 because live chat is usually okay i have an issue with a product that i already have or those kind of things but sometimes you're just getting someone no different like you go into a website you have like live chat with someone but in this instance you're seeing and interacting with the live person that's there and so i i just think there's a ton of i don't think we've completely tapped into what this could be for the econ-com market in the U.S. I agree. So there you go. If you're out there, you need to get you some live.

Starting point is 00:24:31 And you're selling on e-com. Think about live stream shopping this season. Yeah, you may have heard about it every season and all that, but I'd be testing it at the very least. Again, set up shop in the back of your building or your facility, no matter how big you are. Get your most outgoing guy or girl from your team. Get back there and talk it up. Let them do what they do.

Starting point is 00:24:56 Yeah. From furniture to supplements. Yeah. Just be jumping on that couch showing how soft it is. Finally, back to Elon Musk. He says he wants users to find love on X. That's interesting. Interesting.

Starting point is 00:25:16 He's making this like the one-stop shop platform for everything. I know that's his goal. Oh, yeah, it is. Elon Musk aims to transform X, formerly Twitter, in parentheses, into an everything app. Competing with YouTube, LinkedIn, FaceTime

Starting point is 00:25:36 and banking apps and now he's hinting at integrating a dating feature. Suggesting that user posts could serve as indicators for both hiring and romantic compatibility. Oh, yes. Blended Tinder and LinkedIn. Exactly.

Starting point is 00:25:55 Ex-dating. It does raise the eyebrows a bit, but all things to all people. We'll see. Doesn't he have five kids from three different maybe moms? Something like that. He just won't open up his other opportunities. I don't expect anything about that man to be traditional anyway. He's a different breed.

Starting point is 00:26:23 Yeah. I did want to mention this. So maybe that wasn't the last one. This is someone I actually really admire. And I actually talked about her in my email newsletter. Which, by the way, if you go to ryanolford.com backslash newsletter, join my, I give daily advice, folks. You come on here, you hear us count down the news. But I do give daily advice on personal branding,

Starting point is 00:26:45 marketing, and all that. Ryanolfer.com backslash newsletter. It's free every day in your inbox, marketing tips, personal branding ideas, and all kinds of stuff. So give that a free subscribe. You subscribe, it's free. It comes in the inbox daily. Good tips. We spend a lot of time doing that. I think it will provide a lot of time doing that i think it will provide a lot of value so give that a shout out at ryanoffer.com backslash newsletter and but cracker barrel i talked about dolly dolly parton is someone that i admire a lot because how she's 77 years old and she's reinvented herself about a thousand times and is successful as shit and let's be honest awesome if you really break down,

Starting point is 00:27:25 I really tell you, if you want to go watch some of the specials and some of the background of her, what she's done and overcome, like literally she had 11 brothers and sisters and some of the struggles and everything, but yet how put together she stayed, how many businesses she started,

Starting point is 00:27:44 like how successful she's been from music to theme parks. But Cracker Barrel is ushering in Dolly Parton's rock star era to promote rewards. And she's got a new album out called Rock Star. She remakes all these classics. I listened to the other day. It's jam up. Yeah. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is teamed up with dolly parton for its new rewards

Starting point is 00:28:07 program promotion members of the program have the opportunity to win one of 667 rocking chairs designed with help from parton from now until december 4th coinciding with the release of her latest album rock star cracker barrels online shop offers dolly themed decor and other merchandise including copies of the album also appears in a promotional spot for the rewards program featuring a teaser of a track from rockstar to be released on november 17th i think smart for cracker bell to to align. We call it influencer marketing. Spokesperson is the

Starting point is 00:28:50 old school term. There's still power in spokesperson marketing. Especially old Dolly. That seems like the right audience. At the same time. She's universal, man. Who cannot like Dolly Parton? You've got to respect a woman. She's always positive. the same time yeah 100 but but she's universal man dude i'm telling you you gotta who cannot

Starting point is 00:29:05 like dolly parton you gotta respect a woman yeah she's always positive to be in the game that long and really at least to my knowledge i don't know any crazy gossip drama that she was ever really in the middle of in her whole career not that I've followed her career heavily, but she always just seems like a bright, happy, positive person. She is. And smart as hell. Yeah. And uber talented, too.

Starting point is 00:29:35 And I'll say, dude, she still looks great. Looks great. Fabulous. Like, unbelievable. She looks damn good. Yeah. Damn good at 77. And putting out an album called Rockstar. That sounds right. Cause she is a rock star.

Starting point is 00:29:50 Hell yeah. Hell yeah. So here's the dolly. Chris, I think that's all we got this week, brother. It's pretty good news segment. Covered a lot.

Starting point is 00:30:01 We cover the gamut here. You don't find us. TheRadcast.com. If it's radical, we cover it. That's the gamut here you know where to find us theradcast.com if it's radical we cover it that's why you're here thanks for making us number one in marketing and business

Starting point is 00:30:12 on Apple for Chris Hansen in Miami I'm Ryan Alford from the studio in G Vegas we'll see you next time on the Radcast

Starting point is 00:30:21 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 or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.

Right About Now with Ryan Alford - The Week of November 03, 2023 Marketing and Business News: Elon Musk Unleashes in Fiery Joe Rogan Podcast: Warns of the Woke Mind Virus

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