Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Weekly Marketing and Advertising News: Incentives to get Covid Vaccine; Lil Nas X and Nike; Voltswagen; Chipotle is Giving Away 100K in Bitcoin

Episode Date: April 2, 2021

Welcome to another weekly marketing and advertising news update from The Radcast! In this episode, host Ryan Alford and co-host Reiley Clark, dissect this week's marketing and advertising headlines.These are Today's Topics:Lil Nas X and Nike Lawsuit.Voltswagen Rebrand.Covid Vaccine Incentives.Chipotle is giving away 100k in Bitcoin.If you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and share the word if you love our podcast, so we can keep giving you the strategies to achieve radical marketing results! You can follow us on Instagram @the.rad.cast | @radical_results | @ryanalford | If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. 

you're listening to the latest radcast news update here's ryan and riley hey guys what's up welcome to the radcast it's friday april 2nd 2021 and we're here with our news and marketing update for the week i'm joined as always on the hardest marketing podcast in the planet with my co-host. That would be Riley Clark. Yeah. Hi, how are you? What's up, Riley? You having a good week? Having a great week. Yeah. We have some big news today. I know. It's big news. I'm going to let you announce it since you've worked really hard on this. Well, we launched our website. I've worked hard on it too,

but you've definitely put in the legwork on it. Well, I appreciate it. No, but we launched our website. So, guys, I'm so excited to show you guys this website. It looks so good. And the coolest thing I think Ryan and I would both agree is the search function. If you have any questions about anything or want to search anything we have talked about, there's a bar and you can search whatever words you want in any episode that it is in. It's going to be there and showing it to you. Yes.

So entrepreneurship, Instagram engagement, Facebook ads, anything and everything we've cataloged. We've done 130 ish episodes of the Radcast. A lot of knowledge from entrepreneurs, a lot of knowledge from yours truly, a lot of knowledge from our team here with Riley and Josh and everyone at Radical. And you can search any of those topics. And the great thing is we've aggregated. We produce so much content.

Poor Riley, you know, you know, as our lovely producer does all this content and we do push it out to all these places. But there hasn't really been. We've been using kind of a streamlined website approach. We had the Radcast.com is not new new but it was kind of a shared site it didn't aggregate all of our content we're now aggregating all of the highlight clips all of the full videos all of the audio you can subscribe you can learn more about us you can apply to be a guest you can do everything and anything on the site and the search function is kick ass. So congratulations, Raleigh, on that launch.

Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. Yes. We did good. We did good. We did good. But it's been a great week here at Radical.

We have a lot of new business coming in the door. It's been really exciting. We've signed three new clients this week. I've got seven meetings today. And it's a busy time at Radical. We're really, really excited and appreciative of all of our new clients and wherever and whenever you're listening to this podcast, we really appreciate everything that comes with it. But now we'll just get right straight to it. Here's Riley with the news. Here is the Radcast News.

to it here's riley with the news here is the radcast news all right yeah we are jumping right in and we i think are going to be going off here this is soapbox friday here on the news i was about to say you know when ryan and i were looking at the headlines today we both looked at each other we're like okay well i want to go off about that one i want to go off about that one. I want to go off about that one. I want to go off about that. And the first thing is these Satan shoes. Yeah. I mean, I'm laughing because it's like ridiculous to me and it kind of pisses me off. Like of all times. Okay. Here's the deal. I'll say this first and foremost, anyone and everyone can have whatever artistic expression they want and whatever metaphor they want to create and formulate into a video. You have that right to do that. However, this didn't feel like a metaphor. This felt a little too literal.

And in a way, I would even say a little offensive. Say a lot offensive. The logic here, there's human blood in the shoes. You have six, six, six on the shoes, as well as a Bible verse on these shoes. And it's just disrespectful. Like. No matter what, what your belief is, we have coins. We have a constitution in God.

We trust we have a belief system, no matter what it is. That's in the, it's, it's based in some form of religion, whether you're Catholic, Muslim, Christian,

whatever it is, there is a belief system here that's channeled around spirituality, whatever you want to call it. And anything that just, again, you can have your own beliefs, you can have metaphors, you can do what you want. But when you do something the week of Easter with, let's call it 80% of America, 75% of America having beliefs around this, and you throw it right in the face, it's beyond your free speech.

It's offensive. And I was just appalled by this. And, you know, I say all the time, just because you can doesn't mean you should. And, you know, again, I will fight, you know, till my last breath for the freedom of speech and all those things. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't take a stand when something just feels completely wrong. And this just felt wrong on all levels. You know, attention is important and we can do things to get attention. And there's gimmicks and there's stuff that you do. But this is just across the line in all levels for me. No, I agree.

It's it's difficult because, you know, again, like I'm not trying to hate on anyone's ability to express themselves. You do that, but it just, it felt very, the way, the way, the way it was gone about because, and now Nike is obviously filing a lawsuit because Lil Nas X and mischief, um, the company or the, I don't know if they're even a company as much as just a designer that created these shoes. It appeared to be very weird. It appeared to be that Nike was the one creating these shoes, which obviously Nike is like, this is hurting our brand. This is affecting our image.

And so naturally they filed a lawsuit. And I totally understand why they did that. It was just misleading on all levels. You know, I, you know, part of me, like sitting here talking about it,

like, and giving it even more life, you know, through our own audience. Like I actually go, should we've even put this on here? But, but I think it's important though,

to like, just call out things for good, bad or indifferent. And this is just bad on all levels and and so you know i i you know i'd like to see nike even take a harder stand than they have i know they've they've they've they're i guess lawsuits is a hard stand but but like i don't know but i haven't seen and maybe it's out there. So I'll admit this, but it hadn't like hit my radar. The exact stance they're taking on it other than a lawsuit. You know, are they taking any kind of moral stance on this or they just taking a legal stance?

Yeah, I mean, it's a good point. It's a good point. But I'm definitely curious to see where it goes. And again, like no hate on, you know, who Lil Nas X is as a person. But it's it just it felt. Come on, guys. We can be better than this like we can be better and more attentive to what's going on and you know um in complete opposite of that we're gonna kind of switch gears a little bit um in April Fool's Day which would have been yesterday this was I thought really brilliant of uh Volkswagen totally switching gears

was i thought really brilliant of uh volkswagen totally switching gears volk volkswagen like it's so smart because they brought this attention to electric vehicles and it's like you know yes they've been trying to go this direction and here they are prank little rebrand and now they're like oh we were kidding but by the way we want to let you all know that we're really pushing hard on these electric vehicles. Yeah. I mean, everyone's pushing hard on electric vehicles. We talked about whether it was forged. I think we've had a couple of different brands like GM's rebranding, which is kind of in the notion of that.

Every other audio commercial I see now has been e-cars, electric cars, like Audi. I'm seeing sports cars, Mach-E, the Mustang. Exactly. So, electric's out there. But this was hilarious. I saw it this morning, and I was like, okay. It didn't really get over me, but I just thought it was clever more than anything else. Oh yeah.

No, I loved it. I loved it. Super smart. Super smart. Next on our list is for National Breeder Day, which also would have been yesterday, but this is interesting. This, we've talked a lot about Bitcoin on here, but I just think it further shows the implication that it's having for brands as well. that it's having for brands as well.

Chipotle essentially created this, I would call it a puzzle, essentially. You have to basically think what the six-digit combination would be. Essentially, you're either winning $100,000 a Bitcoin or more burritos. It's something kind of interesting like that. But it's clever and it's cute and it's totally culturally relevant. This is very appropriate to what's going on right

now. Yeah, it was for natural National Burrito Day. And so good contest bringing, you know, you've got all that shared interest with Bitcoin out there. The increase, it's over fifty thousand dollars a coin now, which I cry into my microphone like I into my microphone. I thought I was really getting ahead of the market at $10,000 when I sold mine. But anyway, nonetheless, the smart play. Look, another thing that's going on here is it's really important when we're moving to a cookie-less world to get first party data. So these contests that allow

you to collect the data, the customers to have that relationship with them one-to-one is really important. And so you're bringing in the shared interest and really for their demographic, being that, call it 18 to 34 year old. I don't know this. I haven't studied their exact analytics, but I had to guess.

If I had to guess, that's probably like their number one demo. Bitcoin is like all the rage with that demo. And so you bring in that interest. Holy cow. I can get $100,000 in Bitcoin. And they see, well, that $100,000 is going to be worth $500,000 in three months. And it might.

Everyone called in sick yesterday. And they're like, I have to figure out the six-digit combination. Yes, the passcode. It's really clever with the intrigue and mystery of the game. And all around well- around well executed marketing player. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Loved it. Loved it. And then honestly, we really kind of zoomed through this. I didn't even really mean to do that too much.

But here we go. Last topic for today. We're keeping it short and sweet for you guys. I know, Ryan, you have a lot of thoughts about this. People that have companies and brands that have incentivized the covid vaccine now here's the deal before we really break this down i understand and we also we understand this is a you know to incentivize a vaccine like this just for the bring awareness of covid and everything like that i totally totally understand that. But.

Big butt. Big butt. To give donuts as the incentive to get a COVID vaccine. Like you have to show proof of your vaccine. Now, Arizona, to me, this is funny. You get a cannabis edible. Michigan, you get a pre-rolled joint. Places in Cincinnati, you're doing 10 cent beer. I think somewhere else in Philly, they're doing popcorn. Okay, I get it. That's all fun and good. I don't know why the donuts are what's sticking out to you and I, but you have thoughts to go off. Well, okay.

Let me start with, I'll start with the good or the indifferent or whatever you call it. We live in a free economy, somewhat free. It seems like that changes daily, but I won't get on that soapbox. But capitalistic people own companies. They're selling products. They need to make money. Have at it.

Krispy Kreme, no different. I have no problem with Krispy Kreme as a brand until this, they kind of rub me the wrong way. But all this comes off, at least for, I'm gonna start with Krispy Kreme as a brand until this, that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. But all this comes off, at least for, I'm going to start with Krispy Kreme and the others, but you know, we've been in a pandemic. A lot of people have died. The death rate amongst obese is somewhere between three to six X,

the average American. So obesity plays a big role in the morbid morbidity. I'm going to say that wrong, but the death rate, let's call it that. And so, you know, Americans haven't had a problem giving themselves treats. They've they've treated themselves a little too much. We're overindulgent with sugar and sodas and all these things. We have an obesity challenge in America. And so does that mean that Krispy Kreme can't be in business and they sell donuts and there's fast food and there's all these things? I'm not here to judge that as a business. But the problem is, though, in the middle of a pandemic,

we're going to incentivize Americans that, for the most part, are some percent obese already. We're going to incentivize them to get the vaccine with a donut. So this is tone deaf to me. Yeah, I think on the surface, everybody's like, that is so awesome. You know, like the brand, like really, you know, giving people a treat because it's so important we get vaccines. And in theory, yes. In theory, yes.

But again, with the relationship of obesity and America to the pandemic. And the tragedy of what it's done to the American population. This is just in left field to me. We're incentivizing. We've shut down gyms. We've shut down physical activity. We've shut down people from getting together and incentivizing them to do things to improve their health.

But some of it necessary, some of it not, in my opinion. Leave that for another day. But now we're going to give away donuts if you get a vaccine. You're probably a good percentage already overweight. You need to be losing weight so that if you were to get stricken with the COVID, you have a good chance of killing

it off with your health. So I just have a real problem with this. The way we're incentivizing with weed, donuts, and popcorn and candy. In theory, it makes sense. how about free gym memberships i mean for real how about planet fitness step up and give three months of free gym i mean you say that and it's really interesting because why wouldn't the thought have been you got proof of your vaccine now you can come to our gym now you

can come back to or how about a skinny latte at Krispy Kreme? Yeah, right. Free skinny latte with every, you know. Or a skinny margarita. But like, you know, like just something, you know, like, and look, I know their core products, a delicious, I love me some Krispy Kreme. But again, it's just sends the wrong message to me.

And yes, I think on the surface, 60 to 70 percent of people this registered as a positive thing. But for me, it just rubbed me wrong just because I see I'm, you know, I put physical fitness really important in my in my hierarchy. It's really important in my life. But I think it's just it's one of the real problems in America today, which where it falls in the priority list. And so incentivization for something that is important that gets done around a treat just, I don't know, just really sent me wrong. And it might just be my personal standards on this.

And some people make, oh, lighten up. You know, it's just a free donut. They're just trying to do good. And they give away something. What good for the brand? And I just think there's another level here with with, again, the obesity and what impact that has had on the death rate. Yeah. Which is proven to be significant. Yeah.

I know. You're right. You're right. I'm with you on that. So, yeah. So anyway, I didn't want all of the news to be kind of soapbox negative. It's not negative. It's just perspective.

You know, never like just get on our soapboxes. You pay for our perspective on this podcast. Honestly, here we go. Good money. Honestly, give us your opinion on this. After you've heard this episode, comment on Ryan's

Instagram. Comment on the Let us hear what you have on these opinions because obviously we went a little hard today so so you know let us know too because obviously that's what this is for right a bigger conversation so reach out to us and um let us know like your opinions on this it'd be awesome and and check out the website have to check out the website yeah so hopefully you didn't get any April Fool's uh played on you yesterday. But if you did, then hopefully you're recovering. But it is April.

Warm weather's around the corner. Vaccines are out there. It's going to be a wonderful summer. We are really excited about the Radcast.com. So go check that out. You can find us wherever you Google the Radcast. And we're at the.rad.cast on Instagram. And of course, you know where to find me, at Ryan Alford.

And as always, thank you, Riley. Yeah, thank you. We'll see you next time. Have a good weekend. Yo, guys, what's up? Ryan Alford here. Thanks so much for listening. Really appreciate it.

But do us a favor. If you've been enjoying the Radcast, you need to share the word with a friend or anyone else. We'd really appreciate it. And go leave us a review at Apple or Spotify. Do us a solid. Tell more people, leave us some reviews. And hey, here's the best news of all. If you want to work with me directly,

if you want to get your business kicking ass and you want Radical or myself involved, you can text me directly at 864-729-3680. Don't wait another minute. Let's get your business going. 864-729-3680. Don't wait another minute. Let's get your business going. 864-729-3680. We'll see you next time.