The Best One Yet - 🖍️ “13 Million Crayons A Day” — Crayola’s billion-dollar biz. Call Her Daddy’s $125M deal. Why stocks hit All-Time Highs (hint: Game of Thrones)

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Stocks just reached all-time-highs… and it’s all because of Ned Stark & Game of Thrones.Crayola is about to hit $1B in annual sales… because its crayons have Main Character Energy.The biggest podcast deal in years? $125M for Call Her Daddy (Spotify lost, but it really won).Plus, we’re officially back from vacay… so we whipped up two “lifestyle souvenirs” from our trips to France & Italy$HALL $SIRI $SPYSubscribe to our Saturday Newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletter  Watch us on YouTube Submit Facts & Shoutouts Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn (Nick) & LinkedIn (Jack)About Us: From the creators of Robinhood Snacks Daily, The Best One Yet (TBOY) is the daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. 20 minutes on the 3 business, economics, and finance stories you need, with fresh takes you can pretend you came up with — Pairs perfectly with your morning oatmeal ritual. Hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Monday, August 26. Today's podcast. Oh, sorry, sorry. I kind of forgot my cadence. All right. We'll start again. We'll start again. Unplug, plugging back in. This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Monday, August 26. Welcome back. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's a T-boy. Nick and I are whipping up the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. We're back, baby, Jack. You're looking fantastic. What do you say we just kick this bad boy off? I'm ready for it. It's in it, baby.

First story for today's show. What do we got on the pod? For our first story, the stock market rose to all-time highs on Friday, thanks to the best news from the Fed in years. Because Ned Stark had it all wrong. Winter is ending. For our second story, just in time for back to school, one company is thriving right now.

Yes, they are. Crayola Crayons. Crayola Crayons, because Crayola is given its product. main character energy. And our third and final story is Alex Cooper. She just scored the biggest podcasting deal in years, $125 million for Call Her Daddy. So Jack and I are going to break down the winners and the losers from Spotify to serious exit. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories, fantastic mix of stories. Great to be back. Looking great, fantastic over there, Jack. Wilders got his first day of school today. So, say goodbye to your summer

sandal. Summer is over. Yeah, it is. We are back for fall like the pumpkin spice of podcasts. Although I'm pretty sure venture capital still is like another month of vacation, don't they? And Jack, every Wall Street investment banker is still stuck in East Hampton traffic. But us, we are back. We are post vacation. We are ready to go, baby. Hey, Jerry Powell, you can now drop interest rates. Nick, everyone's dying to know. How is the Marinara sauce over in a name? Jack, you know, we were in Roe. Actually, Jack, we were just outside Roe. Oh, you are? Yeah, we were just outside Roe. I had a Nogroni every day, 4 p.m. Sharp, a different way every day. I had it with Bourbon, had it with Amaro. It was great, man. Any apparel spritzes? Well, I did notice we did a new thing, Jack. We were dinkat. You know what a dinkat is? Uh, doubling come, no kids. On the trip. Oh, no kids on the trip. Okay, yeah, yeah. Because you left Maxie back home in San Francisco with your parents, right? Yeah, we left him my parents. He did great. And mine I, Dolce Vita, as the

The Dinkats. Dude, I was Dinkat for just the past weekend, but in France. Yes. We had our kids, man. We had our kids. How was France? Was everything possible, Jack? It was possible.

I love that, Jack. The people were so friendly to us. People gave us extra privileges because we were parents with kids in the stroller. There was one time in the metro, we got stuck with our stroller and we couldn't get through the turnstiles. It happens. Three strangers helped me lift the double stroller over the turnstile. None of them spoke English. We non-verbally thanked them.

It was incredible. You owe them a baguette. I assume the kids put Nutella on everything, Jack. It was a fantastic trip. A lot of French fries for the kids. A lot of Nutella crepes in the morning. A lot of apparel spritzes for myself. Not possible.

But besties, before Jack and I hit this pot and whip up the takeaways, I do also have to ask, Jack, any lifestyle souvenirs? A lifestyle souvenir. An idea, an activity, or an inspiration that you bring back from the trip for the rest of your life. Anything you brought back is a lifestyle. Tuvenier from France? Yeah, dude, the French really crushed idling. Like, sitting in cafes and just sipping a drink. Sitting by the Sen and just watching the river. Really some great downtime. We're so focused on productivity. Sometimes you just got to sit down and sip a cup of something. No one knows

how to enjoy a coffee and a drink at 3 p.m. like the French, Jack. That's right. Yeah, Jack. Our lifestyle souvenir from Italy was the handbag stool. Every restaurant in Italy had a little. little stool for your handbag. So, you know, you can leave your purse there. And I think we should bring this back to America. I think first, you have to have a handbag. Do you, do you try a handbag? I didn't have the handbag. But now when we go out to restaurants in San Francisco, I'm going to bring a little stool for Molly's handbag. That's what I'm thinking. I like that. It's very courteous. That's where our lifestyle souvenir is. Yates, this fall is going to be the best one yet. It's a T-boy. Spoiler. Nick and I are working on our biggest launch yet, which is coming next month.

Always be launching everything. Everything. More to come on that big T-boy launch in a few weeks. But in the meantime, before we launch that huge new super secret thing, Jack, it feels fantastic to be back. Let's hit our three stories, baby. Let's hit up. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it.

I don't even think they need to practice. 50% that's a fat tip. T-boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

Our first story. On Friday, the stock market hit all-time highs on a huge announcement from the Federal Reserve. Ned Stark told us winter is coming. Well, Jerome Powell just said winter is ending. We don't need dragons. We just need to cut interest rates. Yes. That is the most important vacation destination.

right now. It's not the Amalfi Coast and it's not the Jersey Shore. And it's not just outside Ronald. No, it's not. It's Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a place with great skiing, great hiking, and great bison burgers. Oh, at the Snake River Grill, you get the bison burger medium wear if you know, you know. Jackson Hole, Wyoming also happens to be where the Federal Reserve spent last week. That's right. Our nation's central bank wasn't in D.C. last week. They were hanging out on the great plains of Jackson Hole, baby. Our top central banker, Chairman, Jerome Powell tossed on some chaps as he did. Actually, I think he took the chaps off to give his biggest policy speech of the year.

And here's the news. Jerome Powell just said that the time has come to lower interest rates. And that is huge. We repeat, the time has come to lower interest rates. Wall Street loves to speculate on what the Fed will do. Well, he just told us whether or not he had chaps on what the Fed is going to do, Jack. He all but promised that in September for the Fed's next policy meeting, the Fed will reduce interest rates from their historically high levels that they're at today. For the first time in years, yet, this is great news for the economy, for the housing market, for the stock market, for anybody with a loan, if you have borrowed money, this is a big deal.

Because interest rates are coming down. Remember right before vacation, stocks had fallen by 10%. Yeah, we were like, this is awkward. We're going on vacation. What's going on with the stock market? Well, now they're back up to all-time highs. Thanks to this. interest rate news. Sit down, stand up, and sit on your saddle again, Jack. So why is the Fed finally changing their interest rate policy after three years? And causing stocks to go to an all-time high? Well, the answer is Game of Thrones. Yeties. Ned Stark of House Winterfell once said winter is coming. It was a warning that bad times were ahead. The legendary king of Winterfell,

he was like, oh, dead people are rising, zombies are coming, dragons are flying, and he warned everyone about the end of a fictional world. While the last three years, it's felt like winter for us Americans because of high interest rates, which we needed to kill inflation. It's been too expensive to buy a house and it's too expensive to buy a pair of eggs. You could only afford a pair of eggs. But Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Fed, he basically said last week, winter is ending. He's saying winter. This period of crazy high interest rates is finally ending. And why is it because inflation has come down. Last month, inflation across the economy fell below 3% for the first time since 2021. So the Fed says that inflation is fixed and can now turn its attention back to job growth, housing, investments,

and like the fun economic stuff that we all love. The normal stuff we want to happen to the economy. So they're going to cut interest rates to make the economy more fun again. Startups can now raise billions of dollars, no big deal just by having a pitch deck. So last week, Jerome Powell said, and we quote, time has come for a change to our interest rate policy. But what Jack and I really heard him say was that winter is ending. Rest in peace, Ned Stark. Rest in peace. We don't need dragons. We just need lower interest rates. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the American economy? To quote earth, wind, and fire, do you remember the 17th night of September?

That is that is just a great wedding song. Jack and I love it. It's from the 19th, 70s, Earthwind and Fire, great soul funk band. Quick fact check, the song was actually, do you remember, the 21st night of September? Exactly. But the next policy meeting for the Federal Reserve is on September 17th, the 17th night of September. That's when our central bank is going to cut their master interest rate. The only question is by how much, but it's going to reduce all the interest rates across our economy. Mortgage rates, car loans, credit card rates, interest rates, for all of those items are already dropping in anticipation of this big day the 17th of September. Because instead of wanting you to not buy things, like the last three years, the Fed is

finally making it easier to buy things again. It's basically a big back-to-school gift from our nation's central bank. Winter is ending. So Yetis, circle your calendars for the 17th of September. Do you remember the 17th night of September? For our second story. The busiest company in America right now is Crayola Crayons. We'll explain why this 140-year-old crayon company is bigger than ever right now, despite the digitization of everything. That is a funny thing. Jack and I have been checking the data and productivity at most companies. It plummetes in August. Our podcast feed has been a little empty the past couple weeks you might have noticed. It's almost Labor Day weekend. You're still soaking in the same.

summer, and like we said, every venture capital firm still has another six weeks off, I think, Jack. But one company has been busy as a B this summer. Yeah, Crayola Crayons. They don't take summer Fridays when they're whipping up 64 shades of magenta crayons. Your least busy months of the year are Crayola's busiest months of the year. Because Crayola Crayons is put in crayons in the hands of 33 million kids cave through eighth grade right now. You can't graduate from kindergarten without Crayola crayons. Yeah, it's actually a great sales strategy, Jack. Every teacher makes it mandatory to buy a 24 pack of Crayola crayons. Yeah, I raise you to 64, actually, with the built-in sharpener. You know what I'm talking about? Everyone's experienced a Crayola Crayon.

I mean, it's like a starburst and a pencil had a baby, and everyone smelled it. Well, according to Bloomberg's reporting, the crayon machines over in their Pennsylvania factory are on overdrive right now. Because Crayola is whipping up 13 million crayons. a day that is their biggest production of the year. Get this, nearly half of Crayola sales happened in the two months of July and August. Or as Crayola's CEO put it, back to school is our Super Bowl. But this company's been around way before the Super Bowl. It actually goes back to 1885 when Crayola was founded as a paint company. But the founder's wife happened to be a teacher who hatched the idea for crayons in a brilliant fashion. So then her husband basically took hot wax

and paint pigment, mix them together, and let it cool into the shape of the modern day crayon. That's right. A crayon is basically a candle. That's why they got that smell. Well, now the crayon company has been owned by Hallmark for 30 years, and Crayola crayons, markers, pencils, and silly putty are now a $1 billion a year business. And in case you're curious, two out of three crayons globally are made at Crayola factories right here in the United States of Pennsylvania. And if you're also still curious, Jack actually consumed crayons on a weekly basis when he was in second grade. They're non-toxic dick, although it's not advised for kids to eat them. I should point out. Jack cough twice if you're still indulgent in crayons. Spoiler, orange crayon does not taste like an orange.

But yet is here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Despite the digitization of toys and every kid wanting an iPad for Christmas, Crayol's crayon business is booming. It's a 140-year-old company. They have a change their secret crayon recipe in a century. And yet, Crayola Crayons enjoy 99% brand recognition across the United States. Crayola is so confident right now, they've got their lawyers to trademark your signature crayon smell. Get this. Crayola has secured a trademark for the smell of their wax coloring sticks. Their plan is to emit the scent of their crayons in the art supply aisle at Walmart and Target to get you in a crayon-buying mood. It's basically an Afro-D-D-I-D-E-A for arts and crafts, Jack. Is that Jasbury Jam? I smell in Isle-6? It is Jazzberry Jam in

I-L-6. But here's the best part of Crailus business. They're recession-proof. Because besties, when the economy slowed back in 2008 and during the pandemic, sales of Craola crayons jumped as an affordable activity. Crayola does well in good times, and they do well in bad times, too. But Jack, I got to pause the pod and your consumption of Crayola crayons for a second because we still haven't answered our core question from the top of the show. How? In this digital world is a century-year-old crayon business thriving right now. Well, Jack and I think we know the answer. So we made it our takeaway.

So, Jack, can you color outside the lines and tell us what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at Crayola Crayons? Creola gives their products main character energy. Yeah, it is interesting observation from Jack and me. We've noticed that iconic products in our society today hold status like movie stars. And we see it from Crayola, whose products are like characters in our society. Crayola treats their products like talent. They treat their products like talent. For example, every few years, Crayola hosts a color census to name and anoint their new crayons.

Their latest 16 crayon colors were chosen by fans, including Jazzberry Jam and Tickle Me Pink. Also, Crayola Crayons formally retires their colors with an emotional send-off like the Yankees gave to Derek Jeter. Dandelion Yellow got retired by Crayola in 2017, and Crayola did this whole ad campaign with emotional goodbye. It's like it's a human being, but it's a crayon. They even created a Color Hall of Fame that you can physically visit at their factories to meet your favorite color in real life. Craola. They sell very functional physical products, but they treat them like talent or stars. So the key to Crailah's longevity, as Jack and I see it, give your product main character energy. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final story, we just saw the biggest podcast deal in years. Call her daddy left Spotify for $125 million. So Nick and I will tell you, if Spotify should, three-year relationship with Alex Cooper was worth it. We did the math. But yet he is, in order to tell this story, you know, Jack and I study philosophy. And there's actually this great philosopher, Jack and I love to quote, whose name is Mugatu. We use Mugatu's quote a lot, but for Alex Cooper, so hot right now.

So hot right now, because the Call Her Daddy podcast host has become the Howard Stern of our generation. She's basically Gen Z's Barbara Walter. Yeah, that's exactly what she is. Not only does Alex Cooper have the number one interview show, she's the number one most listened to woman in podcasting. Yeties, the Call Her Daddy host was just on the cover of Vanity Fair, architectural digest, and finished an NBC TV deal to cover the Olympics with Snoop Dog all in one month.

But here's the new news. Alex Cooper, her show, Call Her Daddy, and her podcast network unwell, they're all switching teams. That's right. After three years of exclusively being on Spotify, Alex Cooper is switching Call Her Daddy to SiriusXM for $125 million. It's the biggest podcasting deal in years. And that was $125 million to go to SiriusXM. That's twice as much money as Spotify paid her for her previous deal.

Sit down, stand up, and Jack, shall we sprinkle on a little more context, actually? Well, even though she's switching teams from Spotify to Sirius XM, you can still listen to Call Her Daddy on Spotify. We should point out. It's not exclusive. But besties, Jack and I were talking over our break. And we're pretty deep in the podcast industry. We study it on a daily basis being podcast hosts. We read too many articles about podcasting. So we wanted to share the industry perspective. Basically, Spotify used to be the podcasting dream team. But now, Sirius XM is. Because in the last two years, SiriusXM has signed Pod Save America, Conan O'Brien, Smartless, and now the Call Her Daddy podcast. Why does the talent want to go to Sirius XM? It's not just the money, it's also the distribution.

As Jack and I have said, distribution is destiny. And Sirius XM lets all those shows be both podcasts and radio shows on satellite radio. Now that is some nice distribution destiny. So while Sirius XM is hosting a podcasting party the past couple of years, Spotify has gotten lonelier and lonelier. Because Spotify splurged $1 billion on content during the pandemic, but all the top shows have pretty much left Spotify. Dak Shepard's armchair expert left Spotify. Alex Cooper's call her daddy has now left Spotify.

Many of those Gimlet shows that Spotify acquired, they've been shut down in the meantime. In fact, the one show that Spotify still has, they splurged on, Joe Rogan, is no longer exclusive to Spotify. You can listen to Joe Rogan anywhere now. So, shares of serious XM stock rose 7% on news they're getting the founding father of podcasting, Alex Cooper. And shares of Spotify must be down because they're losing the founder father, right? Oh, wrong. Jack, Spotify shares are actually up to an all-time high. And we got a takeaway to explain why. Yes, we do. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our podcasting?

buddies over at Spotify. Spotify rented the talent and got what it needed. Your download. Yeties for years, to listen to Joe Rogan or call her daddy, you had to download Spotify. And you know what? You did. Just look at Spotify's subscriber numbers. They have doubled since the year 2020 when they started their podcasting splurge. On the other hand, Jack, what's happened to Apple's podcast download numbers? They've fallen from number one to number three in podcast. partially because of Spotify's rise. So yet is here's what Jack and I have noticed. Spotify spent a billion dollars

assembling a dream team of franchise podcast players like Color Daddy. Based on the direct revenue those podcasts created, that splurge may not have been profitable. But indirectly, Spotify's exclusive podcast strategy made it the must-download audio app of the last three years.

So think of it as a one-off customer acquisition strategy. this podcast splurge. And today, Spotify stock is at an all-time high thanks to that giant listener user base, which is how big exactly, Jack? Six hundred million people listen to Spotify every month. So Spotify, they rented the talent and got the one thing they actually needed. Your download. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the first pod back from vacay? Stocks are at all-time highs because the Fed says it's time to cut interest rates. Winter is ending. Yeties, do you remember the 17th night of September? That is when the Fed will finally cut rates. For our second story, back-to-school season is the Super Bowl for 140-year-old Crayola crayons.

The crayon biz, it's thriving because they give their products main character energy. And our third and final story was Spotify. They lost another big podcast, Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy, but their stock is still at an all-time high. How did they do it? Because Spotify rented the talent for three years and got the one thing they needed. Your download. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First big day on Wednesday, the number two most valuable company in the world is reporting earnings. We're talking about Invidia. Invidia. Their chips are the critical ingredient to every AI application there is. So Nvidia's earnings this week could sway, no joke, every single tech stock in the stock market. If Invidia has

has good earnings, stocks will be up. Invite is bad earnings. Chad cheap eat too no happy. And second, big news if you're getting engaged. They just discovered the second biggest diamond ever worth $100 million. And by they, we're referring to a Canadian mining company, which found this rock in Botswana, 2,500 carrots. That's how big this diamond is.

They had to use an X-ray machine to find this thing. Jack, could you sprinkle a little more context to the biggest diamond in the world? The number one biggest diamond was discovered in 1905, and it now bedazzles the literal crowns of the British royal family. Not too shabby. And finally, Starbucks has launched their pumpkin spice menu earlier than ever. They did it last week on August 22nd on Thursday. Ten years ago, pumpkin spice season didn't start until September 8th. Yeah, it made sense.

This year, they're doing it three weeks earlier. And what's our takeaway on this one, Jack? We're all done with summer. Honestly, I'm ready for the fall. I thought our takeaway jack was that we could use a pumpkin spice creola crayon. Could that be our takeaway too? As long as it's non-toxic. We would smell it and we would taste it.

I actually bet that already is a thing. That's probably been a thing before. Honestly, it's probably why their business is at an all-time hijack. Oh, that's why they're working overtime in August. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Cade in the lovely state of Utah. Well, side note, Utah consumes more sugar per capita than any. state in America. Chicago does logistics, Utah does sucrose. So Cates letting us know that Oreo,

the famous original cookie sandwich with cream on the inside, is now a $4 billion a year business. But here's the shocker. Oreo is not the original cookie sandwich. Something almost identical to an Oreo was first invented by a company called Hydrox. Hydrox, the Hydrox cookie, was actually invented in 1906, putting two chocolate cookies around a little bit of vanilla icing. And then Oreo launched their own version in 1912, six years later. So, besties, what Jack and I are telling you here is that Oreo zucked Hydrox. Oreo stole Hydrox's idea, but Oreo doesn't sound toxic. Like, Hycrox does. I think that's why Oreo won. It feels like if you eat a Hydrox, you then have to call a doctor, Jack. I think it should have an emergency phone number on the

package. Hey, Bob, we're going to need a rebrand stat. Yetis, you look fantastic today. Jack, it is amazing to be back with you. I'm so glad that everything in Paris was possible. It was possible. It's great to be back. You're glowing over there. And Jack, because we're back on the pod, can I just whip up a little surprise for you? Yes. I just want to read one latest review from a Yeti about the podcast. I think you're going to go. I'm ready for it. This is from Hopi 07. She says that this is a great podcast. It's the only thing that actually gets me up in the morning. And I use the random info from Nick and Jack conversations throughout the day with clients.

I love it. Keep up the great pod work. Hope B. 06. We are so proud to deliver you the random information that makes you better at your job. Hope, thanks to the review. Bestie's great to be back. Jack and I will see you tomorrow. As always.

It is possible. Before we go, a special happy birthday to our buddy Lucy Minut. in San Francisco, who's got not just a birthday, but she's going back to work after an epic maternity leave. And happy birthday to Kate Haig in Brooklyn, who's celebrating the last year of her 30s. The best year of her 30s. And Caroline is turning 27 years old down in the Pouled Port Capitol of Asheville, North Carolina. Happy birthday to Matt Robertson, who's turned in 21 in Riverside, California. And Jack McKenna Carroll is starting school, but she's starting it with a ninth birthday in legendary

Quantico, Virginia. And probably with a 64 pack of crayola crayons with a built-in crayon mandatory required. And Laura Perron has got a new job in Riverbank, California, and her cat is pumped. I'm pumped too. I'm allergic to cats, but I'm also pumped. And Matt and Dimitri Slobiak are two brothers, whose startup face monkeys just made the Inc. 5,000 fastest growing companies list. And if you want a shout out on the show this fall, click the link in the episode description. or go to t-boypodpod.com slash shoutouts and Jack and I will get you on the pod. This is Jack, Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Spotify.