The Best One Yet - 🍟 “Adult Happy Meal” — McDonald’s nostalgia. Hurricane Ian’s insurance. LEGO’s specialist game.

Episode Date: September 30, 2022

Our TBOY audience survey: https://u0d3uxj78l0.typeform.com/tboypodMcDonald’s (finally) unveiled the Adult Happy Meal because: Nostalgia Never Dies. LEGO is the biggest toy company on earth because it’s figured out how to out-fun Hasbro and Mattel. And Hurricane Ian has caused an estimated $40B of damage, but we think the smallest number is the scariest: Six.$MCD $HAS $MATFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the Real Friday. September 30th. And today's pod is just the best one yet. It's a T-boy. It's a T-boy. It's a T-boy.

Jack, what is the first story for today's pod? Lego, just revealed it's the biggest toy company on Earth. It is. And it's only getting bigger. So which game is more fun, Jack? Being a generalist or being a specialist. For our second story, Hurricane Ian hit Florida with big numbers. But the scariest number for Florida's economy may be the

smallest number. It's the number six. The number six. Our third and final story, after four years of us complaining on this pot. Yeah, we did. McDonald's finally launched the adult happy meal. Because there's one rule in retail and Jack, what is that rule? Nostalgia never dies.

Never dies. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful movie. A fantastic mix after a ballgame, Jack. Do you remember yesterday? We did that story on Dude Perfect and Disney. Do you remember that idea of like building a media house? Yeah, it was yesterday's episode. Well, last night, we were sipping some Pino at the baseball game.

And Jack and I came up with a new idea for a new addition to our T-Boy Media House empire. We came up with an idea that something new, something totally different. It's a product that is the exact opposite of the T-boy show that you know and love. A T-boy podcast that is sleep meditation. Literally a financial lullaby to lull you to sleep. Now, this is just a prototype. It is just a prototype. But we're going to give you a sneak peek of something we're working on.

If you're driving right now, you may want to pull over. Here it is. Here it is. ASMR. Boom. Sleep recording. Let's hit it. By Nick.

I can't wait. This is Nick and this is Jack. And today's pod is the sleepiest one yet. Every morning you tell us that we wake you up. So we thought, you know what? Why don't we help our audience go to bed too? The loss is the loss. So for our one story today, we're going to read, word for word, line by line, number by number.

The entire earnings report from Mitsubishi. The boringest earnings yet. Wake up, here we go. Time to wake up. Hope you got a nice nap there. Jack. Let's in our three stories. 15 years before this song

Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm They had an idea to cause a cultural storm It's the best one yet But the best is a 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 For our first story, Lego The Toy Company Lego just revealed honestly the most fun numbers ever, Jack. Lego.

It's a case study in the generalist versus the specialist. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Jack. I'm sorry. But we thought everybody was going out, like, posting picks from some coastal balcony and, like, snagging a dinner reservation for nine people out. Apparently, some of us are spending a good part of the weekend in our bedroom playing with our toys.

Yeah. For example, you're playing with Legos. Denmark's pride and joy, the Lego Corporation. And every year, twice a year, they reveal numbers. Because they're a private company owned by like some royal Danish family. And Jack, what kind of numbers are we looking at over at Lego? Revenues for Lego in the past six months jumped 17% from the same period last year. To $3.5 billion, they sat down, stood up and then sat back down.

Oh my God, I stepped on a Lego. It always hurt. But yeties, they're not just shipping Lego boxes for Walmart to sell. They opened stores. They opened 66 of their own stores. in just the past six months. And that 17% growth, it's despite shutting down 81 stores over in Russia. Yeah, they had 81 stores in Russia.

10% of their business, they shut it down because of Putin's race. And that's on top of the fact that we're all worried about a recession, so you're not buying a car right now. So that's 17%, it's really good growth. It is. We are still getting a Hogwarts Harry Potter Castle. Lego set. Come on, I really want one. But Legos, they're not taking in golden galleons.

No, they're not. This Danish Lego company is. all about the croner. But Yeties, here's what Jack and I found so fascinating about LEGO's earnings. It turns out Lego has a new profit puppy you might not expect. And it's a profit puppy who we kind of mentioned once before. Kidults. Kid adults. Kid adults. Kid adults. Adult's playing with toys. Exactly. Adults acting like kids. Yeties, a Lego is a Lego. There's not a big cost difference between producing a kid-themed Lego set or an adult-themed Lego set. Exactly, Jack. So, assuming there's not a huge difference in the number of bricks in that toy set, then the higher the price of

that set, the more profitable that puppy. And guess who's willing to pay more? Kids or adults? Well, kidults. Kidults are willing to pay more for that satisfying connection feeling of colored cube. Jack, can you enlighten us as to the average price of the average Lego set? The average Lego set's 20 bucks. Okay. But what is the price of the Office TV show special edition Lego set? That's a product tailored for adults. And that's going to go 122 bucks. Jack and I jumped in T-Boy style. Jack, what about the Rolling Stones Lego? set we didn't know existed. My uncle would love it. He would. 150 bucks. And what about the Roman Coliseum set that's the size of a pony? You would love that. And that's 600 bucks.

How about the Titanic ship that is so realistic, you can see Leo and Kate kissing on the deck? Legos sells a Titanic Lego set for $700. Those are LEGO's profit puppies. Those are the profit puppies for the cadal. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Lego? Generalist versus specialist. Okay, besties, it's an age-old question. Be extremely good at one thing or pretty good at a lot of things. It's a question you ask in life about your hobbies and interests. It's a question you ask at work for your job responsibilities and at school for the things you study.

But here's the thing. Companies face that same exact question. And right now, it's playing out in the toy industry. Take a look at Mattel and Hasbro. Yes. They are American generalists. Totally. They make dolls, board games, playing cards, everything in the toy room.

On the other hand, Lego is a special. Specialist. They make one thing extremely well building blocks. And recently, sales of Legos One Thing has come at the expense of Mattel and Hasbro's many things. Because right now, Lego is the biggest toy company on Earth, and it's taken market share from America's two toy Titans. There's not an official answer to the generalist versus specialist debate. But in this industry, the specialist is having a lot more fun. Legos is playing with the adults. For our second story, Hurricane E.

And damaged up to a million homes in southwest Florida. It did. But the most important number of this hurricane was the smallest number. It was. It was the number six. The number six. Get this, Yeties. Yesterday, Google searches quadrupled for one word in particular.

Two words. Two words. One search, though. Maybe a hyphen. Storm surge. When the wind and power of a hurricane is so immense that it pushes the water up onto the shore and then onto the land. Like hurricanes get all the attention.

But it's the storm surge that's doing all the damage. It's the 155 mile per hour winds of this hurricane that got the attention. But those winds raised the water level in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm surge. By up to 12 feet. That was the storm surge. That was what caused all the damage. And that's what helped make this one of the biggest and costliest hurricanes ever by the numbers.

Two and a half million Floridians lost power. Up to one million homes in southwest Florida damaged by wind and flooding. Early estimates are that $40 billion worth of property was damaged. That is eight lifts worth of damage. It was a huge storm. It was a brutal storm. There were huge numbers in the storm. But the way Jack and I see it, the most important number out of all those numbers was the smallest number, six.

Because six Florida property insurance companies have failed this year. That's six insurance companies that were declared insolvent in just the state of Florida. Sounds like an issue because more than any other state, Florida needs property insurance to protect against natural disasters. Florida needs a hero like a guy co-gecko and Affleck Duck or maybe even. Are you thinking who we're thinking of? Jake from State. Jake from Starvation, it'd be great if you showed out. But Florida's property insurance industry was already in a crisis before the hurricane hit.

And now they're bracing for an historic number of claims. We all saw the pictures of like the boats that were lifted by those 12 feet of storm surge and it crashed into a home. Everything that is cracked or broken, that is an insurance claim. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all of our buddies affected by natural disasters? The financial buzzword of climate change, it's really insurance. It's insurance. Besties, the first question you end up asking after an event like this is this.

Did I have insurance? We hope so. And you may have had property insurance, but that typically doesn't cover floods. In fact, only half of Florida residents living in the floodplain even have federal flood insurance. So half of Floridians are going to have to dip into their savings or hope for FEMA money or charity money to rebuild their homes from the damage. Now, this leads to the second question. end up asking after an event like this. Can I get insurance now? Now that we've seen what kind of storms are happening? Well, the storm surge from this hurricane was nearly triple the previous

Florida record. Nick, the 12-foot storm surge? Yeah, Jack. The previous Florida record was four and a half feet. And that is why private companies are probably going to jack up rates to account for these more frequent and more powerful hurricanes and those storm surges. Or they may refuse to insure a home altogether. Good point. Because they're so close to the beach and so at risk of a hurricane. Florida. And since the federal government provides flood insurance, which we paid for with our taxes, all of us are kind of taken on new flood risk. Even if we don't live in Florida. So the financial buzzword of climate change, the way we see it, it's really insurance. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. You can do just about anything from your phone, but some industries, they've just

been slow to move. The finance industry was slow to move from phone to computer and then from computer to app. Robin Hood wasn't. It's the Silicon Valley-based broker. that's been updating app since it was born in 2015. Using the Robin Hood app for your stocks and crypto is almost as easy as downloading it. So you can invest to your pace on your terms by downloading the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y limitation supply.

Stocks are offered by Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Crypto offered through Robin Hood crypto. All investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood. and we are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story before the weekend, next week, McDonald's is finally, finally launching adult happy meals. Adult happy meals because it's a retail rule.

Nostalgia never dies. Jack, whip out the whiteboard. We got ourselves the list of kid things we always wish they had an adult version of. An adult stroller. Okay, so you can listen to more pods while you push me around. I want the adult stroll. I want the adult bounce house. Yeah, I don't blame me.

No weight limit on that thing after the stroller. I want to roll out of bed in an adult ones. And it is socially acceptable and so you should, Jack. Well, starting October 3rd, one of these things is socially acceptable. Finally. We're finally getting the adult happy meal. Jack and I've been lobbying for this on this pop. I don't know, four years ago.

Don't call this a gimmick, don't. Because specialty meals like this, they keep delivering results. Jack and I keep seeing it in every single McDonald's earnings call. BTS, the Korean pop boy band. Yes. They have a McDonald's. meal. And that drove McDonald's app downloads by 23%. What about McDonald's is Travis Scott meal? Well, sales for McDonald's were negative before the meal. They were positive after that meal for

the entire quarter. So they're doing it again with the adult happy meal. But key is what this thing looks like. This is what Jack and I found fascinating. The package is the product. Because it all starts with the box. That's literally what they say. But in our opinion, the package is the product. Instead of a brutal brown paper bag. I can picture it. With a greasy stain on three sides, like a Rorschach test. It's the worst. What is that thing?

The adult happy meal is served in a cardboard lunchbox. And that box is designed to look like it's straight out of cartoon network. It's like you're eating a comic. I love lunchboxes. You can handle it with a little handle? That's another adult thing. We need a virgin object. This one has retro bright colors that brings you back to the days of Nicola.

I like your Hey Arnold vibe. Your sponge box, swear our pants. I know what you're talking about. So this thing isn't tied to a celebrity like the rapper Sweetie or the Korean boy band, BTS. No, it's actually a collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market, which happens to be a buzzy streetwear brand. And they design the package. But we should say what's inside as well. It's all about the package, but you will get fries, a soda, and a Big Mac or 10-piece chicken McNuggets.

What, it's not a happy meal. No, it's not. Without a toy. Oh, tell me more. You might get a hamburger. Yes, you may. Or three other toys they might toss in there. Mom, Nick took my toy.

Mom, Jack took my toy. Jack took my toy on this one. Well, he started it. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at McDonald's? A top rule in retail, nostalgia will never die. Yet he's Virgil, the Roman poet philosopher. One said that love conquers all. Marketers disagree.

Yeah, a marketer would say nostalgia conquers all. Any marketing survey will tell you that nostalgia, it is a powerful force. Absolutely. A UGov poll, for instance, told us that 9 out of 10 us think happily about the past. Renee Brown, the therapist, she's got a show, she's got a podcast. She says nostalgia can be a problem. It may be too positive the way you think of the past.

We actually may look back too fondly, which makes things today feel worse than they really are because we're so happy about the past. Either way, McDonald's isn't getting into that debate. They literally repackage the happy meal that we have when we're kids, but for adults. Why risk the baggage and cost of a celebrity deal when any brand can just, Just bring back a fond memory. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Legos revenues jump 17% despite its Russia exit and the economy general.

Lego's a specialist and it's having a lot more fun than the generalist. For our second story, Hurricane Ian, it's going to generate a huge number of insurance claims. The financial buzzword of climate change, it's insurance. Our third and final story is McDonald's. It's launching the adult happy meal on October 3rd. Because nostalgia just never dies. Nostalgia doesn't die. Isn't October 3rd Mean Girls Day?

It is Mean Girls Day. And I think isn't that the name of a James Bond movie? Chris Brasman. Nostalgia never dies. Now, time for the best fact yet, which is actually a correction. A bunch of Yetis pointed out. L.J. was first. L.J. was the first appointed.

Like 6 a.m. It was impressive. It was very fast. Now, we said yesterday that the first theme park based on a celebrity would be Dude Perfect's theme park. But it looks like they may not actually be the first. The first celebrity theme. themed theme park is Dollywood. Yeah, Dolly Parton's got a theme park.

In the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. 150 acres of rides, rodeos, and roasted barbecue. It is also the site of the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame. And it's got its own church. And they serve a maple bacon, walnut funnel cake that looks to die for it. That looks like the adult Happy Meal Jack. Funny thing, though. Yeah.

Dolly has never ridden on one of these rides. Dolly, pardon. The legendary country music singer has a theme park But she's never been on one of the roller coasters. She's got Grammys. Yeah. And she's got the queesies. Yetis, you looked fantastic all week.

And remember, if you want to fall asleep well this weekend, just go back to minute two of this podcast. Jack and I will see you on Monday. And before we go, congratulations to Yeti Nick Metzger, who is moving out of his parents home and into his first apartment in Chicago. You know why he's going to have no issue with this move? Because he does logistics. And Freddie Uberscher is from Breit. in Germany. Christina Mendez is from Madrid, Spain. And they're moving in together in Stockholm, Sweden. Congrats, Freddie and Christina. And frankly, we're just jealous of Lewis A and Louis E.

Jaron Yuga, who are on a father-son trip flying out to Alaska. This is absolutely incredible. And Gokchi Aragor is returning from Istanbul to New York City and better be bringing back some Baclavov. And big congrats to Luke the Middlebury Panthers Skarsinski and Morgan Murray, who are getting married in Portland, May. May you have many a lobster. And a big T-boy shout-out to Annie Baker from Chicago, whose son Milo turns one-year-old. And a happy birthday to Naren over in Seattle.

And happy birthday to Catherine Adelstein, who's turning 26 with her puppy Bailey in San Diego. And Eli Werner also turning 26, also in Chicago. And happy 34th birthday, Great Age, to Mike Wall in San Francisco. And Lucas Carvalho is turning 10 down in Cyprus, Texas. Happy birthday to Reese Adrian, in Riverside, California. And Kelly Frecko, happy birthday down in D.C.

George Shats. Playing ball ball on his birthday. Happy birthday. Over in Baltimore. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-Ball. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick and I both on stock of Robin Hood. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood.

Jack, rule number one about a kitchen renovation. Tell your friends about your kitchen renovation. We know the cabinets are expensive. Well, in the pandemic, a lot of companies renovated their businesses focusing on apps and digital. Robin Hood didn't have to. It was built digital from the start. Robin Hood's mobile first and intuitive design makes investing a little easier for every stage

of your investing journey. Whether you want to trade options, ETFs, or stocks through Robin Hood Financial, or buy some Bitcoin on Robin Hood Crypto, you can do all that right on the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's robinood.com slash TBOI. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involve risk.

By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood.