The Best One Yet - 😈 “Death by Milkshake” — McDonald’s Grimace trend. Tesla’s supercharger secret. The 4.5-day workweek.

Episode Date: July 5, 2023

McDonalds' just pulled off the most viral trend of the year… by accident — The Grimace shake highlights “the Case for Chaos” in Marketing. Tesla just announced record car sales for the 2nd quarter, but it’s not just a car company anymore — it’s the gas station of the 21st century. NYC’s biggest commercial landlord is dropping $1B on Penn Station, but has a new vision for your work life — “The 4.5-Day Workweek.” $MCD $TSLA $RIVN $XPEV $VNO Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn 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 Wednesday, SaVice, Wednesday, July 5th. And today's pod is the best one yet. TVOI, it's a T-boy. Oh, you're looking fantastic over there, Jack. It's great to be back with you, Nick. Great to be back on the mics.

This just feels so right. First story, what do we got on the show, man? For our first story, the most viral marketing campaign of the year has gone horribly right. It's the McDonald's grimace shake. And this milkshake, it'll kill you. For our second story, it's Tesla. Tesla stock surged this week and brought every other electric car stock up with it.

Here's the funny thing. The most important business at Tesla is not the Tesla car. And our third and final story. One of the biggest commercial real estate firms in the country just revealed something new. Here it is, here it is. The four and a half day work week. Not four, not five. Right in the sweet spot, four and a half.

A little bit of a Goldilocks situation for us. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. This is just a fantastic mix to come back to, Jack. This feels fantastic. We are back on the mics after a couple weeks off. Nick, you look fantastic. Jack, you're glowing over there. We were off on paternity leave, Yetis.

We missed you. We missed you so much. Now, Nick, everyone's wondering, the baby is over a week old now. Do we have a name? Well, Jack, we did decide not to name the kid at the hospital. We decided to, you know, take them home, get to know him really get to. Philadelphia. We know. So how did you decide on a name? Well, Jack, here's what we did. Molly and I did a namestorm. That's right, Yeti's a namestorm. It's a brainstorm for a name. Yeah, like Molly does

namestorms for startup, so we decided to do a name storm for our little baby. Now, to name storm your kid, first you need naming criteria. Okay, then once you got the naming criteria, then you need the naming inspiration. But the most fun part of a name storm is when you stress test the names. Oh, you got to love the stress test. Jack, when you are stress testing a name in a name storm, you got to think like, what does this name look like on a book cover? Will the name look good on an ice hockey poster? Will the name look good on a movie poster? Will the name look good on a political slogan? And then will the name look good on a political sign? How will the name sound if an airline yells it out? Jack Kramer, please head over to baggage claim, Jack Kramer.

How old the name sign if you get in trouble at school? Jack Kramer, please report to the principal's office immediately. So after all this namestorming, Nick, did you and Molly finalize a name? Jack, we did finalize the name. Here's the name. You ready? Maximus Vince Martel. Max Martel. Maxi Martel, that's the name of the baby boy. Maxi Martel. Little Maxi boy.

We're so excited for the boy. Jack, Molly is doing. incredibly. She's recovering. It is a recovery, by the way. It is a serious recovery. It is Alex and Maui. You go through so much as the woman in that situation. Mothers do so much for families. It's absolutely incredible. And Jack, you did an incredible amount too. Thank you for carrying this entire business while I was off on paternity break, man. Really. Nick, you did the same thing for me with both my boys. It was honestly my honor. I was so excited to cover the company while you were on paternity leave. Thank you so much, man. It was my pleasure. We actually moved forward some long-term projects Nick was off on paternity leave.

We did. We are going to be launching some exciting stuff soon. Yeties, we got good stuff coming. Maximus Vince Martel, you look fantastic. Live life to the max. I love what you did there. Yetis, let's in our three stories. 15 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 this. 50% that's a fat tip. Tea boy city on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more. Start the show.

For our first story, the newest company to go viral isn't actually a new company. The company is McDonald's. McDonald's. It's the grimmest purple milkshake, and it shows the case for chaos. But Jack, before we jump into this T-boy style, I just got to whip up some names for you over here. You ready for this man? Go ahead. Okay, Ronald McDonald, the hamburger, Officer Big Mac.

Don't forget about Mayor McChese. Oh, Mayor McCheese. He gets me every time, man. Yet he's back in the 1970s. McDonald's basically tried to Disneyify itself. McDonald's was like, hey, we don't want to just be fast food. Let's turn into a theme park at every location. And that's why we had the play place with the ball pit.

And the happy meals with the toys. And that whole cast of characters who Jack and I just mentioned. Including grimace. Grimmis, Jack. Everyone's seen grimace. Even if you don't recognize grimace, you have felt grimace. This is the purple blob basket. He was actually originally an evil character who stole milkshakes from children.

People say that he is shaped like a taste bud that happens to be a dark color purple. Allegedly. Yes, allegedly. But Grimmis transformed over the years into a soft, good guy, actually Ronald's best friend. In fact, Grimmis has now become like a gay icon. Like, apparently he was at a lot of pride prades. Yeah, it launched in Pride Month. He was the color purple.

Grimmis, he's everywhere you want to be. Now, until last month, you probably hadn't seen Grimmis in years. Grimis, he's like a vest. like something from an Indiana Jones movie getting dug up. And is it just me or have I not seen a McDonald's play place in about 15 years? It's not just you, Jack. McDonald's has been pivoting away from kids and focusing more on adults. But on June 12th, McDonald's brought Grimmis back and it has been wild.

Get this, Yeties. McDonald's has turned Grimmis into the most viral marketing campaign of 2023 by accident. On June 12th, Grimmis took over McGrimmis. McDonald's social media accounts to celebrate his birthday. And they celebrated his birthday with a brand new product called the Grimmis milkshake. Or for short, the Grimmish Shake. We don't know what flavor the Grimmish Shake was and neither do any McDonald's customers. That's the brilliant part behind this strategy.

They never actually describe what the product is. All we know is it's purple. Some people say it tastes like cake. Some people like strawberry. There's like hints of cough syrup in there. No one knows the flavor. But that's when things spun out of control. Right, because McDonald's didn't intend for this next part to actually happen.

On social media, people are buying these purple milkshakes and then pretending to die and posting it online. We are not making this up. There are videos of people orchestrating like these complicated horror crime scenes because of drinking this milkshake, right, Jack? Here's a video you'll see. And honestly, brace yourself because it's kind of horrifying. Jack, let's throw it up on the screen so like the Yetis can see this. Yetis, you can watch this right now. We'll throw it up on the screen.

It's on the screen if you're watching on Spotify or YouTube. People are buying one of these purple shakes, sipping the shakes, saying, happy birthday, Grimmis. They're excited. They're having fun. And then you cut to another scene, and they're dying a horrible death, allegedly because of the milkshake. Jack, can we talk about what kind of numbers these Grimmis McDonald's TikTok videos are getting?

It's racked up nearly 2 billion views of the hashtag Grimmish shake, and that's just on TikTok. Again, Yetis, what's so shocking about this is that none of it was actually McDonald's specific. intention. They brought back Grimmis for a nostalgic marketing campaign to target Gen X, who remembers them from childhood. They were supposed to be targeting older people with this nostalgic marketing campaign. Instead of Gen X, Grimmis has been embraced by Gen Z in a shocking manner on TikTok. It's being grabbed by the youngest of the generations. And this has brought more

attention to McDonald's from young people than any other marketing campaign has. And that's why we're chalking this up as a win. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the marketing industry? There is a case for chaos. The case for chaos. Yeties, Jack and I got curious about the marketing company behind this campaign. And that company is Wyden and Kennedy. Wyden and Kennedy are known for provocative and sometimes confusing ad campaigns. And this is what we found fascinating about this story. They've got a philosophy at Wyden and Kennedy. And it's called the case for chaos. Here's the story.

Companies want control and predictability. But good marketing requires creativity, which is the opposite of predictability. A giant purple blob, fake murdering McDonald's customers? That is not what McDonald's predicted, isn't it, Jack? That's the opposite of predictability. But McDonald's, they found comfort in the discomfort. And you know what? It's working.

And that is the case for chaos. For our second story. Tesla. Its stock jumped 7% on Monday to its highest point in a year. It sold a record number of cars last quarter, but this story is not about Tesla's cars. All right, Jack. Technically, the second half of the year just kicked off. And what's the number one stock so far? It's Tesla. We're one day into the second half of 2023. And Tesla's up 7% already. Not too shabby. Because Yeti's Tesla, they just announced they sold 85% more cars in the second quarter compared to last year. The reason? Tesla cut prices big time this year, and that led to a nearly doubling of sales.

The price discounted may have hurt the profits, but the sales surge that resulted, that has been pretty good for Tesla. And investors approved. The stock jumped 7% on Monday, and it's approaching a $1 trillion valuation once again. In fact, a whole bunch of electric vehicle stocks all jumped to start the week. But Nick, while we were on paternity week. Yes, Jack. Another big story was happening around Tesla. Yes, it was Jack.

And what was that very particular story that we noticed? We're calling it supercharging for all. Supercharging for all. Yeti's superchargers, those are Tesla's very own fast chargers. I've used them when like we're doing a big trip. It's also known as a level three charger, but it's Tesla branded, and they can go from zero to a full charge in about 30 minutes. When you're on the road, you may have seen them,

they kind of feel like this cool, really small, exclusive club. And that's what they were. until last month when Ford busted into that club. Yeah, that's the news yet. Ford just announced that it is joining Tesla's supercharging network. Ford is also going to ditch the standard charging nozzle and use Tesla's charging nozzle instead from now on. It's like if Google's Android phone started using Apple chargers

instead of those Android chargers. It's a big deal. Exactly. And it's actually kicked off a domino effect. The day after Ford's announcement, we got an announcement from GM. Yes, we did. from Rivian. Yes, we did. And just last week, Volvo's Polestar electric car brand is also joining Tesla's charging network. So Tesla's supercharging electric club has gone from an exclusive club

to letting the riffraff in, Jack. I noticed I'm seeing a lot of cars here. I didn't typically recognize it the Tesla charging. I would kill if my Volkswagen could charge on a Tesla charger, but I can't. We can't let everyone into the club yet, Jack. I'm on the other side of the velvet rope still. And Jack, why are all these other car cars? companies suddenly joining their rivals charging network? Because it's a better club and there's more of them. Yeah, a lot more of them. Yetis, there are 60% more Tesla chargers in the United States

than the rest of the industry combined. And Tesla chargers are more reliable. I can guarantee that based on the unreliability that I'm experiencing with Volkswagen. Yeah, we've had a pretty good experience. Like, they don't judge you. But Nick, is Tesla giving away supercharging for free? No, they are not, Jack. Tesla is not UNICEF.

Last time we checked, Elon Musk doesn't donate to his competitors. Yetis, you can bet that every time an electric Ford pulls up to a Tesla station, Tesla is going to take a little cut. A little bit of money. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over Tesla? The gas station of the 21st century is Tesla. Yetis, every generation of the past century has visited gas stations. You had to. Yeah, it might be a Texaco, a shell, a sicko.

They all offer the same thing. gasoline, soda, and takitos cooking on one of those weird grill things. But yet is this century, that's when electric vehicles are slowly taking over. So gas stations are slowly becoming charging stations. And Tesla already has the largest charging network on Earth. They've got 45,000 superchargers owned by Tesla. So when you ask why Tesla is worth more than the rest of the car industry combined? It's because its real value isn't in the cars.

It's in its charging station. Tesla isn't just a car company. What Tesla really is, is a branded network of 45,000 gas stations charging electric cars for all car brands. Tesla is becoming the gas station of the 21st century. For our third and final story, Vornado is investing a billion dollars to create the coolest place to work in America. And that place is Penn Station. New York's Penn Station. New York's Penn Station. Come on down.

And it's all because of the United States. the four and a half day work week. Jack, can we talk about landlords? Let's talk about landlords. Vornado is the ultimate landlord. This is a publicly traded company that is the biggest commercial landlord in all of New York City. Honestly, for a landlord, the name Vornado sounds a little evil, doesn't it, Jack? Yeah, it totally does. They're not trying to sound warm and fuzzy. Because Borneado owns 20 million square feet of office space. Jack, can we get a translation on that number, please? That's 400 football fields of cubicles and copy machines. And, Jack, how is Vornado's stock doing lately? Well, immediately when the pandemic hit, it fell by 50% as all those cubicles emptied out.

And get this, it's down another 50% since then because a certain amount of work from home seems to be permanent. So one of America's biggest commercial landlords is down and down big, but not out quite yet. Because get this, Vornado just made its biggest bet in the company's history and it's putting all its chips on basically a three-blocking. radius. On Penn Station. Penn Station, lovely Penn Station. Eighth Avenue and 32nd Street, baby. Come on down, you just look. Fantastic Penn. Actually, 7th Avenue if it's Long Island Railroad, and 34th Street, if it's the ACE. Am I getting that right now? If you hit Brother Jimmy's barbecue, you've gone too far. Yeties, Fornado is investing a billion dollars to spruce up two million square feet of office space right around Penn Station. Because Yeties, even though, even

Even though Penn Station isn't the prettiest station in America. It is the biggest station in America by far. The new Penn Station's kind of nice. The new Penn Station's fantastic. But no one can deny that Penn Station is the public transportation mecca of all the United States. Because Penn Station has six subway lines, the Long Island Railroad, Amtrak, and the path train. The whole tri-state area loves Penn Station. Jack, in Penn Station, there's an anti-Anns, a Hudson News, and a Dwayne Reed within a

Dwayne Reed. And he can't pass. While Yeti's tornado, they know that people hate commuting. So in this time of popular work from home, it's going after what they call one-seat commuters. They're looking at Connecticut, Long Island, and Jersey residents who can all get to Penn Station on one seat of transit. And they're making work from the office as appealing as possible to those people. They're trying to lure in Connecticut Clayton, New Jersey Jess, and Maddie from Massa Piqua. Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who work anywhere?

The four and a half day work week is already here. Look, Yetis, we don't know the exact future of back to work in America. And we also don't know if companies are going to adopt the four-day work week. But we do have a new phenomenon that's actually happening right now at this very instant. And what is it, Jack? It's called the four-and-a-half day work week. The four-and-a-half day work week. For NATO CEO told his investors that Friday office,

work is dead forever. Work from home back to the office. It doesn't matter. Employees aren't coming in on Fridays. Forget about it. They're not showing up on Fridays. Vornado CEO also said that Monday is touch and go too. So when we add all this up, we don't know the exact future of what your work week will look like. But the four and a half day work week is already here. Four and a half. Four and a half. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for our first pod back? McDonald's celebrated Grimmis's birthday, with purple milkshakes, but it morphed into a viral TikTok meme. And that is the case for chaos. For our second story, Tesla is approaching a $1 trillion valuation again,

not just because it's selling cars. It's because Tesla is becoming the gas station of the 21st century. And our third and final story is Vornado. New York City's biggest landlord is investing in Penn Station. Because the four and a half day work week is already here. And here's what else you need to know today. Twitter is how. having technical problems, so Elon is limiting the number of tweets that you can see.

Yeah, after you view a thousand tweets, you can't use Twitter for the rest of the day. And a civil rights group just sued Harvard calling its legacy admissions discriminatory. If affirmative action is illegal, legacy admissions are probably illegal too. And stocks finished the first half of 2023 up a whopping 16%. It was led by tech stocks in the NASDAQ, which had their best first half of a year since 1983. And Jack, now it is time. for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Susanna from Miami, Florida. There are over 30,000 Starbucks locations on planet Earth. But there's only one Starbucks location that has no address.

If you try to find this Starbucks in a GPS, it won't show up. Yeah, because this Starbucks is in the CIA. Our nation's spy agency has its own Starbucks. The CIA has a Starbucks. The CIA has a Starbucks. It's like a stealthy Starbucks. And there's one really funny operations thing about the CIA Starbucks. Jack and I love this. We had to share this with the Yetis. Baristas don't ask for your name before taking your order. Yeah, they can't do it because it would breach the protocol.

These are spies. The name they give you is going to be fake. So, Bessies, if you want to order a Frappuccino at the Starbucks at the CIA, you're going to need security clearance. This latte will self-destruct in 12 seconds. Jack, you're looking fantastic. It is so good to be back with you. Thank you so much for all the work you did, man.

My cheeks are exhausted from all the smile. I know, my muscles and my cheeks, like, weren't ready for today. I know, I wasn't ready for this. That was just so much fun. Yeties, you're looking fantastic, too. And remember, H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. Yodies, it is fantastic to be back with you. Have you heard the best one yet?

Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And we're so happy about that. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti, Mariah Maples, who's turning six down in Jacksonville, Florida. And happy birthday to Britton Hughes in Greenville, South Carolina. And Renee Backer, happy birthday over in Lou Warden in the Netherlands. And congratulations to Simon and Leah from Ireland, who just got engaged in beautiful France.

And apparently they're celebrating by eating a thousand quassants. No joke, a thousand quesons. And a huge congratulations to Dave Meyer, who after 12 years is finally taken a sabbatical from his job over in Idaho. And congratulations to the legendary legal scholar, Tuck Kramer and Adelaide, who have a new baby girl in Vermont. Alzy Bear is what she's known as, and she's fantastic. She's looking amazing. Congratulations, guys. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a TV.

Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney, Ford, and Volkswagen. How many times was Jack on there crossed out? Molly actually really likes the name Jack. I was like Molly, it's just. This would bring up a lot of complications. You're like, this is Nick and this is Jack, but not that Jack, the other Jack.

Actually, the main Jack, but not like, you know, the other Jack's pretty main too.