The Best One Yet - 🫏“Kamala-nomics” — The VP’s biz plan. Sabrina Carpenter’s ice cream strategy. Mercedes & Goldman’s electric cars.

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his VP Kamala Harris… so we jumped into “Kamala-nomics.”Taylor Swift dropped 34 different versions of her latest album… it’s a growth hack inspired by ice cream.Starbucks, Mercedes, and Goldman Sachs just partnered up… for electric car charging stations.Plus, the newest hotel perk… is robot massages (and one startup is selling all of ‘em).$SPOT $VIVHY $SBUX $GS $MBGYYSubscribe 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.0:00 - intro01:37 - Robo Masseuse04:36 - The VP’s biz plan10:13 - Music’s album flavors15:46 - Starbucks & Mercedes & Goldman’s electric cars20:57 - Takeaways21:47 - OTHER NEWS!23:27 - Best Fact Yet25:04 - Shout Outs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, July 22nd. And today's pod, today's pot. This is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Jack, I assume you were going to say, yeah, happy half-burday, Nick. I assume it was coming. I took the words out of your mouth, didn't I, Jack? Give me a chance, man. You know, actually, in financial terms, it's not my half-birthday. It's my Q2 birthday, right? It's my second quarter birthday. We're entering H-H-2. Yeah, yeah. 2024. Yes, 2Q earnings, second quarter earnings report for me, man. It was above expectations. It was above expectations. Yeah. The P.E. ratios are on point.

I'm looking forward to Q3. Let's just leave it at that. What are you, 36 and a half now? 36 and two quarters. Yeah, it is. Fantastic show for you today. Jack, three stories on the T-boy. What do we got, man?

For our first story, on Sunday, in a shocking announcement, Joe Biden dropped out of the race for president. So Jack and I whipped up an emergency story on the replacement, who he endorsed Kamala Harris. We're talking Kamelanomics. Kamelanomics, what Kamala Harris may mean for business. For our second story, we're asking a question. Why did Taylor Swift drop 34 different versions of the same album?

Oh, here's another question. Why did Sabrina Carpenter drop seven different versions of the same song? Because they were both inspired by the ice cream industry. Ah, both inspired by ice cream. And our third and final story is Starbucks, Mercedes, and Goldman Sachs. They just partnered up. a shocking way. To build an electric car charging oasis, and they're building a whole bunch of them. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, what a fantastic mix of

who. Oh, wow. No, pressure's good. Pressure's good. I think you missed a small. A little lower, a little to the right, a little right. Yeties, the sounds Nick and I are trying to communicate right now is that we're getting a massage. Yeah, there is nothing quite like a massage. A massage. It is the ultimate vacation indulgence. But get this, the newest perk at hotels is a robot who will give you a massage. More specifically, it is not a robot massage. It is a robot masseuse. You get on the table and R2D2 starts getting to work on you.

Jack, one second. Hey, C3PO, lather me up, baby. Here's the best part. This robot, which will give you a massage, doesn't have two arms like a human being. No, these robots can have eight arms, like a team of masseuses going to work on your skin. Gap Jack. I'm looking at a picture of it right now. It looks like the robots that repaired Anakin Skywalker into Darth. Oh, good point. Good point. This like ain't no Brookstone sharper image Therogun massage toy, Jack. This is a six-foot-tall roboth therapist with more joints in their arms than I have in my entire body. This thing, it goes deep tissue because it's deep tech. And it works both sides of your body at the same time. In fact, Jack and I jumps in T-Boy style. The Palace Hotel in New York City now offers a 30-minute robo massage. for 75 bucks. It's for guess only. We already checked. And the Equinox gyms are adding robot masseuses across the United States. For members only. We already checked, unfortunately. Because

according to Bloomberg, America has a shortage of masseuses. If you want a Swedish massage right now, you're probably going to have to wait two weeks for an availability. Unless someone cancels, Jack, that's a good buck. In which case, pause the pod and snag those 80 minutes right now. Get it right now. But Basties, Jack and I should point out, no robot can find pressure points quite like a human person. And we don't trust AI to apply hot stones to our torsos, do we? Yeah. But if your office needs a new perk, you may want to drop this idea with the HR team.

Because a robot masseuse would pay for itself in productivity. Guaranteed. If you know, you know, oh yeah, right there. Okay, you're making me uncomfortable. Nick, I'm going to add this to sounds we can't use on the pod. Jack, one sec, I think they missed the spot. Oh. Stop.

about Kamala Harris and the economy. This is Kamalaomics. Now, Yetis, there is this incredible quote about history that Jack and I love from Vladimir Lenin. Jack, can you share it with the audience, please? There are decades where nothing happens. Then there are weeks when a decade happens. Boom, congratulations, besties, because you just lived through one of those weeks. It all started last Saturday when a former president was almost assassinated in Pennsylvania. And then the richest person in the world, Elon Musk suddenly endorsed that former president for president. And then the whole venture capital industry seemingly turned Republican following Elon's lead. And then, just as all of tech was shut down from the biggest outage in history, we learned that the current president got COVID.

And then, while still testing positive with COVID, Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign yesterday. Yiddies, Jack and I had none of that on our 2024 bingo cards, did we, Jeff? Nine days ago was a very different world than we have today. So, yaddies, let's sprinkle on the context because on Sunday, President Biden made a once-in-a-generation move. An incumbent as president stepped down instead of running for re-election. Now, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. This has happened a couple times most recently back in 1968 with Lyndon B. Johnson. President Biden is going to have a press conference this week where it explains in more detail why he decided not to run again.

But honestly, as you can see, it is very rare for a politician to step down voluntarily and pretty amazing for a politician to put their ego aside for the benefit of the country. Joe Biden is going to finish out his term as his party decides who will be the Democratic nominee and as America decides who will be the next president. But in the meantime, Biden endorsed his VP, Kamala Harris, although that doesn't mean she's necessarily going to be the nominee, right, Jack? No, the people who choose who's going to be the nominee are the Democratic delegates at the Democratic National Convention, which happens on August 19th.

In Chicago, doing a whole lot of logistics at this convention, actually, Jack. Yesterday, when he announced he stepped down, he said that choosing Kamala Harris as vice president was his first and best decision as president. Yes, he did. That's what he said. Now, her nomination is not guaranteed, but she does have the head star of inheriting Biden's campaign organization, his field offices across America, and all that millions of dollars of fundraising money. Mm-hmm. So yet is this is what Jack and I were curious about as we dove in yesterday. What does Kamala Harris stand for regarding the economy? Nick and I are whipping up her economic record. First, as VP, she's linked to the major economic policies of the Biden administration, which includes major long-term investments like the Made in USA Chips Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the world's biggest investment ever in clean energy. But Jack, we should also point out, she's going to be blamed by the opposition for the

inflation that the country suffered. Before she was vice president, she was senator of California for four years. And before that, she was the attorney general of California where she was prosecuting criminals. Wild detail, by the way, in 2011 and in 2014, Donald Trump donated to her election campaigns. $6,000 over those two campaigns. Kind of wild. So this may be unprecedented history, but one candidate for president may have donated to the opposing candidate for president in this election. He did. He did. He did. Oh, he did. He did. Yeah. But now Kamala has announced she is running for president. So to know what she would do as president, we have to look back at what she did four years ago when she was running for president. Yeah, this isn't the first time she's run for president. And that is why late last night, Jack and I whipped up this takeaway.

Jack, you want to take away the takeaway? What's the takeaway for all our buddies watching what's going to be the takeaway for this presidential election? Kamala Namix. It was more progressive than Biden. But it was more progressive than Biden. But it. made change now since she's running against Trump. So yet is, before Kamala was picked for VP, she actually ran against Biden in the campaign for president back in 2020. During the primaries back then, she had a more progressive stance than Biden did on taxes, on spending, and on the economy. For example, Kamala pushed for universal health care, and she wanted to pay for it with higher corporate taxes than Biden proposed. She also wanted to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy to give every public school teacher in America a $13,000 raise.

Pretty progressive tax policies. And on trade, she ripped into Trump's tariff wars with China. She said that tariffs on foreign goods increase prices, therefore exacerbate inflation. And then on housing, she proposed the Rent Relief Act. She proposed a bill that basically would have capped rent at 30% of people's incomes for anyone earning less than $100,000. But yet, after you add all that up, there is one thing that we got to keep in mind and what exactly is that, Jack?

Back then, she was running in the primary for Democratic Party. That's right. For a general election, politicians tend to come to the center with their policies. So the policies Kamala talks about now are likely to be more moderate and less progressive than her policies from four years ago. Yeties. Kamala Harris is now the frontrunner to take on Donald Trump for president this November. It's Kamelanomics, Biden's economic legacy and maybe a tad more progressive, but we'll see. Now it's time to see what Kamala actually says.

and what the others who may come out against her have to say too. For our second story, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and all the cool music artists today have a new growth hack to scale their songs. And the strategy is inspired by ice cream. This entire music story was inspired by a pint of ice cream. But, Jack, before we kick off this story, can we hit the record books? What kind of numbers are we seen out there in Musicland, baby? Taylor Swift just set another record.

Longest streak at the top of the Billboard album charts. Ding, ding, ding, Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poist Department is number one for 13 straight weeks. That's a whole bunch of fortnight's, Jack. It's still number one. And no album has been number one in America. I think globally actually, for so long. Vesties, after three months, two and a half million album equivalents have been sold. Jack, can you sprinkle on more context to that number, please?

That's a lot of albums sold. In fact, it is more albums sold than the next nine best-selling albums of this year combined. Combined. In fact, 2% of the entire music industry sales right now are Taylor Swift songs. Nick, it's like if Shohei Otani hit 500 home runs this year, more than the next nine guys combined. You know what I mean? What we're saying is that the prophecy is GDP. But then Nick and I noticed a strange part of this story.

This is where things get odd, Yetis, because Taylor Swift published one album... The Tortured Poets Department. But we see 34 different versions of that album. Because on Drop Day, fans could choose from four different versions of the same album. The only difference was one different bonus track at the end. And then Taylor Swift dropped 10 physical albums as record CDs or cassettes, each with a different voice memo delivered by Taylor herself. And then finally, the anthology album had a whopping 31 tracks on this thing. I guess that one had more bonus tracks.

Jack, I feel like we're living in The Matrix here. How can there be 31 different versions of the same thing? Neo, what's going on, man? I actually feel like we're living in the summer of 2020 all these variants. COVID got us used to different variants, while Taylor Swift just whipped up a whole bunch of different variants of the same underlying album. All right, Fauci. Let's talk Sabrina Carpenter now,

because she's dropping some variants of her own. Get this bestie. Sabrina Carpenter, the singer of the summer, released a song called Please, Please, Please. And how many versions of that are there, Jack? I'm checking Spotify right now. There's seven different versions of the track, Please, Please, Please, by Sabrina Carpenter.

We repeat seven different versions of the same single song. What is going on, man? One of them is sped up. The other is slowed down. Another is acapella, acoustic, instrumental, and then just the regular version. Apparently, Sabrina Carpenter came up with a sped-up version of her song

because it's ideal for TikTok videos. And her slowed-down version might also be perfect for your TikTok video you're trying to post right now. You kind of want a version that just gets to the chorus sometimes and other times you'll wait a minute or two. But Nick, you're a big fan of the Beatles, right?

I'm pretty sure the Beatles didn't drop Hey Jude version 8 as far as I remember, Jack. Ringo would have smashed his drum if they'd multiply their music like this. Jack, I don't think Yoko would have been down with eight versions of the same song. See, Eddie, we have Taylor Swift dropping 34 different versions of the same album. Then we have Sabrina Carpenter dropping seven versions of the same song.

Why are they doing this? Well, the answer we discovered is that this is a growth hack. Taylor and Sabrina figured out how to keep their fans engaged longer, deeper, with the same core creation. Taylor drops so many versions of the album to extend the sales period to keep the buzz up, and that kept her at number one. Sabrina dropped so many versions of the same song so that you'd have the perfect version

as the soundtrack of your social video you're trying to post. Jack, this basically choose your own adventure when it comes to the same songs from the same artist. It's also kind of cool to have a version that you feel like is unique in some way, not just mass-produced. Yes, it feels like it's your song and then you want to tell people about it.

I mean, Jack, heartbreak is one thing, my ego's another. I beg you, I beg you, going to too many versions of the same songs, Jack. I know you love Sabrina Carpenter. I do. The music videos are great. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the music industry? Music just borrowed a strategy from ice cream.

Yeah, it is, stick with us on this one. According to the Dairy Foods Association, the majority of ice cream flavors have either a vanilla base or a chocolate base. But there's variants. If you add Oreo to vanilla, you have cookies and cream. And if you add cookie to vanilla, it's suddenly cookie dough. Ice cream brands have introduced multiple variants. of the flavor to drive sales, to give us a variety.

Because you're more likely to buy a second scoop if there are different flavor options out there. And now music is doing the same thing. Creating multiple flavors from the same core creation. It's the same strategy. Honestly, kind of surprised it took music so long. Like, Ben and Jerry figured this out like 50 years ago, man. And those variations have turned Spotify into like your own scoop shop of music options. Because different flavors of the same track are all we're seeing from the top artists.

It's keeping the number ones at number one longer. The newest music growth hack was inspired by ice cream. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Starbucks, Mercedes, and Goldman Sachs are building 100 high-end charging stations. They're replacing the gas station with the EV Oasis, the electric vehicle oasis. But first, besties, Jack and I should tell you about something.

Last week, we read a headline that made us spit out our coffee. Starbucks is adding 100 fast car charging stations up and down the west coast of the U.S. From Canada to Mexico, Starbucks parking lots off Interstate 5 are getting souped up like Teslas with new fast charging stations. Now, we jumped in T-Bois style. We check these things out. They're sharp-looking. They look like they were designed by Apple.

We're talking bright lights, sleep black chargers. This is a good-looking thing. They look like they were designed by the Jetsons. Yeah. It feels like a scene. from the Jetsons. George is going to be all over this thing. So that you can charge your car while Starbucks spices your pumpkin latte. Which we know these days can kind of take a while.

But Nick, California real estate's pretty expensive. It is pretty expensive, isn't it? California construction is even more expensive. Oh, it is. So, Jack, I think I know what you're getting at. How much are these 100 brand new Starbucks charging stations going to cost? One billion dollars. But here's the wildest part.

Starbucks isn't paying for any of it. Not even a dollar. Because two other companies are picking up the tab. What is going on, Jack? Get this, Yeties. The new Starbucks electric car chargers are part of a three-way deal between Starbucks, Mercedes-Benz, and Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs is getting involved. Yeah, he's honestly, Jack and I were talking about it.

This is like Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Derek Jeter just teamed up together. All legends, but from different fields of play. Starbucks, Mercedes, and Goldman Sachs. Odd couple? know, this is an odd thruple. We've never seen three different industry leaders play together like this. Honestly, it feels like the 58th movie in an Avengers film. You know, Jack, like these guys just come out of nowhere. Who are they? So, Starbucks isn't paying a penny because they provide the hardest part. The real estate. The real estate. Because like Mark Twain once said, buy land, they're not making any more of it.

Starbucks has a hundred parking lots that they're going to let these two companies build like eight charging ports into for each one. So Mercedes is the company leading the deal, because Mercedes has a goal of adding 2,000 new electric vehicle charging hubs worldwide. But like a good, frugal German, Mercedes found someone to split the check with. Yes. And who is that, Jack? Goldman Sachs. Goldman, baby. The investment bank has an asset management group focused on like steady energy revenues. And what's more steady than revenues from an electric charging station? Not too shabby. So Goldman is pitching in the other 50s. percent to build these stations, build them. So this surprise trio of high-end brands from different

industries is teaming up like Ghostbusters to electrify your ID4. Yeah, because they want to make sure when you get that final two-hour drive-in of your trip, you're caffeinated with a $9 overpriced machia. Oh, I thought you were going to say a $9 charging fee. Because isn't that like, give or take what you're going to pay to fully charge your battery? Did you say Vente or did you say Grande, Jack? Oh, is that a question from my battery or my cup. Both. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Mercedes and Starbucks and Colton and Sacks? The Electric Oasis.

That is what can fuel an EV revolution. Yeties, two observations Jack and I want to share with you. The first is that the worst experience in retail is the gas station. I worked at a gas station for a full nine months when I was 18. Nick the hot dogs on those hot dog rollers, let me just say, leave him there. And our second observation is that the worst part of owning an electric vehicle, which Jack and I boats have? It's the 45-minute wait you have during a road trip when you need to fill up your battery. And that is why three years ago, Jack and I made a business wish, a business prediction,

a hope for an electric vehicle oasis, an EV oasis. Here was the idea. The electric vehicle industry could use this once-in-a-century opportunity to reinvent the gas station by turning EV charging spots into time optimizing premium retail experiences. If you're waiting 45 minutes for your car to charge, how about you spend that time shopping in whole foods and trying out free samples? I mean, Jack, 45 minutes, if SoulCycle had a location at the charging station, you could get a whole spin class in during your trip. And shower afterwards. Oh yeah. How about this? Instead of a dirty gas station with like 11 varieties of Slim Gym. I like it. How about a sweet green that I can grab a fresh salad during my pit stop?

Not too shabby. And Jack, I don't want to put pressure on them, but I kind of want to put pressure on them. How about a Magnolia Bakery and we can munch on some cupcakes? There you go. Yeties, you can't shorten the wait time to charge a battery right now, but you can improve the experience of that weight time. And that's why, to expedite the EV revolution, the industry should reinvent the gas station. From gas station to electric oasis. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? For our first story, President Biden's pick to succeed him in the White House is Kamala Harris.

So we looked at Kamelanomics. When she ran in 2020, her policies were very progressive. But that was a primary against Trump. She's likely to campaign more moderate. For our second story, Taylor Swift's latest album has been number one for 13 weeks, thanks to the 34 different variants it comes in. Music, its latest growth hack is the same strategy used by ice cream. release different flavors of the same underlying ice cream.

And our third and final story, Starbucks is letting Goldman and Mercedes build 100 charging stations in their parking lots. That is what we wished for, what we called. Don't build a gas station. Build an electric oasis. But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, over the last three days, the world has faced the biggest IT outage in history.

40,000 flights were affected in one day, including, Nick's flight to get back to the West Coast. Yes, it did, but that's the story for another pod. Now, this was all because of a cybersecurity firm called CrowdStrike, which sent a software update to Microsoft that had some defects. It wasn't just airlines that were affected. Banks couldn't play stock orders. Hospitals had to cancel some surgeries. Even Starbucks's app broke, so you couldn't get your Frappuccino. Oh, the Latte's, not the Latte's. Crowdstrike says it might take actually another week to fully fix this bug, which was just kind of like a dumb mistake. It wasn't a hack. Oh, boy. And second, the WNBA just snagged its biggest

deal yet. $2.2 billion for the next 11 years. $200 million a year is four times bigger than the WNBA's previous media deal. The WMBA, it is cashing in on the Caitlin Clark climb. And finally, Bud Light continues to fall flat. Last year, Bud Light FDlight fell to number two as the most sold beer in America. But then last month, Bud Light fell to number three for the first time ever. The number one beer remains Modelo Especial, the Mexican brand, which has a 10% market share in the United States.

But the new number two beer in America is Mikalob Ultra, which kind of tastes like... I was going to say Cor is Light, Jack. I was going to say water. Which kind of tastes like Bud Light. Sure, they're all kind of the same. I think we've come full circle. Now time for the beer.

Best fact yet, this one sent in by Yeti, Will Shane in lovely Oakland, California. It's finally here. The Paris Olympics start at the end of this week. But here's the shocker, Yetis. The Eiffel Tower has a growth spurt every single summer. Let us explain. The Eiffel Tower's actual height is 1,063 feet, which is a little bit shorter than the Empire State Building. But the warm and sunny weather over the summer creates a peculiar optical illusion that makes the Eiffel Tower seem taller. The real real thing taller. The The reason it looks taller in the summertime is atmospheric conditions. Yeah, the warm air is less dense than the cold air, causing light to refract differently,

creating a mirage-like effect that makes the tower look taller. So this Friday night, when you look at the tower on TV during the opening ceremonies, it'll look bigger than that one time you looked at it in the wintertime. Jack, when you're in Paris next month, the tower is going to be like looking the tallest it's ever looked, man. It's going to look the same as the other time I haven't seen it. Just like look impressed when you're there, Jack. Just look impressed.

So you're going to get judged. I'm sure I'm going to be impressed. Yeties, you look fantastic to kick off the week. And unless you are getting a massage right now, then right now you should drop down and give us a five-star rating a review. Nick and I read every review and it helps us grow the show. Yes, we do. So drop down and give us a five.

Nick, I said no, no massage noises are allowed on the show. Oh, that's the spot. There we go. Jack and I will see you tomorrow. Okay, that was way too much. And before we go, a happy birthday to Prashonfke celebrating the big day down in Sunnyvale, California. And a big shout out to the girls

who are having a reunion in Verraise, Italy right now. The boys couldn't make it, so keep popping that kianti. And Sarah Portway at Sunni Ononta, she's earning tenure and a promotion to associate professor of fashion business studies, and she's playing T-boy in every single class. Professor Portway is the best one yet.

Get her an Apple and an A. And Patrick Veehan, legendary Eddie down in Bradenton, Florida is turning the big 4-0. And happy birthday to Ali Shams in Bahrain, who does date night with T-boy. Allie, we love hanging with you. Let's get another round. And to anyone else, celebrate something today. Make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Netflix, and Nick and I both own stock of Spotify. How come no one calls asset management ass man? Huge missed opportunity. Huge missed opportunity.