The Best One Yet - 👶 “New generation, who dis?” — Gen Alpha’s birth. Pop-Tarts’ mascot. BYD beating Tesla.

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

What comes after Gen Z? It’s Gen Alpha — Marketers are turning their attention to the children of Millennial parents, and we are too. Pop-Tart was the star of the College Football bowls season, thanks to their mascot — Because Kellogg’s new strategy is to give their snacks arms and legs. And Tesla has always been (by far) the king of electric cars… until now — Because China’s BYD is now outproducing the electric OG.$K $TSLA $BYDDYSubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Wednesday, Saviche Wednesday, January 3rd. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. It's a T-boy, Jack. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Jack, you left us off on a cliffhanger.

Last time we spoke, you were about to indulge a Montreal bagel on your vacation over the holidays. What ended up happening? You left us, man. Well, before Montreal, I had a bunch of many trips. I had a tiny trip to visit my dad, tiny trip to visit my mom, tiny trip to visit Alex's parents. Each one is special. A whole bunch of little trips.

They were all great. It's like the rushing nesting doll of vacations jack. And I had all three of my brothers and their families come to my house for the weekend. It's too many Kramer's in one household. A lot of tiny trips, man. Beyond capacity. How about you, man? We kind of went full Home Alone too on this Christmas, man.

Home Alone lost in New York? We got lost in New York. Basically, we were a strong around New York, but we ended up Christmas Eve in robes eating pizza And homemade Kraft Macaroni and cheese just for me. The only thing we were missing was the scary pigeon lady. Kevin! Yetis, it is good to be back. You are looking fantastic, Jack.

What are our three stories for today's show? For our first story, the world's largest electric car company is no longer Tesla. Yeties, there is a new king of electric cars, and they call themselves the world champ. For our second story, the winner of college football's bowl season wasn't a team. It was a snack, specifically Pop-Tar. Pop Tarts. Pop Tarts created a recipe for virality. And our third and final story.

Let me list this off for you. Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z. Besties, there is a new generation you have got to learn about. And they're called Gen Alpha. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories to come back to. I love this mix, man. It's a new year.

It's a new you. New Year's resolutions. I will go to the gym every day this year. I will lose 30 pounds by March. I will start a gratitude diary about going vegan while climbing Mount Everest. Yes, we have all been brainstorming New Year's resolutions, haven't we, Jack? But Nick and I whipped up the best resolution yet. The best resolutions yet.

For example, we've all heard of dry January. No alcohol for the month of January. But have you heard about pie January? Only pies for the month of January. No cake, no cookies, no ice cream. You can't eat any of that. When it comes to desserts, it's only apple. pies, pecan pies, or key lime pies. So your new year's resolution could be pie January or it could be

spend vesting. Yeah, I like this one. Each time you spend money splurging on yourself, you have to invest money too. It's called spend vesting. Like, let's say you spend $200 on a pair of shoes. Then you have to put $200 into the stock market. Or you spend $20 on a video game. Then you have to put $20 into the S&P 500. But the resolution, Jack and I love most of all, what is it, Jack? The resolution that we're planning to do this year? Yes, Jack? Plannuary. Plan January. Plan January. We're going to use the month of January to plan out the whole year. Talking like trips, events, goals, plan, plan, planned. We did it all. We bought physical calendars. We're putting this thing on paper. We got like a cat calendar of little felines like hanging off over here.

For example, March 3rd, 2024, Alex's birthday. I'm planning a trip to Hawaii. Nick's going to Hawaii. April 2024. What do you got, Jack? We're dropping a bonus pot. I can't wait. The week of Thanksgiving 11 months from now. having a live T-boy show. We already planned it all from the month of January. And I've been a busy little B this January. I already booked out a few trips for the year. Are you kidding?

What are you doing for the summer trip? Do you know? In August, I booked a trip to France. Florio! Montreal had a little influence on you. Yeah, I see your Montreal French. I raise you Parisian. Our resolution is Plannuary.

Because as Yogi Berra once said, if you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else. And the best part of Planoiry? It's both goal set. which is nice. And a list of things for you to look forward, though. Which is really nice. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies planning new year's resolutions?

Plan the entire year in January. Happy Planoir, everybody. And a merry planuary. Before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in a cultural song. 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.

So just start the show. Start the show. our first story. It is official. Tesla is no longer the number one electric car company in the world. The new world champion, Nick, it's a company called BYD. Yet he's a funny thing about the car industry. Jack, what does the car industry like to do every three months? At the end of each quarter, like the day after the quarter ends, like yesterday, the car companies announced how many cars they sold in the previous quarter. They get pretty proud of it. It's like a whole thing, you know? And Tesla just told us their numbers and what were their numbers?

numbers, Jack. Tesla sold a whopping 495,000 cars in the last three months of last year. That brings Tesla's total up to 1.8 million electric cars sold in 2023. Can I sprinkle on some context? I would love for you to sprinkle on the first context of 2024, Jack. 1.8 million Tesla sold is 20 times more cars than they sold six years ago. 20 times more cars, jettys, take those numbers and stick them in the frunk. That is why Tesla has basically become the Kleenex of electric cars. With those numbers, it is clear, Tesla is the king of the electric chassis. Nothing you can do about it. Tesla dominates all electric cars. But there's some new news from this week that we have to update what Nick just said. Oh yeah, you may have to

ignore everything we just said. You know who sold more electric cars than Tesla last quarter? Who did, Jack? B-Y-D. Who the heck is that? For the first time ever, someone sold more electric cars than Tesla did. No, Yiddies, we know what you're thinking right now. Three letters are a car company you've never heard of and they're selling more than Tesla? It's China's Tesla, but it sells cars for half the price that Tesla does. Get this. BYD is the most popular car brand in China.

Not just electric cars, right? Check. It's the most popular type of car in China. Electric or gas. 90% of BYD sales are in China, so probably you've never actually seen a BYD car. But you might see one soon because their exports of their electric cars tripled in the second half of last year. Oh, and a big reason why BYD is winning the electric car battle? It's because Chinese people buy way more electric cars than Americans do. Sit down, stand up, and charge again. In the United States, one out of 12 new cars sold is an electric vehicle.

About 8% of new cars in America are electric cars. But in China, one out of every three new cars sold is an electric vehicle. Electric cars have four times the market share in China than they do in the U.S. Can we talk about the best part about this BYD Tesla rivalry news right now? BYD kind of awkwardly boasted about the news that they passed Tesla by calling themselves the world champion. They crowned themselves the champion of a competition that doesn't have an actual champion. They called themselves the world champs by dunking on Elon. Oh, and then they went further, didn't they, man?

They called themselves the official sponsor of Mother Nature. Mother Nature doesn't even own a car. We all know she uses a bicycle. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over? At B.YD. Frugal has passed sexy. Yet he's... Every Tesla driver you talk to will say the same thing.

They say it's the coolest car ever driven. Full disclosure, I have a Tesla Model Y, and it's the coolest car of ever. driven, Jack. I know. You've told me. But Tesla has been so focused on quality that Elon even named the car models to spell out the word sexy, S-E-X-Y. On the other hand, B-Y-D's

approach to cars is less sexy and more fundamental. After all, B-Y-D started as a battery company back in the day, making batteries for cell phones. It's like if Dura-Cel started making electric cars, Jack. Yeah, it was a humble origin, and that gave B-YD its key advantage.

it enjoys today. This car company controls their own lithium mines. That's right. China's BYD controls the rare metals that are critical to making batteries, which are critical for electric cars. BYD is vertically integrated. And that is how they sell electric cars for as little as 11 grand a car. $11,000? That's like the price of a scooter. And that frugleness is why Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway invested in BYD back in 2008. Tesla is the sexiest car company in the world without question. But B.Y.D. is the frugalest. And frugal just past sexy.

For our second story, the winner of college football's bowl season, isn't the Pack 10, it's Pop-Tarts. It's Pop-Tarts. We're jumping into Kellogg's new strategy of giving their salty snacks, arms, and legs. Jack, you know, I missed you over the vacation, but I got to ask, did you watch any of the college football games? Only one. Congratulations, by the way.

Thank you. Monday night, Michigan finally won the big game. They beat Alabama. But, Jack, I don't mean to interrupt you, but did you hear about the college football bowl game between Kansas State and North Carolina State? Of course not. Well, Jack, the Wildcats beat the Wolfpack 28 to 19. It was a thriller. You had to watch. It was really enjoyable. But the real winner was Pop-Tarts. It's not just because this college football bowl game was called the Pop-Tart Bowl. It's because Kellogg created a Pop-Tart mascot for that ball game. That's right. Kellogg created an anthropomorphic toasted pastry that was strutting around the entire game.

Before the game and during the game, this human-sized pop-tart was dancing around the sidelines. Jack, what was the best part about this human-sized pop-tart? It was an edible human-sized pop-tart. It was an edible pop-tart the size of a human being. When the game ended, we saw this pop-tart. mascot's demise. Yeah, they dipped this mascot pop tart into a toaster the size of a school bus. Yeah, the man wearing the Pop-Tart costume waved goodbye as he got lowered into a huge toaster.

And then at the other end, came a toasted human-sized Pop-Tart. Interesting that you said a male Pop-Tart, Jack. I didn't know we knew the gender of this pop-tart. Right, I didn't need to genderize it. My bad. You know your thing, you know that 60% of Pop-Tarts are female Pop-Tarts. But, Nick, you're missing the point. After the time...

Then the players ate the pop-tartite. Yetis, this is the first ever edible mascot that we've ever seen. The Kansas State Wildcat celebrated their victory by eating an edible mascot. But yeties, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. The real surprise wasn't just the human-sized edible mascot. It was the ROI on that mascot. Because Pop-Tart is owned by Kelanova. That's the lame corporate name of Kellogg's spin-off snack company.

And their Pop-Tarts brand is on pace. hit a billion dollars in revenue for the first time ever this year. And guess how much Kellogg paid to make Pop-Tart the sponsor of that particular ball game? Oh, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. Turns out Kellogg paid only $2 million to sponsor this bowl game. But their edible mascot and eating that mascot drove an estimated buzz worth six times that cost. That's right. This Pop-Tart resulted in $12 million in earned media and counting. $12 million in viewership. and sharing of videos of this hilarious dancing pop tar. So, Jack, can we add up the numbers here on the whiteboard over there, please?

They invested $2 million to become the sponsor, but they got $12 billion in marketing value. $12 million in value for a six-foot costume with arms and legs that got toasted on live TV and then eaten by a bunch of football players. Honestly, that sounds like it's worth more than $12 million in marketing value. And there's more in our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over? at Pop-Tarts.

Kellogg's new snack strategy is arms and legs. Yeties, four days after the world watched a human-sized Pop-Tart get toasted and eaten alive, we got another one. Kellogg's other sponsored ball game, the Cheez-It Bowl, unveiled to us Ched Z, their Cheez-It mascot. The way Jack and I see it, Kellogg is applying a strategy from pro sports to pro snacks, physical costumed mascots. First, the Pop-Tart man, and then the Tcha.

She's a guy. Yet these mascots are a tool for marketers to help customers comedically connect with the product. But we should address the tiger in the room. Yes, we should. Kellogg's has experience with mascots. After all, they invented Tony the tiger. But here's the key. Tony the tiger was just on the box. And Tony wasn't the actual product. He was a tiger. Yeah. What we're talking about now is arms and legs being put on their snacks and unleashed into the wild. Besties, this wasn't a one-off stunt. This is Kellogg's new strategy. Kellogg's is pioneering a pivot that could become a trend. The physical food mascot.

Putting arms and legs on the foods that they're selling. For our third and final story, it's not just the birth of a new year. Yeties, this is the birth of a new generation. The new demographic that businesses are targeting is gen Alpha. But, Jack, can I just share something with you before we start this story? Do you miss it? Miss what? Do you miss it when every...

company in the world was marketing to us millennials. Wasn't that amazing? Oh, we were so desirable. It was like, oh, I will have that direct-to-consumer. You and I were writing stories about companies going after us. It was awesome. Payton and light, pink, and, say it's organic. They'll buy it. For a few years, all they had to do was put bacon in the ingredients, and we'd buy it. And then for a few more moments, they could put kale in the ingredients, and we'd also buy that. Oh, and throughout, if you added avocado, we'd buy it. If Gwyneth Paltrow discovered it, it was in our shop. shopping cart. But yet he's, for the last five years, that attention from marketers has pivoted to Gen Z. Yeah. All anyone's asking these days is how do we sell a teenager a handbag in the

metaverse? But here's the big question. Jack, what comes after Gen Z? It's time we start talking about it, Nick. It's Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha, those born after the year 2010, the children of millennials. And 14 years into Gen Alpha's existence, it's time we start paying attention to Gen Alpha. Especially because Gen Alpha will be the largest generation the world has ever seen. We jumped into the numbers, T-Boy style. They're expected to be 2 billion members of Gen Alpha on Earth compared to 1.8 billion millennials. Nick, one day, Millennial Millie is going to move to a retirement community on Mars. Wow.

Built by her spaceship flying Gen Alpha daughter. Jack, I cannot wait until Gen Z. starts complaining about Gen Alpha. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's going to be a good. They're like all these Gen Alpha, they just want to play laser ball on their hoverboards. Now, there is another nickname.

Demographers are calling Gen Alpha. Yeah, I just said demographer, by the way. That other name is the iPad generation. They're calling Gen Alpha the iPad generation for two reasons. First, it's because Gen Alpha was born after the iPad was invented. In the year 2010. And second, because Gen Alpha little kids use iPads more than you do. According to surveys, four out of five children of millennials are on social media already.

And their screen of choice is the tablet. Right. The iPad, it's really a $500 babysitter. You'll only pay once and then you just have to plug in. Well, really, he's a digital nanny. And Gen Alpha adds a new layer to discussions of tech nativeness. Right, because millennials, we grew up with networks. Facebook connected us with our friends online. Gen Z grew up with algorithms.

TikTok connected Gen Z to whatever they wanted to see, not who they knew. But there's something else that's in store for Gen Alpha. And you don't have to be a demographer to know about it. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who are trying to reach Gen Alpha? The A and Gen Alpha should stand for AI. Yeties, the way Jack and I see it, Gen Z was digitally native. They grew up with the internet and they're the most comfortable with it. But Gen Alpha is AI native.

They're growing up with artificial intelligence friends and are becoming super comfortable with it. Your 5-year-old knows how to ask Alexa what day it is. Your 4-year-old can ask Siri to put Paw Patrol on YouTube. And as they grow up, there could be an AI nurturer, a teacher, a mentor right there with Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha is the generation that may blur the line between human and artificial. Yeah, because like when you interact with bots at such a young age, it could be hard to be hard. to distinguish the bots from the non-bots. Yeties, the whole economy should get to know Gen Alpha, starting now.

And the A should stand for AI. Jack, as the lead demographer on this show, can you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday? Tesla sold a ton of electric cars last quarter, but China's BYD sold even more. BYD's frugal has passed Tesla's sexy. For our second story, it's the Pop-Tart Bowl and the Cheez-It Bowl. Both featured human-sized snack mascots.

Kellogg's new strategy, give their snacks arms and legs. And our third and final story was Gen Alpha. It's anyone born after 2010. The oldest of the iPad generation turns 14 this year. The A and Gen Alpha should stand for AI. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, two planes collided yesterday on a runway in Japan.

more than 300 people safely escaped, but five were sadly killed. Hopefully, this is a wake-up call to the United States about the importance of funding air safety control. And second, 2023's box office numbers are in. Get this. Revenue passed $9 billion. That's up 22% from 2022. But that's still 20% shy of the pre-pandemic 2019. And finally, Disney's steamboat Mickey Mouse is no longer copyright protected. That's right. Mickey Mouse is now in the public domain. That means anyone can commercially use the 95-year-old OG Mickey Mouse image for anything they want.

Adam, do we have a Mickey Mouse sound effect? We can just toss in here. Woo-hoo. Hey, Winnie. Come at us, Bob. Come at us. Good luck, Tinkerbell. We got lawyers. Actually, we don't even need lawyers. Oh, we don't need lawyers. This is great. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Dylan Steinfeld from lovely Atlanta, Georgia.

Push and play. On New Year's Eve, the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Carolina Panthers 26 to zero, but I'm more interested in the difference between a jaguar and a panther. The panther is not a single species, but rather a genus that includes tigers, lions, leopards, and jaguars. When we say panther, we're usually referring to black jaguars or black lepers, which are just lepers or jaguars that have a gene that causes black coloration. The Florida panther is really a cougar, which is the same thing as a mountain lion, Puma, or a catamount, but technically not a panther.

Sounds like we got a demographer listening to the show. I think what we're exposing here is Jack and I are dog people, not cat people necessarily. Dylan, that was tremendously insightful. So helpful. Remember, if you don't want to offend the cat, I guess you should just call it a feeling. Or not a dog. Yeties, you look fantastic. Welcome back.

Jack, we got to get on some planuary planning, don't we, man? We got to wrap it up. Yeah, I've done with the trip planning. What's next? Yeties, let us know if you've got anything planned. By the way, Jack, do you know what? what you're doing on June 13th? Not yet. Tell me. According to my calendar, you're going to be in the hot tub meditating for two hours. January's for planning. Nick and I plan to see you tomorrow.

Can't well. And before we go, a shout out and congratulations to Jackson, you and Mariah He, who after five years of dating, just got engaged on a lovely trip to San Diego. Congratulations, we expect to save the date. And a happy birthday to Yeti Nimit Rungta, who's celebrating in Queens, New York. Happy birthday to Jackie Marino from the Upper West Side. And happy birthday to J.B. Blankvine from the Upper East Side. And happy birthday to a bunch of wild animals in between in Central Park. And Jasmine Jensen and her corky puppy are an enjoying a birthday in Oceanside, California.

Happy birthday to Howard Milhouser in Miami, Florida. Whose daughter is the millennial Millie. And condolences to Justin Firtwell and Ellie Scripps, who on a flight got stuck on the dreaded seat 17A. And Jack, what 17A? The windowless window seat. It's just you, a wall, and two people to your side. If you know, you know.

Sadly, I do know. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Berkshire Hathaway. Nick and I both own ETFs of the S&P 500, and Nick, as he's told us many times, drives a Tesla. Jack, have I told you it's the coolest car I've ever driven.