The Best One Yet - 🍹 “Spritz School” — Aperol’s secret academy. Meta’s Ray Ban ban. James Patterson’s MrBeast book. +$500 AI toothbrush

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, so V.J. Wednesday, September 2nd. It's a podcast. It's the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Yadis, join us the night before our September 23rd live show in San Francisco for a 5K to the Golden Gate Bridge. What do you think, Jack? Yeah, apparently you just run for an extended period of time.

Starting point is 00:00:21 We're run clubbers now. It's our run club, I guess, too. So visit the Best Run Yet.com to RSVP to run with us. Yeah, Jack and I are getting four tickets to those who sign up, ASC. And this yagging event is powered by Liquid IV, so you'll get some free product and some free us. Maybe a peak of Nick's spandex. It's the best run yet.com, so stretch out those hammies, R-S-R-Svap now, and Jack, let's hit our three stories. What we got on the pod? For our first story, the Apparel Spritz. It's about to hit $1 billion in annual sales, but it didn't happen by accident. No, Aparol's success is actually thanks to a secret spritz school.

Starting point is 00:00:56 For our second story, smart classes are getting banned at restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, just the beginning. No meta-ray bands allowed, and the backlash began with Kylie Jenner. And our third and final story, James Patterson just published a book yesterday. He co-authored with Mr. Beast. But Jack, is this boomer Beast book already a bust? We'll explain why. That might be the case. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories. Love the mix for Cevice Wednesday. We've seen AI dog collars. We've seen AI lollipops. We've even seen an AI ice-making machine. Jack, we have seen AI that detects if AI was used to Counter a cyber attack of a rogue AI.

Starting point is 00:01:33 But Dyson just launched an AI toothbrush for $500. And Bessies, this toothbrush livestreams the brushes with a real-time video feed. It's like ChatchipT and Sonicare had a baby. Raised by Christopher Nolan. This is, without a doubt, the most expensive toothbrush in human history. Yeah, we double fact-checked it because Dyson says the AI studied 500,000 dentists to make it happen. So it's basically a toothbrush doctor. And the camera shoots 28 frames per se.

Starting point is 00:02:00 So it's basically an IMAX camera. And it live streams you're brushing in one hand to your phone in the other hand. So that you can follow the thistles like it was a real-life oral documentary. Besties, this $500 tooth brush actually lets you shoot dread streams to the dirtiest parts of your mouth like it's a water pick. And you target that water pick based on the live stream you're looking at on your phone. Yeah, but pause the pod, that's the most disturbing video you're ever going to see. Yeah, the inside of your mouth in 4K. Is that a molar or is that yesterday's mango?

Starting point is 00:02:29 I don't know. But either way, I feel icky already, Jack. You paid $500 for this thing. The same price as a Kate Spade handbag. Oh, but the biggest problem, what is it, man? Your dentist is going to suspect that you cheated. Uh, Jimmy, are you using AI to brush those teeth? Be honest, Jimmy, we have an honor code in this office.

Starting point is 00:02:46 Yeah, AI, it's coming for your crest. Jack, let's hit our three stars. Fifteen 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 an norm. Jack Nick. That's it. I don't even think they need to practice.

Starting point is 00:03:03 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. So just start the show. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, the Aparall Spritz is about to pass $1 billion in sales and is still going viral.

Starting point is 00:03:35 Because 16 years ago, Approl opened a six. secret spritz school. Festi's happy late summer spritz season to all those who celebrate. Last month, we told you about the Hugo Spritz. Searches on Google for that drink are up 2,000% this year. But still, that is a fraction of the OG, the classic Aparol Spritz. Like tanning tennis and travel, Apparol Spritzin, is now an official summer ritual. And Jack says, Spritzing, which will now live in your ears forever, because the term is

Starting point is 00:04:04 originally German. Yeah. In the 19th century, Austrian soldiers went to vets. and didn't like the wine there. And in 2006, I went to Middlebury and learned German. So that's why this is all happening. Add it all up, and Apparal was founded in 1919 by Luigi and Silvio Barbieri brothers living in the lovely town of Padua just outside Venice.

Starting point is 00:04:22 And it took them seven years of experiments to come up with their Aparato pre-dinner drink. In the 1950s, a bartender mixed Aparol with Prosecco and Seltzer for the first time, inventing the sprits. But for 80 years, Aparol remained a niche regional business. Peak annual sales barely past $50 million. bucks. Until 2003, that's when Apparel was acquired by their bigger rival, Compart. Ah, Campari, the red hero of the Nogroni, classic. And in the last 20 years, Apparel sales have grown by 20x to $900 million. In fact, Apparel is now outselling its parent company, Campari. So Nick and I jumped in

Starting point is 00:04:55 T-boy style to answer the question, how did Compari turn Approl into an almost $1 billion brand? They did it with a secret school. Okay, but first let's sprinkle on some context. Yes, Apparel has benefited from the early dinner trend of the last few years. 5 p.m. reservations are up 90% on resi, which is peak opertivo time. And Apparel Spritz got referenced in five episodes of the White Lotus season two. That's publicity you can't pay for. But 10 years before all of that, Campari noticed that bartenders were botching this critical beverage.

Starting point is 00:05:26 Because every drinking establishment is an independent business. They can do things how they want to do things. And that's a problem because Campari has no control over how each apparel spritz is made. Coca-Cola and Corona, they can do. control the quality of their product because they control their can. But Approl Spritz requires the bartender, which meant there was zero consistency. So in 2010, they opened up the Kampari Academy. To train bartenders globally to become spritz masters. So like a doctor or a lawyer, Kampari thought that bartenders needed some license training. An official license to serve. You got a driver's

Starting point is 00:05:59 license? You need a spritz license too. Besties, you've heard of a license to kill. Well, think of this as like a license to not spill. Because lesson number one at Kampari. Academy was the pass method of creating this beverage. Professor, I'm raising my hand over here. Can you please explain what is the pass method exactly? P-A-S. First, you pour the Prosecco. Then you add the appral. Then you splash the soda.

Starting point is 00:06:20 Then, and only then, do you add the slice of orange? The order matters, because the appral must be poured second in order to preserve the orange color of the drink. And let's be honest, the orange color leads to the Instagram post, which is half the reason you bought the thing. That's Jack's everything. Oh, but, Professor, I believe there's also another rule. Is there another rule we have to learn?

Starting point is 00:06:40 3-21. Three parts presecco, two parts apparel, one part soda water. And the real ones know it's different if that appraal was mistakenly poor twice. Now, for 16 years, Kampari Academy has run pop-up classes worldwide, and they taught 13,000 bartenders how to make the spritz just last year. And by investing in that education, appraal has improved their signature drink worldwide. And gone from 60 million spritzes in 2010 per year to 1.5 billion this year. I will take another round.

Starting point is 00:07:07 So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at the billion-dollar apparel spritz? To create a category, create a curriculum. Yeti's habits don't just happen. They're evolved, and also they're taught. And there's a wild history of business products so innovative they needed to teach the customer how to use them. Like De Beers, they didn't just run diamond ads a hundred years ago. They founded the Institute of Diamonds.

Starting point is 00:07:31 To make the diamond the default engagement ring, they taught jewelers the four Cs of the stone. Or how about the early 1900s? Jello didn't sell their dessert in stores. It was actually sold by door-to-door salesmen. To educate housewives on what this new jiggly dessert was and how to make it themselves at home. And 23 years ago, Kampari scaled the spritz by starting to school.

Starting point is 00:07:50 Teaching consistency is how Aparol grew from a $50 million business to a billion-dollar brand. For our second story, Meta's Kylie Jenner deal has backfired magnificently. Smart glasses are getting banned. Now that glasses with cameras are mainstream, everyone seems to hate them. Yeties, golf courses, they kick you out for wearing jeans. Vatican will kick you out for exposed shoulders. And you got evicted from that 10th grade birthday party for showing a little bit of midrift.

Starting point is 00:08:19 Private businesses can deny any customer for any reason unless it's a legal discrimination. And in New York City, we just found the first restaurant to kick you out for wearing smart glasses. The New York Nightclub basement in Queens will permanently ban you if they catch you. you with meta ray bands on your person. And it's the start of a trend. In the UK, Weatherspoons, a chain of 800 pubs, already banned smart glasses. Just like with Google Glass 15 years ago,

Starting point is 00:08:46 people are being shamed for wearing cameras on your face. And Bezies, if you have to say, don't worry, I'm not recording you to make people feel comfortable, you're making people feel uncomfortable. So wild update. There has now been a dramatic and sudden flip on smart glasses from interesting to ick.

Starting point is 00:09:02 And we can pinpoint the exact moment that we all went from thinking their techie to thinking they're toxic. It's two words. Kylie, Jenner. The cursed quest to make meta glasses cool. That is an article headline from New York Magazine last week from Carrie Badden. You see, 7 million pairs of meta-rayband glasses were sold in 2025, but they didn't really enter the mainstream until this past August.

Starting point is 00:09:24 That's when Kylie Jenner got her own pair, designed by meta called The Starfire. Now, Bessies, we covered that story on the pod, but when Kylie posted about her new meta-ray bands on Instagram, Jack was the reaction. The comments section lit up in a bad way. And the comments are the content. And here are some of the comments. It looks like the beginning of a black mirror episode. Oh, hell yeah, no girl.

Starting point is 00:09:47 Meta surveillance is not chic. So out of touch, this is actually insane. Those are the most like comments at the top of her post with over 6,000 likes each. And Jack, what's the comment that you see the most? Referring to the glasses as predator glasses. Also, creep glasses or purve glasses, those are popular terms now too. Yeties. Since Meta-Rabans had their current.

Starting point is 00:10:05 dashing moment. We've thought about it, and we expect formal bans of camera glasses in lots of places. We think smart glasses are going to get banned in doctor's office waiting rooms. Privacy, please. In movie theaters. No piracy, please. In our equinox gyms. Please remove your smart glasses before entering the steam room. Festies, in the UK, courts will already confiscate your glasses. Those are Her Majesty's orders. We think smart glasses bans are going to happen first at fancy intimate spots as a luxury flex, but eventually we expect laws to ban these things. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Meta? Zuck's smart glass strategy is to brute force them onto our face.

Starting point is 00:10:44 Yeah, this is a really bad moment for anything that could be perceived as surveillance. Over our vacation, the biggest story was backlash against Flock, the license plate scanning cameras. And Nick, it's easy to call these smart glasses flock, but on your face. But Bessies, we bet that Zuck is going to fight back hard, because since 2019, META has dropped 88 billion bucks on smart glasses and headsets. That's why he's giving them away to force them into our culture. New York MAG estimates one million pairs of smart glasses from META have already been gifted to people

Starting point is 00:11:13 because everyone on Instagram with 20,000 followers was gifted a pair. Meta partnered with Barstool in Oakley to get in with the sportsy and outdoorsy crowds. And Zucks given a pair to every blind veteran to push a feel-goodsy vibe. The commercials for Meta-Rabands are on every screen, every red carpet, and every award show. Best East Dylan Thomas once said, do not go gentle into that good night. Well, Zuck won't go gentle without a billion dollars fight. So Zuck's response to the new smart glasses backlash, brute force.

Starting point is 00:11:41 Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, James Patterson has written 393 books, but his book with Mr. Beast might be a bust. Because Mr. Beast and James Patterson violated the cardinal rule of collabs. Oh, Jack, if we're going to tell this story, story about other stories. Why don't we start with James Patterson? Because he's the number one bestselling author.

Starting point is 00:12:10 Your mom loves his stuff. Yeah, she does because James Patterson cracked the Da Vinci Code on how to write books faster than a young Dan Brown. James Patterson is a volume guy. You're not going to believe the number of books he has published. Get this, 393 books. Those are R. L. Stein numbers, Jack.

Starting point is 00:12:26 He is 79 years old, like very senior citizen, and still publishes a book every two weeks. You go to Pilates every two weeks. He rubishes a book every two weeks. Yeah, but the truth is, he doesn't write books. He manufactures them. That's right, because James Patterson writes an extensive outline and then hands it off to a co-author to turn it into a full book.

Starting point is 00:12:48 So it's basically a publishing factory. Even Patterson's publisher once described his work as, paint by numbers, but for books. But Nick, it's working. More than 425 million copies sold. 67 separate New York Times number one bestsellers. That's a record. Bessies, by the time we finish this podcast, he'll have written another sequel about the book we're covering right now.

Starting point is 00:13:09 And Nick, what does James say when people criticize his books for being lowbrow? He sarcastically apologizes for, you know, bringing paid customers into bookstores. If James Patterson were born 50 years later, he would have become Mr. Beast. Funny timing about that observation, Jack. Because James Patterson is partnering with Mr. Beast. That's right. Yesterday, James Patterson, the legendary author, and Mr. Beast, the legendary. The legendary YouTuber debuted their first book together.

Starting point is 00:13:35 The title sounds like a Mr. Beast video. The Most Dangerous Games. One billion dollars. One chance to save the world. But at what cost? It's the only book we've ever heard of that has a YouTube trailer. It really does. Oh, and Mr. Beast, he posted a YouTube video about this book.

Starting point is 00:13:50 Read my book and you can win a million dollars. Also a true story. The games begin in Antarctica, where one wrong step on the ice will kill you and they never let up. Shark water off a remote Chilean island. Desert heat that cooks you where you. you stand, storm-battered peaks and caves so black you cannot find your hand. No rescue, no second chances, a billion dollars to whoever is still standing. That also sounds like a YouTube video, but strange.

Starting point is 00:14:15 On the day this book premiered yesterday, the book is already 30% off on every website. And also, Strange Jack, pre-orders for the book were only numbering in the four digits last we checked. And anonymous sources told semaphore that Mr. Beast's James Patterson novel was on track to be a historic bomb. I'm sorry, pause the pot here, Jack. We got to check the business math. What is going on, man?

Starting point is 00:14:35 The number one author, the number one YouTuber, a number one bust? Does that add up? That's the cliffhanger. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at James Patterson and Mr. Beast? It's the cardinal rule of collabs. There's got to be overlap. And yet he's just never collab outside of a Venn diagram. That's what we're saying.

Starting point is 00:14:55 Every day as we scan the news to decide what to cover, we come across a half dozen new collabs that have launched. Jack Crocs and Poppy are launching a good. gut health sandal right now. You see this? Collabs are common because they're cheap and effective. Both sides simply share each other's audiences and both sides win. On one condition, though, as long as those audiences have some form of overlap. President Clinton actually co-authored a book with James Patterson in 2018. So did Viola Davis, and so did the late great Dolly Parton. And guess what? Each of those three books

Starting point is 00:15:24 hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Because Bill Clinton, Dolly Parton, and Viola Davis, they all have overlapping boomer book fans with James Patterson. You see, the overlap is proof that a collab could work. There's proof that some people like both and you're exposing one to the other. But Mr. Beast, his YouTube native audience is famous for not reading books. They're famous for watching videos instead. So, Bessies, if it does turn out that the most dangerous games is a bust of a book, we already know why. They violated the cardinal rule of collabs.

Starting point is 00:15:53 The two circles didn't overlap. They violated the Venn diagram. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday? Approl now sells $900 million a year, up 20x and 20 years, thanks to Kampari Academy and spritz lessons. To create a new category, create a curriculum. Meta-ray bands are banned at New York's hottest club, and the bands are just beginning. But Zuck's in too deep to quit, so he's trying to brute force him onto our faces. And finally, James Patterson and Mr. Beast publish a book, and sales reportedly are not looking good.

Starting point is 00:16:26 Because they violated the Venn diagram. Classic. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Sheehan, the super fast fashion disruptor just went public in Hong Kong. And Jack, how did that IPO look? Not good. Uh-uh.

Starting point is 00:16:41 Sheean stock fell on day one. It was once worth $100 billion, now just $25 billion. Bestie, Sheein is now making 4,700 new fashion designs every single day. But it's the number one victim of the trade war. And Gen Z prefers shopping secondhand. You want us to do a story on that. the Shee and IPO, comment hall, microplastics, or landfill in today's comment section. Second, MapQuest is number one in the app store because of lake drama. That's right.

Starting point is 00:17:07 Last week, President Trump issued an executive order changing Lake Ontario's name to Lake America. Google Maps and Apple Maps complied with the president's request, but MapQuest refuses. Although they have added a new feature letting you change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario to whatever you want them to be. The website's pretty hilarious. Golf of. MapQuest. com slash Lake Ontario. And finally, Stan Cronkey has bought the Los Angeles Angels baseball team for $4 billion bucks record sale for an MLB franchise. Cronky now owns the NFL's L.A. Rams, the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the NHL's Colorado

Starting point is 00:17:41 Avalanche, and the MLB's L.A. Angels. Oh, and Jack, don't forget LaCross here. He also owns the National Lacrosse League's Colorado Mammoth and the Premier League's Arsenal Football Club. Oh, and Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids. I mean, can you share some for the rest of us? At this point, he's just going to start his own league, Jack. I mean, obsessed.

Starting point is 00:18:01 Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Matthew Hawkins, a legendary Yeti from Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the background of Tuesday's podcast, this Yeti thought he heard the chirp of a smoke detector in one of our recording studios. That chirp indicates that the batteries are low on a smoke detector and they need to be changed. We should get on that, Jack. But the best fact yet is that smoke detectors use an incredibly small amount of radioactive material. That's right. the predictable decay of that radioactive material that interacts with the smoke, critical for the alarm.

Starting point is 00:18:29 Your smoke alarm saves your life when little radioactive material touches smoke. Exactly. Now, most smoke detectors, they actually need to be changed every six to 12 months, by the way. Is that true? That seems way more frequent. Well, Jack, here's the helpful hint for Matthew. To remember to change your smoke alarm, do it every daylight savings time. And yeties, unless you're DeNaris Targaryen. We suggest you listen to Matthew's advice. Yes, you're looking fantastic over there. Jack, you are looking fantastic too while you stretch out those glutes. I see you.

Starting point is 00:18:59 I see you making that move. On September 22nd, the night before our San Francisco show, we're doing a run. Visit the best run yet.com to RSVP. We can't wait to see you there. And Jack, before we go, could he give us one last spritz for the besties? This one's going to register on the Richter's scare. Sprits, and it's the new cookie crisp. Jack, nice ASMR.

Starting point is 00:19:17 Apple's taking this episode down. And Jack and I will see you in a minute. And before we go, a happy birthday. birthday to legendary Eddie Jasmine Big Boss Gonzalez Hernandez in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Happy birthday to Casey M from Brooklyn Heights, who's got a legendary night plan going out with his buddies for an all-you-can-eat-eat-sushi. And Owen in Boulder, Colorado's turning 20. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Caden Ma in Los Altos, California. And Maria Montemoro has got an anniversary of a new job over in Milan, Italy. Congratulations.

Starting point is 00:19:49 Happy three-year anniversary to Judy and Phil in Saratoga, California. And if you want to get a shout out on the show or have the best fact yet, submit yours in the form in our episode description. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack Nick and I both on stock of Apple.

The Best One Yet - 🍹 “Spritz School” — Aperol’s secret academy. Meta’s Ray Ban ban. James Patterson’s MrBeast book. +$500 AI toothbrush

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