The Best One Yet - 🧔🏻 “The Beard Cup” — World Cup man-fluencing. Prime Day trick-or-treat. Napa’s AI Spa. + T-Rex Handbags

Starting point is 00:00:00 Yeties, Nick and Jack here from the T-Boy Studio. Quick announcement, if you want to join Team T-Boy, we're looking for a video editor to support our social media efforts. If you love the show, love to edit, and have a knack for good hooks, we want you. If you can add some sprinkle-dinkle and razzle-dazzle and you know what a profit puppy is, that's what we're talking about here. We're doing a roster hiring challenge this week, so tap the link in the show notes if you want to try out. Basically, create a 30-to-60-second video around a story we did on the show.

Starting point is 00:00:24 Best video gets a role with the T-boy team editing our clips. Now, Jack, let's hit today's pod. This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, June 22nd. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three poppies this new stories you need to know today. Baby, Jack's been prepping this pod from Positano. Looking pretty good over there. All right. More on that in tomorrow's show. I'm not sweating, Nick. That's olive oil. But Jack, three fantastic stories for today's T-boy. What do we got on today's show? This World Cup showcases the best groomed men on planet Earth. That's right, Lino Messy's facial hair is actually the biggest business opportunity of the year. For our second story, Amazon's Prime Day begins tomorrow. But watch out for fake flation deals. We found three ways to make sure you're getting a deal, not a dupe. And our third and final story, a luxurious spa in Napa Valley was just sold to a surprise Wall Street buyer.

Starting point is 00:01:20 Because besties, there is AI data on that massage table. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories. Most interesting mix in the biz. cow leather, we got fake leather, which is pleather. Now we have mushroom leather, that's a real thing these days. Oh, do we? That's happening. But what about T-Rex leather? As in leather from the hide of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Because get this. Scientists and fashionistas collab to create the first ever dinosaur handbag. And it just went up for auction, baby. It's like the plot of Jurassic Park

Starting point is 00:01:51 and the devil wears from. Extinct reptiles. So hot right now, Mugatu. Fashion finds away. And now, Jack, can you sprinkle on some context for us, please? Yes, Nick. Paleontologist pulled collagen out of the femur of a skeleton T-Rex leg bone. And then they grew those skin cells in a laboratory. Voila. Yeah. Genuine grade A dino leather. We're talking teradactyl and gabana.

Starting point is 00:02:13 Versatosaurus Raptor Rex. That's an amazeosaurus, Rex, Jack. Now, the auction was asking for $500,000 for this handbag. But then no one bid over $150,000. So they canceled the auction. True story. The issue was that nobody can agree on the details. of this item. I get it, Jack. Like, is this leather

Starting point is 00:02:31 67 million years old? Or is it just a few months old? What do you think? Is it natural or is it grown in the lap? And will it bite me? So we may need a whole label of dinosaur leather in order to figure this all out. Like, we're going to need some stegosaurus suits with my brontosaurus boots to normalize this thing. Get ready with me in my triceratub suitcase. The influencers, they're coming for the dinosaurs. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it.

Starting point is 00:03:05 I don't even think they need to practice. 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. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, the World Cup is really the Super Bowl for men's grooming. Eleven handsome men from 48 countries running around and sweating on the field together. Schwitzen out there. Feast on these creative hair options, guys. That's the biggest business opportunity of this World Cup. But besties tonight is the night.

Starting point is 00:03:55 The defending world champs Argentina lace up for their second match against Austria. The final World Cup for the world's best player, Lionel Messi. Yep, Lionel Messi, six and final dance. He was 18 when he first got to the World Cup. Now he's retiring after 38. He's actually going to be 39 by the time the World Cup ends. A happy birthday, by the way, Messi. Thanks for being a Yetty.

Starting point is 00:04:13 But Messi's not just going to be on the pitch. He's also going to be at Alta Beauty launching his perfume. A true story, at the one in Kansas City, by the way. Messi Elixir is the fragrance that he launched on the same day that the World Cup began. Yellow card, by the way, it's technically a clone. not a perfume, but we'll continue with the pod. And this thing smells like empanadas in victory. Yeah, it does, Jack. But if you spray too much, you've got to watch out. Your date will flop. That is a lot of cologne. Messy also launched a sports drink in 2024. It was called Moss by Messi.

Starting point is 00:04:43 Yeah, Moss by Metz. It's the gatorade of goals he's been promoting, drinking it for a while now. But this month, just as he launched his new fragrance, his hydration brand is getting shut down. I'm sorry, pause the pod, Jack. Lino Messi is pivoting from sports drinks to perfume? That is the perfect setup for the rest of the story. Yeties, that contrast captures it all because this isn't a World Cup. This is the biggest showcase of the best-looking men on planet Earth. It's the Beard Cup. It's the Super Bowl of Skin and Hair and Faces.

Starting point is 00:05:13 It's a marathon of men's beauty with an Olympics of Dude Looks thrown into it. Because unlike with our Super Bowl, no one wears helmets in the World Cup. You got 22 very visible faces on the field to play. And unlike the four big American sports, these players have from 48 countries on all the continents except Antarctica. So it's become a crash course for American guys on global attractiveness. The NFL, it's full of familiar-looking guys to Americans. The Stanley Cup, it's full of broken teeth. But the World Cup, that guy's a 10 in Brazil.

Starting point is 00:05:42 He's an 11 here, Nick. Spoiler, Jack just told his barber, he wants to look like the midfielder on the Cape Verde team, by the way. So we're going to see a new look starting tomorrow. So for this World Cup, forget the beer ads, the car commercials, and the Xfinity wireless commercials. All attention's going to be on the manmugs. It's the biggest marketing opportunity during the World Cup. Curious men open to trying a new look because of that product they just saw during the World Cup. It's men's grooming.

Starting point is 00:06:09 As one CEO of a cosmetics company put it, the World Cup is 50 Super Bowls for us in one. Don't bend it like Beckham. Bend those bangs like Beckham. Yeah, it's like David Beckham's left foot. David Beckham's right foot. Does David Beckham have a unibrow? No, because he grooms himself, Nick. So best he's shaving.

Starting point is 00:06:28 hair care, skin care. This is their Ulta Bowl with 5 billion viewers and we think you're going to notice it. That's why Dr. Squatch launched a World Cup deodorant for dudes this games. Dove Soap just launched a soap for men at these World Cup games. And Axe Body Spray launched three new flavors at the World Cup

Starting point is 00:06:44 sold in a commemorative bottle shaped in the shape of the World Cup trophy. And of course, Leonel Messi is now shutting down his sports drink to pivot to perfume. So Jack, what's the smell of that takeaway over at the World Cup? Sometimes you got to crunch, the arithmetic trends. Ah, the arithmetic trends. Yeties, to find out what happened in the past, you followed the money.

Starting point is 00:07:07 To find out what will happen in the future, you follow the trends. And sometimes following the trends is as simple as adding them up, an arithmetic of trends. Smell maxing. The fastest growing fragrant tails right now are among 20-year-old men. That's one trend we told you about. Another is Bro-Tox, because of TikTok and Zoom, men are more focused on their skin care than ever before. And the sons of Sephora. growing customer segment at Sephora right now, has an X chromosome and a Y chromosome. So, Vestys, multiply that by the growth of soccer and the World Cup stage? This is the men's grooming World Cup because of arithmetic trends.

Starting point is 00:07:42 You just add up all of the trends. For our second story, Amazon Prime deals have become suss. So we'll show you how to call the Bezos Bluff. But this is the last prime day you'll even need to worry about maybe getting tricks. But besties, happy Amazon Prime Day, I Mean Week, to all those who celebrate out there. Last year during Prime Day, I Mean Week. Yes. We reminded you that no sale is urgent.

Starting point is 00:08:13 There will always be another sale. It's like dating. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and there are plenty of shark ninja blenders out in Amazon land. And the proof? Just look at the mattress industry. These guys are infamous. Mattress, mattress, mattress. Seven weekends out of the year are the official mattress.

Starting point is 00:08:29 holiday of the entire country. Labor Day, Memorial Day, Presidents Day, MLK Day, New Year's. They're all mattress weekends. Come on down to Bob King's Ice Factory. Now, as early as seven days ago, on Amazon, there was already early Prime Day deals, even though it starts technically tomorrow. So as we said, there's always another sale. Still, you're going to be tempted by Prime Day, which begins officially tomorrow. Now, Jack, we should point out this is the earliest midsummer Primes day in our years, isn't it, man? Right. They usually do it. in July, but they did it in June this year. They wanted to avoid America 250 celebrations and the World Cup knockout rounds. So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style and studied the marketing tactics of not

Starting point is 00:09:09 just Amazon, but of the other online retailers. Because Walmart, Best Buy Target, they all zucked their own version of Prime Day. They had big deal days this week, too. So Jack and I will reveal to you their discount tricks so you can call their Bezos bluff. Okay, the most egregious pricing trick on Prime Day, fake discounts. Fake discounts. Yeah, we called it fake flage. when we first discovered it last year, I believe, Jack. Not all retailers do this, but some do, and you don't want to get tricked. A huge culprit, who is it, man? Shark Ninja.

Starting point is 00:09:38 Oh, one sec. I just got to get another one of these toasting oven air frying blenders for $3.99 off. This company has about 50 vacuums for sale on Amazon, and they all have a really high number with a crossout, and then a much lower number before. That looks like a great deal. You get attracted to that red number that has the line striking through it. your eye goes there. But that regular price, the higher one, that's never actually the price.

Starting point is 00:10:05 It's fakeflation. That's a ruse to make the real price look better. Which leads to our first way to call that bluff. Go to camel camel camel.com. It's a little bit of a financial trick shot here. You paste the URL of the product you're looking at and it will show you the pricing history. You want to make sure that that regular price they're advertising actually was the regular price. Otherwise, this isn't a deal at all. That's right. For the Shark Ninja vacuum toaster air fryer, that 50% off deal you're lacking at, it might actually be the regular price. It might be a perma sale. And you shouldn't feel special if it's just the regular price. So that's the first way to call their bluff. But Jack, what about the second way?

Starting point is 00:10:43 Simply ask the bot. If you prefer to buy directly from the manufacturer, they probably have a chat bot in the bottom right of the website. And those chat bots are basically like salespeople. You ask nicely for a dealer or discount. Often, they actually say yes. They'll put it right in the checkout, 20% off. Thanks for asking. To quote the movie Elf, he's a friendly chatbot, Jack. A friendly chat bot. Now, the third way you can beat the Bezos Bluff is what we call the digital walkout. The digital walkout, basically you add that Shark Ninja to your cart, but then you just bounce, you ditch the thing, you ghost it.

Starting point is 00:11:14 And then you wait for an email to come with a discount code to tempt you back to the shopping cart. You basically play e-commerce hard to get. And the study showed this doesn't always work, according to Necourn't. New York Times deal book, right, Jack? Now, the fourth trick to beat the Bezos bluff you might have been thinking of already. You got to ask the AI. Agentic shopping is the future where you don't search for the best deals. You don't vet it to make sure it's a good deal. Your AI does it for you. It's the butlerification trend we've taught you about. Like a 24-7 personal shopper, you don't have to give a hydration break to. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies trying to get $12 off of

Starting point is 00:11:52 microwave today. This may be the last Prime Day that your emotions can be preyed on. Yeti's wonderful use case of AI, using it to cut through the dark tricks the marketers try to pull on us. Prime Day works because of one thing, fake scarcity. It gives you a sense of urgency that's not actually real. The countdown timer, the only three left, the 48-hour window, all designed to make your brain skip the price check and hit the tap to buy. But AI doesn't have emotions. So those psychonomic tricks won't work on them. You prompt your chatbot with something like, I need a 4K TV, buy it during Prime Day if the price drops below 900 bucks and it still has a 4.5 plus rating. The chatbot will scan the infinite options online and do it if it finds the deal.

Starting point is 00:12:37 And now besties, Jack and I just shared a few human moves you can make to call Prime Day bluffs made by the marketer. But once you make the switch to agentic shopping, you'll be untrickable. And that is why this is the last Prime Day, your emotions can be preyed on. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, why did a legendary Napa Valley spa get bought by a private equity firm? Because inside those deep tissue massages, Nick, is actually AI data. But yet, to sprinkle on some context, Jack, the other weekend, Ma and I did one of our Super Saturdays. Ready for this? You know the Super Saturday. You know, we got a babysitter for the day, and then we treated ourselves up and

Starting point is 00:13:23 Napa Valley. Go on. Okay, this place insane. The vineyards as you approach, hibiscus towels when you enter, and indulgent, treat yourself with salmon, miso bento bowls by the pool, charcoal-infused, infinity, sauna kind of a place. You know what I mean? I've never been to a place like that. It's called Stanley Ranch. Back in 1856, it was founded as a working vineyard. But because people like Nick don't want to visit a working vineyard, it was converted in 2022 to a 135-room luxury hotel and spa. Now, this is what Jack and I found fascinating. While I was having lunch, I was Googling the history of Stanley Ranch Resort, and got this shocker. It filed for bankruptcy last year.

Starting point is 00:14:02 Turns out the previous owners mismanaged the whole thing like that couple in Beef Season 2 on Netflix. The owners defaulted on a $220 million loan. They did, yeah. Looks like they went overboard on the hyperbaric oxygen chambers. Okay, but here's where things get crazy. A few weeks ago, we got a new headline. That Napa Spa just got acquired by a New York City private equity. firm. The New York City private equity firm. We're talking Blackstone, a publicly traded private equity firm

Starting point is 00:14:30 worth 150 billion bucks. They probably owned something you ate, war, or walked in today. Because Jersey Mike's submarines, Spanx underwear, SeaWorld, yeah, that's SeaWorld. Blackstone owns some or all of those brands. In fact, remember last week, Jack and I sat down to interview Ben from Ben and Jerry? He wants to buy back Ben and Jerry's from its parent company right now? Not if Blackstone gets there first, right, Jack? Blackstone is reportedly bidding for Bed & Jerry and all of its sister ice cream brands right now. But besties, when you break down Blackstone's business, their biggest bet has always been one particular theme. Real estate. And in the last year, Blackstone made some very curious real estate moves, specifically in the Bay Area of California. Sensing that AI was booming,

Starting point is 00:15:13 Blackstone bought a 25-story office building in downtown San Francisco. And very quickly leased the entire building to Anthropic. And two months before that, Blackstone bought the most expensive hotel in San Francisco. The four seasons downtown, probably renting it out to visiting AI executives. And then last month, Blackstone went full, treat yourself, and bought that Napa Valley spa. Stanley Ranch, home of the IV, CBD, Swedish aromatherapy massage thingy. Yeah, it works out for a super Saturday. Other than the unlimited essential spa oils, why did Blackstone make all of these particular buys?

Starting point is 00:15:51 Definitely not for the working vineyard. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Blackstone? Sometimes you've got to go deep tissue to find the data. Yeties, Warren Buffett pioneered a wild type of investing, we noticed. Buy a business just to get data on the industry. Did you know that Berkshire Hathaway, a trillion-dollar company, owns 100 car dealerships littered across the country? True story.

Starting point is 00:16:17 Not because they think car dealerships is a great business. Berkshire Hathaway owns those dealerships for the data. Whether people buy a car or not is an early indicator of consumer confidence. And that data is useful to the rest of Berkshire Hathaway's huge business empire. Well, similarly, we think Blackstone bought three properties near Silicon Valley for the data on the AI industry. The office building in the hotel, I think those are just bullish bets on AI. They're making money by serving the AI industry. But that Napa Valley Spa, we think that deal is all about the data.

Starting point is 00:16:47 Blackstone will know if the AI industry is in trouble before anyone else because they'll see AI workers canceling their massage appointments. Jack, they'll know if AI is booming because those AI workers can upgrade from the 60-minute massage to the 90-minute massage. And Blackstone will use that cutting-edge data that nobody else has as an indicator to make bigger trades on the market. Besties never forget that Napa Valley spa because sometimes you've got to go deep tissue to get the data. Jack, and you'll whip up the takeaways to welcome us back. World Cup athletes are a firehose of looks and styles on our TVs. It's an opportunity for the men's grooming market. All you got to do is follow the arithma trends. You end up with a boom in men's grooming. For our second story, Amazon Prime Day is Tuesday through Friday of this week. Do your work not to get tricked by faux deals.

Starting point is 00:17:35 But with agenetic shopping, your emotions cannot be preyed on. And Blackstone bought a spa in Napa Valley, not for the profits, but for the insights into AI. Sometimes you've got to go deep tissue to get that data. Oh, right, yeah, that's the spot. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Starbucks is closing all their South Korean locations today for a mandatory history lesson. Because of a wild start.

Starting point is 00:18:02 The chain dropped a special edition metal cup last week that seemed to mock pro-democracy protests that resulted in a 1980 violent crackdown. Turns out the marketing department was using AI to come up with that cup idea. They didn't really give it a second thought. The backlash was so bad, Starbucks sales fell 26% in South Korea, and now they're closing all the locations basically to apologize and put the employees through mandatory history training. And second, with Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire last week,

Starting point is 00:18:30 we noticed an interesting trend. In 1807, John Astor became the first millionaire in the United States because he was selling fur pelt to Europeans from America. In 1916, John D. Rockefeller became the first billionaire in the United States because he had a monopoly on the oil industry. And in 2026, Elon Musk became the first trillionaire in the United States. So by this pace, we basically go up an octave every 100 years and should get the first quadrillionaire by the year 2137. And finally, a wild new Ozempic issue. Returns. These clothes are too big, man. Too many returns.

Starting point is 00:19:04 Breedellers are facing a wave of costly returns because you're not a size 38 anymore. You're a size 36, but you didn't realize it. 80% of GLP1 weight loss drug users redo their wardrobes. But they're still figuring out exactly what size they are now. So they have to re-redo their war robes, and that's why returns just hit all-time highs. Now, time for the best fact yet, and this one is some T-Boy trivia from Michael Molito from lovely San Diego. Lucky Charms is owned by General Mills based in Minnesota.

Starting point is 00:19:32 Lucky Charms is the pioneer of the marshmallow cereal. It's been a fantastic development for dentists, especially pediatric dentists. Huge for business. 80% of those marshmallows, by the way, they're made at the Lucky Charms plant in Buffalo, New York. But there's actually a technical term for the marshmallows in Lucky Charms. What is the specific term for a Lucky Charms marshmallow?

Starting point is 00:19:53 Like, it's in the dictionary. This could be in the spelling bee. Drop your guests in the comments, and Jack and I will reveal it on tomorrow's pod. Yeties, you're looking fantastic. Hey, Jack, you are glowing. Welcome back. Oh, and we got to remind all the Yeties about that job opportunity, by the way, right, man? Yeah, if you want to be our video editor, making clips of the best one yet for our social feeds, we want you.

Starting point is 00:20:14 The razzle-dazzle, sprinkle-dinkle, tap the link in the show notes to try out for T-Boys editing team. And you know that quack is always extra. We need a 30-to-60-second video submitted by you by this Friday. And Mr. Beast, we already told you. We got the resume already. Thanks for all the DMs, dude. Yet is Nick and I. We'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait.

Starting point is 00:20:39 And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Anisa, down in Leesburg, Virginia, a six-year Yeti. And happy 37th anniversary of his 29th birthday to Dave Ombudsman. Adi Osanafel. And Indigo Star is the most productive person yet hanging out and celebrating a birthday in Boulder, Colorado. Happy birthday to Michael Orlando in Portland, Oregon. And Adi Desi, enjoy that birthday down to New Jersey. And happy big number three to Maxi Martel, the pod son himself.

Starting point is 00:21:05 Little Maximus, happy three years, can't believe it. We're going to have a lot of choo-chooes, a lot of wang-wams. And yes, there will be cupcakes. Oh, and Molly, congrats on getting maxied at three. Amazing work. else celebrating something today, make it a tea boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway.

The Best One Yet - 🧔🏻 “The Beard Cup” — World Cup man-fluencing. Prime Day trick-or-treat. Napa’s AI Spa. + T-Rex Handbags

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.