The Best One Yet - 👵 “The eldest company we’ve ever covered” — Apple’s Starburst event. Natty Light’s popsicle plan. Husqvarna’s robo-mower.

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

Apple’s big spring event was all about purple iPhones, fancy podcasts, and 1 new gadget to never lose any of them. Budweiser’s Natty Light launching an alcoholic popsicle because it thinks you’ve been over-categorized. And Sweden’s 330-year-old Husqvarna launches a self-mowing lawn machine because of Industrialization 4.0.$BUD $HSQVY $AAPLGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formhttps://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that toohttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe64VKtvMNDPGSncHDRF07W34cPMDO3N8Y4DpmNP_kweC58tw/viewformLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. It's actually enchiladas. This is Jack. This is snacks daily. It is Wednesday, April 21st, Jack. The Dow dropped 250 points yesterday, unfortunately. Jack, the Doge is not at 69 cents. No, Doge had a bad day.

It did. So this is much our best one yet, the best one yet. Jack, what's our first story? It's still a T-boy. Our first story, Apple's big product event yesterday, came down to three things. All right, you got a rainbow, a podcast, and a new thing, so you can never lose those first two things. Our second story, Budweiser's Natty Light beer. They know beach drinkers want ice cold beer.

So they're doing the only natural thing here, Jack. They're launching Natty Ice Popsicles. I mean, obviously. For our third and final story, Husk Varner is the oldest company we've ever covered, ever. 330 years old. The Swedish robo lawnmower is their hero product for summer 2020 lawns. But Snackers, ever since Google came along with their like gorgeous campus and those colorful hats.

Yeah. We've talked about tech. companies and their fancy work perks. All right. So you got health and wellness. Those are the new corner office and parking space when it comes to work life. Oh, wait, your nap pods don't include guided meditation. Are you kidding? How are you going to attract any engineering town in the Bay Area, man? Well, turns out we got some next level work perks going on over out west in Nevada. Get this snackers wild horses at the office new work perk. 50,000 wild horses in the state of Nevada. Yep. They're Roman right next to the new Tahoe.

Reno Industrial Pipe. Oh, I love that verb, Jack. Now, Secretary, it's cousin, that's the new must-have corporate amenity of 2021. How do you get workers to come out and work in the middle of a desert just outside of Reno, Nick? Jack, it's a fantastic question. Here's what you do. You pitch them on the stallions you can talk to mid-lunch break.

Because nothing de-stresses that weekly one-on-one meeting, like 15 minutes of staring at equine. All right. Now, quick clarification here, you can't ride them because, you know, they're wild. They're wild horses. But the view outside your window looks like a scene from dances with. Well. Jack, can you hit us with the price tag on these puppies, or these horses?

Yeah, $300,000 per year to feed and maintain and, like, clean these things. I feel like the workers would have loved that money just divvied out among them. They would, but HR, classic HR. HR's got a different priority here. Extravagance, one-upments. So Snackers, the next time your boss highlights the brand spank and new cured coffee machine. All you got to ask is, but we, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Where are the Broncos?

Where are the stereotypes? Let's hit our three stories. snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. It snacks about the hearing food. It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the Robberhood family. It's all informational just so. We're not recommending any securities. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale of a security. Right. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robohood Financial, LLC, member FINRA SIPC. For our first story, Apple's big spring of

The event wasn't about the most popular Apple products out there. Like, it usually is, this was different. It was about losing things. Correction. Uh-huh. It was about helping you not lose things anymore. Also, they got a rainbow in there. Now, Jack, we got to get this out of the way.

Classic Apple event. They announced, like, 50 things. What were like the highlights? We got to let everyone know. Bunch of stuff. The headliner was a new iPhone 12 color. Okay. Lavender.

Lavender. And also seven new IMAQ colors. Not new computers, just new colors. This is like throwback the old IMac Day, sponsored by Roy G. Bib. Starburst took over Cooper Tino yesterday. They did. They exploded over Cooper Tina. Then they offered a new feature to the podcast app. Yeah, they didn't. Which lets you have subscription pod. So you can start paying for things that already exist for free today. For example, snacks daily, still free. But Apple stock, Jack, Apple stock, how did it do at the end of the day?

It fell by 2% because the news was kind of underwhelming and stock markets fell overall. Now, Snackers, Jack and I were most interested in something different. Apple's new lowest priced, smallest product ever. Air tags. Hair tags. For 29 bucks each, you can buy a little chip thing. Adorable. That is baked into a nice looking key chain.

And you can attach this to anything. Stick it on your buddy, Timmy, and it's going to show up in your Find My Phone app. So let's say you lost your keys last night. Classic. Okay. Siri, where are the keys? It's at the bar. Yeah, it is.

It's in the back. I'm getting closer. It's nine feet away. Closer. It's right in front of you. Bing, bang. You find your keys. And that's all thanks to this new air tech, which you can pre-order now, like on Friday,

But you're going to have to replace the battery in it. Yeah, it's like a watch battery, not a big deal. You can also personalize your air tag with an emoji or a couple of letters. Or I know, a little early Christmas gift for you here, Jack. Maybe a splurge the extra 270 bucks for the leather air maze holder for this air tag. No, thank you. Also, Snackers, this isn't just hardware. It's actually think of it as a $29 insurance policy for your non-apple stuff.

I mean, that's the real value proposition here. It's tremendous relief. We've all experienced the tremendous relief when you lose your iPhone on the chairlift and you find your iPhone thanks to the Find My iPhone app. Now you can find anything. You just air tag it. Jack, I think I know what we just did that. We just turned it into a verb. We did. Air tag's now in Verve. Now our first question when we read this story, is there a product market fit for the air tag? Okay. So first, we've got a product and there is a market, but do they actually fit together? That's the core question. Well, an air tag can serve as like insurance for the valuable items in your life. You got the dog collars, the bikes, the suitcases that sent you to Honolulu, and maybe didn't come back.

You'll never lose your dog. You'll never lose your bike. You'll never lose your suitcase. But then you've got the dependent daily items that you need to ensure. The stuff you might just miss place. It's not lost. You just don't know where it is right now and you've got to get out the door. Like a wallet or keys, for example. Now, there's a product. There's a market that looks like there's product market fit. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Apple just took a functional need and gave it a fashionable purpose. Hackers, the first thing you think is that air tag is a locator device, but that's just part of it. It's also part expensive Apple sticker. That's the key. This product, the air tag, it doesn't

look like a tile, which is the rival product that does the same thing as Air Tag, which is kind of getting zucked by this air tag. But the Apple Air Tag, it looks a lot different. It actually looks like a platinum Tiffany's charm dangling from like a $5,000 bracelet. And this one inch metal air tag means that you can stick an Apple logo on all your non-Apple stuff. Suddenly, like the random $45 metal suitcase your aunt bought you, you stick this on it. Now it screams fancy Apple owner. It's like finally parting your hair that's never been parted your whole life. Suddenly with the air tag, it actually looks good for a while. This is beautiful. By the way, apparently center parts are in. Now Apple's brand, it's always been a statement, but that statement it was limited to gadgets like computers,

to watches, to phones. That's what it was limited to. Now with this $29 air tag, you can, extend the Apple brand to your non-tech life. You can put it on your purse, your scooter, even your Labradoodle to make sure when he gets out of the gate, you can find it. Jack, Google, they want the data on your dog. You want Apple's brand on your dog. For our second story, Budweiser is expanding its Natty Light brand from beer to desserts. Natty Light aspires to become the first ever everything alcohol brand. Everything. Now, we're talking here about Natty Light, a company, a brand, a label. owned by beer giant AB in Bev, which also owns Budweiser.

Natty Light, it's been around for 44 years. It's the extremely, extremely light lager that thinks it's still 22 in a basement. It does. It's spending the weekend in Nashville because, you know, it's trying to have a good time. And Natty Light is the cornerstone of Budweiser's budget beer category. That's critical because Jack and I noticed something funny going on in the annual report for Budweiser. Natty Light wasn't just mentioned in the beer category. It was mentioned somewhere else, too.

It's a category they made up. It's called Adjacency. And these are beer-ish alternative drinks that now make up a billion dollars in sales for A.B. In-B. In-B. Not too shabby. And grew double digits last year. This is the alternative stuff, the adjacencies. This is the spork in the Budweiser food drawer. It's the spoon for A.B. I bet. You know, you're right. It's more spoon than it is spork. You're absolutely right. Now, funny thing about Natty Light, it's not just expanding beyond beer. It's expanding to everything these days. Get this snackers. From 1977 to 2018, Natty Light, pretty straightforward. Cheapest 30 rack you could find in the store. The company admits they're targeting 21 to 30 year olds with Natty Light cans. Now, that was a long period of history.

Then in 2019, they made their first Natty Light non-beer move. It was called Natty Light Hard Seltzer because pair pressure. The hard seltzers are even coming out with their own hard seltzers. The next year, they came out with their second ever non-beer called Nattie Light hard alcohol. Yes. Flavored vodka's flavored green apple and blue raspberry. Big move here, by the way, because this is a beer company that's crossing across the like, I don't know, the bar dimensions to become a hard alcohol. all these drinks so far have come in cans. But this year, you're getting the first thing not in a can,

no, not a beer. That's also a Natty Light food. That's right. Jack and I noticed that Natty Light just announced Natterdays a frozen popsicle and like strawberry lemon and pineapple, which sounds like it tastes awful. I'm not sure that qualifies as a food actually now that I think of it. Okay, Gwyneth Paltrow. But there's flamingos all over the product. There are. Also, this thing is aggressive. It's 8% alcohol by volume. So it's a dessert that's going to make you forget your meal. This is like four loco-ish, and it's going to ravage beaches across the country this year. Apparently, like the head brewer at Budweiser is running for Sig Epp's social chair. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at A.B. InBef?

It's time to test the limits of cross-category consumption. Snackers, businesses love to segment their customers, and this is how A.B. Inbeb, a bake beer company thinks about its customers. They're like, okay, Brad is a mid-career male. He's married. He lives in the greater Baltimore region. Yes, he does. He wants wine. He's a wine guy through and through. But here's the reality that we're starting to notice on the ground. Consumers are increasingly experimental. You're crossing categories with what you're consuming. You're not just a beer person or just a red wine person. Or just a no alcohol smoothie person. You can be like me, Cabsov weekdays, IPA's weekends. Well, I still am going to convince you to become an Amaro Weekends guy, which means I have to send you a sample. I had to Google what Amarro was. But I'm looking forward to it. With this Popsicle, Natty Light is specifically targeting the beer reluctant. and people who are adjacent to these kinds of products. Who's going to turn down a popsicle?

A.B.N. Bev, aka Big Beer, is historically guilty of over-categorizing and over-segmenting all of its consumers. But now it's using one brand Natty Light to test the limits of cross-category consumption for anybody. For our third and final story, this one's old. Husk Varna, the robot lawnmower, is the summer home improvement goody of 2021. And it shows us the fourth industrial revolution is here. Jack Sweden. Small country. Yeah, it is. Big representation in international business.

Okay, let me hit you with this, Jack. You ready? Volvo. Wow. H&M. Yep. Ikea. Dang.

Spotify. Dang. Like half the New York Rangers. And get this. Sweden's population is smaller than the state of North Carolina. Interesting. And they've got that lineup on the stock exchange. Okay.

Stop the pod right there. Boom. We covered like trivia for a month for somebody just now. We did. But the OG Swedish multinational corporation, Husk Varda. Yeah. They're breaking the rule that you must follow. Q. Started in 1689. That is 40 years before George Washington was born. Husk Varna was making rifles.

I think back then they called the muskets or something. I think that's what they went. Yeah, the white of the eyes. 330 years later, Husk Varna now publicly traded on the Swedish stock exchange. And they have three key products. Chainsaws, lawnmowers, and lawn sprinklers. And Jack, the goal today, chainsaws make them smart. Lawmowers make them smart. And sprinklers make them smart. Correct, except for the chainsaw part, a self-driving chainsaw, a little terrifying. It's scarier than mattress, mattress, mattress. Now, new homeowners and remote workers, they want a sprinkler and they want a lawnmower these days. And gardening products at Husbarna, the sprinklers and the lawnmowers, that's the profit puppy. They're only 22% of sales, totally. But they take home 39% of the

company's profits. And then Jack and I found this gem from the Wall Street Journal. 19% of Americans are planning some kind of outdoor home improvement in 2021. Big percentage because a lot of people are renting. So most of the homeowners, they want to get dirty in the backyard. I mean, perfect timing here, Jack, for the Husk Varna auto mower, which is clocking in at $1,200. This is a self-driving lawnmower. You don't need to stand behind. You don't need to pull that string to get the engine got. Can I make a disclosure, Jack? I've never mowed a lawn. I've actually, I've never even touched the handlebar of a lawnmower. You don't think I know this already, now? I've swept the sidewalk, though, and that's arguably harder. Good for you. With this automower, though, neck, even

Even you can schedule it via an app to mow your lawn because it will stay inside the invisible fence that you bury on the perimeter of your lawn. It's like out of Star Wars. You got a four-hour battery, quiet motor, run at night when the kids and the squirrels are like sleeping and hibernating. So that's one product. But we also have climate change and water scarcity. And Huskvarna happens to own a German sprinkler company called Gardena.

Why don't you make that smart too? Water the lawn only when it's actually dry out. Gardena hasn't done this yet, but their sprinkler systems should be able to detect when a storm is coming and then not sprinkle the lawn because of it. You got a splash playday on the calendar this afternoon. Boom, monsoon sprinkler. And it's a huge opportunity for Huskvarner because 94% of sales are in Europe. Yeah, they are. This could be their wet, hot American summer. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at old Husk Varna?

Industrialization 4.0 is here. That means everything must be smart. Snackers, Husk Varna, it is the leader in what it does. has high quality, incredible reputation. But what if Amazon comes around tomorrow and launches a smart lawn sprinkler system, Nick? I mean, Amazon, Jack, not a sprinkler expert, but consumers, you're going to want a smart gadget that you can throw in with the prime bubble. The first industrial revolution was about steam engines.

The second industrial revolution, that was assembly lines in mass production. The third was incorporating computers to make things more efficient. And then, Jack, we got the fourth industrial revolution happening right now. Adding a computer element to every physical product out there. Even the best producers of the highest quality machines, they need to incorporate tech in whatever it is they're building right now. If your gadget doesn't connect to tech, the tech companies will fix that for you.

And Husk Martin is smart mowers and smart sprinklers. I know what you're thinking. Industrialization 4.0 in action. The V comes after the queue. Jack, can you whip up the hot enchiladas? I'm sorry, the takeaways for us over there. The hot enchiladas are coming. But Apple's new air tag is a location.

device that'll show up in my find my iPhone app. But we're thinking it's really an Apple sticker for your non-apple stuff. A.B. InBev is chasing summer drinkers with popsicles. And Natty Light is testing the limits of cross-category consumption. Finally, Husk Varner, a 330-year-old chain-sow company. Yeah, they also do smart lawnmowers and sprinklers because fourth industrial revolution. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one sent in by John Miller from lovely Rogers, Arizona. And by the way, if you want to send one in, we got a link right in the description of the podcast. If you study public speak books or listen to advice from the greats, a common thing you will hear is that practice is instrumental in giving a good speech. But how many times should I practice,

you ask? Doug McMillan, CEO of Walmart, says that every year in preparation for his annual shareholders meeting, he practices this main speech a minimum of 12 times. Practice may not make perfect, but practice makes fortunate one. If you know, you know. Jack, here's my favorite thing about this snack fact. We basically don't rehearse this podcast. Take 13. Snackers, you look fantastic today.

If you haven't yet, drop down, give us five stars, and follow us on Apple and Spotify. Nick and I'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know. And before we go, congrats to Snacker. Sarah just got the new job at Pfizer down in Cleveland, the Rome on the Lake. Congratulations to Amanda Villarreal in Napa, who just got accepted to U-Cal Berkeley. And Jack, happy birthday to Claudia Nodolni over in Seattle.

And Ashley Rosen, also in Seattle. And Harold Hahn down in Oakland. And Chris Lee, happy birthday in Nashville. And Connor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And Sue, Tana Bay. Happy birthday in New York City. And happy birthday, Sroogel Patel in Minneapolis. And Dylan Crosan in Richmond, Virginia.

And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon. Nick on stock of Apple. And we both own stock of Spotify. The Robin Hood Snacks podcast you just heard reflects the opinions of only the hosts who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc, or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a recommendation to buy or sell any security and is not an offer or sale of a security.

The podcast is also not a research report and is not intended to serve as the basis of any investment decision. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.