The Best One Yet - ❤️‍🔥 “The Friend Zone” — Bumble’s plutonic plan. Apple’s Rihanna bump. Farmer’s Dog’s P.U.P.P.Y. commercial.

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

The most Googled thing during/after the Super Bowl: “Is Rihanna pregnant”. And that means the real Super Bowl winner was Apple. Bumble’s new dating app strategy is not about finding love, but about finding friends. And the #1 Super Bowl commercial was actually a $1B dog food startup.$BMBL $MTCH $AAPL $POSTFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday. Tea Boy, Tuesday, February 14th. And today's pod is the best one yet. It's lovely. Let's get this out of the way right away. What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?

Favorite. How about the Tooby ad? It freaked me out. Like I took over my TV. Did you see that premature electrification ad? That was pretty funny. I can't believe we didn't do that as a takeaway before. Can I vent for a second here, Jack?

Hey, Ben Affleck. If you're going to do a Dunkin ad, why can't you bring Darlene and this thing. Dalene was depressed that she didn't get a cameo. Two pumps? Hazelnut? That would have won the Super Bowl. Jack, what's our first story for today's pod? The number one most search question on Google on Sunday night is Rihanna pregnant? And that means that Apple won the Super Bowl. For our second story, Bumble is about to announce earnings, but we noticed something

interesting on Valentine's Day. If Bumble doesn't want to date, it just wants to be friends. And our third and final story. The top commercial Sunday wasn't Budweiser, Jeep, Jesus, tubey or electrification preemocation. It was Farmer's dog. Farmers dog, because the biggest trend in humans is puppies. Yeah.

But Yetis, before we hit that fantastic mix. Oh, what a wonderful mix. I love this mix for a Tuesday, Jack. Exactly one year ago, we warned you. We did. We did a whole hoarder's almanac on what we're about to tell you, Yeties. Flower prices had gotten funky. Yeah, stem to stamen, flowers had become a problem.

Flower prices had popped by 20% last year, like an Icelandic poppy. Hey, wanted to get someone roses. I love you forever, but my credit score does not. So last year, you didn't bring flowers to Valentine's Day dinner, did you? Instead, you brought an excuse. You couldn't splurge on the peonies. You needed a loan for those lilacs. But yeties, we don't come to you with problems from the past.

We come to you with solutions for today. So for this T-boy Tuesday, Jack and I have a Valentine's Day idea that even Cupid would kiss. If you really want to show someone you care tonight, toss away the bouquet. Yeah, yeties, don't even consider the carnations. Want to show love this Valentine's Day? Jack, yes I do. What should I do instead? Get your date. Eggs.

Eggs. We mean eggs. Eggs. They're so expensive right now. They're basically gifts. Yeah, that chicken egg, that is more than a chicken egg. Yeties, you could waste. your paycheck on a dozen roses.

Or you can make a statement with a dozen eggs. Diamonds may be a girl's best friend. But for Tatas, they're forever. That's the upside to eggflation. Let's flip our fancy three stories, Jack. 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, 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. For our first story, the winner of the Super Bowl, wasn't really the Chiefs.

It was Rihanna's halftime show. Because Rihanna's moment played perfectly into Apple's presentation style. So, Jack, the number one most Googled search during the Super Bowl and after the Super Bowl, what was it? And probably still today, it wasn't the score. It wasn't is Patrick Mahomes' ankle all right. It definitely wasn't John Travolta's beard, although Jack and I were curious about that. It wasn't his scalp.

The whole haircut. It was interesting, John. The number one search on Sunday was, is Rihanna pregnant? Is Rihanna pregnant? Which you can do either pronunciation at this point. We're going to just do both here. Oh, by the way, spoiler alert, the answer is yes. She actually is pregnant. Ball away to announce a pregnancy. Yeah. Congratulations to Rihanna and ASAP Rocky. Great job, guys. But if Rihanna won the Super Bowl for singing Rood Boy, then Apple won for sponsoring it. Because yet he's re-reed, she got a baby bump, but Apple got a nice brand bump too.

Two, because its logo was right there in the corner the entire time. Yetis, Apple last year spent a reported $250 million for a five-year deal to sponsor five straight Super Bowl halftime shows. $250 million. Honestly, that's almost one lift at this point, Jack. Why did Apple do it? They say that the halftime show is the most valuable 12 minutes of media in the world. Let that sink in, Yetis. The halftime show is the most valuable 12 minutes of media in the world.

thing is the biggest concert on earth. And the numbers proven. Super Bowl viewership absolutely peaked the moment that Rihanna got on stage. A hundred and twenty-four million households, not people. Households checked into the Super Bowl once football was down and Rihanna started singing. Nobody went to the bathroom. Nobody went to get chicken wings during that show. Except maybe my dad, to be honest.

Big Ted likes umbrellas. He just prefers literal real umbrellas, right, Jack. Yeah, he was doing exes and nose on the chalkboard during half time. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. But Yetis, here's what Jack and I thought was fascinating about the Super Bowl halftime show. For the first time, those 12 most valuable minutes in media were actually controlled by a media company. Yeah, because for 10 years, Yetis, the halftime show sponsor, who was it, Jack?

It was Pepsi. Who had to do backflips to somehow weave Pepsi into the concert? Here's Maroon 5 pouring Mountain Dew all over their guitars. And do you know who sponsored prior to Pepsi? Okay, this was shocking. we totally forgotten this before Pepsi. The Super Bowl halftime show was sponsored by Bridgestone. By Bridgestone.

Like we're talking the tire company, Bridgestone, a company that works with chassis was putting on a concert. They made the backup dancers do a hula hoops with a tire. They were like really into circle shapes through the entire halftime show. But Apple, they had an easier job connecting their product to the show. Appier had a more strategic opportunity to connect their product to the halftime show. They used the Super Bowl halftime music. show to promote Apple music.

And they did it leading up to the Super Bowl, too. For example, Apple created five music videos with Rihanna to promote her performance and how did those videos do, yeah. They got 120 million views on social media and YouTube in the week leading up to the game. 120 million. Oh, and it wasn't just the videos that Apple whipped up before the concert. Shazam, the app that determines what music is in the room,

they promoted Rihanna. Oh, wait, Shazam is owned by Apple. Not too shabby. Nick and I were thinking, next year Apple will have unveiled already their ARVR headsets. I like where we're going. Keep going, Jack. Are they going to weave that into the Super Bowl halftime show?

I don't know. Maybe Rihanna could have been wearing AirPods the entire time, Jack. Or she could be wearing the goggles and we could be in her red jumpsuit 100 feet above the field. Jack, what if Apple flipped the switch and everyone with an Apple watch got Rihanna's view of the entire show from their wrist? That'd be kind of a lot. alarming, but also kind of cool. It violates a few privacy things, but it'll be pretty cool for this podcast. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Every product needs

one more thing. One more thing. Yeties, those are the three words that Steve Jobs used to say, like at the end of every Apple presentation. When Apple unveiled the iPhone for the first time, everyone thought the event was over. And then Steve Jobs said, wait a minute, one more thing to unveil. and it was the iPhone. One more thing. Those three words, they come as a surprise, a signal that there is an unveil, a feature at the end when the audience is already impressed,

but about to get more impressed. Apple's first Super Bowl halftime show was given the incredibly lucky gift of the ultimate One More Thing moment. I don't think they expected this, but Rianna's pregnancy reveal, that's the type of drama that Steve Jobs dreamed of.

One more thing captures anticipation, mystery, ambition, and reward. One more thing. It's an idea for you to work into every product and any presentation. For our second story, Bumbles Data shows that Gen Ziers are turning to dating apps for platonic friendships. As social media companies ditch friends, which they are, dating apps are moving in to fill the void.

The Valentine's Day dinner. You may be listening to us right now at a Valentine's Day dinner, a prefix nine-course duck dinner with 20% mandatory service fee. Well, if you met someone recently, the chances are you met them on a dating app. Now, your grandparents, on the other hand, they met in a church. And your parents met because their parents were friends from church. Susie from synagogue, she's fantastic. You're going to love her the next thing you know you're married to.

Now, you met, however, on a dating app, which used to be an embarrassing thing to say. But the data shows that today, the stigma of finding your partner online is fading away. The pandemic was the nail in the coffin. It is straight up normal to meet people online now. A recent Johns Hopkins study shows that most new relationships today, they're formed through an online connection, the majority. But Nick and I noticed an interesting thing. Yes, we did. The normalization of friendships forming online, too.

Perfect case study of this. Let's look at what Bumble told us just a few months ago in their earnings report. Bumble said in their earnings call that they are leaning into friend recommendations, not just people you could date. They want to help you find the roaming tier to your Michelle, like the Charlotte Tier carry, the Samantha Tier Miranda kind of a thing. A new focus for Bumble. publicly traded dating app is BFF, which is their best friends forever friend matching feature. And they are literally doubling down on the platonic relationships. And they're not doing it just because of the trends we just told you about.

No, they're not. They're doing it because it's lucrative, potentially. The Bumble numbers show that friendship may be deeper than romance ship. Members of Bumble's BFF feature, they open the app 67% more than people who are just there looking for dates. And it's not just opening the app. Check, how much more time are they spent? spending hanging out in the app looking for buddies. If you're looking for buddies on Bumble, you spend 16% more time in the app than someone

who's just looking to get some action. I feel so old school that we found our buddy Timmy offline, Jack. Would you have swiped right on Timmy? Having seen Timmy's dating app, I don't know. He plays a pretty good game, Jack. Yeah, he's bumble announces their earnings next week. And we're going to look out for updates on BFF friend data. Because millennials, we were trailblazers for meeting partners online.

Gen Z may be trailblazers for meeting friends online. Jack, instead of just a takeaway, can you whip up a conversation starter to drop tonight over a Valentine's Day dinner? Social media is sliding out of the friend zone. Dating apps are sliding in. Okay, Yetis, as you scroll through your TikTok or your Instagram feed, you're going to notice that you don't see as many friends anymore. There's a reason. Because of TikTok success, Instagram and Elon's Twitter now, they're also tipping the algorithm away from friends. Yeah, it's all about the recommended posts from Randos instead of the posts from your buddy Timmy.

Yes, Nick. Bumble is leading the pivot into that slide into the friend zone. Oh, and Tinder doesn't want to be left out of the fun either. They're jumping into the pool as well. What do they got going on, Jack? Tinder social. Same thing as BFF. Besties, as social media moves away from friends, dating apps could fill the void.

Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. You know, honestly, your salad, it says so much about you. Nick, you like to blaze your own trail at the salad bar. Yeah, I'm ordering a salad. I go off menu, man. like a combo of kale and croutons that has never been made before. Me? I'm not reinventing the wheel.

I like to go classic. If Sweakerian thinks it's a good combo, Jack's not going to change that. Kind of like investing strategies. Someone to build a custom portfolio of stocks, crypto, and options. Others don't want to reinvent. Just give me the most standard ETF.

Whether you're tweaking your one-of-a-kind portfolio every day or prefer a more hands-off approach, Robin Hood has the tools. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robinhood.com slash T-boy to choose your free stock. That's robinode.com slash TBOI. Limitations apply. Stocks offered by Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Crypto offered through Robin Hood. All investments involve risk.

By the way, this podcast is not owned or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story, the number one rated Super Bowl commercial on Sunday was actually the smallest company with a Super Bowl commercial commercial. Farmers Dog, Dog Food won the Super Bowl commercial battle. And why did they win it, Jack? Because puppy. Yeah. Yet he's the last time we covered pets. We mentioned the hero statistic about pet adoption.

I love this hero statistic. Honestly, you can mention it every day. I think it's great. We can mention it every weekend. One in five American households adopted a pet during the pandemic. Most of them were dogs. Yeah, it could have been a cockapoo. Could have been a cockatoo.

It doesn't matter. You can pet that thing. But when you see growth like that, 23 million households getting pets, you pounced like a poodle neck. That is why major human human. food companies like Mars, Nestle, General Mills. They're all doing billion-dollar deals for dog food companies right now. But the little guy trying to capture this moment is Farmer's Dog. They're trying to sell high-end dog chow to those 23 million newly dog-owning homes. Now, Farmer's Dog

has grown to a $1 billion valuation with your classic monthly subscription box business model. They tell dog owners to just subscribe. We'll send you a box every month with a bunch of dry ice and a bunch of frozen packages of human-grade dog food. You jumped in T-boy style to this thing, right? Like, you've got this food coming to your door right now. River's been a subscriber since, like, day one. We get her pork, chicken, and beef. But have you tested the human-grade element on this food, Jack?

You jumped in T-boy-style to that bison meat? I've been tempted, but have never done it. But yet here's what surprised us about Farmer's dog. USA Today rated all 51 Super Bowl commercials on Sunday and the number one commercial was from the smallest company. We were shocked that Farmer's Dog even had or could afford a Super Bowl commercial. It's a $1 billion direct to consumer dog food startup that bought a 60 second Super Bowl commercial for a few million bucks. And the result of that Super Bowl commercial from my household, my entire family text chain and most of America, apparently,

I should have tried that bisoned me. Tears. Tears. Tears. This ad made the whole country cry yet. And not because of what was in the commercial, we think what was interesting was what was not in the commercial. But let's start with what was in. It showed a girl whose family got a chocolate lab puppy.

It was adorable. Then we watched the girl go off to college. She gets married. She's a baby. And the dog was there being a good boy the entire time. Then at the end of the commercial, Farmer's Dog, delivered not a CTA, not a call to action, but a CTT, a call to tissues. Yeah, because this dog was getting old. that white whiskers all over its face.

You were starting to get scared. She hugs him close and sings him a song, knowing these could be the final days. And then the final line is, nothing matters more than more years together. The implication, Firm's dog, dog food will let you have more years with your dog. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm going to need more tissues. Nick, I needed more tissues, too. It's a good point. That's what was in the ad, Yeties.

But we want to focus in her takeaway what wasn't in the ad. Yeah, what else wasn't in the ad? Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Farmer's Dog? When you're appealing to emotion, promote it with pathos. Ethos, Pathos, Logos. Yetis, those are Aristotle's three ancient approaches to the art of persuasion. Logos is logic. And Farmer's Dog did not appeal to our logic in their commercial.

No, there was no logical argument in the ad for buying a fancy pet food that's going to cost a portion of your paycheck. Ethos is about credibility. and Farmer's Dog didn't use that either. There were no veterinarian experts in the ad lending credibility to the nutrition of their fancy pet food. This commercial was 100% pathos. 100% pathos, 100% emotion. It was an emotional plea to dog owners reminding us that the end will one day come and you want to delay that as long as possible.

Because besties, people ultimately prioritize puppies. Yeah, because they love them. It's about emotion. This Farmers Dog commercial, we, was voted the number one Super Bowl ad, even though it was devoid of logos and devoid of ethos. Because when a product is emotional, promote it with pathos. Jack, can you whip up one more takeaway for us over there? Rihanna's consummate performance was a gift to the sponsor of the show, Apple.

Every product and every presentation needs a one more thing moment. For our second story, millennials normalized dating apps, Gen Ziers are normalizing friend apps. As social media companies leave the friend zone, dating apps are sliding in. And our third and final story, Farmers Dog Food subscription was the number one Super Bowl commercial. When your product's emotional, promote it with pathos. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Alison Richards from lovely Marblehead Mass just outside Boston. All right, Eddie's last few days, we have seen some emotional, intense photos and images coming out of Turkey and Syria where the earthquakes were.

I mean, the people trying to rescue people from the buildings that have come down, those guys are heroes. The child born in the rubble in one of those buildings? I can't believe the pain these people must be going through a week after the earthquake, still finding people with life. It's incredible. But as a Monday night, 45,000 people have died in the earthquakes. It's been painful to see.

So we want to feature this fact from Allison about Turkey. You may notice in the coming months and years that the coming months and years that the country of Turkey has gotten a new spelling. The State Department is going to start spelling Turkey as T-U-R-K-I-E with an umlounce over the year. In fact, Turkey's new spelling was approved recently by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. After a request from the Turkish Embassy. This is all part of a full-on national rebranding that Turkey started last year and got approval for here in the States in January. So instead of spelling Turkey like a bird, it's going to be spelled like it's actually pronounced in Turkish. And if you're looking to do it.

Donate to the situation there. Two great places to go are the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. Yetis, you look fantastic for Valentine's Day. Even if you've just got a Galentine's Day or you're riding solo or you're not doing a Valentine's Day at all. Nick, I'm hugging myself with this top today, this cute top over here. Look in that mirror. You dressed up for me today, Jack.

I appreciate it. That's all I needed. You made my day. Yeties, happy Valentine's Day. Happy Galentine's Day. Happy Hug yourself day today. And don't order the duck. Get the omelet.

Because diamonds are a girl's best friend, but frittatas are forever. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Forever. And before we go, happy 31st birthday to Yeti Jacob Raffleson, who's serving in the Army in the Bomb Squad. And happy birthday to Dylan Caldero, who's enjoying a prefixed dinner in Buffalo tonight for his 31st birthday. And Lauren Brinkman, enjoy that 27th down in Chicago doing logistics.

Happy birthday to Kelsey Kelter in Charlotte, North Carolina. And Matt Ireland is celebrating that birthday by scuba diving off the Grand Cayman Island. And Don Juliano, happy birthday celebrating the 25th over on Cozumel Island, Mexico. And happy 28th birthday to Carmen Swanga in Fayetteville, North Carolina. And you know, Angelica and Chris Padilla, they just love each other a lot in Northburg and New Jersey. Oh, and Jack, Joy and Anthony Lewis have their second anniversary in Bethlehem, Georgia today. And this is the second shout out we've given him for their anniversary. Celebrate both wins.

This is Jack. I own stock of Bumble and Nick and I both own stock of Robin Hood and Apple. Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. Okay, so Jack and I both worked in finance for a while. And we know the six-monitor Bloomberg jockey, with charts, numbers, balances, and more charts. They got coffees in both hands while they're executing some complex trade on a soybean future. Well, we're not trying to impress with our mission control trading center.

Just give us an app, please. Robin Hood, with its mobile first and intuitive design, it lets you trade with just a few quick taps on their app. And even if things still don't seem easy, Robin Hood has your back 24-7 with its live and robust customer support. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-I. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involved for us. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood.