The Best One Yet - 🍺🍸🥃 “The Triple Crown” — Mexico’s alcohol win. LinkedIn’s 250 newsies. Taylor Swift’s movie revolution.

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

This year, Mexican beer, liquor, and cocktails have all hit #1 in America – There are 3 reasons why, and one of them is storytelling (story-selling?).Every social media platform is leaving away from news right now, except for one: LinkedIn — Because LinkedIn has a team of 250 in-house journalists.And Taylor Swift’s concert movie hits theaters tomorrow, expected to be Top 10 opening weekend — It makes us think the future of movie theaters is not movies.$BUD $STZ $MSFT $AMCSubscribe 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. It's Thursday, the new Friday, October 12th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. It's a T-boy, Jack. First, I want to just mention, so many of you sent us DMs yesterday. And Nick and I really enjoyed reading your messages. Jack and I spent the whole morning, we were both on walks together, going through your DMs,

getting back to you, just listening and chatting with you and being here for you, guys too. Hearing from our audience motivates us to do the show. We do this show because we love our audience. Yeties, thanks for being a part of this show. Can you whip up that first story for us over that? For our first story, Mexico is on pace to win the first ever triple crown of alcohol in America. I mean, we're keeping track.

First it was tequila, then it was Madeleau. Now it's Margaritas, man. We're going to tell you how Mexican alcohol became number one in 2023. For our second story, every social media platform is drowning in news posts this week with misinformation spreading online. Except for one platform and what is that platform, Jack? That's LinkedIn. We're going to tell you why LinkedIn has a newsroom of 250 journalists. And our third and final story, Taylor Swift's concert movie,

debuts, this Friday night. Besties, the future of movie theaters isn't showing movies. It's showing the Super Bowl. But, Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. It's a wild mix of stories. I love the mix today, man. Earlier this week, we told you about the biggest lie in business. It's your resume.

The resume, Yetis, turns out 70% of Americans. lie on resumes. Yeah, 70% of us rounded up our college GPA. 70% of us are fluent en francaise at a fifth grade level. But here's the wild twist you need to know today. Get this. While job applicants lie on resumes, job posters, lie about job posts. The same survey discovered that 40% of hiring managers, they're lying on the job posts.

40% of bosses misled you about that job description. 40% of bosses embellished the opportunity. You applied for. That's not a boss. That's a liar. Now, maybe they exaggerated on the vacation days. What happened to the summer Fridays? Maybe they exaggerated the perks.

I thought the free yogurt was free. They definitely exaggerated the company culture. Highly motivated go-getters? That guy's not a lazy boy. What's going on here? Carol from accounting was a lot nicer during my job interview. I think she just threw something at me, Jack. So Yeties, yes.

You may have inflated a resume bullet or two. Besties, yeah. We may have rounded up on the number of TPS reports we cranked out as associates. But you know what, Richie, over in HR, he's guilty of this kind of thing too. Hey, Richie, we'd like a word. Let's hit our three stories. Please. Although you advertised four. And Covee Wednesday is supposed to be a half day. 15 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 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, first it was beer, then it was liquor. Now it's cocktails. Mexico is winning the triple crown of alcohol in 2023. In America, Yetis, we know what's going to come down this weekend. Jack, can you describe the upcoming weekend for our typical tea boy listener? You're probably having a mocktail or two. It's not in 1998, Nick. Carrie Bradshaw's not having a Cosmo on the rocks. Funny thing, Yetis, Americans are drinking less alcohol today than they were 10 years ago. But while we're drinking less alcohol overall, we're drinking more Mexican alcohol than ever before. That's right.

The old-fashioned is old-fashioned. Literally. The trend in spirits is ordering a tequila paloma or a mescal negroni. Get this besties last year, tequila passed whiskey as the second most popular spirit in America. This year, tequila is expected to pass vodka as the number one most popular spirit. I mean, you go out. Everyone's talking about espresso martinis. But the top-selling cocktail this year, what is it, Jack?

My favorite, the margarita on the rocks with a salted rim. Classic, Yeti's, Kendall Jenner has a tequila. The Rock has a tequila. The real housewives of Miami, they got a tequila. If you don't have a tequila brand, what are you even doing? You're definitely not going to get an Oscar. I'll tell you that, man. And all of that liquor, Nick and I just mentioned,

it's sourced from the blue agave plant native to Mexico. Jack, did you see what the number one top-selling tequila online is right now? No. Who buys tequila online? George Clooney's Casa Nicos. Of course. It's like drinking his smile. But yet he's, here's the wild part about this Mexican spirit story.

It's not just Mexican spirits. It's Mexican beer, too. Yeah, it turns out Mexican beer is also become number one this year, and it's not just one beer brand. We all remember the Bud Light drama from the spring. Modelo overtook Bud Light as the top-selling beer in America. It wasn't just Modelo. We just discovered that Pacifico sales are up 15% this year. Hold on to your limes.

Lata is having a moment. I love what you did with that pronunciation, Jack. Add it all up. We got tequila, cocktails, and servesa. Mexican imports are number one in each of those categories this year. America's triple crown of alcohol will be won by Mexico. Now, Yeti's Jack and I got curious, so we jumped in tea boy style. Turns out there are three reasons behind the Mexican alcohol trend.

First, we got a booming Hispanic population. It's the fastest growing ethnic group in America. The second driver, it's changing taste. Right now we're preferring lighter, easier to drink beers and clear liquors, Mexican style. The third driver, it's actually something that applies beyond tequila and mezcal. The third reason is our takeaway. I'll take one of those, Jack. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the alcohol industry?

You're not just selling a product. You're selling a story too. Yeah, these, a major shift in Mexican alcohol actually began 20 years ago. That's when they began advertising in America. Mexican brands began. embracing their origin story, telling Americans where they came from. To convince American buyers, tequila, mescal, and beer brands had to tell a story of where they were from, their origin.

This beer has been brewed in Mexico, drank with a wedge of lime for over 200 years. By 14 generations of family. On the other hand, Bud Light, what are they doing, Nick? Bud Light just came out with some rando, lemonade, mango, lager, seltzer, I think. What does that have anything to do with St. Louis? Yeah, next up, Bud Light Tomato Soup. The way that Mexican alcohol brands are marketing their stories is resonating as authentic. That's why our buddy Timmy spent 80 bucks on a bottle of mezcal because it's an experiential

heirloom. In any industry, you're not just selling a product. You're selling a story. For our second story, now that Twitter doesn't moderate news and Zuck doesn't want news, LinkedIn has become the standout for social media news. Because LinkedIn has a team of 250. journalists. Yetis, this week, we know what your social media feed is like. It is pounding with news. X, formerly known as Twitter, is flooded with confusing misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war.

Meanwhile, Zuck has basically quit the whole news business over at Mehta. The algorithms of threads, Instagram, and Facebook are all punishing posts related to the news. Jack and I are looking at the social media spectrum here, and it appears that all the platforms are tired of the headache and controversy of news. So what have they done, Jack? They cranked to the social media. down the algorithm if you put a news link in there. They've turned off the audios. You're not seeing a CNN headline in your news feed anymore. No, you're actually seeing Ann Edna's gin rummy pictures. That's what you're seeing. Zuck love selling ads next to pictures of Aunt Edna's casserole. That casserole, it's a thirst trap,

man. It's delicious. But there's one big exception to social media's step back from news. Get this, Yetis. It's LinkedIn. The 20-year-old social media platform is the only platform. that's leaning into the news. LinkedIn was once the platform for stocking that sales rep, the recruiter that you bumped into at that conference in Albuquerque and snag the business card. What was Tommy's last name?

Tommy. Ah, here he is. But now, LinkedIn has become a social media feed, just like any other feed. With an extra focus on breaking news. That's right. There's two posts you see on LinkedIn. Yeah, what kind of post do we take with see?

First is the exciting personal news I have to announce. Yeah, I just got a promotion, and I'm humbled and honored to share it with the world. And the second post is news news. Like newspaper headline news. And in the last year, LinkedIn's nearly one billion users have posted 41% more than they did last year. Sit down, stand up, and press the return bar again. Jack, what was that number? 41% growth on the LinkedIn platform.

That is growth every social media platform would be dying for. And yet he's all that LinkedIn growth isn't happening because people are excited about Carol from accounting's promotion. Why is it happening, Jack? Because people are posting and commenting about the news. News. LinkedIn is still the social media site of professionals. And to do a good job at your job, you must know what's going on in the news. And the best part about news posts on LinkedIn, users self-police. That's the unique thing about LinkedIn. There are no trolls on LinkedIn because of the reputational risk. You're not going to troll somebody in the comments if your future boss is seeing what you're posting. Spoiler, your future boss is looking. Reputational.

risk is a big reason that kept LinkedIn News a civil place with well-intentioned articles and good conversation in the comments. Another reason is our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at LinkedIn News? You hire editors for their golden guts. Get this, Yeties. LinkedIn has 250 news editors on the payroll. Jack, can you sprinkle on more context for us there?

The Washington Post. Pretty reputable newspaper, right? Huge newspaper. LinkedIn has half as many. news people as the Washington Post does. That's huge. And that's because LinkedIn's former CEO, Jeff Weiner, began a huge journalist hiring spree about 10 years ago. 10 years ago, Jeff Weiner said, you hire an editor for their golden gut. Their golden gut. News editors live and breathe news and information. They know what's legit and what's not, and that is their golden gut. So LinkedIn's

grand experiment for the past decade has been to let human judgment decide what gets seen on LinkedIn. Now, Yetis, algorithms are cheaper, but they have bad judgment, and they can amplify misinformation. Humans are more expensive, but they fact check, and they prevent a conspiracy theory from spreading. So besties, human editors, they have become LinkedIn's competitive advantage in news. Thanks to the golden gut that they possess. For our third and final story, the Taylor Swift concert movie is expected to have a top 10 opening weekend of all time. Because movie theaters aren't just for movies. They're for collective experiences.

Jack, checking the calendar over here tomorrow. Friday the 13th. Now, Friday the 13th, that would be kind of scary for most people, right? But for Taylor, it's not. It's her favorite number. Yes, it is. Actually, Taylor's favorite number is 13th. So, she's premiering her concert movie on Friday the 13th.

The Ares Tour movie. It opens tomorrow night. Now, Jack, could you whip up some numbers on this movie, please? Movie analysts expect up to $200 million of opening weekend box office sales. And now 200 million, that's a big number, but I'm going to need you to sprinkle on a little more context to that, too. That would be a top 10 movie opening weekend. Of all time. Of all time, Yeties, the Taylor Swift cinema movie concert has already sold $100 million of tickets. This is Avengers numbers. This is Star Wars numbers. This is Disney

numbers. Yeah, Taylor's version. So Yeties, Jack and I got curious about this story. And we started doing some thinking about the potential here. Those are some big numbers. What do the these big numbers mean for the future of cinema? Well, with at-home streaming, movies don't put butts in movie theater seats like they used to. Movie ticket sales so far this year, they're down 22% from the pre-pendemic levels. Superheroes just haven't been selling seats like they used to. Ironman is MIA. So if Aquaman 14 doesn't get you to come into the theater anymore, what does? Well, the way Jack and I see it, one particular thing does. And that thing is cultural events. If you go to the Taylor Swift concert movie this weekend, we bet you're not going to be sitting down the whole time.

No, no, we're actually thinking when you go to the concert movie this weekend, we bet people are going to be standing in the movie theater seats. They'll be standing and cheering and shouting Taylor's name like she could hear them. It's going to feel like a concert probably, even though you're in a movie theater watching a movie of the concert. That's why we think any event where people want to stand up and cheer could happen in a movie theater too. For example, Jack, let's say you can't make it to a world scene. Series baseball game. It'd be pretty cool to watch it in an AMC theater with a crowd. Or Jack, let's say you want to celebrate MLK Day on your day off.

It'd be powerful to watch the I Have a Dream speech in a Cinemax Theater among strangers. What if the surfing event at the 2008 Los Angeles Olympics was held on a giant IMAX screen with the 30-pound wave crashing on top of you? Did you see where we're going with this? This Taylor Swift concert movie's success, it could usher in an entire new era of non-movie movie theaters. Theater is not to watch a movie, but to celebrate and cheer on a cultural event

in front of an immersive screen with a crowd. With an $18 box of popcorn. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the movie industry? The fundamental appeal of a theater is really the collective experience. Yeti's director Quentin Tarantino once said this about why people really go to movie theaters.

You have an experience with a bunch of strangers, you become a collective. When it's a good movie, you remember that experience for the rest of your life. Well, Jack and I love that quote. We think Quentin was right. But we also think he was wrong. Yeah, because those collective experiences, they don't just happen watching movies together. No, you get those experiences when you go to a concert, a sporting event, an inauguration of viewing party.

All of that is collective experience. And that's what the appeal of a theater is. It's a collective experience. So to limit the theater to just movies is to limit a huge platform. to a single form of content. Nick and I are excited about a future where movie theaters aren't just films, but they're any collective experience.

Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Mexico is going to win America's Triple Crown of alcohol this year. Beer, liquor, and cocktails. Because Mexico's not selling alcohol, they're selling stories. They're not storytelling.

They're stories selling. What are you, the motivational speaker at a sales conference? It works, Jack. It works. For our second story, LinkedIn is becoming the social media platform handling news the best. LinkedIn's differentiator, 250 golden guts. And our third and final story, the Taylor Swift concert movie premiere, is expected to be a top 10 opening weekend of all time.

Because it's a collective experience, and that could redefine the movie theater. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Israel's parliament dropped its... partisan disagreements to form a unity government together. It's a sign of political unity as they began a counteroffensive against Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for the weekend attacks. And second, Birkenstock just had its first day trading on the markets. Jack, how did the Birkenstock stock do yesterday? It fell 13% on their IPO day at the New York Stock Exchange.

And finally, Alaska Airlines has created a coffee that tastes better in the sky. Because your taste buds work differently. at 30,000 feet. This coffee's going to work differently, too. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one's sent in by legendary Yeti, Patrick Meehan, from lovely Bradenton, Florida. Full disclosure, I don't believe this fact. We did the diligence on this, and Jack's like, still don't believe it. Yeties, you know about the cashew, right? It's a wonderful nut. It's a very smooth nut. A very, very smooth nut, Jack. Sometimes I make pizza with cashew cheese. I mean,

I've actually put cashew butter in my almond butter to improve the almond. butter. Here's the fact, Costco is the world's largest seller of cashews by far. Get this. Half of the world's cashews are sold by Costco. Again, I don't believe this fact. Apparently Costco sells $300,000 worth of cashews every week. That's not all. Jack, since you're skeptical of this fact, I'd love you to read off the last part of the fact. They work with over two million cashew farmers. Come on. Two million cashew farmers just on the continent of Africa. Costco. It's the OPEC of the cashew.

Oh, Jack. Yettys, you look fantastic for the new Friday. Jack, when you go to Costco this weekend and drop $1,400, look for the cashews and let us know how many you end up buying. It's going to be awkward when I fact-checked the cashier at Casco. Well, if you can't validate this fact, then I'm not paying for it. Yeties, Nick and I. We'll see you tomorrow.

H-T-V-O-I. We'll see you tomorrow. Before we go, a happy birthday to David Orchard, a Yeti turning 29 down in lovely Los Angeles. Happy birthday to Obra Das in North Carolina, who's purposely extending his commute to hear the whole show today. And get his whole birthday in. And a happy 12th birthday to Nava Taylor, who's on the way to school in Tampa and is going to absolutely crush it in school today. Happy four-year wedding anniversary to Mike and Cassie Grizatus over in St. Louis. And this one's a special one. Because Anthony and Bree over in Minneapolis,

we gave them a shout out when their son, Saint was born, and they just had two more new babies. Their newborn baby twins, King and Coco, are in the NICU right now, and we're thinking about that whole family, sending our life. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney. Now I'm really excited. I am excited.

I am excited. I would watch the 2011 Super Bowl, Giants Patriots. I mean, we just like amped ourselves up. for our own idea.