The Best One Yet - 💁‍♀️ “The Year of the She-conomy” — Barbie, T-Swift, USWNT. McDonald’s new restaurant. TikTok’s triple-zucking.

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

The defining moments for the economy so far this year are all feminine — We found the 3 reasons the “economy” is actually the “She-conomy.” McDonald’s stock is at an all-time high, thanks to Grimace — Aaaand it’s launching a new restaurant chain. And TikTok isn’t banned, so it’s going on the offensive — by copying Amazon, Spotify, and Twitter all in one month. $MAT $AMZN $SPOT Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Instacart Fridays. Yiddies, the U.S. Women's National Team is going for three world titles in a row. But there's only one thing we can do to support the team. What is that, Jack? Eat. So we curated the perfect Instacart order for your watch party. The best cart yet. We made a pre-filled Instacart order that includes mine and Nick's favorite snacks, drinks, and guac. Which is extra. Did you even have to ask.

All you have to do is click the link in this episode description, and you'll see a couple dozen items for your soccer watch. party in your shopping cart. This is Nick and I toss in almond butter, dark peanut butter cups and some mango jerky. This is Jack. I picked out some popcorn and a classic frozen pizza for you. This is amazing, Jack. It's our own T-boy cart, and you can try out Instacart by catering your party with the best cart yet. We made it, so it's literally the T-boy of shopping carts. Like, you don't need to pick up anything. We picked it up for you. Jack and I were on it. A couple clicks and an Instacart shopper brings those goods to your door. Besties to try out our custom T-Boy shop.

Tapping cart, tap that link in our episode description. Click the link in the show notes and check out the best cart yet. Gotta support the team. Gotta support the team. This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the real Friday, July 28th. And today's pod is the best one yet.

Jack, is it a team boy. Oh, such a good show to finish the week. But Jack, you're not wearing pink today. I thought we were wearing pink today. This was the thing. You did it yesterday. I didn't say I was going to do it today. Was that one pink shirt not Knuff?

Wait, well, what is Kenav? I gave that shirt a Ken out of Ken, Jack. Oh, are you spreading the Kennergy over this pod right now? Fueling the Kennergy, Jack. Should we hit the first story, Jack? Yeah, we should. Yes, we can. Yeah, it is for our first story.

We've looked at the numbers. In 2023 is the year of the she economy. The she economy. You got Barbie, you got T. Swift, and you got the Women's World Cup. We just found out the gender of the economy. What is it, Jack? It's a girl. Yes, it is.

For our second. story, McDonald's stock just hit an all-time high. And yes, it's because of grimace. And our third and final story, just this month, TikTok has quietly launched three huge things. Yaddy's, TikTok is zuckin Amazon, they're zuck in Spotify and they're even zuck in Twitter. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. That is a mix of stories before a weekend, Jack. Enough. What a ridiculous word. Feeling the energy. Yeti's Shark Week. up this weekend. But sharks never sleep and shark week never really ends. Because sharks aren't just the world's biggest fish. Oh, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. Turns out sharks when it comes to the numbers are profit

puppies. Get this. The baby shark song is the most watched YouTube video in the history of the world. We're talking about a shark tune for toddlers that is 12 billion views. Billion. How about Shark Tank on ABC? Shark Tank has 14 seasons. They just kicked off their most recent one. And shark movies in the box office? Jack, those things, they take a bite out of the box office, my friend. There are a billion dollars of cumulative shark ticket sales in the box office. Now, Jack, if we're going to talk about shark movies, we got to talk about the official Mount Rushmore of shark movies.

Yep, here it is, yet he's the official Mount Sharkmore. Mount Sharkmore, the four best movies, the four biggest movies involving sharks. In no particular order, we got to mention Jaws first. Jaws, 1975. Since then, we've all been looking for dorsal fins out there. I think I see one. Nick, the theme song for Jaws. Huge moment for the tuba. Big for the tuba industry.

The tuba's biggest moment ever. Second, we got Shark Nato. Classic. Literally tornadoes of Hammerhead Sharks. Yeah, they got robbed at the Oscars, Jack. Third, we got Deep Blue Sea. You got Samuel Jackson, L.L. Cool J. And one huge bloodthirsty shark.

Great performance? Or greatest performance? Let's go with the latter, Jack. But the number one highest grossing shark movie of all time. Besties, the biggest head on the Mount Rushmore of Shark films? What is it, Jack? The answer comes at the end of the show. Oh, we got to get a hint, my friend.

Fish are friends, not food. If you know, you know, Jack, let's in our three stories. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's a 50% that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at. For our first story, there is one 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, there is one economic force above all others this year, and that force is girls. 2023 is the year of the she economy, and the numbers prove it. Yeties, we are halfway through the year, and Jack and I have noticed a huge trend that we just, we just had to talk about with you. Young women are splurging in this economy. The three biggest economic events of the year, all. broke records. And it's all thanks to ladies. Besties never have more X chromosomes run the economy than right now. Exhibit A, the Barbie movie. The Barbie movie. It powered the biggest box office weekend of the year.

And the reviews last weekend were so good that this past Tuesday was the biggest Tuesday of ticket sales for any movie ever. Jack, main character? Female. Director? Female. 70% of the moviegoers? Fem male. Now let's turn to a Exhibit B, the Taylor Swift concert tour. The T-Swift concert tour. Her heiress Tour Yetis is going to hit $1 billion in sales this year, another record. The old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. She's too busy beating Elton John for the highest grossing tour of all time.

And, yeah, can we talk about the economic force of this thing? Her concerts caused such an economic splash? That she added $5 billion to our economy as Swifties traveled to see her. Glendale's the New Vegas. Exhibit C, the Women's World Cup. It just started, but already the Women's World Cup is setting economic records. It's the most attended women's sporting event in history, up 54% from 2019, Martha Cup. So, Yetis, let's add it all up.

You got the biggest movie, the biggest musician, the biggest sporting event of the year? Barbie movie, Erez Tour, and ponytail midfielders have all converged to create a spending explosion. All three created by women. All three targeting women. women consumers, all three funded by women investors and buyers. It's the she economy and we're all living in it. We're all in the middle of it. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the she economy? We found three reasons why young women are powering the economy right now. First reason for the she economy, women are driving the labor market. There's more women making money in America than

ever before. Last month, Jack and I told you, the women's workforce participation rate in America hit an all-time high. The second reason for this economy is an emotional catharsis. Women have just had a disproportionately harder time over the last three years. At the beginning of the pandemic, professions dominated by women were hit the hardest. You got remote schooling putting more child care burdens on women during the pandemic. And then women had to suffer the emotional toll of Roe versus Wade getting overturned. Jack, you don't need a girl dinner right now.

Women need an outlet right now. And the third reason for the she-convents. economy is the underserved market finally getting served. Look, Yeti's men in power tend to steer product development to their own preferences, male preferences. So this year's Barbie movie, Ares Tour, and Women's World Cup tapped into a huge pent-up demand. And that is why 2023 is the year the she economy became the economy. For our second story, McDonald's stock just shockingly hit an all-time high. McDonald's is riding a grimace high.

So it's also launching, get this, a second chain of McDonald's restaurants. A new McDonald's brand. But more on that in a second. Yet he's the last time we covered McDonald's, the focus wasn't on Ronald. It was on grimace. It was on grimace because McDonald's had resurrected their old creepy purple mascot, hadn't they, Jack? This old creepy purple mascot, it looks like Barney the dinosaur if he were melting. Jack, it's kind of like an eggplant that got bitten by the Spider-Man spider.

Correct. Yeah, I have nightmares where I'm having a nightmare about the Grimmis. And to celebrate Grimus's 52nd birthday, McDonald's created the Grimmis milkshake. The Grimmish shake, it went viral. Millions of people took up the challenge. You try a purple milkshake and then you post it on TikTok. But why did the TikTok challenge go viral? Well, Jack, it's because of a freaky bizarre twist, wasn't it? The TikTokers finished their videos with death. They pretended the shake had killed them, gruesomely. But back to this week, Yetis. McDonald just reported their second. quarter earnings, and Jack and I were really curious. Because we're calling this quarter the Grimmis

quarter. Now, Jack, before we jump into the numbers and reveal if Grimmis affected McDonald's, let's sprinkle on a little context here. Inflation is 3% right now. So if a company sells the same number of Big Macs and the same number of fries as last year, sales should rise 3% just because of inflation. Prices are up 3% so their sales should rise 3%. Makes sense. But that's not what happened with McDonald's. sales rose by triple inflation. McDonald's sales tripled from last year. Revenues jumped by 10% for McDonald's in the second quarter, which for such a huge company is a huge jump.

It's a $200 billion company. Sit down, stand up, and just sit back down again because you're just full. Who did executive's credit for that outperformance? Well, Jack, so glad you asked. They credited grimace. The purple killer whose murder weapon is a purple milkshake. The CEO of McDonald's literally cited Grimmis for driving the sales surge. Here's what he said. This quarter, if I'm being honest, the theme was grimace.

And you better be honest because the SEC will get you, buddy. Yet these billions of people, billions with a bead, watched those grimace shake videos on TikTok. And then millions actually ordered those grimace shakes in real life. It's a real world example of a social media trend, clearly translating into new sales. And Vesties, the wildest part about all this? McDonald's barely spent any money on the entire promotion. It didn't spend a buck to spread those billion videos on TikTok. They haven't even fixed their McFlurry shake machines, which are still always broken.

But McDonald's stock ain't broken. And why is that, Jack? It reached an all-time high yesterday. And that wasn't all. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at McDonald's? Old IP drives new sales. Yet these McDonald's go-to move to boost sales, it's to launch promos based on their old McDonald's characters. That's right. Old McDonald's.

Yeah, had more than a farm. Last year, Yiddies, McDonald's brought back the happy meal, but for adults. This summer, Grimmus gave McDonald's its best quarter ever. What's the next hit? Another growth plan based on old McDonald's IP. Shocking news from executives yesterday, McDonald's is going to open a second restaurant chain, a second brand. That's right.

Early next year, McDonald's is going to test out a new restaurant concept called Cosmic. Cosmic, as in C-O-S-M-C. and what is Cosmic, Jack? Mick, like McDonald's. Cosmic is the name of an old McDonald's mascot. Happens to be an alien mascot. It's like the hamburger from another planet from the 1970s. McDee's was super light on the details.

There's more information coming in December, and the launch is going to open next year. But it looks like McDonald's has a museum of old pieces of intellectual property, and they're just digging them up right now. It's bringing back old IP for modern marketing campaigns. Because old IP drives new sales. And now a word from our sponsor, Element. Yetis will cut right to it.

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Truth, because we've added a pack of Element and a glass of water to our prepod routine. Element came up with a fantastic offer for besties and yeties out there. Go to drinkelement.com slash T-Boy to get a free sample pack with any purchase. That's a drink. LMNT.com slash T-B-O-Y to hydrate like every day is the new Friday. Rocket money. Yet he's every month for two hours. Jack and I read the worst book ever.

It's the 15th of the month for me, and that brutal book is my credit card statement. Yeah, you're like trying to remember all those things that you spent money on. Wait, what are these things? By far, the worst part is realizing I'm still paying for that subscription. I should have canceled. Yeah, $15 a month for streaming plus? A monthly oatmeal. meal kit delivery. $85 for a flower delivery going to our old address? Turns out 80% of people have a

subscription they forgot they're paying for it. 80% of Yetis are paying for something right now that you're not using. Rocket Money is the personal finance app that finds and cancels those unwanted subscriptions. And also monitors your spending helps you lower your bills all in one place. Since using Rocket Money, we've gotten clear alerts and notifications about subscriptions we may want to ditch. Which makes that two-hour credit card review at the end of the month a little less free. key. Stop throwing away your money and cancel your unwanted subscriptions. And manage your expenses the easy way by going to rocketmoney.com slash T-Boy. That's rocketmoney.com slash T-B-O-Y. What the heck, let's do it a third time. Rocketmoney.com slash T-boy. For our third and final story before the

weekend, in just the last month, TikTok has launched three huge new things, e-commerce, music, and text. TikTok is quietly becoming the real everything app. But if we're going to talk about everything apps. Jack, we got to talk about Elon, who declared on Sunday that the app formerly known as Twitter was now going to be called X. X, and he called it the everything app. But Nick and I have spent time on X the past week, and it's still just Twitter. Yeah, we noticed that the X app is really just, it's just Twitter still. It's not an everything app yet. But you know what app is doing everything? Talk to me, Jack. TikTok. TikTok's going to pull a hammy. It's doing so many things right now. In just the last month, TikTok has launched three major new products. Yet he's in just the last

Last month, TikTok has launched three big copycats, three huge zuckings. First, it was July 6th when TikTok launched TikTok music in both Brazil and Indonesia. Which is a Spotify copycat. It's a subscription music streaming app that predicts the music you'll like based on your TikTok swiping. Oh, you like that guy riding the skateboard drinking the cranberry juice? You're going to love this Fleetwood Mac throwback playlist. And you know that app's coming to the U.S. soon.

Yes, it is. Then on July 24th, TikTok launched a text feature. A shocking Twitter copycat. The short form video app known as TikTok now lets you post both pictures and text posts too. Your buddy Timmy's TikTok video is actually just a 280 character poem on letting go. And just a couple days ago on Wednesday, July 26th, both Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok shop launches in the US next month. You guessed it, an Amazon copycat. This is the biggest one. TikTok shop. It's not just letting creators add a buy link to the videos that they're posting.

No, no, Yetis, this is TikTok physical warehouses to hold made in China goods that'll be sold on TikTok. So you can buy a cute TikTok top in the TikTok app. Jack, is that three stage five zuckings? Only zuck can commit a stage five zucking. Good answer. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at TikTok? It's the spider defense strategy. Build a web so thick. You can't be untangling. Yet these, TikTok has been at risk of getting banned for years now.

But in March, Jack and I published a pod with this particular takeaway. TikTok is too lit to prohibit. That's what we said. And this was the idea. Our politicians don't have the political will to ban something so popular with constituents. And TikTok seems to agree. So they've gone from playing defense to play in offense. Exactly.

Each new product that we just described that they've added in the last month, it makes their connection to constituents even stronger. And the more connections it has with American voters, the harder it will be to ban. Both practically and politically. TikTok is building a spider web so thick, America can't untangle it. Jack, can you harness that ketturgy and whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? In 2023, women are powering the economy. It's the year of the she economy.

Women are working, they got pent up demand, and they're finally getting served. For our second story, McDonald's stock has had an all-time high, and it's testing a second restaurant chain early next year. Because old IP, it drives new sales. And our third and final story is TikTok. They're launching music, text, and e-commerce this summer. It's the spider defense strategy. You build a web so thick, America can't untangle you. But yeties, we're not done with the pod yet.

Here's what else you need to know today. I love how you do that, Jack. First, America's GDP rose 2.4% last quarter. quarter defying expectations of a recession. 2.4% economic growth. That's nothing like a recession. And second, MasterCard just reported that you're spending 150% more on international travel than before the pandemic.

Than before the pandemic? Like we said yet, he's less Magic Kingdom this year, more a Malfi. And finally, Congress just held a landmark panel on the existence of aliens with former Air Force leaders. If there's one thing that's going to bring us together. right now? It's UFOs. On TikTok. Now, time for the best

fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me because we got to answer that question from today's intro. What is the highest grossing shark movie of all time? It's shark week. We got to answer the question. What is it, Jack? It's not Jaws. It's not shark tail. It's not open water. And it's not the mag. No, it is

not. The highest grossing shark movie of all time? It's Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo. Remember those sharks? Fish are friends, not food. If you round up, this is definitely a shark movie, Jack. It's really not a shark movie, dude. They're in one scene.

They get the fifth head amount Rushmore. It's a cameo at best. That movie made $340 million at the U.S. box office and a billion dollars worldwide. Nemo! Yetis, you looked fantastic all week. Jack, you're looking can amazing over there, my friend. That's a stretch. That doesn't work, no.

Absolutely struggling. I'm rounding up on that one, too, man. Yeties, this weekend, you should absolutely play our T-Boy pop biz, pop quiz. Five questions on this week's pod. If you get it right, you can have the keys to the podcast. Play the quiz, celebrate some wins, and Jack and I will see you Monday.

These aren't keys. They're Ken's. Can't wait. And before we go, congratulations to legendary Yeti's Diane and Dedrick Sarzabah, who are getting married on their very own anniversary date. Congratulations to Brianna and Corey Gammon, who are getting married in Charleston with a bunch of oysters. They're going hard on the raw bar and Zachary Vidland is closing today on a new house

in his slamming salmon swim trunks. Happy birthday to Tong Puno in Manila in the Philippines. And parties, happy birthday down the street in San Francisco. Happy birthday to SEP in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. And Alvin Garcia, the official wine sommelier of the Anaheimdux, celebrate that birthday with a pinot. And happy birthday to Thomas the T-Bone O'Neill in El Paso, Texas. And Miranda, the banker Fairbanks, enjoy that financial logistics over in Chicago for your birthday. And happy birthday to Mani Patel in Orlando, Florida. And Nate Tasker turning 29 down in Denver. Katie Ann, big shout-out, happy birthday in Long Island City.

And Philip Locke, enjoy the birthday over in Oakland. Happy birthday to Nikki Velasco in Hermosa Beach, California. And Allison Hudson, happy birthday up in Detroit. Happy birthday to Alan Taylor in Raleigh, North Carolina. And Alexa Gavino is celebrating a birthday having, fun in New York City. And Kyle Morissette is celebrating their birthday, checking out some Barbieheimer. You can do it, Kyle.

You can do it. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. Bring the Kennergy. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Nick and I both own stock of Spotify. Nice job feeling the Ken, like, just rolling with that, dude. That was not easy to pick up on.

That was great. This is not enough. What else did you do? say besides cana. Oh, Ken out of Ken is where you fucked it off. Oh, and then you said, uh, yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

That I said, yeah.