The Best One Yet - “To milk dip or not to milk dip” — Oreos’ secret squad. Map app madness. Stocking stimulus.

Episode Date: December 18, 2020

We’re looking at the strategy behind Oreos’ double-stuffed Lady Gaga Halloween limited edition Oreo. Amazon whipped up a new map app that says more about its real profit puppy. And we’re looking at the government stimulus that could drop in your stocking before Christmas.$MDLZ $AMZN $GOOGGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @TBOYJack @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Learn 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. And this is Snacks Daily. It is Friday, December 18th. One week before Christmas, we got early gifted with record high stock prices today. Combination of the Santa Rale and the Hanukkah Harry hump, Jack, is this our best one yet? This is a T-boy for our first story. There is a secret team behind your double-stuffed, limited-ed edition Oreos. Jack, it is so secret. We don't even know their name, but we do know their strategy. For our second story, Google Maps? Yep. Apple Maps. Paper maps. Big fan. And soon we're going to have Amazon Maps. Amazon Maps. Snackers, we got a big update coming to your surprisingly most use app. For our third and final story,

we have a sequel, Economic Stimulus, part two, the stocking stuffer. Snackers, we're looking at America's most important payout of the year. But before we jump into that wonderful mix of stories, Jack, we have packed our bag Snackers to go nowhere. To go nowhere. We're going nowhere. I picked up my toothbrush. I put the tooth brush back in the same place. Jack and I are taking a little bit of vacation. It involves going from one room to another room. I'll be in Snowy, Vermont. Jack's wearing a flannel to ensconce a bear.

Nick will be in a room in California, and Elon will be in Texas because of taxes. Texas and Texas and Taxes. Snackers, we got to rest our larynxes, and we got to clean out our microphones. I'm going to disassemble my microphone with a blindfold and then reassemble it with the lights off. Then we got to bathe our profit puppies,

take off the work leisure wear, put on some net leisure wear. Honestly, Snackers, for the next two weeks during vacation, I'm going to lie down on a mattress, matches, matches, and watch like a trilogy of trilogies. But Jack and I promise you, we will be right back in the action right after New Year's January 4th. And we don't want to leave you hungry, Snackers, so we whipped up some care packages for you for while we're away. Jack and I got you guys a special surprise gift. Jack, you unwrap it. You tell it. You tell it. You tell this thing. Three special snacks episodes over the next two weeks. First episode, Jack, what's the surprise drop?

This coming Monday, just three days from now, our best of 2020 Snacks album drops in the podcast player you're listening to right now. All right. So we whipped up, you know, yours and our three favorite stories from the worst year yet. A week later, the Monday after Christmas, our snacks year and review episode drops. All right, this one's our three biggest takeaways of 2020. We're summing the whole thing up, takeaways on takeaways. A week after that, the first business day of 2021 are three big business wishes for 2021.

All right, this one's our personal favorite. Three ideas of ours that we think are brilliant and our moms agree. They totally agree on this. We hope these brilliant ideas are taken into action by the companies themselves next year. And Jack and I can be in no way held accountable if they do not happen. Snackers, we love you. Yes, we do. We love this pod.

So true. But we also love our family, so we got to spend some time with them too. We hope you do too, but the next three Mondays, you're getting three special snack packs. Let's hit our three stories. into snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. The snacks about the hair ain't food

is 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.

Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Robohood Financial, LLC, member FINRA SIPC. For our first story, Oreos, has an absurdly secret team behind all its viral flavors. And the strategy Oreos is using is the same one Amazon got billions from.

All right, Snackers, we know what you're thinking here. We were just chatting about secret teams. Well, if you thought Facebook's secret zucking team from yesterday was secret, oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God, Jack. There is a squad at Oreos that is so secret. How secret is it? The CEO doesn't even know about them.

Oreos, the original sandwich. Now, Oreos, the famous black and white cookies, They were developed in Chelsea Market, New York City, 108 years ago. Yeah, so it was actually, actually, Jack, right near our old market snacks office, right in meatpacking, two blocks away. Yeah, yeah, just north of 14th Street on 9th Avenue.

On 9th Avenue is Oreo Way. We like to call it Oreo Way. And they launched with a very New York tagline, Oreos, Milk's favorite cookie. Yeah, I love that. There's something so charming about that. I really, that could fit on a T-shirt. Now, Oreos is part of Chicago-based Mondalese,

a global corporation whose stock is up this year because everyone's snacking from home. You're snacking while you're snacking. Now, Jack and I jumped into the financials here. Oreos is their top-selling product in their top-selling division. That division, biscuits. Biscuits. It's the biscuit division. Not like dinner biscuits for Thanksgiving.

No, no, no. Cookies, but for some reason the British call them biscuits. They make up the biscuit division about half of Mondalises $26 billion in annual sales. Now, when it comes to Oreos, there's a jelly donut. that version. A churros, a wasabi version, a tiramisu version, a fireworks, a peeps version, even a Lady Gaga's limited edition version of Oreos. All the Jaguarial I needed to see was a little bit of slamming salmon. We jumped into the New York Times article and noticed that there was one team responsible for all these viral and seasonal flavors. This secret team comes out with the new

edition of Oreos every 25 days on the 25 days. Honestly, they're pulling this off like the remember the Monopoly boards, Jack? Absolutely. And, In the limited edition Oreos, they're highly strategic. For instance, Mississippi Mud Pie Oreos, those are only sold in Dollar General stores in the south of the U.S. But get this, they are also able to catch trends before they become a trend. Jack, can we talk about the Oreo Supreme Edition? Well, you know Supreme is an asset that appreciates in value. So they had the first ever streetwear cookie collaboration with Oreos. I get this Snackers. $3 retail for the Supreme Oreo. They were selling on eBay for $18,000.

a supreme Oreo. Might as well put those Oreos on StockX. The result of this strategy is an impressive number. Sales of novelty Oreos are up 12% in the past three years. Okay, so we were impressed. Jack and I'm like, all right, makes sense. You see the novelty, I'm going to get the Lady Gaga slamming salmon Oreo. Crucially, though, 15 to 20% of those limited edition Oreo sales,

they go to new customers who are trying Oreos out for the first time. So that kind of makes sense. But that's when Jack and I noticed there is a fascinatingly surprisingly surprised. number here that we didn't expect. The end result is even bigger sales increases for the OG black and white Oreos cookies, 22% higher in the last three years. Viral Oreos go up 12% in sales. OG simple classic Oreos jumped 22% in sales. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Mondalise's Oreos? The flywheel effect doesn't just work in the tech industry. The flywheel effect basically builds features on features that added together create a whole lot of

momentum and new sales for the brand, most famously with Amazon. I think there's a book called The Flywheel Effect about Amazon, because Amazon starts with low prices, which drives traffic from customers, which drives higher sales, which attracts more third-party sellers on Amazon.com. And those third-party sellers then add more products, which brings more competition, which then lowers the prices, which then brings more traffic and then higher sales. It's a virtuous cycle of more, better, and profitableer. And just like that works for Amazon, Amazon, the flywheel effect can work for good old-fashioned cookies, too. Biscuits. OREO's viral flavors, they drive new eaters. The new eaters, they try the old flavors. The new eaters become

old eaters. And then that old eater tries the viral flavor. And then that old eater buys the viral flavor, but then they also buy the original flavor. The flywheel effect doesn't just drive Bezos's billions. It also drives biscuits. For our second story, Amazon has created, get this, a map that you're going to start seeing in your apps. Maps could bust the Google Maps monopoly. All right, Snackers, we got a little, not a game. I guess this is just like a little experiment. Funny activity. You can zoom a friend on this thing. Ready? Open your iPhone, if you got an iPhone right now. Go to settings, then click on screen time. Just scroll down a little bit. And then click on activity. And Jack, what are you going to see?

This is going to show you which apps you use the most on your phone. And we'll bet you that Google Maps is right up there at the top. It's probably up there because get this insane number from Google Maps. One billion people use Google Maps every month. One billion. Google Maps is basically, man, a third of a Facebook, many, many lifts. That kind of demand is probably why Amazon just launched Amazon location. Break the cardinal rule of one syllable better than three syllables. Blade. Now you're not going to see this Amazon map immediately because it's for app developers who need to build a map or like GPS feature into whatever app they're building for someone. If you're building a bike or scooter sharing app, that requires a map feature inside.

If you're building a delivery app, first of all, there are too many. Second of all, that's going to require a map. If you're like a fintech company and you're trying to show your customers where the ATMs are, that's going to require a map. But this is a big deal that Amazon's working on a map because Google Maps has a map monopoly right now. On the consumer side, Google Maps is always a top 20 app in the app store, beating Twitter, being Amazon Prime, even beating Disney Plus. Jack and I just checked out, they're also beating DoorDash,

they're beating Venmo, they're beating who you wouldn't think they'd be beating. It's a big deal. And then on the business side, if you have an app that includes a map feature, it's probably paying Google for the rights to use their Google Maps Geo Services. That's right. Google's making big bucks here if you want to include Google Map in your Geo services. By the way, extremely hard for Jack and I say Maps and Apps this many times in this many sentences. I was thinking of the same thing.

Now, two years ago, Google realized the insane power they have with Google Maps because so many other apps were dependent on them for those geo services. So then Google pulled a move that only Google would pull. Google jacked up the price for access to Google Maps by 15 times Snackers. What are you going to do about it? Oh, Apple Maps? Cute kid. They charge 15 times more because they're a monopoly so they can. Why don't you start using Bing as your default search engine too? When Amazon announced Amazon Locations yesterday,

they said they would charge companies a fraction of what Google charges for access to their GPS services. That cost thing is key here. Because first of all, Amazon Locations is probably going to be an inferior product to Google Maps when it first starts off. No doubt. But it's going to be way cheaper. And that's really important if you're a startup trying to keep cost low because you're building a new app. And Amazon will probably improve the maps quality over time because you know the maps, it's learning. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies

for this Amazon Map app? Amazon Web Services should be their own company. Snackers, Amazon Web Services, AWS, it was mentioned 42 times in the last Amazon earnings report. We looked at Amazon's press releases. In two random days this month, December 6 and 7th, AWS got five of their own press releases from Amazon. You're getting special child treatment. Now, AWS is Amazon's side hustle cloud business, but really it's powering like every other business that you're doing business with. They're generating just 12% of Amazon's revenue, but they also create more than half of Amazon's total corporate profits. That's right, AWS is over half of Amazon's profits. We think Amazon should eventually split off AWS. Let it be its own business that makes its own profits.

Let it scale even faster, and Amazon can then make some money. by spitting the company off. I bet this would be like a multi-hundred billion dollar company. And the key part for Amazon, AWS has nothing to do with the rest of Amazon's online shopping mall, so it won't hurt Amazon when it's missing. And it will be easy to break it off and make it separate from the company. So if Amazon Web Services were its own publicly traded company, this whole location story that we just talked about, that would be a really big deal for them. We'd probably see AWS's stock price jump. And oh, by the way, the ticker symbol AWS, it's available.

For our third and final story, Congress is racing to pass a $900 billion stimulus bill so we can all survive the COVID winner. We called this bill the stim, because it's pretty much half of the stimulus bill we got last time. We waited twice as long, we're getting half as much. Snackers, we are finishing the year talking about the biggest economic event in a century

that happened in 2020. Yeah, because when our country got sick with COVID, it basically blew a giant hole out of the economy. reminder, 22 million unemployed, 8 million Americans fell into poverty. 300,000 and counting have died. We're talking serious, serious, and large numbers. Now, like a responsible caring parent, back in March, Congress responded to this crisis with financial medicine. Yeah, here were the big numbers from the summer. Three trillion with a T dollars worth of support for businesses, for hospitals, for states,

for local governments. That was a big deal. Don't forget, 600 extra bucks a week in unemployment benefits and $1,200 cash money checks sent in the mail. Nine months later, COVID is worse than ever. So finally, Congress is doing something about it. Again. This isn't official yet. No, it's not. But Congress has promised not to set up their holiday out-of-office messages until they pass a bill. All right, so Jack and I are finishing like our final pods of the year. And it looks basically like we're getting $900 billion coming into the economy to help out with everyone's bills. The details aren't official, but it looks like, A $600 check will be sent to all Americans making less than $100 grand.

Jack, looking at the whiteboard here, about half as much. And $300 a week in extra unemployment benefits for those who've lost their job. Again, about half as much. Plus, help for people to pay their rent and for states to administer the COVID vaccine. Also, you're getting some money for schools, for small businesses, and for a bunch of health care providers. So there's some good stuff here. Yeah, there's some really good stuff. Now, how will this be paid?

Same as the previous stimulus bill. We're putting it on the old government credit card, Jack, you know, increasing the national debt. And honestly, we think that's fine. Investors are very willing to lend to the U.S. federal government right now. Insanely low interest rate. So basically the interest, the government is paying on that credit card balance, lowest in history. It's a good time to borrow. So Jack, let's put away the Amex and ask, what is the takeaway for our buddies over in the U.S. economy?

Small businesses have lost in 2020. Big businesses have won. Snackers, straight-up, saddest business story of 2020 is the damage to our favorite mom and pop and local businesses and bodegas across the country. We all know a restaurant or a movie theater or a music venue or a bar that is closed permanently this year. Okay. Case the point here. Bar Sardine, West Village. Jack and I used to go all the time after work burgers to celebrate the wins. Fantastic cheeseburger. Bowhouse, East Village, 14th Street. Nick and I would go there to celebrate the wins when we had less money. That bar sardine burger is an expensive.

burger. It was an expensive burger. Snackers, the PPP loans that were set up to help small businesses that wasn't nearly enough to offset what seems to be a year or more in lost business because of COVID. And here's the kicker. Instead of spending locally, we've been spending on digital companies in big boxes and they tend to be publicly traded. According to the Washington Post, 45 of the 50 biggest companies in the United States have been turning a profit since the national emergency was declared in March. That's a shockingly high number. So the transfer of success, from local business to bake business, that is a key driver

for why the stock market's at a record high right now, despite unemployment being at an absurd level. We sincerely hope that small businesses find a way to start again in 2021. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us over there? Oreo's new biscuit varieties drive sales of old biscuit varieties. It's the flywheel, which isn't just for tech. It's got biscuits too.

And biscuits aren't just for brits. Chicago does logistics. For a second story. Amazon Maps is for app developers, not you and me. AWS, you could and you should be your own separate company. Go, do your own thing. Just go. Get out of you. For our third and final story, Congress is about to pass the stim. Which is stimulus, but about half of the stimulus. We hope small businesses are going to get a fresh start next year. By the way, Jack, AWS, it needs that Ben Affleck moment in the car. Is this a Goodwill Hunting reference? It is a Goodwill hunting reference. I do not know what scene you're talking about.

For our snack fact, we got a great one, tweeted in by Jesse in lovely Denver, Colorado. Jesse heard us talk about UPS and FedEx, splitting the country in half to efficiently deliver the vaccine to America. Now, you maybe thought that they would use the Mississippi River to do this division. That's what we thought. It makes sense. We don't even know if that's true, but Jesse points out that radio stations in the U.S. do use the Mississippi River to divide the country. We had no idea about this. Get this Snackers, even though we're in the audio industry. stations east of the Mississippi River start with the letter W like WQXR FM.

And stations west of the Mississippi River use a K to start it off like KRDO in Denver, Colorado. If you're in New York, you're getting the W radio stations. If you're in Denver, you get into K radio stations. Are there any islands in the middle of the Mississippi River? That's what I would have. Snackers, you looked fantastic this year. We're going to drop three more episodes for you, even though this feels kind of like the last episode. to do. Monday, Monday, Monday. Nonetheless, it's our privilege and honor to be snacking with you.

So when you're enjoying your holidays, you can still ask H-Y-H-Y-S-D. Spread the have-you-had-H-N-Ey cheer. If you know, you know. And before we go, big happy birthday to Brian over in Nairobi, Kenya. And Montana liquey in Ottawa, Canada. And Richard Enloe in Palm Desert, California. And Nolan Hellickson in Kiowa Island, South Carolina. and Brian Monroe half birthday in Mesa, Arizona. Happy birthday, Terry Zinn in San Francisco. And happy birthday, Tasmoon, over in Brooklyn,

and Sebastian in New York. And Jorge Aguilar in Oceanside, California. And Ray Robertson in Woodbridge, Virginia. And Nick and Howdy Wood, Tennessee. Nick, it turns out Nicole Hyder Scheid is starting law school at Northwestern not too shabby. Impressive timing because John Kellyn Jr. is graduating from his MBA over in Minneapolis.

You know my middle name is Kellan and my real first name is John. That sounds very similar. So Jack is graduating from his MBA over Minneapolis. Congrats, Alyssa and Danny Zauderer are celebrating their anniversary in Roslyn, I think New York? And Avik and Nikila anniversary in Seattle. And yes, Jack, definitely New York. Good call.

And Mike and Kelly Sanker, big snackers celebrating their two-month anniversary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Luca and Alexandra, a Jets fan and a Steelers fan, put aside their differences, got engaged, impressive. And Elliot Sazan is ditching. his buddies in Brooklyn to get a new apartment because he got engaged. It's understandable. And Wesley Park, happy birthday over in Chicago. Which does logistics. Which does logistics. Since Amazon was mentioned in two different stories today, I should probably tell you, this is Jack. I own stock of Amazon. 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.