The Best One Yet - 🤩 “Too Hot To Selfie” — Poparazzi’s #1 summer app. Urban Outfitters’ discount death spiral. Biden’s blue collar $6T.

Episode Date: June 1, 2021

Poparazzi has risen to #1 in Apple’s App Store after just 1 week of existence — but is it a Snapchat or an HQ Trivia? Urban Outfitters may have suddenly saved itself from the Discounting Death Spiral… of Death. And Joe Biden just introduced his 1st budget proposal as president: For $6 trillion it’s not about what’s on the menu, it’s about who gets the check.$URBN $SNAPGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that too:https://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. This is Jack. And this is Snacks Daily. Welcome back. It is Tuesday, not Monday, June 1st. Monday's the new T-Boy Tuesday, Nick. I like where you're going, Jack. That's still the best one yet.

This is the best one yet. For our first story, the number one app in the Apple store right now. As summer kicks off, it's the app of anti-selfies. Paparazzi, you don't control your own profile. Your profile controls you. Second story, President Joe Biden whipped up his first budget proposal. Six trillion bucks, Nick. It's not what's on the menu.

you, it's who grabs the check. For our third and final story, Urban Outfitter stock, searched 15% last week because it's sick of giving out 15% off promotions. And they managed to end the discounting death spiral of death. But before we hit those fantastic stories. Which, can I interrupt you for a second, Jack? Sure. This is an insanely good mix today.

Fantastic mix. Quite a way to return from a more day weekend. But Nick, have you seen the one where it's the best one yet? Jack, I prefer the one where Jack eats an octopus, but you still haven't told me. if you like that octopus from two weeks ago. It's grilled octopus, and if you have to ask... Yeah, you can't afford it for it. But Stackers, the Friends reunion dropped on HBO Max on Thursday.

Pretty understandable, because when you run out of ideas for spinoffs and shmovies, here's what you do. You steal from Bravo and you film a reunion special with six people on one giant couch. Starring all six original cast members with cameos from all the actors who made the cameos on the original friends. And co-starring some minor plastic surgery work. Except for Joey, because that chin, Jack, that chin is timeless.

He's been eating a lot of sandwiches the past 16 years. But by the way, Snackers, the numbers here. Each cast member from Friends got paid a whopping $2.5 million to show up, to hang out with old friends, to read old scripts, to listen to fans say how amazing their show originally was. Where do I sign up? Snackers, the Streaming Wars pay top dollar for streamable content. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at the Friends Reunion special? Ross and Rachel are the dream M&A deal that fell apart.

Here's the thing. On screen, they were a couple. Offscreen, they weren't a couple. We found out this weekend, apparently in real life, they really liked each other. It's like the Apple Icar that has never, never, never been. We all thought it was going to happen like, I don't know, five years ago. It still could maybe happen someday. And we're all hoping it kind of does happen.

And it ain't over until Phoebe Singh's Smellycat. Let's hit our three stories. You're tuned in the snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. It's snacks about the here ain't food. It's ear candy. They don't reflect the views of the rob of her family. It's all information.

just so you know we're not recommending any securities nope 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 robberhood financial LLC member fenra slash sipc for our first story just as beach selfie season begins an anti-selfie app is number one in the app store true story paparazzi it's just a feature so we got to ask well end up like Snapchat or HQ trivia. Now, Snackers, check the Born on date in this thing. This app launched on Monday eight days ago. It's a newborn baby app. It's adorable. It's not even wearing those pull-up diapers yet. You still have to, like, change it.

He's so cute. It's so cute. It's only raised $20 million. This is like a teeny speck. In eight days, it went from one tiny atom in the universe of apps you can download to number one on the Apple App Store. Number one all week long. It's a camera app and it's got one key feature here.

This feature is it disables your front-facing selfie camera when you're using it. And the result, Jack, of having this one single pretty straightforward feature? It means you can only take pictures of other people, not of yourself. It says, Snackas, we know what you're thinking here. Is that it? Not quite. No. It's also a social media app, and you're supposed to post the pictures you take and then

tag your buddies who you took pictures off. So here's the wild thing, Snackas. Your profile? It isn't the picks that you posted. It's the picks others have taken and tagged you in. Now, you can restrict. and take down tagged pictures that you don't like from your profile. But other than that, you don't control your profile in paparazzi.

Your profile controls you. Or as the CEO likes to say, on paparazzi, you are your friend's paparazzi, and they are yours. I mean, Jack, Keanu. Socrates. Now, this doesn't feel like an innovation, Jack. It feels like a micro-innovation. It's an innovation. In fact, Dick, I think it's a reverse innovation because it brings us back to a day when smartphones only had one camera, not a selfie camera.

I think you're totally ironic. It's a Zoolander innovation. What is this? An innovation for ants? No, I think the founders of this app, that is the point. It brings us back to a simpler time. Yeah, because some call Gen Z, Millennials, Zellennials, the selfie generation. Because smartphone pictures of yourself and posting them on social media, that's the oxygen that we bring. So then here comes paparazzi right before this big summer and they're offering an alternative. A way to appreciate your friends. Enjoy the moment and think less about how is this moment going to translate to my social media page. It's still a social media app. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. That's why venture capitalists and influencers promoted the hell out of this app on social media last week. Now it got viral. It got to

number one just in time for the hot fact summer kickoff. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at paparazzi? Papparazzi can follow one of two paths, either Snapchat or HQ trivia. Snackers, you can describe paparazzi with one slide. Honestly, they probably did this in their pitch deck. Here it is. Very simple app. They're like simple. Wow. It actually reminds us, Snackers, of Snapchat, which started with just one simple feature, disappearing messages you could send your buddy that go away in 24 hours. And Jack and I think it also reminds us of HQ trivia, which also started with one very simple feature, live trivia games to win prizes. Paparazzi the app, like Snapchat and HQ trivia early on, it's just a feature. It's not a full company yet. But here are the two paths. Snapchat evolved beyond one feature into an $100 billion social media success.

HQ trivia, on the other hand, shriveled like a grape laid out in the sun. And you know what? Clubhouse looks like it might too. Kind of. So, paparazzi, it is an early fave for Apple of the summer. We'll see if it blossoms like a Snapchat. Or if it trivels like HQ trivia. For our second story, the unprecedented $6 trillion with the T government budget has arrived right before the weekend.

The big question isn't how to pay for this budget. It's weather we'll pay for it at all. Okay. Jack, we were stock. in the car to head down the Pacific Coast Highway. Apparently, President Biden kicked off the three-day weekend with a large budget idea. Joe Biden unveiled his proposal for the U.S. federal government spending for the next year. Okay, it's his first as president, and the signal is very clear. You don't have to read all the fine print. The government should continue playing

a huge role in the economy and in society. And to do that, it's going to cost six trillion dollars, basically three apples. You can't even use lifts for this kind of a thing. And let's give some more context, Nick, that would mean that 29% of every dollar spent and earned next year would be from the U.S. federal government. And when you're talking about a number like that, we know you're thinking Snackers. So what's actually in this budget idea? Huge investments to keep the U.S. competitive globally in the long term. We're talking clean energy, education, and infrastructure, and the family plans that had already been announced earlier this year. Let's get some numbers. 22% more funding for the Environmental Protection Agency. There you go. You also got 41% more

funding for the Department of Education for teachers. And Joe Biden's stated goal here, because, you know, you got to pitch this thing. You got to brand this thing. You got to package it up and ship it like a direct consumer startup. He didn't call it the new deal. That was a hundred years ago. He called it a new bargain for blue collar middle class America. But here's the thing.

It's just the opening bid right now to make this happen. Make my seventh grade social studies teacher proud. Oh, yeah. Congress controls the purse strings. So it's the House and the Senate that are actually going to decide on the budget. I'm sorry. Is that Jack Krimper? my co-host or a bill sitting here on Capitol Hill. I'm a bill. I'm a bill. All right, Snackers. The next

question you're going to ask, how are these negotiations going in Congress? Are we seen any progress yet? We're not. So if we look back, Joe Biden, we already know, wants nearly two trillion dollars of new spending on hard infrastructure, the hard infrastructure. Roads and bridges. But he also wants the soft infrastructure, the soft stuff. Child care, parental leave, long-term care, and renewable energy, for example. Republicans, they just want to focus on the hard infrastructure stuff, the traditional infrastructure stuff. Republicans also don't want to pay for any of this with higher taxes on the wealthy corporations like Joe Biden and the Democrats do. So Republicans, they want to use fees like toll booze or gas taxes so that people who are actually using the stuff

are actually paying for it. Which leads to Republicans this week, finally making a counterproposal, but it's less than half the size of what Joe Biden originally asked for. So if we look at the big infrastructure bill and this proposed budget, the best chance that this has a passing is basically within a 100% partisan vote. So you got like basically all the Democrats supporting this single thing. And Biden can only lose one single vote given the 50-50 break in the Senate. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are all us Americans? The larger battle is over who gets the check, not what's on the menu. Yeah, snackers, there is a major divide in Congress on whether government programs in Biden's

plan are even worth spending money on. But the existential divide that's been in Congress for decades is how we should pay for any new government spending that happens. So Biden does think that the investments will make the U.S. economy more competitive right now and in the long term. But they also forecast only 2% long term GDP growth, which is rather modest. And since this budget won't pay for itself, the next question is, how is $6 trillion dollars of government spending if passed going to actually be paid for? One camp, mostly Republicans, think any new spending should be paid for with new debt. Just add to the deficit. The other camp, mostly Democratic, thinks it's time for the wealthy and for corporations to actually pay more.

So the bigger battle here is over who's going to pay the check if we pay it at all because we could just add to debt. It's not about what's actually on the menu. For our third and final story here, Urban Outfitters searched 15% last week because nothing is on sale anymore. Sorry people, we have to tell you. And that's a good thing because it means they're ending the discounting death spiral of death. Now, based in lovely Philadelphia, probably near Ridden House Square, because everything is in Philadelphia. They own anthropology. They own free people. and they own urban outfidders.

One company, three brands. Technically, it is the boho chic hat trick. Now, revenue's last quarter for this Philly-based company surged 58% to nearly $1 billion. Now, they also did something pretty cool by like nerdy accountant standards, I would say, Jack. They refused to compare this year's results to 2020's results. I mean, honestly, it's easy to beat last year's revenue when all your stores were closed last year because the pandemic.

Of course he did better this year. Instead, they wanted to push themselves and set a high bar. So they compared 2021. first quarter results to the same results from 2019 pre-pandemic. And boom, they still beat revenues by 7%. That's right. Now, we don't know anyone at Urban, but if you work at Urban, Jack and I just want to say, like, that was pretty cool. We're impressed. That wasn't cool. But the real story here isn't what Urban is selling. It's how they're selling it. Snackers, here's what Jack and I find fascinating about Urban. Urban has just decided to end the era of the discount. Say goodbye to

last chance final sale, 50% off deals. It's going to hit you with an email and a post on Instagram and then you're going to get a follow-up email when it comes to this kind of stuff. It's a classic scenario we've all seen. We've been there. Urban Outfitters discount some acid-watched overalls by 25% but you don't buy them for 25% off. Now you know, because you know, if you just wait a couple weeks, they'll probably drop 50% and they'll email you about six times about that discount.

75% off. You waited two months and you won that gamble. It pulled George Costanzi, you grab them, you hide them away in the store, and then you wait until they're 95% off and then you leave with them. Eventually, there's a true thing. Actually, no, they won't. No, they won't. Funny change that happened this year, though, Snackers. After a year of been indoors, your wardrobe, it needs a refresh. I mean, I hate to say this, but we all need the refresh. You need a refresh. So this is Urban Outfitter's opportunity to maybe stop offering so many discounts. And they did a wild test last quarter. Here's what they did. They slashed the number of promotional events they were doing.

for their clothes by a whopping 69%. They had the fewest number of items on sale last quarter than ever before. So the big question, were people going to shop? Did they get insulted? Did they get angry at urban outfitters? Did they walk in and be like, excuse me, associate, what's on sale? And they're like, nothing's on sale. And did they storm out of there? No. Did they just throw the candelabra from anthropology on the ground? Instead of rhetorical questions, we'll tell you, they actually sold a bunch of stuff, the number of full-priced items that sold surged by 29%. Apparently, people were willing to pay top price for that top. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Urban Outfitters?

This is the first step to ending the discounting death spiral of death. Snackers, for years, consumers, we became trained to wait for the sales. Full price. That was for suckers. You didn't do it. It's so much bigger, though, than just Urban. Because when Urban offers a discount, it leads to a price war with other fashion labels that Urban is competing against. And then Urban has to do a 40% off sale through Independence Day,

boom, gap. Then they got to match that to compete through July 4th. That cycle is the discounting death spiral of death between the consumer and the seller. And it's been the top crusher of profits from American Eagle to Jay Crew to anybody else in apparel. And that's why Jack and I think Urban's test of full priced items last quarter was a game changer. The pandemic and subsequent revenge spending that's happening right now made the end of discounts possible for Urban Outer. fitters. So we're thinking next, you can see Abercrombie and Fitch, Levi's, Ralph Lauren, test this whole ditching the discount thing and go full price only on most of their stuff. Investors were impressed with Urban's big quarterly sales truck. Because it broke out at it,

a discounting death spiral of death. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us? Now that we're back, we're all a little rested. We got a four-day work week. What do we got? Papparazzi is the early favorite for app of the summer. So it's going to evolve like Snapchat or is it going to shrivel like an HQ trivia. Joe Biden just proposed a $6 trillion federal government budget, which will be heavily debated. Yeah, so what's on the menu? That's fight number one. How to pay for the check is an even bigger fight.

Urban Outfitter stopped putting clothes on sale last quarter. So the discounting death spiral of death could be dying. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. I think this is his third jack. David Crocey from lovely Des Moines, Iowa has a New York snack fact for us. The Los Angeles Dodgers got their name, of course. from the Brooklyn Dodgers. Which leads to the next question, where the Brooklyn Dodgers get the whole Dodgers name thing from?

We know what you're thinking. The baseball players were so fast on the Dodgers because they played dodge ball in their spare time. It actually is because of the street cars. Oh, the street cars, Jack, the deadly street cars. Yes, Brooklyn was the second city in the United States to get electric trolleys that you could just jump on in the middle of the avenue and get to A to B. Here's thing, no one had moms at the time who knew about the whole look both ways before you cross the street. thing. And so no one looked both ways before they crossed the street. A lot of issues with that. So the Brooklyn Dodgers was kind of a public service announcement reminding Brooklyners to look

both ways and dodge those dang trolle. Jack, I kind of love how you whipped up the takeaways on us there. If you can dodge a street car, you can dodge a baseball. Snackers, you look fantastic. Welcome back from Memorial Day weekend. Jack, full disclosure on a long road trip this past weekend, basically just listened to our podcast a lot. You did some revenge listening, huh? It was revenge listening. It was revengeless. Snackers, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go,

happy birthday to Snacker, Michelle Bradford Reynolds, also becoming a new mom jack. Heard you're thinking about the name, Jack. It's a great name. Nick will not take any offense. I fully support the Jack name.

Nick, you're a great guy. Happy birthday to Pernav Ball in Sydney, Australia. And to Kevin Baker and his wife's cat in Queensland, Australia. And James Villa in Madrid, Spain. And Ernesto Calvo in Panama City, and Fernando Bravo in Austin, Texas. And Maisie Sullivan, happy birthday in Cedar Grove, New Jersey. And Paul Mamboor in Miami, Florida.

And Michael Coked in South Bend, Indiana. And Ryan Sidebottom in Taylor, Michigan. And Steve Schiff, happy birthday in Saginaw, Michigan. And Zara Cruz in Houston, Texas. And Z. Hernandez in Eastville, California. And Harry Ronski in Boise, Idaho. And congrats to Tofoon Me and Beatrice, who are engaged in San Francisco, Jack. I'm just going to assume he did it at Chrissy Field.

Or somewhere beautiful. Congrats to On Bao and Kendra, who are you. get married after a two-year pandemic wait. I guess our invites got lost in the mouth. It's all good. And Gina and Eddie Garant, congrats on the anniversary in San Diego. And to anyone else celebrating anything today,

make it a team. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick owned stock of Apple. The Robin Hood Snacks podcast you just heard reflects the opinions of only the host who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial LLC and does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates.

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. Bill LAMO, Bill.