The Best One Yet - 🐑 "Ugly Beautiful" — Uggs' boots are back. Facebook turns 20. The Secret of Great Packaging.

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

What’s that model wearing? Uggs. The sheepskin boot brand’s sales have surged to an all-time high — Because nostalgia follows a 20-year life cycle.It’s Facebook’s 20th birthday and Zuck’s baby just had its best week ever — Meta stock is up 5x in the last 14 months because of Meta’s metamorphosis: From people to profit.And a new study just discovered the type of packaging that sells the best — Because it’s what’s on the “inside” that counts, but what’s on the “outside” that sells.$DECK $CROX $METASubscribe 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. Welcome back. It is Monday, February 5th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. It is a T-boy, Jack. We're serving up the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Three stories for today's show.

What do we got, Jack? For our first story, the top performing shoe right now is Ugs. Ugs. Ugs are everywhere. Like, it's Y2K. Again. Eddie's Ugs just confirmed our 20-year rule of nostalgia. For our second story.

Happy 20th birthday to the Facebook. Congratulations, Zuck. Happy birthday, man. Facebook was created in Zuck's dorm room 20 years ago. So to celebrate, Zuck is giving every shareholder a bonus, including himself. For our third and final story, new data shows that the most important part of a product is actually the package. So, Busties, we're going to tell you the one type of packaging that sells the best. But before we hit that wonderful mix of stories, Nick.

I mean, what a perfect mix to kick off the week. Love the mix, Jack. You may have heard of diamond rings. And you may have heard of diamond hands. But can we talk about diamond teeth? Diamond teeth. Because Yeti's diamond teeth are a million dollar business. That's right.

The New York Times interviewed the dentist who pioneered diamond teeth implants. No, yeties, we're not talking about golden ears. We're not talking about platinum caps and we are not talking about gem grills. We're talking about replacing entire teeth with diamond stones. Well, it turns out Dr. Thomas Connolly and love, Los Angeles installs diamond teeth every single day. There's probably a Sky Mall magazine somewhere saying Dr. Thomas Connolly is the top diamond teeth doctor in the United States.

Well, he's making million dollar molars, Jack. And he's making seven-figure smiles. Jack, could you jump in and whip up some context for us over there? Rapper Post Malone. You've probably seen it. He has two six-carat diamonds in his teeth. And those diamond teeth costs $1.6 million. Or wide receiver, Odell Beckham Jr., his veneers are in.

encrusted with 13 carrots of diamonds. And those diamond teeth cost $1.8 million. But rapper offset, he's got 40 carrots of diamonds in his mouth. That's a $3 million mouth. Now, Nick and I should point out, if you're getting diamond curious, diamonds may be flawless. Diamond teeth are not. Apparently, Post Malone's diamond tooth fell out in a chicken McNugget in Rome, Italy.

His diamond tooth tooth ruined his Italian vacation. And the tooth fairy better bring more than a dollar for that thing, Jack. Nick, what's the worst part of having diamond teeth? You got to brush your teeth and then you got to polish your teeth. Yeah, your bathroom routine, it just doubled. But Jack, what's the best part about having diamond teeth? Diamonds don't get cavities ever. More cake, please, Jack.

Let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 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. Start the show. For our first story, Ugs, the shoe company, just saw its stock heat an all-time high. Ugs sales are surging. And it's all thanks to our favorite rule, which is about nostalgia. All right, Jack, I got to throw you back to childhood.

The first time you saw a pair of Ugs described the situation for me, Set the scene. They were worn by a woman who also had juicy Couture sweatpants, and she was definitely in a food court in a shopping mall. Well, then Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie traded their lubotan heels for Ugg boots on their TV show The Simple Life. And then Brittany was rocking a denim skirt and Abercrombie top with a huge moose logo and Ugs.

Ugs and leggings. They went together like peanut butter and jelly while we were growing up. But the origin story of Ugg's shoes actually had nothing to do with mid-2000s MTV influencers. We actually have to go back to the late 70s, early 80s. That's when Uggs really began. Ugs was founded by an Australian surfer in California. The fur-lined sheepskin boot was branded Ugs in 1978. But it was 20 years later when sales took off

because that's when Uggs started booming in New Jersey shopping malls. Ugs became so popular in the mid-2000s that Tom Brady decided to become the face of man Ugs. But then, just like when Tom Brady touched crypto, Uggs started to do. to disappear. Uggs had a lost decade until recently. Until now, because according to the numbers, Uggs sales are back, baby. Ugs is owned by publicly traded Decker Outdoor Company,

whose stock jumped by 15% on Friday. And Jack and I noticed it is all thanks to the recent Ugg sales surge out of nowhere. Over the holidays, sales of Ugs popped by 15% from the year before. I mean, Jack, it's like Y2K out there. Ugs are everywhere. Everywhere. Grab your tube tops and your Von Dutch trucker hats. We're getting the vibes. It's not just Uggs though. Decker also owns Hoka running shoes and Tiva Sandals, so their stock

is at an all-time high. But Jack and I did notice that this company mentioned Ugs 75 times on their earnings call. Ugs is the star. Ugs is why Decker has doubled in the last year and they're now worth $23 billion. Which is five lifts. Now one reason Ugs are cool again is because they've expanded from boots to clogs and sandals and even sneakers, too. It kind of appears like, Oggas are acting a lot more like Birkenstocks out there, Jack. Birkenstocks is leather, Ugs is brown suede, potato patata.

But yet he's Jack and I noticed there's another reason, a core reason why Ugs are suddenly featured in Vogue magazine. There's another reason, Ugs are the itchew. You don't wear the Ugs. The Ugs wear you. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Ugs? Nostalgia follows a 20-year life cycle,

and Ugs has proven the Ugs. that twice. Ah, Yeti's the 20-year rule of nostalgia. Nostalgia trends, they return every 20 years. Nostalgia is like cicadas. They come back every 20 years. For example, Ugs was popular in the early 1980s and then 20 years later, they were popular in the 2000s. And now 20 years after that, Ugs are popular again. Because what drives nostalgia is a certain level of novelty. It's ironic, but after 20 years, something old starts to feel new again. We've seen companies proved the rule of nostalgia before, and we've covered him on this pod. But Jack and I were talking before the show, and we've never seen a company prove this rule twice. Ugs aren't like

cicadas. They come back every 20 years. Yeah, these ugs is right in its third wave of popularity, and we could have predicted it. Because nostalgia follows a 20-year life cycle. For our second story, Zuck and Mehta just had their biggest week ever. Because Zuck replaced human intelligence with artificial intelligence. But before we jump into this story, Jack, we gotta whip up a shout out for a happy birthday over at Facebook, don't we, man?

Happy 20th birthday to Facebook, which was born on February 4th, 2004. 20 years ago, Zuck got dumped by some girl in the student union, and boom, we ended up getting Facebook. I still remember my first Facebook account. Oh, I remember it, too. I remember it, too. I could only use it when I got my middlebury.

dot edu email address. Yeah, I looked you up. I remember you were wearing a white tuxedo, your Facebook account. I know. My sister said it was a red flag, but I thought it was confidence. I knew it was confidence. I loved to check.

Well, the term beige flag didn't exist back then, but yeah, that's what it was. Green flag. But yet, he's the real birthday present for Zuck on his 20th anniversary of Facebook. It's that the last three months have been meta's best quarter ever. Last week, Meta announced their fourth quarter earnings. And we learned that four billion people logged into a meta-owned app. That's half the world logging into one. We also learned that meta's profits tripled in the fourth quarter to $14 billion.

That's $100,000 in profit every single minute. Profits were so outrageously strong for meta that they announced their very first dividend, which is coming this quarter. A quarterly check sent to every shareholder because you own shares of meta. Wall Street was thrilled. How much do they love this news, Jack? The stock jumped by 20%. That's for a trillion dollar company.

The stock jumped 20% in one day. Could you sprinkle on some context for us on what's going on with meta stock exactly? In the last 14 months, meta stock has quintupled. It's five times higher than it was 14 months ago. Happy birthday to the Facebook. But Yeti's Jack and I got curious. What is the reason behind Facebook huge profit surge? Basically, Meta traded out human intelligence for artificial intelligence.

Because you see, Yetis, Meta's workforce is now 22% smaller today than it was one year ago. Over the last 12 months, META laid off 19,000 people, which by our calculations saves them $2.3 billion in salaries every year. $2.3 billion. That's a lot of savings right there. But here is the interesting thing. Meta then replaced those humans with artificial intelligence. Basties, it turns out artificial intelligence is what actually helped META's advertising become way more lucrative over the last few months. Get this.

In the fourth quarter, the number of ad impressions for META's apps jumped by 21. We repeat, human eyeballs saw 21% more ads than the year before when they were scrolling on Instagram. And that mattress company, that bought an ad on Instagram, they paid more for it than they did the year before. Mattress, mattress, mattress. Meta enjoyed a higher average price of ads sold last quarter to. So what we're saying, 80s, is that you saw more mattress ads and Meta made more money on those mattress ads thanks to artificial intelligence, not human intelligence. Those AI tools made meta's ads even more effective. and more lucrative.

So Jack, as we cut some cake for Facebook's 20-year birthday, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at meta? Meta doesn't stand for Metaverse. It should stand for metamorphosis. Because Yetis, when Jack and I were grown up, Facebook, it was the shining example of tech optimism. Connecting people, friends, the internet for good. Even Obama made a speech at Facebook's headquarters.

You were poking people and it wasn't weird. But, Heddies, we now have a new view of Facebook, don't we, Jack? After all, Zuck just got ripped into by Congress publicly for the eighth time last week. And with the layoffs that Zuck just embarked on in the last year, not even the workers like being at META. Nick and I were thinking about it. The only one left who likes META is Wall Street. Because they literally let go of 20% of the company in order to triple profits and make investors happy. On Facebook's 20th birthday, we now know that META actually stands for metamorphosis.

From do-gooder tech optimist to Wall Street profit. Meta's metamorphosis is now complete. For our third and final story, a new study has discovered the secret to great packaging. Because when it comes to sales, packaging is more important than the product. And one type of package sells best. I mean, Jack, we both had different moms, but what did both of our moms teach us years ago, man? Don't judge a book by its cover. It's what's on the inside that counts.

Turns out, consumers, we judge. Everything buys its cover. Apparently as consumers are only buying things based on the cover, Jack. According to an episodes, Paul, 72% of us make our buying decisions influenced by the packaging. When it comes to buying something as a gift, we're even more affected by the packaging. 81% of us are influenced by the packaging for gifts.

Packaging is a make or break when you launch a product. So if packaging is that important, what type of packaging sells best? If packaging is key, what kind of packaging should people be designing out there? A couple of business school professors over at TCU say the answer is quite simple. Literally. Quite simple is the answer. Simple packaging is the answer.

If you want to maximize revenue, you got to go minimalist on the packaging. These professors at Texas Christian University studied 1,300 food and health products and looked closely at the packaging. Here's what they found. Less colors and fewer words and simpler fonts resulted in higher prices. It seems that consumers think that. simpler packaging means fewer ingredients. If there's like a psychological effect going on where if there was like less going on in the packaging and it appears more like an eggshell, it must be wholesome.

We connect simpler packaging to fewer ingredients, cleaner food, less artificial and higher quality. And the best example of this is the Cracker Test. These professors created two different packages, like two cardboard boxes, but put the same crackers inside the boxes. Then the professors found 362 students and asked them, how much are you willing to pay for these crackers? Again, two different packages, but same crackers inside. It's classic like business school campus gorilla research.

MBA messing with your heads kind of thing. Turns out the box that had simpler design, students were willing to pay $6.39 for those crackers. But for the package with complex design, students were only willing to pay $5.56 cents. It's the simpler box that customers were willing to pay. pay more for. And Yeties, that is why you're a trendy cold brew coffee and your favorite paraben-free shampoo and your organic cotton skims underwear all are using simple packaging. They use simple packaging

to let you know it's clean. Jack, you could put a bag of raccoon tails in a simply packaged smooth beige buttery bag and we would probably pay a pretty penny for them. Those are organic raccoon tails. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies put in products into packaging? It's what's on the inside counts, but it's what's on the outside that sells. There is one funny exception to this whole simple equals better packaging phenomenon. Junk food is the exception, because when you're buying candy, consumers actually want crazy wild packaging. That makes us want the junk food. That's what sells better. But the way Jack and I see it, even that exception proves the same

point. That packaging determines your purchase. For the food we eat every day, we want purity. And packaging signals that. But for candy and indulgences, we want crazy, and the packaging also signals that. Consumers are willing to make huge assumptions without ever opening the box. That's why it's what's on the inside that counts, but it's what's on the outside that sells. Packaging is the product. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Ugs were popular in the 80s, in the 2000s, and now they're back again.

Ugs are popular in the 2020s. Because the 20-year rule in nostalgia. Nistalgia follows a 20-year life cycle. For our second story, meta stock jumped 20% on Friday as fewer workers and more AI tripled profits. Meta doesn't stand for Metaverse anymore. It stands for metamorphosis. And our third and final story, a couple of professors at TCU found that people are willing to pay more for products with simple package designs. Because it's what's on the inside that counts, but it's what's on the outside that sells.

But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the January jobs report just came in with a pipe in a hot 353,000 new jobs created just the last month. And the average wage in America rose by 4.5% which beat inflation for a 12th straight month. And second, American Express and Delta just upped their annual credit card fee on us again. In this economy, perks are getting pinched. And finally, Joe Rogan's podcast is extending its deal with Spotify in a new multi-year. year deal worth $250 million. But it's not exclusive.

Joe Rogan is coming back to Apple Podcasts to YouTube and wherever you get your pods. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me because we just noticed something interesting over the weekend. Remember that big court decision last week in Delaware that ruled that Elon's compensation package at Tesla was invalid? Hey, it brought up the big question. Why is Tesla technically based in Delaware?

It turns out 68% of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. Delaware happens to have the oldest business court in the entire United States of America. Nearly two million businesses choose Delaware as the state they're technically in. And Jack, why do companies tell lawyers to file their companies based in Delaware? Because Delaware uses judges, not juries, for corporate cases. And that means speedier trials. So you don't waste time and you don't waste money. And full disclosure, this is Nick.

This is Jack, and our company is also based in Delaware. Mergers, acquisitions, and speedy trials. That's what Delaware does. Yeties, you look fantastic to kick off the week. And remember, if you want to give a shoutout to a buddy for their birthday, or if you've got a fact that you want to hear on this podcast, Jack, what do you got to do? We got a link in this episode description. It's an easy form for you to fill out.

Or you can go to our website, teboypod.com slash shoutouts. And if you happen to have diamond teeth, we would love to get a fact on one of those. Remember to polish after you brush. Diamonds don't get cavities. Keep that in mine, tooth fairy. If you know, you know. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait.

And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Chen Yulee, who's climbing a mountain for his birthday down in Foster City, California. And happy ninth birthday to beautiful Annie Zern in Atlanta, Georgia. And Kay Morris and Murray, Kentucky is aging like a smooth Kentucky bourbon with a brand new birthday. And after 25 years in education, Mary Beth Wilson has taken a new role as the principal of an early learning center. Congratulations.

And Sid J over in Wisconsin, a first-generation immigrant, just quit his consulting job for self-employment. Congratulations, Sid. And good luck to Shelly Lou and her cat, Fife, who are moving from San Francisco to Taiwan for a brand spanking new job. Congratulations and good luck out there, Shelling and Fafi. And to anyone else, celebrate something today, make it a T-Way. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both on stock of Spotify. Thank you.