The Best One Yet - ⌚ “Watch University” — Rolex’s apprenticeship. Advent Calendar Marketing. Ken Burns’ loooong strategy. +3am Cyber Monday.

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

The Rolex CEO thinks Apple Watch actually helped Rolex sales… We’ll tell ya howKraft, Dior, & Skims all just launched Advent Calendars?... “Advent Advertising” is the hot new marketing trend.Ken Burns’ “Revolutionary War” documentary proves 1 thing… Loooong can beat TikTok.Plus, there’s a wild new time everyone’s shopping on Cyber Monday… 3amBuy your TBOY Yeti Doll here: https://tboypod.com/shop/product/economic-support-yeti-dollNEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, December 1st. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, yet he's Jack and I are dropping something big this week. On Wednesday, mark your calendars. It's going to be huge. Huge day. You got to tune in. But in the meantime, Jack, we got three fantastic stories for today's pod. What do we got on the show? For our first story, the CEO of Rolex just gave a super rare interview and dropped a huge surprise. Turns out the best thing. to happen to Rolex was the Apple Watch. For our second story, the marketing move every brand is doing today is actually biblical. The Advent calendar, it ain't Christian, it's capitalist. And our third and final story, over Thanksgiving, someone in your family made you watch the new Ken Burns documentary. Mom, turn off the subtitle.

Ken Burns' The American Revolution proves how a really long documentary can beat a 15-second TikTok. Dad, is there 1.5x speed? 2x speed. But yet, these, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories. Love coming back to this mix, Jack. Happy Cyber Monday to all those who celebrate. And those who celebrated dropped $13.3 billion a record number in last year's Cyber Monday.

The biggest e-commerce day in American history. But besties pause the pod, because this should really be called Cyber Middle of the night. Because the shopping actually spikes at 3 a.m. Get this, according to Zip Finance, 48% of shoppers now make their big buys after midnight. And it's not even just a Cyber Monday thing. True.

Overall, one out of 15 e-commerce purchases happens between midnight and 6 a.m. Yeah, you know who you are. There are a few reasons for this. One, being that you're just too busy during the day. Two, being that you're scrolling your phone in bed even though you shouldn't. And three, awkwardly, the more you drink, the more you buy. Yeah, junk shopping peaks at 2 a.m. But here's the wild twist.

The bigger the product buy, more likely it's past midnight. Airfare purchases tend to happen at 1 a.m. Coffee tables are getting bought at 2 a.m. 3 a.m. in the morning? Yeah, Jack? Big appliance. Time for a new fridge.

Call it vampire shopping or midnight mastercarding. I like Z-commerce because you should be sleeping. So besties, our college coaches used to tell us that nothing good ever happens after midnight. But coach, the brand disagrees. Yeah, they do. Let's make it two handbags. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm.

They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a 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 to show.

First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Rolex is doing record sales right now, and their CEO just made a rare public comment. The biggest surprise that the Apple Watch is actually good for Rolex sales. But Jack, let's start this story with the billionaire's bingo card. What do we got on it, man? Birkenbag, Cuccinelli Cashmere, Rolex. Check, check, check, check.

Rolex, it doesn't show you the time. It actually shows you your net worth. But while Rolex brand is known, their CEO isn't at all. This dude is super secretive in Swiss. Yeah, super Swiss. In a rare interview, though, with Esquire magazine, Jean-Frederique DeFour, CEO, CEO of Rolex, revealed he basically does the opposite of every other business CEO.

Focus groups, Rolex doesn't do him. Interviews, he avoids them. Decisions based on data? Nope. For Rolex, it's 100% based on the CEO's guy. Oh, spreadsheet, not possible, Jack. But Jean-Luc can say whatever he wants because it's working. Again, Rolex is a super secretive company.

It's Swiss, so they don't report the numbers, but they've been estimated, And Jack, what do they look like? Sales are estimated to have jumped 31% in the last four years to a record $13 billion. Oh, yeah, those are Gucci numbers. Rolex is putting up twice as much revenue as swatch these days. But Rolex's greatest product may not be the $30,000 cosmograph with quartz and crusted dials. You're going to drop a boutique-filippe on us next, Jack?

Rolex's greatest product is their school. Because Rolex runs an apprentice program that trains an entire luxury watch industry. Yet he's in America, education and job training tend to be separate, but in Europe, they're often combined. Companies over there are sponsored trainees and pay them while they learn a trade. They're called apprenticeships, and they actually go back to the guilds of the Middle Ages. Rolex began their watch guild about 50 years ago. Because during the 1970s, Rolex needed to hire watchmakers, but nobody in the country knew how to make watches. Right, so Rolex launched this apprentice program to teach you a chronometer from a caliber. Rolex's apprenticeship is

three years long, offers 900 different courses, and pays you while you're learning. Yeah, in case you were curious how this is different from an internship, all of that. So now, Rolex has 500 apprentices, learning the secrets of priming a bezel. And now, Jack, we should point out that some American companies with European roots are introducing the apprentice model here in the United States, like Volkswagen, which partners with Chattanooga State Community College to train their workers. But Besties pause the pot, because the wildest part here is what happens after. apprenticeship program. Well, they have no commitment to work for Rolex, the company that just trained them.

So these apprentices with the Rolex secrets go on to work for Rolex rivals. They could. And yet the CEO of Rolex doesn't even care about that. He says it's better for Rolex if the whole Swiss watch industry is healthy. In fact, this CEO of Rolex even thinks an even bigger threat is actually its biggest booster. So Jack, can you just check the time and let us know what's the takeaway for our buddy is over at Rolex. Rolex is winning not despite, but because of the Apple Watch. Yeties, when Apple launched their watch years ago, it felt like a disruption moment that would kill, crush, and disrupt the whole luxury watch industry.

Just like Apple killed the regular camera, it was going to kill the regular watch. But Rolex accurately predicted early on that this would not be a bad thing. And why is that, Jack? Because an Apple Watch isn't actually a watch. It's, as the CEO says, an iPhone you strap to. your wrist, which is a totally different category. In fact, he said the Apple Watch helped us, in a way, by getting young people to wear something on their wrist. Apple Watch increased the size of the wrist market and increased people's willingness to pay. And that is why Rolex actually

loves the Apple Watch. Sometimes the competition can actually be a catalyst. For our second story, the hot new marketing trend begins today. The branded Advent calendar. You've seen them. We'll tell you how a religious artifact became a marketing hack for whiskey, perfume, and even lingerie. Ah, December 1st. When every email starts ghosting you with, let's circle back next year. I love this excuse. I know it kind of bothers you, dude, but it's a nice little escape for me. I mean, guys, just pick up the phone.

Let's talk. But 12-1, December 1st, also is the start of the Advent, which, Jack, I have no context on this, so why don't you sprinkle it on? Well, that's the tradition of counting down the 24 days until Christmas. Why don't you sprinkle on some historical context for us, too, please? It began with the German Protestants in the 1800s. The Germans actually came up with a lot of our Christmas traditions. Thank you, Santa. And in this case, with the Advent calendar, kids would open a door each day to reveal an image, a poem, or a prayer.

Amen. But after their defeats in the wars, Germany needed some brightness. They did. So they swapped out the prayers for some treats and some chocolate instead. And that sweet treat version caught the attention of American consumers in the middle of the last century, And now it's caught the attention of our American marketers. In America, we have separation between church and state. Yes, we do, besties.

There is no separation between religion and capitalism. No, there is not one second, Jack. Yeah, I was looking for that button. This year, we are experiencing peak advertorial adventuinal advent calendars. Brands are filling their calendars with 24 samples of whatever their product is, and Jack and I are noticing it everywhere. Bon Maman, the French jam brand, started a 24-day mini fruit chain. Cam calendar in 2017.

And how is it doing now, Jack? It's sold out, so they've increased their production by 400%. Consumers are praying for more. What about Kraft Heinz, Jack? No way they're doing an Advent calendar. They do fake cheese. No, they have a calendar with real cheese, I think. Probably fake, actually.

24 days worth, $250 per calendar also sold out. Yeties, this is across industries. Armani perfumes, stofers, frozen food, Legos, the toy, all do in Advent calendars. Kim Kardashian Skims has a 350. $15 underwear advent calendar. 24 nights. Yeah.

24 surprises. The advent calendar has even gone 180 degrees from virtue to vices. Johnny Walker's whiskey advent calendar can be yours for 700 bucks. Jack, over the weekend, I walked into Bergdorffs, found a $1,200 Swarovsky crystal Advent calendar. It's a real thing. I'd rather have one big crystal than 24 tiny ones, though. Besties add it all up, and the Advent calendar is the hottest marketing hack since the

Ten Commandments. Can I say that? I don't know if I can say that. Either way, Jack, I'm surprised there's not a Hanukkah version. Like, how is there no menorah with like eight nights of Christian Dior perfume? Spoiler, there probably is. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies seeing the Advent calendar trend? And I believe this is a quote from Spider-Man. With great patience comes great marketability. It's not Spider-Man, it's his uncle. Great call. Yiddies, the reason why the Advent calendar is so beloved by consumers, is that's the opposite of everything else we buy these days. We live in an instant gratification economy.

You can impulse buy anything ASAP. Overnight on Amazon, same day on DoorDash, watch any video on YouTube on anything anytime. The Advent calendar started with a religious element, but even without it, it's about patience, delay, and discipline. Because this calendar spreads out over 24 days, and it can only be opened one time a day, and it limits you to a tiny little sample.

Thanks for explaining what an Advent calendar is. Thank you, Jack. Well, those limitations create tension, which make every dopamine hit even more intense. The attraction of the 24-day Advent calendar is the opposite of everything else we consumers buy. Basties, the Advent calendar market and trend improves the powerful profitability of patience.

Now a quick word from our sponsor. Our third and final story, Ken Burns just gave America a documentary worthy of its 250th birthday. But his past documentaries competed with books. This documentary competes with TikTok. Jack, you know, we just had dinner with your dad the other week. Can you please share with the Yetis what you think the ultimate embarrassing dad move is? Pausing the whole Fourth of July party to stand on a picnic table and recite the entire Declaration of Independence. Yeah, that does seem like a dad move. Maybe Big Ten would do that. Ken Burns does that every single Independence Day. So yeah, it is as two people who appreciated history, and personally as someone who went as Thomas Payne three times for Halloween,

when Ken Burns finally began working on the American Revolution film, we said it's about time. Ken Burns is the most famous documentarian ever. His past works include the Civil War, baseball, Lewis and Clark, American Jazz, Mark Twain, Muhammad Always. and the Brooklyn Bridge. Yeah, that's your favorite one, isn't it, Jack? It is. That was his first one, too. But we should point out, Ken Burns, despite his talents, has not gotten rich, producing these epic tales of America. At least not mega-rich.

This New Hampshire resident, his net worth is believed to be $3.5 million. And what's the reason for that, you think, Jack? Well, all of his documentaries he does with PBS, a nonprofit, and he lets people watch for free. Another reason Ken Burns isn't rich? Well, his movies are costly to research, to write, to film and to edit. The American Revolution, the one he just published, it took Ken and his team nine years to create.

Which is longer than the actual American Revolution. Is that true? Is that true? By one year, Jack. So Basties, if you're from a history family like we are, you probably watched an episode or 12 over the last weekend. Did you know that George Washington was the richest American? And he was also the head of the army?

I had no... picturing Elon Musk fighting in the U.S. Army, I can't do that. Now, Vesties, this begs a really interesting strategy question. Like, how do you bring to the big screen something that happened before screens even existed? Yeah, this is a documentary after all. He's not going to hire actors to go perform fights on the field, is he? So, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. We watched the first two episodes, and we noticed how Ken Burns got creative. First, he uses copious amounts of paintings and maps. Yeah, the Battle of Long Island really comes to life

when you see the Brits marching down what's now, the Long Island Expressway. And for the first time in this film, Ken Burns used reenactors. You actually see red coats for the first time wearing real red coats. But Ken also used voice actors to read actual letters written during the American Revolution. Oh, but not just any actors, Jack, right? Eight Oscar awards and 46 Oscar nominations are there among the voice acting cast. Including Tom Hanks and Merrill Street. Plus, Jack, you have the Ken Burns effect, an actual style that is named after Ken Burns himself. Yeah, he uses so many photographs in his movies that panning the camera across the photograph gives you a sense of like dynamic visuals.

Okay, Jack, pause the pod and the revolution for a moment, though. Still, this documentary is six episodes, two hours each, 12 hours. That is 1,000 TikToks, man. And to fill up all that space, Ken had to use the same painting of young George Washington seven different times. Now, besties, in the past, critics have told Ken Burns that nobody would watch his documentaries because they were more interested in watching MTV. But MTV just shut down while Ken Burns is still making documentaries. And yet now, they're telling Ken Burns that no one will watch his

films because of TikTok. Well, Ken's got a response for that too. And we thought it was fascinating, so it's her takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies watching 12 hours of a documentary? No matter the platform, narrative beats noise. Yet he's, Ken Burns told Vanity Fair that he's not a documentary or a historian. He's actually a storyteller. And he'd argue that just because it's long doesn't mean it's boring. And we agree. The best YouTubers, TikTokers, authors, filmmakers, podcasters, they're all really just storytellers. Books and films don't go viral as easily, but each platform can still produce mega hits even today. This drives us nuts. Jack and I always hear how millennials will only watch 60-second videos these days. But didn't you watch every episode of

eight seasons of Game of Thrones? And didn't you watch all of stranger things in one day? Those aren't 60 seconds. Those are 60 hours. Besties, it's not that our attention spans have gotten shorter. It's just that we demand more engaging content. And no matter the platform, narrative beats noise. Here here. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the month?

Rolex's CEO did a rare interview and glorified their watchmaking apprentice program. Rolex says that the Apple Watch actually helped their watch sales. Didn't hurt them. Sometimes competition could be a catalyst. For our second story, brands are using the Advent calendar format to drive excitement and sales over the holidays. It's the Advent, Advertis, and Hack of the Season. It's patiently profitable. And our third and final story, Ken Burns gifted America a 12-hour documentary that's competing with your TikTok feed. But he says he's not a documentarian. He's a storyteller.

But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Zuck caused Nvidia's stock to drop. Get this. Meta is reported. totally switching from Nvidia chips to Google chips. Google is everywhere right now. Googly, Googly, Googly. Google's mojo is relentless. It should ask Siri out on a date right now. Jack, maybe Apple should start paying Google to be the default search these days.

Yeah, pull the old switcheroo. And second, American Eagle just signed Martha Stewart to a sponsorship deal. America's Queen of Domesticity is American Eagle's newest denim diva. If you want to know the resurgence of anyone with Gen Z, it's Martha. Stuart. And finally, Amazon did something that their head of AI and robotics probably hated. Get this, Amazon hired 250,000 seasonal human workers to handle the holiday shopping search. Just that 250,000 seasonal workforce would be the 23rd biggest company in America by workers. Boom, drop that in your next conference call.

Now, time for the best fact yet, which, because it's Trivia Monday, Jack and I thought we would mix things up a bit. Jack, what are we thinking over here? Well, there's Green Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. There's Thanksgiving Thursday. There's Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. Then Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday is tomorrow. The only day in the seven days without a nickname? Yes.

It's Sunday after Thanksgiving. It's Sunday and therein we believe lies an opportunity. Drop in the comments what the Sunday of Thanksgiving should be called. Because it's the only day without a nickname. Because currently it's like slack in Sunday. Nothing's happening. You're like sleeping in Sunday. That's what's going on right now.

Well, slacking Sunday might imply you're working, but I don't think that's what you're getting at. Sundays are for the toys. I don't know. Maybe you buy toys on Sundays. This is like a lot of opportunities here. Drop in the comments what America should formally call the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We'll give the best answer out tomorrow's pod. Sunday Bund day. It's when you actually go out and you buy buns for baking. It's like a lot we can work with here. What is the answer, Yetis? Nick's suggestions are for illustrative purposes only. Yeties, you look fantastic to kick off December. Jack, you are glad. blown over there, and so is our Yeti doll right here. Jack, I got him with us. Here he is. I'm holding

to me, squishy and soft. Yeah, it's Cyber Monday. I guess we're supposed to push our product. Yeah, Yetis, if you are looking for a gift for a buddy out there, then you can buy our Yeti doll. Jack and I are selling it on our website right now. T-Boypod.com slash shop. Give it a squeeze. It's an economic support toy. When the markets go down, you squeeze the Yeti doll. Great to be back, Eddies. Nick and I. We'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to Trevor, Baldwin down in Hotland of Georgia, listening since 2021. Thank you for being with us, Trevor. Happy birthday to Karen Hobbs in Brooklyn, New York. And Kimman's non-assed, congratulations on the new

job down in Mountain View, California. And good luck to Brandon Nemo of Cheyenne, Wyoming, who just moved from New York to Texas to take on a new job. You got this, Brandon. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, making a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack, Nick and I both on stock of Apple.