00:00
Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. Here is the Radcast News. It's Friday, August 12th, 2022. Weekly marketing, advertising, business news. What's up, Reh Harvey? How's it going? How's it going? Good, man. Good to have you in the chair. Absolutely. I'm definitely not Christina, but... That's for sure. No long hair, no funky glasses, and you're a man.

00:27
Just small differences. Yes. Had a good week? I did. How about yourself? It's been good. It's been busy. It has been busy. We've come out of the, we're headed into the fall on a wave of business here and just, you know, keep riding it. I was about to say we're gonna ride that wave. It's good. I'm a...

00:51
You know, like school starting back with the kids, like I'm ready for a schedule a little, but at the same time, not ready. Like I feel like in like, I'm ready for it, but then like three weeks from, I'm like, all right, you know, over it. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. The, uh, you'll know that when your kids get a school age, which is in January, supposedly. Oh yeah. They get that out the other day. Oh yeah. Yeah. They have to apply in January for next fall, but neither here nor there.

01:17
Yes, so it's been a good week at Radical. Nick, you had a good week there, buddy? Yeah, it was pretty good, very productive. Yeah, a few shoots, a few things here and there. Nick Weaver, the producer of the Radcast, for those that don't know. I call out Nick all the time, you know, like I put him on the spot, you know, just randomly. So, we'll give you a shout out. Wait, I am gonna shout out to you because that reel you posted the other day of the Ferris wheel.

01:46
Pretty awesome. Oh yeah. Watching her in stream. Breaking out the new FPV drone. Nick Weaver, nick underscore Weaver underscore. You can check it out. Go watch it, because it's cool. New technology. We practice what we preach around here. At the Radical Agency. Hey, if you don't know where we're at, we're in Greenville, South Carolina. So if you're right, we're hitting all the other lists. So you might as well put it on your trip as well, because everyone else is coming here. Right. Cradle on every corner. The best city ever. G Vegas, baby. I saw this.

02:15
We put this on our small talk list. Olivia Newton-John passed away. Yeah. You know, I've had vivid memories of like, Grease like growing up. Like it was even a little before my time. I don't want to totally age myself, but I just remember watching it. Like it was like the first time I watched a musical and I was like, okay, that's kind of cool. You know, and lots of fond memories. Right. My mom absolutely loved Grease. So I grew up, I could...

02:42
tell you every line in the movie to this day. We've watched it so many times, but when she turned around with those leather pants, come on, come on. It's iconic and legendary. Okay. All that to say though, she will be missed for sure because I mean, I'm only 31 and that's all I really know her in, but she was a legend in her own right. No, I know. I mean, you know, sometimes we joke and she was more than a one-hit wonder for sure, but.

03:11
you know, we'd all die to have a one hit wonder, you know? Right. And I don't know, I remember the leather pants and I remember, you know, watching it first time and I didn't know, I think the first time I watched it, there was gonna be singing. Right. So it was a movie, you know? And like, the first like, they break out into tune, I was like, what is this? You know, what is happening, you know? And I don't know if we've, you'll see a movie series still in there, I guess it's kind of a lost art.

03:39
Right. Well, especially the iconic ones, right? I mean, the legends of their time that have, I think I read somewhere and maybe this is maybe I'm thinking of a different movie, but I think when Grease first came out, it wasn't a hit.

03:51
One of those, I don't remember well enough. I know you're right about one of those type movies that became iconic after the fact. I don't know. I'm not sure if it was Greaser or not. Either way, Olivia Newton John was an icon. Yes. I was gonna say Saturday Night Fever. They didn't think that was gonna be a hit, but it turned out to be a pretty big one. That might have been it. Huge. So, RIP Olivia Newton John. I don't know where.

04:17
John Travolta is he's kind of gotten a little weird over the years a little bit I did see a little tweet that he put out or something that was acknowledging her passing and saying something. I'm like Sincerely yours or Danny or something? I don't know but you're right I haven't heard of him or seen him in the past couple years So yeah the radcast we if you've been checking it out I don't know if you're an old o town fan throwing it back to the boy band days

04:41
We had a Ashley Parker Angel was on the show this week from O-Town. He started a few side ventures and a new fitness company. He was fun on the show this week. So if you haven't checked that out, go check it out. Next week, Cosmo from Cosmos Q. Speaking of Cosmos Q, like I'm talking about samples from here to here to Vegas. Never ending. Cosmo was very gracious sending us lots of barbecue rub, sauces and everything else.

05:10
And you know, I don't know what you thought Nick. I thought he was really down to earth. It was probably one of the more laid back, but fun episodes, you know, it was just kind of like two dudes talking. Yeah, I really enjoyed that episode. Yeah, he was super down to earth. And I don't know, he was just really transparent about how he started the business, the ups and downs. And I don't know, he kinda, I think he, if you're one like.

05:36
to be reminded of the American spirit and like what you know America's about. Like I don't know. I guess rags riches is right. But it's like great story and just a great success story. Right. Yeah. We always hear about rags riches, but they love to go to the richest part first. Yeah. And just skip over the rags. Tell us the whole story. And what Cosmo did and, you know, he.

05:59
some good, a good revenge story a bit too. Like when, uh, someone was a jerk to him at like a barbecue contest and he's like, okay, all right. I think that guy's using his rubs now. So look for that next Tuesday, the 15th. And I'm really excited for you guys to hear this one. Um, he's a great follow on Instagram, the captain, Kyle Creek, uh, also known as

06:25
Sugar steak, SGR SDK. I guess that I was the first to guess that. Was that right? You're thinking, am I overstating that? No, you definitely were the first. And you have to listen, know exactly what all that means. But Kyle is an author of fucking history. You know, how can you not want to read a book that's fucking history? You know, and he was great. Super good fall. You need to get following just.

06:53
He's a writer and instigator. And he's fun. So Kyle was awesome. So be on the lookout for that in a couple weeks. And we've got some other goodies up the sleeve. Not gonna let the cat out of the bag yet, but it's gonna be fun. So be on the lookout for all our latest guest episodes. And speaking of being on the lookout, you need to be on the lookout for this year. Like if you're watching the episode.

07:20
Branded Bills, brandedbills.com, the official merchandise sponsor of the Radcast. I'm holding up one of their lovely Radcast hats here in the studio. If you're watching, if you're listening, then you need to go watch it or just go to brandedbills.com. Insert Radcast 20, get 20% off hats, tees, hoodies. Hey, it's starting to get, not starting here in South Carolina, but somewhere I'm sure starting to get cool soon. Hoodies, flannels, beanies, everything for back to school.

07:48
20% off with Radcast 20, go to theradcast.com, search for sponsors, or just click on sponsors tab, click on Rad, excuse me, Brando Bills, and the Radcast code is immediately plugged in, and you get 20% off your entire order. Tell them that the Radcast sends you. Brando Bills, brandobills.com. Got a few social holidays we're gonna run through. I know this one's important to you, Ray, today. Your pet, you just happened, you know, Dumbo. World Elephant Day.

08:17
all the elephants running around Greenville. Yeah. You know? Nick, are you an elephant lover? Yeah, I got one at home. You ride them or you just pet them? I just like to look at them. They're pretty big. Listen, I do have some friends. I think it was India somewhere. They went to ride the elephants.

08:36
They loved it. Really? Yeah. I don't know, man. Just keep that trunko to yourself. Or the tusks. Yeah, junk in the trunk. I'm just saying, they're just giant animals. I don't want to be that close to them. Yeah, I just feel like they can accidentally crush you. No, you're meaning to. He's trying to be friendly to you and nudge you. And you fall over and you're squashed. You're squashed because he steps on your toe.

09:02
But hey, all you elephant lovers out there, go watch Dumbo and sing a little ditty. Tomorrow, for all you creatives out there, left handers day. Hey, you know, you're left handed. Yeah, I am, left handed. Now it all makes sense. It's all coming together. You know what's crazy to me though, is historically they like.

09:29
back in the times of the witch trials, you still like kill people for being left-handed. How weird is that? Crazy. Oh dear. That was Nick. I don't know how you got that low Nick. Can you do that again? Okay, all right. So left-handers day, you know, I give you a high five with my left hand tomorrow or fist bump, but I will say this.

09:57
I've dated left handed women and I've known and had a lot of friends that were left handed. And the stigma of creative, a little, Aerie Ferry is probably not fair, but a little like, I don't know, just different. Wired differently. I would say nine out of ten that I know are that way.

10:24
I'm not stereotyping them at all, but they typically are a little more free-spirited and a little more creative. Makes sense. I know, and so. Makes no sense. And just weird. Kidding. Kidding, thanks. Joking. Those dang left-handers, you know. Yeah, right, twice us. Hey, you deserve to be celebrated, so left-hand. I will say this. I don't think I've ever met a left-handed type A person.

10:51
like super type a like not because they're not organized or something, but just like hyper. I'm not, someone's going to DM me and go, I'm type A and I'm left handed. I know they're out there. I'm just saying me personally, I've probably known a hundred left handed people in my life. I can't remember one that was just like, they were all just kind of creative and free spirits. Yeah.

11:17
I'm just impressed that you remember which hand they write with. I just, I pick up on that stuff. Cause it's, you know, like, since I grew up, like throwing the baseball or something like, Whoa, you know, or football or, right. I don't know. I was just tackling people. So I didn't really, you know, that was more, uh, doing throwing things that were shooting basketball. You can see that immediately too.

11:40
And I mean, I am definitely going to celebrate this on Monday, the 15th National Relaxation Day. I'm all for it. Can we make that every day, please? Is that boss relaxation? How can I relax if you guys relax? Right. Hmm. Yes. Nick, you're going to relax on Monday? Big time. You fit right in. On the 16th, I expect everyone to tell me a joke. Tell a joke day. My jokes are terrible. I'm not going to tell you a joke.

12:10
Yeah, I've got a good one that I heard the other day. It's a little dirty. I'm gonna and it would definitely fit on their adcast, but it takes too long. Yeah too much. Yeah You you get joke teller Nick. Well, uh, Joe hear about that guy that fell off the cliff. He wrote a book No, you know, his name was what? Eileen too far

12:33
Oh, read my lips. No. I think that's, there's those left-handers for you. Yeah. Oh, Eileen. Oh, okay. I want to stay away from that. Uh, all right. First article today comes to us from sweet tarts and Tik TOK sweet tarts encourages amateur filmmakers on Tik TOK sweet.

13:02
Tarts is hosting a branded film festival on TikTok, encouraging young filmmakers to submit their creations. What do you think? I 100% absolutely love this and I'll tell you why. It's because sweet tarts is sweet tarts is sweet tarts. People that want sweet tarts, go and buy them. But what they're focusing on is a brand attempt of growing it and saying, hey, we're gonna grow it through the strengths of our.

13:27
the people that enjoy sweet darts. Yes. And so kind of going back to the human to human aspect, it's a giant brand that's realizing, hey, let's focus on what our consumers love, not necessarily on us. I will say this about TikToks, I agree 100%. So I'll give you one of these. Yes. Made it. TikToks is one of those, you know, like you think of candy as kids, right? Kids candy and all that. Don't like candy too.

13:56
Tick tocks is on that list or excuse me, sweet tarts, not tick tocks. Uh, sweet tarts is on the list for me of kind of universal candy. Right. Like I still like sweet tarts and I don't need nearly as much candy as that my kids do or I used to. Right. But you gave me a little pack of sweet tarts. I'm probably in for that. Right. You know, you got a sweet tart. All right. I'll take one of those. It was like, it's an iconic candy. Yeah. It's like, uh, if you don't like a sweet tart, I'm.

14:23
I might have an issue with you. Right. What's wrong with you? You know, sweet talk, you can pay us later. Yeah. But if you want to be a sponsor, let us know. Thus, you know, I think number one, the demo obviously makes ton of sense being on TikTok and everything. But I do think the film side is just going a little older typically in the play here. Makes a lot of sense for the brand. It's a lot of fun. And I think it's.

14:54
It'd be interesting to me, you know we talk all the time about brand and demand. This is clearly like a brand play, right? I mean, so if you're the chief marketing officer and you have all these pressures to sales and everything else, like I wonder how they tie certain things like this back to attribution. What I think part of it too is gonna be, I mean obviously it's a giant user generated content. Yeah. Like pool. Yeah. And so.

15:23
instead of paying influencers hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars, they have all this content now that they can say, Hey, these are actual real life consumers. Yep. It's true. But either way, if you're sweet tarts, you need mass appeal and mass branding. So it's a way to leverage the fast growing trends that are on Tik TOK next article, Instagram, strongholds position with influencers despite growing competition. Instagram this year,

15:53
will maintain its spot as the number one platform for influencer marketing and growing amid growing competition, especially from tick tock. Got a little point of view on this. This comes to us from marketing dive, marketing dive.com. Does this surprise you at all? It does. And my first thought is I can't wait to see next year. Because I feel like if, if tick tock hasn't overcome them next year, they're going to be super close. Yeah.

16:23
Yeah, I mean, that's really all I have to say is. So we had a little pre episode conversation, you know, and it. My point of view, and it's related, not related. Certainly influencers are booming everywhere. And certainly on TikTok, it's nonstop and all that. But for me, if I'm building a personal brand, the UI experience on Instagram.

16:50
is still more conducive to building it around the person and not just the content. Right. And that's not, look, if you've been paying attention, no one's pumped TikTok and what's happening on the platform any more than yours truly the host of the Radcast. And I still believe that. But in my personal experience with who is starting to register to me the person.

17:14
The brand of the person and not just the content itself, the video. Instagram has more influence on me with my usage pattern and the UI. The combination, because it's still pictures and videos and the UI of stories and other things to me helps personal brands grow more around the person and the brand and not just the frenetic content. Makes sense.

17:43
And I say this to say, if I'm Instagram and it sounds like they have after the whole Kardashian thing, I'm hitting the pause button on trying to be like TikTok and embracing your differences. And while also acknowledging obviously video content and video content that's less produced and democratized and all those things.

18:09
is the rage and recognizing that, you can recognize that and embrace it and empower it without throwing the baby out with the bath water. And that being the core experience that you have on Instagram. Yeah, and I think one of the things too that is kind of overlooked with Instagram too, especially with influencers, is that they've had a longer runway. They've been able to build that community and engage with them faster or longer than TikTok has. I think that's 100% right.

18:38
but there's something about the UI. Yeah, absolutely. That, look, and there's, and the algorithm on TikTok is like magic potion lotion, whatever you wanna call it. Like it's scary. It's scary good. And there's a million things going for TikTok, but I still think from a UI perspective, if I'm trying to curate a brand around myself and not just every frenetic piece of content. Right.

19:07
You know, if I'm just purely wanting to get known for being an amazing content creator, TikTok is absolutely the place. But it's about the content and not the person necessarily. I feel like when you're building a personal brand, yeah, I'm not doing content on social media to be known as a content creator. Right.

19:33
I'm doing it to build my personal brand around me, my knowledge base, my thought leadership, and not necessarily how great I can work the TikTok video editor. Right. You know? Yeah. And so, and I think that's the differentiation is like, am I a great video editor on TikTok? And I'm known for that. Plus a little bit of whatever I'm talking about. Or am I building it around me and my point of view?

20:02
and my thought leadership that's also interesting content. Right. Right. And I think there's a delineation there. When I think once TikTok's once they figure out the story situation, because to me that's the biggest differentiator with Instagram. You can see instantly for that 24 hour period, what's going on in their lives that they want to. And I know you can do live and all that kind of stuff, but once they figure that out.

20:28
I think it'll at least balance the scales a little bit. I'll see some of this money start moving towards TikTok. I would like to have seen if I'm Instagram, I would have doubled down on stories and how I make stories better and not fuck with the feed. Yep. Yeah. Because stories could be your, I'm a lot like TikTok or better, you know? Right.

20:51
but your feed remains the same. Your grid and all that, everything that's made Instagram Instagram. Don't mess with that experience. Don't mess with the core experience. Stories can still be the place where it's a more natural, it was always been, it was TikTok before TikTok with sliding and content. So.

21:12
lean into that and how you innovate there. And so what Instagram historically has always done is stolen from other platforms. I mean, they've taken it and tweaked it and said, Oh, look, we have this now. Right. Um, I mean, even as recently as like with the Be Real app, they now have the front facing camera on Instagram. Well, there's a, there's a, there's an old, you know, and that falls a lot of places first market or best market. Right. Right.

21:38
Yeah. And I think the reason TikTok, one of the reasons it blew up is because it was different enough. Not only are attention spans so short, but it was different enough and they didn't necessarily outright steal anything. It was different. Yeah. And then lo and behold, Reels came along on Instagram and now they're kind of all the same. But at some point, you're right, they have to embrace their differences because.

22:00
Again, none of those platforms. I don't see TikTok going away. I don't see Instagram going away. Facebook might die down a little bit, but I still don't see it going away. Facebook groups, Facebook marketplace. Right. None of them are going to take the route of my space. No, I don't think so. So not yet. Be real. Yes, no. The verdict's still out. Yeah, no, that's what I'm at. I think, I think it works if you actually use it for what it's worked for. But what we're seeing now is a lot of.

22:29
engineered B reels or reels, whatever they call them. That's like, that's not really your life. You're just actually waiting for the timer to go off to say, hey, take your picture. And it's, oh, let me be at the beach at this time. So if someone's listening.

22:45
and I didn't ask you just pre-episode, so I'm putting you on the spot. So I'm gonna kind of drag out the question. This is an interview 101 by the way. When you're gonna ask someone and you haven't prepped them for the question, you ask it and you extend the asking of the question because I'm gonna ask Ray like, who's a TikToker that someone should be paying attention to that's hit your radar in a while. And so when you ask a question that someone's not ready for, you do what I'm doing right now, which is stall a little bit to give them time to answer and think about and process the answer.

23:14
Yeah. Well, I think that, gosh, it's our marketer's favorite answer. I think it depends. I think it depends on who that person is. If it's my 14 year old nephew, it's the Mr. Beast of the world. If it's my wife, it's the gosh, her name's Danae. I can't remember her last name on TikTok, but she loves she makes us prank calls to like nursing homes if she can rent a grandma. She loves it, eats it up. For me, it's going to be.

23:44
whatever I want to eat this week. Like that's, that's one of the recipes or even like, well, I guess recipes. Um, I mean cooking it or is it, we're going to go eat like, I'm going to go here. But I also like, I also, there's a lot of like fatherhood videos right now on my feed. That's the kind of stuff that in each and each little niche, they have their own person. And so I think that's one of the differentiators again of Tik Tok is there's not one giant

24:13
Kim Kardashian influencer like there is on. I think you're proving my point earlier. What? He's not naming a name. And I'd name Kyle Creek if you'd asked me like Instagram or Maria Luis that I mean, I can name like 10 people on Instagram right now in the last like month that have kind of hit my radar as the brands, but on TikTok, I can't name a single one. Now I think Bango, yeah, he's that girl or guy that's making good content, but I don't remember their name.

24:41
I don't I don't go explore them. And I'm sure they're out there. But when I think of those those personal brands, it's the ones that have already been established. Yeah. Again, going back to your point earlier, it's is it harder? Sure. But are they going to be only on TikTok? No, they're going to be on TikTok, Instagram. Who knows where else they'll be? There's we're no longer living in a world where it's a singular platform. You're going to have a vast majority of.

25:07
I use the analogy of TikTok to me is me at midnight when I'm, I never have a hard time sleeping. So it's mainly like maybe just trying to fall asleep. I'm flipping channels like nonstop, you know, like bouncing between 20 programs, maybe hoping to find like a deadline or something like something like juicy and yeah, and that's kind of TikTok for me. And Instagram, I spend more time on

25:36
the posts or the person typically. And I don't know if it's chicken or the egg because I've used Instagram longer, I built my brand there first. But there's something about that UI that makes me dig into the person and not just the individual channels. It feels there's more intention to it. Yeah. Instead of just, I mean, last night was a great example. I had the TV on, I was sitting on my couch, I was scrolling through TikTok with the TV on, just scrolling.

26:06
Swiping, not scrolling, swiping. I'm like, what am I doing? Because again, it's, there's no intention to it. It's just trying to, it's being entertained to death. Vortex. Right. Yeah. All right. Walmart reportedly seeks a streaming partner to bolster Walmart Plus.

26:24
How many pluses are we gonna have? Disney Plus, Walmart Plus, ESPN Plus, CNN Plus, which didn't make it. Walmart recently met with executives from Disney, Comcast, and Paramount about bringing a streaming service to its Walmart Plus membership program. I mean, didn't this just go to show you, I'm gonna go on a tangent here for a second, I'm tangent central today. Back to the me too, like, first to market, like, can, once someone does the plus sign, does everybody just give up and go,

26:53
That's how we're going to do it too. Like ESPN plus Disney plus. Like there's no other way. Like everybody just does the same thing. And these brands are huge. They have unlimited budgets. They have unlimited ability to hire someone like radical to come up with a creative way to name it and just going to me to it. Right. Plus sign done innovation at its best. Listen, if it works, it works, but obviously for some it does not. So that's my.

27:23
I'm thinking about anyway. Walmart Plus, a sizable streaming integration would help turn it into a service that more closely mirrors Amazon Prime and a destination for activities beyond shopping. Disney has a variety of options in the streaming space including Disney Plus, ESPN Plus, Hulu Plus, ha ha ha, Comcast operates, Peacock, and Paramount owns Paramount Plus. Ha ha.

27:51
All the pluses. All, and none of them are PLUS. I actually might like them better if they didn't all have a plus sign. Right. Yeah, ESPN minus. So, yeah, what do you think about Walmart here? Media company. I mean, stick to your lane. Yeah. Like, when I think Walmart, we have a Walmart a mile from my house, and I still use Walmart Plus to deliver the two hour or less delivery when I don't have time to go pick something up. Right. You know what I'm not thinking about with Walmart is streaming.

28:21
and to shift that mindset. It's another revenue stream, I guess. Yeah, I get it from that standpoint. Focus on low prices every day. That's your tagline. Right. Yeah, you know? Well, and the irony of all the pluses out there, all the streaming started off at like a year or two ago, at like $2.99 a month. And just yesterday, I got a email from Disney Plus saying, oh, we're increasing our prices. So that seems to be a disconnect between Walmart and...

28:51
all the rest of the streaming, Walmart is affordable. Walmart has low prices. All the other pluses out there are increasing their prices. Yeah. I feel like I'd like to see a more innovative pivot towards the core brand value. So think about everyday low prices, everyday value, family value. What's the spin-off that goes down that lane? Right.

29:14
And I'm not gonna give them free advice on this podcast any more than we already are. And they probably aren't listening anyway. But. They should be. But go down that lane. Where does that lead you? And instead of just, okay, we're gonna do media. We're gonna do this, that, and the other content. And you know, it's another revenue stream. It's fine. But like, a little innovation. Right. You know, like what's, I don't know.

29:40
what's making people's lives easier that relates to affordability. You got a recession somewhat in place maybe coming, don't know, we're not taking part in it by the way. But, but still like, I don't know, go down, stay in your lane, figure out something innovative down your lane that's not just, I don't know. When I think even like, when I think of Amazon.

30:02
When I'm shopping or more so when Janie Lynn, my wife, is shopping on a daily basis now on Amazon, she's not thinking Amazon Prime, the streaming service. She's thinking Amazon Prime, how can I get this as quickly as possible? And so they're both Amazon Prime. In fact, the app is called Amazon Prime that you go and watch streaming on. Yep. But there's nothing I watch less and I pay for Amazon Prime.

30:27
than anything on Amazon Prime. Right. Or the music. I don't use it for music. I mean, it comes with it, but I don't use any of it. I don't use any of it. I have both of them. I don't use any of the... I use Apple for subscription music and Netflix and or YouTube TV, whatever's on that. Right. That's what we have for cable. Right. So, I don't know. But we'll see. They're looking for a partner. If you're out there listening, team up with Walmart Plus.

30:56
Warner Brothers Discovery is to combine streamers next summer considers ad-supported offering. Warner Brothers announced that it plans to combine HBO Max and Discovery Plus into a combined streaming offer under a single brand beginning in the U.S. next summer, per the company's first full earnings call since the two companies merged this year.

31:23
That's a smart move. Yeah. I will say Discovery Plus is probably the most under the radar, best streaming app out there. It is good, I agree. It's a lot of content on that. Yes. That you probably watched and you didn't realize you watched and it's there. Yep. Yeah. I agree. Between that and probably YouTube Live or YouTube TV is what we watch the most in our house. Yep. Discovery Plus, I mean look.

31:48
If these companies come together, then you need to streamline it. Like keeping them disparate makes no sense at all. Right. So, you know, and how many more pluses do we need? All right, I like this. Miller Lite, rinse out grills in latest summer stunt. It grills share stations in New York and Chicago. Consumers can reserve a Miller Lite grill and spatula.

32:13
want to share any spatulas, but apron, folding beach chair or the umbrella and a $25 gift card. Some people lick those things either by signing up online or scanning a QR code. Consumers can then unlock and roll their grill to a nearby spot. It's fun. It is fun. But you touched on the first thought that I had is I don't know what this right, what this person before me cooked the grill on or grilled out. I don't know what's I mean, I'm sure they'll have new spatulas every time. But

32:43
Keep your germs away from me, please. I have to agree here. If I'm Miller Lite and I'm looking for brand extensions and I'm looking for activations, this makes sense on the surface.

32:54
But I am a little bit of a grill phobia person myself too. Like when I've gone to parks like back in the day and I go like the public grill that runs through my mind. I'm just like, I know no one licked the grill or like, I don't know. It's not necessarily even germs, right? But it's like what funky concoction was cooked on your last and then it's going to flavor my hamburger. Yep. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

33:20
I liked the Miller Lite charcoal better flavored like the beer, beer infused charcoal. Yeah. I mean that would be smart. They already did it. Yeah. It was awesome. Beer coal, beer coal. Hey, I mean I like the folding beach chair though. Like that idea works. Yeah. Sharing beach chairs and umbrellas does fine. Right. The grills though. Yeah. I don't know. Uh, New York times plans advertising expansion into non news products.

33:50
Over the past 10 years, the Times has pivoted strategy to focus on subscriptions. Now that it's reached critical mass, it's an opportunity to build more ad products that cater to those users. I think you're going to see a lot more of this across the board. I mean, Apple the other day announced they're having their own DSP. And so it's just situations like I mean, what was the I'm sure you guys talked about at the car dealer or the car brand that.

34:18
has a subscription service now for Heated Seats. We've reached a point where we're so individualized that we want individualized services for everything that let me pick and play and pick and pay what I want. Well, that and those media companies, you know, like newspapers are dead. And you've got community journals, but with limited reach, so limited ad.

34:43
Ad dollars they can collect right so you've got subscription online, so they're just they've got to have another revenue stream Yep, and you know everything's gonna be at supported. Yep, because people don't really want to pay What it takes to to get that content or that media or whatever it is right when I think so On the con on the conversation of ads. I think people aren't as bothered by them is what we like to believe I think on tik-tok like the newer media. Maybe I get annoyed at some ads that pop up

35:13
But if I'm on a news website, I don't really care or look at the ads that are there. They're just there and I expect them to be there. And so I think there's not a world where we go ad free across the board.

35:29
Look what's going on with Netflix. I mean, right. The genie is going back in the bottle. Right. Like, like literally. I never thought it would. But you can get the genie back in the bottle, clearly, because Netflix is like they're going to go back to ads, you know, that I don't know. I think they kind of had a little bit at the beginning, but quickly didn't. And now, you know, because this their subscription numbers are dropping off and nobody wants to spend twenty dollars a month because all these things because again, when you when you play for a lot of pluses.

35:58
It adds up. Right. Yeah. Pun intended. You know what I'm saying, Nick? Mm-hmm. Uh, there's no subtractions in there. Right. It's all plus, plus, plus, plus. $9.99, $14.99, $20. Holy shit, I paid in four times more than I was with cable. With cable. Yeah. Oh, you care for what you ask for. Right. I want no ads and I want to buy individual things. Well, here it is, folks. It's called A Lot of Money because that content, it's expensive to make. It is.

36:26
it doesn't just get done for free. So Netflix going back to ads, I mean that's gonna be interesting. I just say from my perspective, I guess you're gonna be able to watch it without ads if you keep paying. I assume ad plus ad free. I don't know. I think some of mine are ad free that I have, but again, if there's a price difference there, I didn't choose it because it was ad free. I chose it just because it was probably the first one on the list, and I didn't feel like going through the rest of them.

36:56
Yeah, I'll say this if you're out there listening. The only thing I do like about it is, being a digital ad agency, we push connected TV a lot. It is democratizing the availability and potential to get a high brand value placement. Because a digital ad, as much as it doesn't annoy me, but it has an impact, no doubt, but not as impactful as a 15, 30 second,

37:25
well-produced, well-created, thoughtful piece of content that you're typically stationary in front of a TV. Even if you're looking at your phone, they're getting just a deeper impression. It's just all impressions are not made equal. Right. No, I get that, yeah. And I think one of the things we're gonna continue to see, we're already seeing it, we've been seeing it for a couple years, is that continued democratization of what you're saying.

37:49
I mean, even look at the next Super Bowl, we're already seeing big brands starting to pull out from commercial ads because they know that that money can be spent elsewhere. And so going along what you're saying, it allows the the mom and pop stores on the street to have a CTV placement. It might not be in the prime spot of the Super Bowl, but it might be on the same day on the same station and you can play it for not 30 million dollars. Yeah, exactly.

38:16
So we'll see. That's what we got today. Final words there, Ray? Not really. No words of wisdom. I know. If you're out there and you're what you're listening here on Friday, go celebrate World Elephant Day.

38:33
and glad hand your left-handers tomorrow. Don't get crushed by the elephants. Don't forget to relax on relaxation day. Yeah, this is true. You could, you know, just relax all week. Tell the Radcast I told you it was OK with your grill that you can rent. Yeah. In advance of Monday. It's weird that Monday's a relaxing day. This should be a Sunday or Saturday. Yeah, that's poor planning. Yeah. Someone someone didn't think that. You know. Yeah. Great. No, no productivity at work on Monday. Thanks to this. Right.

39:03
We appreciate whoever you are, wherever you are, whenever you're listening. We couldn't do it without you. You know where to find us, theradcast.com. Search for all of today's content, including TikTok, Instagram, and elephants. I'm Ryan Alford on all the platforms. For Reh Harvey, Nick Weaver.

39:24
We'll see you next time. See ya. On the Radcast. To listen to full episodes or to contact us, visit us on the web at theradcast.com. Or follow our host, at Ryan Alford on Instagram. Thanks for tuning in.