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You're listening to the Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it.

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Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. It is the week of December 8th, 2023. That is today, December 8th, Friday, your second Friday of December for our weekly marketing and business news of the week. Joined by my friend, Maki Misabe, my co-host, Chris Hansen.

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What's up, my man? How are you today? I am good. I'm just cozy here in my sweater here in the Radcast studios in G Vegas. I see you even got long sleeve going on in the vacay lounge in Miami. Despite that I'm being showered in this beautiful Florida sunshine. It's a little chilly out today. It's nice though. Yeah, it's funny. It was like 40 here in the Carolinas. It was like 20 something I think overnight. But then

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mid morning, it's in the forties and that's cold. You walk out, it's probably like 61. And you're like, oh, I'm chilly. It'll be a balmy 78 probably by the time you go out. It's crispy enough to wake you up. Yes. No doubt. Yes, we hope everyone is doing fabulous and got their Christmas shopping well underway. It's consumerism is at its best here in the States.

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around this time of year, wherever, whenever, however you're listening, thank you for making us your number one business and marketing show on Apple. And Chris, we've got several, lots of late breaking news, articles and stuff that we just don't wanna leave out. All right, give the people what they want. I know. We're gonna start today, we like to start on the softer side.

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in news, the Tesla Cybertruck, Elon Musk is always at the center of a lot of things. And I thought this was hilarious. The way they choose to do the rollout. The Cybertruck has had like two year delay in production and it's finally starting to roll out. And Elon and team being and doing what they do for how they roll it out there. They, they showed a video of the Cybertruck, which goes pretty fast for a truck being electronic.

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beating a Porsche 911 in a drag race while towing another Porsche. Oh, trolling even the best cars. It's crazy that it goes that fast. The ability to do it aside, the fact the way that he just chooses to do it, it wouldn't be effective to the truck winning by six car lengths or something. It's towing. So he shows off the towing capacity and the speed.

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It goes zero to 60, I guess alone. It doesn't tow something in 2.6 seconds. Crazy fast. My Audi, that's about what my Audi does actually with the stage two tune. It's right around that. But that's a sports sedan versus a truck. Right. That's just around the same horsepower, 845 horsepower. That's about what my Audi generates. So.

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While the Porsche being towed appears to be the least powerful Carrera T model. Okay, so with the least powerful 911, but it's still a point nonetheless. Yeah, I was wondering that. Was it a turbo? Was it a GT3? No, but still funny. I'd still like to know how close it would be if it was one of those. I think it'd be probably, I bet it'd be about the same. The truck might go a little slower maybe, because I think the new 911.

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turbos probably in that same range, the high twos, zero to 60. Yeah. But the fact that it can tow, so it's showing off the towing capacity and everything else, Elon just knows how to get attention and attention sells. It man might be our hemorrhage swift in the top rank for talked about most on the show. Yeah. 100%. And if you go Google, like most talked about people in 2023, not just us.

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I guarantee you by impressions, they're one, two, two, one, whatever it might be. 100%. For a lot of different reasons. And I did finally watch that speaking of him. And I think it's been a week or two now, but him telling the average hirer to go fuck themselves like repeatedly. If you haven't watched that video, you should go watch it. It is great. Such a good video. I don't like everything the guy does. I don't, but man, it's starting to.

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like some certain antics quite a bit. It's when you got the money to just go tell people. And he's right that in a way he's right. I don't agree. It's hard to know what his intent was with the anti-Semantic comments. Like this year in someone's heart, like even he should know better probably to even get in that mess. But he did go over to Israel and did tours. I think he was somewhat aware that he was crossing some boundaries that he shouldn't have.

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is trying to make up for it. But then it is, you're not gonna blackmail me. And it'll be interesting. What's the point of having fuck you money if you can't say fuck you once in a while? He definitely has that. Yeah, he does. And he's definitely doing it. And ironically, threads, downloads, have started to go back up, supposedly. We'll see if that holds. I still don't have this.

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Again, these are not platforms that I am on as much as others. So there's people that can speak more intelligently as far as day to day usage, but I will say, when I still don't have as good of experience or as real time of experience of like, is what I get from X as I do on threads. So no, it's also, I go on X every day, formally known as Twitter. I go daily.

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Reds, maybe like once a week. Yeah. It's irrelevant. So the attention game, Elon Musk continues to win. And so look, if you're a brand out there and you're thinking about how to mimic this, you probably, there's probably not a direct correlation because those brands are not gonna play a U game and they shouldn't. So I'm not.

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Right. Recommending that to anyone specifically, but it's more the outlandishness with which attention can be gotten. And sometimes when you peel it back, it's not just outlandish. It's the thoughtfulness of towing the 911 behind the car, even if it was the slower, versus slower. Like that took thought to put together and then it can pull it off. And so there's no denying the,

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innovation of the products that he's doing. The fact that a truck can pull a 911 behind it and still beat a 911, even if it's the base model, is very attention getting. So I think it's funny as shit. Like it's like a such a passive aggressive poke. Yeah. And that's it. If there's anything I'm counseling here for anyone listening for like doing branding and marketing, look, stand out, be bold.

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You don't have to offend people do it. No, okay, ignore some of the antics, but the boldness of this stunt slash demonstration. Yeah, we'll see. I'm gonna get a cyber truck though, purely because it looks like a spaceship. Yeah. Yes. I'd like to ride in one now after that. In other news, Sylvester Stallone.

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returns to Philadelphia for inaugural, excuse me, Rocky Day. Keep punching. Sylvester Stallone celebrated Philadelphia's inaugural Rocky Day as a tribute to the iconic film's impact nearly 50 years after its release. The 77 year old, guy 77, 77 year old actor and screenwriter returned to the city where Rocky was filmed, acknowledging the parallels.

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between his early struggles in the industry and his character, Rocky Balboa's journey to success. He emphasized the positive impact of Rocky, noting its release during a time of changing politics and a desire for more positivity. The celebration includes Stallone referencing the famous steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the symbol for the movie, where he encouraged the crowd to persevere and keep punching. It marked the opening of the Rocky Shop.

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Franchise's only official merchandise store. He wants to give back to the city and hint at future involvement in Philadelphia. What a great movie. Joel better have that music playing right now. What day is Rocky Day? What's the actual day? I think it was yesterday. It was, it was this week.

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Does it say the exact date? Yeah, it was this week. But I'm less. Yes, that better be playing through this whole segment. It's going to be playing. Yeah. The end is just I don't know. I think back to the movies. When I was a kid, I went out. I think I either watched it first time and it's movie came out like in the 70s, I guess the first one, 78 or 81 early. I remember seeing.

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the later ones in the theaters. And it was like, not only like when I watched the first Karate Kid doing crane kicks off the side of the chairs, I remember forever punching things all over the place. My mom didn't like that I'd seen the movie because I was like suddenly punching everything and everyone. Just groups of kids now running around with their fists up trying to box. Trying to box. There's worse things they could be doing.

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And of course, everybody want to be rocky, but to get hit the face. But yes, exactly. The first, are you a big gamer? Xbox, PlayStation, were you ever a big gamer?

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No, I played a little bit, but I wasn't, I'm not very active with it. Yeah. A lot of my buddies were into like Call of Duty and all that stuff. Yeah. The first Grand Theft Auto 6, GTA trailer just dropped. And this is like one of the biggest franchises still going. It's reportedly the most expensive entertainment product ever made with an estimated development cost of two.

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billion dollars Grand Theft Auto 6 The game which has been in development since 2014 aims to set new industry standards The massive budget suggests a focus on creating a vast and highly detailed open world city based on Miami called Vice City While the release date for GTA 6 remains undisclosed is expected to launch on Xbox PlayStation PC between

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2024, 2025. The previous game Grand Theft Auto V has made an estimated 8 billion to date in revenue. It's insane. These numbers are real. And we had this on our show notes and it's why are we talking about video? Okay, look, this is a gigantic enormous market. It's insane how big this market is.

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We did one of the first series we did on the Radcast three years ago. It was like a series of specific things around e-sports and gaming. And I think the people that are out of it don't realize how big it is. One game, it's like bigger than some countries economies. You got gamer guys getting paid like NBA athletes.

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The gaming teams, people don't realize that. And I just think that brands have to continue to pay attention to how big these markets are. And whether it's e-sports events, whether it's gaming things, tying yourself to any way possible to like these things, if they fall on your demo. And look, Grand Theft Auto has a very wide ranging demo, demographic, the people that play it and watch it. It's everything from 18 year olds to,

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40 year olds, gamers. And so, it's the most expensive entertainment product ever made, $2 billion. But they know they're gonna make, if they made eight million on the first one, and this was gonna have more diverse and more things to buy and things, they'll probably make 15, 20 billion on the two billion. So they know it's a good investment. When I opened up my social media stuff today, this was everywhere, absolutely everywhere.

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I really, I played this in like when I was like 16, 17, and I was definitely into it. It's a great game. But I, even when you said those numbers, that is honestly shocking to me in the billions that's. Yeah. And then they spent 2 billion making the newest one. It's just wrapping your head. I, so as we talk about numbers on the show or just in general in life and they start to gloss over, Oh yeah, billion this, but.

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That's a lot of damn money. It's a lot of damn development and technology and marketing and everything else. That's just to make the game. The marketing budget probably is gonna be another billion dollars. Been in development since 2014. A decade long project, a $2 billion 10. I wanna know when they sat in 2014 and planned this. Did they say, all right, we have a $2 billion budget? Yeah.

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But think about what you're doing. It's sold within the game. All these badges and capabilities. And that's where it is that, yeah, it's not just selling the game and the downloads of the game. It's everything that you buy within it. No different than like apps and everything else. Yeah. And the ecosystem within it, which what they're talking about, because people keep coming back to the game because of the playability and all these things. And so this market is gigantic.

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And when it makes sense for your brand tying to e-sports and or gaming or getting in on this billion dollar bus right here is never a bad thing. Right? Yes.

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I thought this was interesting. And I'm not a coffee guy, as I sip on my energy drink. The, but not coffee. As many people know, Panera came out with this subscription where you get unlimited coffee. You get a coffee cup, whatever. You pay a monthly, I think only 10 bucks or something. It's fairly inexpensive, but you get unlimited coffee at Panera's. It's been wildly successful, because people drop in, they get a, whatever coffee, whenever, however, unlimited.

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But you haven't been able to give that away as a gift. So they've just launched this year where you can give away unlimited coffee, get an unlimited coffee club as a gift to other people for three, six, 12 months. I think this is super smart. I think subscriptions are obviously a big moneymaker because it's repeating revenue that you make. But to be able to gift subscriptions makes a ton of sense because think about...

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the amount of people that drink coffee and as a, as a, like a great stocking stuff or gift or whatever, to be able to give someone away that free coffee for a year or six months, whatever. And so I bring this up not only because it's news that you can do this, but that subscriptions are a huge way for revenue generation and that repeating revenue and keeping someone coming in the store. Cause let's break this down a little bit.

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Yeah, okay, it's more money, repeating revenue, but it's a physical product. They have to go to the store to get the coffee. What do you buy as you walk in to get that coffee that you paid for? You buy that cinnamon roll. Give me a coffee, big guy. Ha ha ha. I want that cinnamon roll right there. That cinnamon roll's talking to me. It's like punching me in the face like Rocky. You get that banana bread. Oh yeah. Ian. One minute please.

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When you go in for that afternoon, pick me up because you got unlimited coffee. You're going to stop in there. I bet people go in there two, three times a day on their like drive. Then it's that avocado toast. Anyone? Actually, Cheddar soup. It keeps them coming back through the door. They buy more shit. This is why it's brilliant. It's not just about the coffee. Who knows? They probably break even with some of these coffee drinkers. Yeah.

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Now a lot of them, I'm sure they make, the net is they make money on just a subscription. But there's a lot of people that probably come in there four times a day, but they buy other stuff. And it keeps them coming back to the brand. They get, they literally get reminded of that brand name every day. So that they're more top of mind for anything. You gonna cater something? We could prepare Panera. What made you say them? Cause I stop and get coffee there every fucking day. Oh, top of mind.

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And so that's why subscription makes sense It's not just the reoccurring revenue from what you sold is the upsells and the constant top of mind that you remain Because you're in front of their face multiple times a day and all the time so There you go. There's my getting on my soapbox on subscriptions. There you go. Go get you some good gift. You some Panera Unlimited coffee

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And if you want to learn from me directly, join my newsletter, RyanAlford.com backslash newsletter. Sign up, I give daily advice on marketing, personal branding, podcasting, life. Give that a shout, join that, it's free, it's daily. Just like this show, give away our best advice. In other news, Bath and Body Works drops a 10 foot candle to help holiday shoppers unwind. That's in a 10 foot candle. Bath and Body Works has introduced a new creative platform, Cum.

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called Come Back to Your Senses, encouraging busy consumers to take a moment for relaxation, like this. The campaign was launched with a 10-foot-tall candle installation in New York City's Herald Square, representing the brand's largest candle to date. I would hope so. The marketing effort encompasses various elements, including video, out of home, radio, and social media, with a focus on transporting viewers from daily stresses like work emails,

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to unwind in surreal scent infused environments. The initiative aims to promote a sensory experience and moments of relaxation amidst hectic routines. That's some copyright there. Yeah, I like it. Hienonistic sense. I feel relaxed after you read that. Yes. I just want to say, I didn't see the 10 foot candle. I gotta go check that out.

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Yeah. Some of these articles hit the radar and I'm like, I like this from a marketing play, but I hadn't necessarily gone and seen the 10 foot candle and I don't live in New York anymore. So I can't stroll by there. I probably has, think about, they probably had the whole neighborhood smelling good. I was going to say like, how big is the wick on this thing? Like a bonfire size flame coming out the top of this. Yes. New York city. I need to know that. New York city has some odors sometimes. They might should get this in the summer.

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when that trash heats up, having lived there for five years, it gets a little stinky on certain blocks. Maybe they could hire. Now you're thinking. Oh yeah, Sawyer's bringing it up. Oh, this is gigantic. This is huge. Oh yeah, and it's lit. I think there's a real flames. I hope there's real flames. It is gigantic. It's got reindeer on it. And I bet if it's, it better have been scented. Probably made the whole block smell good. The city of New York should hire.

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Bed Bath & Beyond to make these, excuse me, bath and body works. I'm getting my BBBs all. My Triple Bs, bath and body works. But no, for real, they could come make neighborhoods smell better. Some certain, that could be a thing, right? That's a thing. Put an infant on every square block. Yeah, I'd like to see that in G Vegas downtown. They pay for that. The tax money's going up. I see all the cranes everywhere. They can afford a big.

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10 foot bed bath or bath and body works. I still want to say that. Candle, maybe you ought to start a petition. It could be a new market for them. Not just, hey, relaxation, but just making everything smell better. You know, that, getting that relaxation and mixed hectic routines. Get that mahogany teakwood intensity. That's my favorite scent. Good scents are underrated.

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Sometimes I think a good candle is underrated. Yeah, we talk about something. I agree 100%. They're overrated. I'm a big aromatherapy guy. If I'm going to the spa, there's a certain smell I want. If I'm at the house, my wife's got cupcake mixed with pumpkin mixed with sugar spice candles going. Even my kids are like, they walk in, they go, what's the scent today? Because my wife is huge into candles. Yes, but it is a big thing.

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I think we can get down with Bath & Body Works, trying to promote more relaxation and good smells.

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down with it. The only problem is I walk in campaign. I can get behind. You get behind that. But if you're walked into a bath and body works though, the scents start to come blend together. It's a little overwhelming sometimes. Very overwhelming. You walk by that in the mall and it's boom. Yeah, you can smell it. They need to figure that out. Just like walking by like the perfume stand in the Belks or the Macy's or whatever. Whoa.

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Yeah. You might get a headache. Yes. Imagine working in one of those things. It's okay. I think it's some desensitizer, but I like the campaign. I like the 10 foot tall candle and I think they're missing something by not putting these in more cities and make them smell a little better. Yeah, I agree.

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I did think this was cool. Domino's, who's always breaking all the rules these days with their advertising. This one, why Domino's is awarding half a million dollars in snow plowing grants. So if you've seen this with wintertime coming, this is a great campaign. Again, it might be total PR, but it's fun. Domino's has announced a new initiative, plowing for pizza. PFP, baby.

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Awarding, you down with PFP? Yeah, you know me. Awarding $500,000 in grants for snow plowing to ensure access to the pizza's chain during winter weather. Customers can apply for a grant by submitting their zip code and the chain will distribute $25,000 to 20 cities throughout the season. The program is already in progress in Erie, Pennsylvania, Marquette, Michigan, and Manhattan.

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Montana. Awarded cities will also receive winter gear and Domino's gift cards. The campaign follows the 2018 Paving for Pizza effort where Domino's repaired rows to protect pizza integrity during the delivery. The bread aims to emphasize its commitment to customers' convenience, loyalty, and loyalty through unexpected actions like this initiative. Funny. Plowing for pizza. You can't get that pizza if you're all snowed in.

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I'm a big Domino's guy so I can get behind this as well. Yes. And this is probably more PR than anything. Let's be honest. I don't know how many more pizzas are getting out of the way of, but it makes for a great commercial and a great PR story. And so. Oh, yeah. Cause I can already see the commercial. It's Christmas Eve, you need your pizza delivered. It comes Domino's fucking.

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advertise snowplow wrapped in dominoes here to save the day with your fucking pizza and breadsticks Christmas Eve. Exactly. And look, sign me up. Here's how I know this is PR. So you can distribute your TV ads geographically. And I'm seeing these all over. I'm in South. We're in South Carolina. We don't get snow. We get maybe one inch. We don't have any plows around here. I'll tell you that. So the fact that I'm seeing these spots on television,

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is proof that this is PR because they know how chronic it gets. It just was about really. It doesn't affect you, right? Yeah, it doesn't affect me. But it does affect me because I go, oh, that's clever, that's funny, that's cool. And I like Domino's for doing something like that. So back to the earlier point with good marketing, good advertising, be bold, be different, and push the envelope. And that's what Domino's is doing. It's, they're actually doing this.

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So they'll have video and content. It'll be a great social play, but they get the whole, they get people talking at the water cooler. You seen that plow, did you see plowing for pizza? Pizza and plows, baby. Yeah, the alliteration, if nothing else, is what gets it for me. Plowing for pizza. Yeah, yeah. PFP, that's what they should have called it. Yes. I think it's good as time as ever to always mention.

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our good sponsors, and that being Caldera Lab. I've got my sweater on today, no hat day, got a few podcasts recording, wanting the skin to glow, got my lighting perfect, and these circles under the eyes look better than ever thanks to the icon that I'm trying to be, but luckily I use it. You rub it on, it helps with all the circles of bags. Men's premium healthcare delivered straight to your home.

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And let me tell you, it's the best that you can buy. And it's all made in the USA. So premium men's skincare delivered right to your house. If you use Rad Ryan, you'll get 20% off. It's called aerolab.com. We have the links everywhere. You can get to them through my profile on social media, the show notes, but called AeroLab, Rad Ryan, get 20% off. It's a great gift, come on. I'm telling you, any man.

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that cares about their skin or is even remotely a little vain, which most men are at least a little bit. If you aren't, then you aren't paying attention. You gotta keep that stuff looking tight. You don't wanna look like you're 100 years old when you're 75. And if you're not vain, maybe your wife or friend is and tell them to buy it for you. Exactly. They may care more than you do. So again, use Rad. I'm looking out for you guys. This isn't about ad. This is about looking out for you.

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because I've tested this stuff, I use it every day. I use it this morning, an hour before I got here. Use Rad Ryan, you'll get 20% off, delivered right to your door, perfect gift. Good stocking stuffer, and I talk about it a lot, but the body bar is the where it's at. If you order nothing else, you'd be a fool to do that, but if you do, get the body bar. You'll thank me for it, and you'll never go back to store-bought soap, called AirLab.

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the official skincare provider of the Radcast and Ryan Alford. Yes. Finally today, McDonald's reinvents McNugget Buddies for street wear minded adults. I like some McNugget Buddies, but I like some McNuggets. I'm getting hungry and I'm not gonna be eating chicken nuggets, but it does sound good. Some hot mustard sauce, talking about.

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McDonald's has teamed up with artist and streetwear influencer Kerwin Frost for a unique Happy Meal collaboration featuring a customized box and the return of McNugget Buddy Collectibles. After over 25 years, the Kerwin Frost box set to launch on December 11th will showcase six artist designed buddies. The collaboration extends the merchandise, incorporating vintage items from Frost's archive.

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and Fry Guys shoes inspired by the buddies. The marketing effort includes TV spots, social media elements, augmented reality, gaming contest tie-ins, and more. Fleckton McDonald's ongoing strategy to leverage nostalgia and follows the success of last year's collaboration with Cactus Plant Flea Market. That one really rolls off the tongue. Don't remember that one. But it's coming to us from MarketingDive.com.

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Really great marketing news. I'd check them out. Look, I like this. The only thing that would make this better if this was the California Raisins, let me tell you, when I was growing up, these collectibles were a big deal. And very few were as popular as the California Raisins edition. You guys remember those, right? I don't know if you might be too young for, you might be too young, Chris. It rings a bell. The California Raisins.

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but they had glasses and they had little characters and the people would like flock to get these collectibles. So I love this return. I'm still boycotting a little bit because they don't use the Hamburglar enough. And I think it's like some kind of woke ploy, but that aside, my kids will never let me not go to McDonald's and we go every Friday for Hotcake Friday, McDonald's call me. But all that aside, I love the vintage stuff, the collectibles and.

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I'm gonna get me some McNugget buddies. I can tell you that right now. I can't wait to see what you get. I'd have not heard of Kerwin Frost. Have you heard of Kerwin? Anyone heard of him? I'm not. And even our producer Sawyer, who's the street stuff, he's a skater, into that has not heard of Kerwin. So I don't know him, but it doesn't really matter. I want some McNugget buddies because my kids collect these things.

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All the stuff. And I can see us getting into it, because we go there enough, we're starting to get back into the collectibles. It's fun. They're not overreached. The craze that was the California agents, and people more my age are nodding their head right now because they remember it. There's like a song and everything, and they like dance on stage. It's quite hokey, but fun. So go look that up. I think you need to cue it on the playback of this. And so what's the tie in? We're always about value here.

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Look, collectibles are hot. People like collectibles. They like stuff. There's still that, even in the digital world, that collectible aspect of both tangible and if you do the NFT thing, if you want it to fail. Well, and NFTs, yeah. But if you wanted to train wreck, just do the NFT thing. But the physical. I can't agree with that. I don't need to get that from my NFT buddies. They'll be like, bro, I heard you say this on the show. Yeah, I know.

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I still think there's some, there's an industry there and it's, there's still demand, but I just, I just panned it. I just panned it when it first came out cause I knew it was going to fizzle. It was a fad, at least in the moment. I think long-term digital art will be a thing, 100%. I'm not like completely against it. I just thought the, the wave that was going on was in a natural wave of the market that did it. No. Crashing, there you have it. But I do like this.

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vintage nostalgia collectibles. I'm all for it in marketing. And ultimately I'm all for you, Chris. Any final words? Vice versa, brother. I just want everyone to have a great weekend, enjoy the holiday and stay warm. Yes. Wherever you may be. Getting cool out there. And don't forget, December 8th, which is today, is.

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tend to be a time traveler day. You didn't think it existed, but it does. Yes. We'll leave you with that on this lighthearted edition of the Radcast. Hey, look, we like you smile while you learn. You can go get the boring news anywhere. We're gonna keep it interesting and we're gonna keep it number one. Thanks to you.

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You're gonna find us the radcast.com. Search for California raisins. You'll find all the highlight clips from today, nostalgia and everything that comes with it, including that Tesla truck beating the shit out of Porsche. For Ryan Alford, Chris Hansen in Miami. We'll see you next time on the Radcast.

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To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, the.rad.cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.