Ryan Alford [00:00:24] Hey guys, what's up? It's Ryan Alford and the lovely Riley Clarke. Welcome to today's news episode. 

Reiley Clark [00:00:46] Yes, thank you. Thank you. Glad to be here.

Ryan Alford [00:00:48] First week of December, I might add. 

Reiley Clark [00:00:50] That's a lot to process. But it's okay. I saw these memes over the weekend, it was just like me recovering from March and then it was like realizing March is actually three months from now. 

Ryan Alford [00:01:06] How about all three weeks. Get your shopping done there. Yeah, I'm just scared. 

Reiley Clark [00:01:11] I know you're really freaking us all out the last couple of weeks. You keep giving us these ticking.

Ryan Alford [00:01:17] My wife, yesterday or two days ago, sent me a note. She's like, I'm getting really nervous about Christmas, I mean, I think it was still November 30th. I'm nervous about Christmas with the boys. I'm like I guess it's just the man in me, I'm like, right, nervous. It's still not even December yet. You got 26 days, no matter what we do. Well early, early Christmas season here, if I might add, on the latest news episode, we're feeling festive. There's a Christmas tree in the office. There are at least five at my house. There are garlands everywhere. So it's definitely feeling like Christmas. 

Reiley Clark: Yes, we need to get garland in the office, I was just thinking that. 

Ryan Alford: I know, the Radcast studio really needs something. 

Reiley Clark: Oh yes, I’ll get that taken care of. 

Ryan Alford: So what's new, Riley?

Reiley Clark [00:02:12] Nothing too much besides work. I feel like we've had a lot of really great progress with a lot of things on the podcast. We're starting to get some merchandise kind of stuff together which will be exciting. So hopefully if you've been enjoying our podcast, we'd love for you guys to get some merch from us. And it's just kind of be like that badass kind of vibe, of like business kind of goal, but also podcasts kind of culture. So it'll be a good old mix of everything in there. But I'm excited to get that out for you guys. 

Ryan Alford [00:02:46] I like it. It's going to be interesting. We're playing around with a few designs and we've got a few ways that we can test some different things. So I'm excited to see where that goes. And I'm kind of a merch junky, I'm like a t-shirt or a coffee cup or anything with something cool on it, I'm like, oh, I’ll get it. My wife hates it because I've got like 400 T-shirts. I'm starting to clean them out. It's like, I'm that guy walking by something, I see a t-shirt, a cool t-shirt I'm going to buy. I need that. 

Reiley Clark [00:03:20] You want to see as you see it. How have you been, though? 

Ryan Alford [00:03:24] It's been good. The family is good. Wife's getting towards the other side with her shoulder surgery. My kids are getting excited for Christmas. Some little elf has started visiting us and if you follow me on Instagram, you're following along because this little guy is really rubbing it in and I'm about to take it to him. My kids love it. I have a love-hate relationship with them. I only like him because my kids like him, but I really want to smack him in the face. Well, you have to think about it like every night. My wife has like it all planned out and everything, but it's like the last thing you're like going to bed and you're like oh, god, where's Elfie? But my kids, they love it. So it's good, kids are getting hyped for Christmas and just stay on the up and up; works picking up. It's like everyone's woken up. The last couple of months had been really busy with existing clients but new business had slowed a bit. Not a bad way, but just now suddenly it's like we're getting calls every other day. So it's good. And our newsletter launches today. So, if you're on the email list, if you go to radical.company, you get on our email newsletter list, we do that once a month. So that's going out today, the December version. It's got the content that we've produced throughout the last month, as well as some really good insights or recommendations by our digital media team or links to articles for stuff that we're finding really interesting or kind of cutting edge tactics. So check out our newsletter any time and you can sign up for that. But it's good. I was a little disappointed that GVL Hustle got canceled. It just felt like the right thing to do. We're in South Carolina here, and it's been very wet and cold, and warm. November was warm, 60s and 70s the entire month. And then, we just got blasted by a cold front. We were going to do an indoor-outdoor event for GVL Hustle, so we're going to push it towards February. Just feels like the right thing to do with Covid, that’s kind of picking up and didn't want to jam 100 people that showed up. So, that's good. But here's Riley with the news. 

Reiley Clark [00:06:07] Okay, so we have five article topics for you guys today. The first topic is Coke. Well, Coca-Cola has always been the person who has ‘share a Coke with someone’ around the holidays, well, for a long time. But this time they're kind of doing one that sharing a Coke with your holiday hero. And it brings in this really nice acknowledging factor that I think Coke has always done with the personalized name tags or whatever it is. But sharing and giving back with the essential workers that have been very tirelessly working this year. And I think this is just a really sweet thing. And I'm glad to see this kind of a message of part this holiday season. 

Ryan Alford [00:06:54] No, I mean, it's very timely. As you mentioned, I can remember their campaigns, it's always been about ‘share a coke’, sharing the experience of a Coke. I think they've always positioned that brand here. Having been kind of a Coke lover my whole life. I've transitioned to Diet Coke and I drink less than I used to just in balance to drink more water. But there's something about refreshing, the effervescen. I don't know what it is like, I think about having a Coke and fizzing in your face, and it's sweet and yummy and all that stuff. I hope I'm selling some coke right now. But anyway, they’ve always had the campaign to share a Coke, share the joy. And so it plays in with their brand. And then with the time period my hero like handing those out to first responders or police officers, or whoever is your hero during this difficult time that we've had feels like a great brand play for them. Playing off something they had already done. And I think it's great. And I think that you'll see a lot of this. It was cool; I remember when they had the names on the Coke. I don't know. I think they just stopped that. But, yeah, it's always looking for my name. 

Reiley Clark [00:08:13] Could you not find your name?

Ryan Alford [00:08:13] Oh, I found it eventually, but it took a while. Ryan is not uncommon, but it's not a John or Michael, Peter. 

Reiley Clark: Imagine Riley. I did not find mine. I was like that kid, when you are younger and you’d find a keychain. I could never find one. 

Ryan Alford: We didn't really help our children with that notion, too. We have Nasch, Hogan, Hudson, and Clayton. Those aren't exactly the most common names either. So we go to the Myrtle Beach gift shop and it’s like can you make us some t-shirts? But no, I love this campaign. And hats off to Coke. 

Reiley Clark [00:09:05] Absolutely. Next topic is Lady Gaga collaborating with Oreos. And I like this because, I mean, we've talked about this in the last couple of news episodes anyways. Sross-industry collaborations. Whether it's rappers with McDonald's or Taco Bell or whatever it is. And now you have Lady Gaga with Oreos and she's having a couple of different flavors, so to speak. The one that's coming out, I honestly don't even fully know what this flavor is going to taste like. 

Ryan Alford [00:09:32] The neon green, Pink? 

Reiley Clark [00:09:34] I mean, I kind of want to taste it now but it looks super cool. So, I mean, we'll see what happens with that. 

Ryan Alford [00:09:40] It's great. We talk about this on a lot of the news episodes. We bring in a lot of pop culture references and things like that. And so it feels like a great play for the brand. Oreo's - it seems like I just started noticing them playing around with brands and flavors. Forever, it was only white and chocolate. You had double stuffed. But now you got big stuff, ultimate stuff, peanut butter-chocolate, mint. Okay, I love the flavors and guilty pleasures, but this feels like a good extension even past in getting the pop culture reference. Lady Gaga is promoting the hell out of it and you're going to see it all over social media. People are going to have a CD, album art, whatever, from Spotify, and have their Oreos next to it. So you're going to see it on social media. People are going to play because the colors are really bright and interesting, just like Lady Gaga. And so it seems like a great play. And again, I love it when brands kind of take a detour from the everyday and get more into the vernacular and the mindset of pop culture and/or just everyday music. Feels like a great brand play to me.

Reiley Clark [00:11:09] I agree. Our next article is probably my favorite topic that we're going to cover today. And this is if you haven't seen it already, it is Ryan Reynolds’ media content company, Maximum Effort. And they are playing on what basically how shit-show 2020 was. But they play so well on just the resilience of singles in 2020. And it's this campaign for a Match group which embodies what is it like Tinder, Hinge, and even Match.com. And then they're having this video of this how Satan matches with 2020 and it's a match made in hell. 

Ryan Alford [00:11:58] It's clever. It's a detour from what they've done normally because matches normally have been like happy, shiny, these couples that we put together. So, I love it when a brand's reflective and self-aware of what's happened this year. And I know if you're watching the video right now on YouTube, you've got the commercial playing. So I definitely curse you to check it out. But again, great for the brand. Interesting that Ryan Reynolds is getting into everything. It was Gin and then now a production company. So, hey, come into the ad world, man. But a really cool spot. And you need to watch it because it's all like we talked about pre-episode, like it's all the little subtle things. A couple like eating a picnic on the football field and it's like WTF in the end zone paint. There's a lot of these little subtle jabs. 

Reiley Clark [00:13:01] And just the emptiness of everyone else like they're in the stadium, taking up the space on the field, like to themselves but because clearly, no one else is able to be in the stadium. It's just them and wherever it is, the toilet paper, the even the Hornet, that was in the beginning. It's clever. It's funny. And I'm very entertained by it and I think it was a really good spot because, at the very end, it's like make 2021 your year and see where it goes. But I think it's been a cool spot. Of course. Our next article is Pringle's has revamped their packaging, the dude, the Mr. Pringles has a glow up, that's what they call it, and I thought it was interesting. They're trying to pull more of this modern, simplistic, bright color kind of stuff, and that's great, but I just don't know if I really like the new Mr. Pringle. What do you think? 

Ryan Alford [00:14:11] I understand why they're doing it. But it's been like it's interesting when brands stick with something for as long as they do and then they decide everything deserves a refresh and all those things. But whether or not it's going to move the needle or not. I have no idea. But, at least they're using good vernacular for glow up. 

Reiley Clark [00:14:42] Well, right. And that's what was funny. I like that they brought in the cultural relevance of just like everyone's having a glow-up right now or what was your glow up over the last couple of years or whatever it was. And I like that play on it. But, the mustache is really kind of in your face now. 

Ryan Alford [00:14:56] I'd love to see the market research. You know they did this. Like on the shelf, I'm walking by, I'd like to get if they're playing towards more of the GenZ millennial crowd, if that's the goal here. I'd like to do a test with 50 people in the mindset age group, whatever they were going for, whoever their target was, and walk down the shelf and see how many notice the difference. And that's not the only judge of it because they put it on social media. There's a lot of other places where it's more in your face. That's what someone would say. But, it just really moved the needle for them. I don't know. But, it's the glow up.

Reiley Clark [00:15:45] Well, they even said they're trying to do a fresh as Mr. P sweepstakes. And so this is something that they're trying to get their Twitter followers. So if you follow Pringles on Twitter, they're really encouraging their fans to tweet their favorite Pringles’ variant. And then you'll get a chance to win $1500 and then a selection of the new chips. And I know they're also trying to play on the fact that, like, you can stack Pringle stackables. 

Ryan Alford [00:16:11] I'll tell you, I've been mixing flavors for like twenty years. Like, you give me some, like nacho cheese and some pizza together and I’ll stack those things. So they should have been calling me a lot earlier, if they want some crazy points. I mean, I guess we've got Pringles and chips everywhere in my house. Like no one has the willpower that I do. I mean the amount of junk food that is in our house and like we feed our kids well. I don't like going, oh it's junk food. No, not all the time. But we do have some crazy snacks everywhere. And I'm like when I'm trying to tighten it up. But I do love some Pringles. Whether or not his beard and his mustache or getting glowing up.

Reiley Clark [00:17:06] Our next topic in our last topic for today is Pepsi. This is a very interesting one to me because Pepsi is getting in on the self-care initiative that I guess everyone else is trying or has been getting on this year as well. And they are creating a Pepsi at-home self-care kit that comes with a Pepsi bath bomb, Pepsi sugar scrub, and a Pepsi facemask. Now, I have several questions about this when I first saw this. But if it's going to feel like Pepsi and it's going to have that Pepsi flavor and stuff like that, are you going to feel sticky? You know what I mean? Like I don't want to be feeling sticky, that’s not why I use a bathbomb. You use a bathbomb to just chill. But like, if it's going to smell like Pepsi, you know, that kind of sugary sticky stuff. If it looks brown. I don't know. What is your opinion on this? 

Ryan Alford [00:18:01] I like the notion of what they're trying to do. The notion that is inside that drove it. Like sometimes when we go over some of these news things, I back my way into the strategy. The strategy, and the consumer insight is right. We are a very overstimulated, overworked, overstressed society as a whole right now. So the insight on society and the notion of giving them a spa retreat do all that feels right. Whether or not it's right for Pepsi, I don't know. But I can get down that path. But to your point, there's this like this for me, focus group of one here, when I think of being clean and comfortable and relaxed, I think of just clean smells and fragrances. Maybe some wintergreen. But Pepsi is not the first thing that comes to mind when I rub it on myself. That's some Pepsi stuff. But it's the thought that counts, I guess. I don't know, sometimes just because you can doesn't mean you should. This falls in that camp for me. But we'll see.

Reiley Clark [00:19:34] I get that. But I also know that, like Pepsi, at least according to what they're trying to be. Since last year they've been trying to get more like a lifestyle brand versus just a soda brand. And so to that end, I understand, China now bring in self-care. I mean, what was it last year? They did a collaboration with all those fashion brands like Urban Outfitters and everything. 

Ryan Alford: Yeah Cardi B. I’m okay with Cardi B. You know, in the commercials and all that. Hey, more Cardi B. But soap scrub? Um. 

Reiley Clark: Yeah, like what is it doing for you? So that's actually it for us today. But obviously it's going to be interesting to see what happens. But the other thing is actually, if you want to participate and try to get this at home Spa-kit, you have to Tweet Pepsi, #pepsispa and #sweepstakes, and tag one of your friends. The company said, and that's how you're going to, I guess, get in this. I don't know if it's going to be like a bowl and they'll be drawing out your handle for who's going to end up getting this at-home spa kit. 

Ryan Alford [00:20:37] But I imagine they might sell it too. They've got an e-commerce store on their website. Probably have it both if you'd like to buy some Pepsi soap scrub, you know where to go. Well, I enjoyed it, Riley. And I look forward to next week. 

Reiley Clark [00:20:52] Yeah. We'll see you guys next time. 

Rayn Alford: “Yo guys, what's up? Ryan Alford here. Thanks so much for listening. Really appreciate it. But do us a favor. If you've been enjoying the Radcast, you need to share the word with a friend or anyone else. We'd really appreciate it and give us a review at Apple or Spotify. It was solid. Tell more people, leave us some reviews. And hey, here's the best news of all. If you want to work with me to check with you, to get your business kicking ass and you want radical or myself involved, you can text me directly at 8647293680. Don't wait another minute. Let's get your business going.”