Ryan [00:00:19] Hey guys what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. It's our weekly news segment. Here on a Friday, New Year’s Day. Woohoooo! It’s January 1st. That’s like my best 'woohoo” ever.

Reiley [00:00:33] That was so good! I’m so glad we’re recording this

Ryan [00:00:38] Yeah, January 1st. Hey, Happy New Year! It’s not yet a new year for us while recording this, just so you know but, when you are listening to us it’s new year’s day. And so we want to wish you a happy new year! And it just happens to be episode 100. We’re having champagne. If you’re listening just imagine us sipping on some 1972 fine champagne. It might not be ‘72 , but…

Reiley [00:01:11] Just the absolutely best champagne you could possibly hope for is what’s happening here.

Ryan [00:01:19] There’s a little apricot there… a little citrusy…

Reiley [00:01:24] No, but a happy new year’s to everyone, hope it’s a great one for everyone, and yeah, it’s our 100th episode obviously, and that’s super exciting.

Ryan [00:01:33] I know, 100 episodes! I mean, it's believable because when I was reflecting on this, it felt like -- I remember the guests and it's been two plus years. Obviously we've picked up the frequency here in the last six months since Reiley's come on and put a schedule together. We were pretty loose there the first year or so, so it’s picked up, but it has felt like we were getting towards 100 – I started to go like, I think about the guests.. and then I look back, and oh, yeah, that's right. Like, it was on and how many went when it was…

Reiley [00:02:16] It's crazy when you go back through episodes and just kind of pay attention to who's on what and what episode it was. And you're like, that was thirty episodes ago. It's crazy to just really think about it. But speaking of that, like who's been your favorite guest… not favorite guests. That 's a bad thing to say. I don't mean like that, but I feel like we had amazing guests this year and obviously, absolutely incredible guests all the way around. But, was there any one just right off the top of the head that, like, completely stood out for you? 

Ryan [00:02:43] Well, a couple of things stood out. I was really proud of the quality of the esports series as a whole. I mean, that stands out as a highlight. I'll name a few of those shortly. But, I guess call it selfishly or whatever, but someone that was just on my radar because I've been following what he's done — Sean Whalen. Having him on from Lions not Sheep. And Sean's kind of a polarizing figure out there right now because he's got some very strong beliefs. And, like him, love him or hate him, you have to respect his transparency and the way he goes about it and the success of his business here in the middle of COVID. He's crushing it, he's done like over a million dollars of e-commerce revenues in his first year. And, that stands out from the personal side of just someone that I'm following and watching what he's doing. And it's not even that I agree with every position he had, but I respect his transparency and his way of sharing information and he is also a great communicator. And so that stands out. But then the e-commerce series was solid. From Matt Arden at NBA and NBA 2K game, all the way through, you know, it just felt like our most cohesive, I mean, it was the first time kind of doing a series for us and it just felt like each episode kind of added on to each other. The whole thing stood out as really reflecting the growth that esports has seen not only this year, but how it's just booming in the last ten years. 

Reiley [00:04:32] Absolutely. same with me. I feel there's obviously every guest. I Interacted with on some level. And I loved who we had on. For me, in the e-commerce field specifically, I'm thinking of Alex Reed and Jordan Schindler. They were incredible guests and just the passion and just like, the goal oriented people. I mean, I love that. And I felt very inspirational. And so, if those episodes haven't been listened to then you should definitely go back in and listen to them because they're incredible. Really every episode is incredible, I mean, obviously we are biased, this is our podcast. But when they were on this thing they were incredible. And, back to the e-sport series too, definitely just think of Charles Conroy and especially Magnus, the insight was awesome. 

Ryan [00:05:26] And, what's interesting is we're two minutes into talking about the best of the year. “Best of” is just so wrong. I guess it's just the nature of this time of year. They get the “best of it” and all that. But reflecting on things and we haven’t even mentioned one of the preeminent voices in B2B marketing, Dave Gearheart, I mean we talked for three minutes and even..  That just goes to show the quality of the guests that we've had and all of that. And that was great. And even one of our most recent Jan Parrish, that was like sometimes, I'm proud of all the guests we've had. I can't think of an episode where I was like, man, I didn't enjoy it. Or, like, it wasn't good. I mean, I'm biased. obviously, being the host. But, sometimes you jive and you get into a flow more and you know, Jan and I could relate to each other both in marketing for a long time. I could really relate to her and she could relate to me. Just her story, her background and kind of the way she's building a business the right way with GLU, which is really cool.

Reiley [00:06:41] No, it is super cool. And then the other thing that I guess happened this year on the Radcast side is we're on Pandora and I know we announced that last week, but I feel like it's important to emphasize again. So, if you are listening on Pandora, that's super awesome and welcome Pandora listeners, that's super exciting for you to be here. 

Ryan [00:06:58] You know, they're pretty selective. It's not like one of those things where you can just put the podcast out and you're immediately on. Like most of the channels, if you put one together and you release it, you can start pushing out to a lot of the platforms. Pandora is pretty selective and goes through a process and approval and all that. So, at least we’re going to tell ourselves that. They do though, you have to kind of apply and. they evaluate you a little bit. It’s  cool. And I know they've got a loyal listener following. And so, if you're listening on Pandora, welcome for sure. 

Reiley [00:07:14] Exactly. It's super cool, super exciting. 

Ryan [00:07:34] Any new year’s plans? I know if you're listening you are hearing us talk about new year’s plan and it’s new year’s day for you but, nonetheless, you can hear what we did last night. Think about it that way!

Reiley [00:07:48] This is weird, so like, I’m saying what’s supposed to happen, not knowing if it’s actually gonna happen, this is that weird kind of mystic ball kind of moment, you know. But now, what’s supposed to happen, actually one of my really good friends that I went to West Virginia University with, she's coming down with her boyfriend. And we're all going to kind of go out and just kind of but cautiously because I'm not trying to, like, be super, like, crazy. It's COVID and I'm just trying to be respectful. So I think we're just going to do something at my apartment, obviously, all the party games. But see, the thing is if you do it at an apartment, then you can really just kind of do your own kind of party, like however you want it to go. And it's like we can just basically have the bar at my apartment, you know what I mean? And like card games galore, and..just like games, and I'm a big card game person, so, I have all my card games ready and I'm just very excited. So that's kind of what's supposed to happen. So I guess we'll see what actually does happen, so yeah.

Ryan [00:08:48] Oh yeah, I’ll never forget the Christmas party rallies, pulling out the cards… it got to the point where you’re like alright let’s play a game, I have cards! Like, I always carry them, might be a card shark if…got a game of rummy here or would you like to play blackjack? Or you would play horse-racing, or whatever that game is called. It had a name?

Reiley [00:09:12 ]I think it’s called horse-race. It's a good game, yeah…

Ryan [00:09:16] We played that on the last Chritsmas party, till the wee hours of the morning. This was a little more calm this year, but yeah, it’s a fun game.

Reiley [00:09:21] Yeah, super fun. What about you? What are your supposed plans? 

Ryan [00:09:25] You know, we're low key -- we have all the boys. And we're actually going to go for part of the night to my father in law's. His birthday is technically this week. It was yesterday. So, happy birthday to Steve. So we're going to celebrate with him some part of the night. And I don't know if we will end up staying there or heading back to Chateau Alford, for that party, admittedly. You know, new year’s kinda hit or miss. Look, if there's a party, let's say, pre-Covid post all that, we're in. So my advice is, somewhere we don't have plans or we've got a sitter or something, I'm all for it. I’m not, you know, humbug about partying. But New Year's is a little bit of amateur hour-ish for me. With just like, it's just everybody that just doesn't go out much is out. So, who do I wanna spend my time around, so I like private parties. Like 10, 12 of your best friends hanging out somewhere, great. Or you know, if you have reservations somewhere for a nice dinner and a private room and then may be going somewhere for, you know, the celebration. But this year, ironically last year Nicole and I, we were in bed by like 11. We woke up and did the new year’s kiss the next morning…happy new year’s hun…we had had it going on, but we were like worn out, and I was like I don’t think we’re going to make it, because we didn’t have friends or anything last year and we hadn’t made plans, and had kids, so it was just like, alright, I don’t know. And so, this year some family stuff. It seems appropriate for the new year for us. If I was 20 something like you, you know, I wouldn't be saying that. But being 40 something, it feels appropriate this year. And we do have some plans on New Year's Day and companies plan New Year's Day with the college football playoff, you know, the good teams play in that.

Reiley [00:11:45] You are pulling all at me today…

Ryan [00:11:50] …I think West Virginia was playing and their game was canceled, I think, or something, because of COVID.

Reiley [00:11:56] Because of COVID, just because of COVID, exactly.

Ryan [00:11:59] That’s what happens on the holiday care bowl, and you know, or whatever bowl it was… car care bowl, you know, citrus bowl, cheez it bowl… whatever it was, yeah. It’s funny though, there’s some irony, and I’m giving Reiley a hard time, she’s a West Virginia fan. West Virginia is better than most teams so, there’s nothing to be ashamed of there. But, what’s funny is, all these -- it’s like you don’t want to think it’s a conspiracy or like it’s about the money — when we know it is. Interesting enough, there’s like half the football games have been canceled, you know, because of COVID and all that stuff. But some of these playoff games won’t be canceled, what do you think? Somehow, those games will go down — the big money maker games will go down, somehow. And so, it’s like how can… I need this, I need sports. I want everybody to be safe but -- I need this game so I am not complaining about it -- but it’s just ironic that, the irony that it just so happens that these other bowls get canceled because of the this, and then, the biggest games that make generally the most money, somehow everyone stays safe

Reiley [00:13:12] It’s magic, it really is magic. It’s something in the water, I’m sure…

Ryan [00:13:17] And that’s because probably they are taking maybe more precautions because they’re, you know, or the younger kids that are like going to the potato chip bowl might not be as focused as the playoff teams, So, I could accept that argument. But, who knows? It’s funny nonetheless. But, yeah! So, happy new year’s to everyone especially. This is episode 100 and we appreciate everyone listening. And here's Reiley with the news.

Announcer 3 [00:13:47] Here is the Radcast news!

Reiley [00:13:50]  Okay, so the news for today is really just going over what ironically now we are saying the “Best of 2020” is. But I think this is just our take away, at least from the Radcast perspective, and just what was notable for other news outlet sources of what was just the best to 2020, advertising-wise. Like for me, right off the top of my head, I'm going comedy because 2020 as we've said, was such a shit show. Let's just go to comedia, you know.  I mean obviously the sin-news campaign is the first on my list, like that just cracks me up even though it was canceled shortly afterwards. That's just hysterical to me. And then, we have another one, the Calm and CNN partnership that happened right during the election, which I think is absolutely hilarious, which we all know why that was kind of happening. 

Ryan [00:14:40] But it's funny with Calm, because this commercial, like I don’t know-- they spend a ton on like the little bit of linear TV that I catch here and there. I feel like I see a Calm 30 second spot and it's like “rain forest, rain coming in…” and I was like they must be making some money on this app. Like I don’t know…

Reiley [00:15:01] It’s been a stressful year!

Ryan [00:15:03] It has been. A lot of people are buying that app and obviously with the election and all the tension that's come with both sides, no matter where you fall, you have to admit it's been tense, to say the least. So great brand play. It was a cool ad, very time appropriate. And so yeah, it's cool, I like it. Have you ever used the app? 

Reiley [00:15:28] I use the free version. But it was one of the things where it was actually very cool. It was very intentional, time to just meditate… Are you a meditator? 

Ryan [00:15:44] I think we should talk about that. I don’t have new year’s resolutions, I'm not a New Year's resolution kinda guy. I'm just self-motivated. I am kind of the anti-New Year's guy because I just think it's arbitrary. And following my social media, you're going to see some post the next few days are pretty hard hitting about this. But, I do think that one of my goals for next year or just goals in general, whether it's next year, tomorrow or the next day, is I do feel like I need to meditate. I think I need, like, just with everything going on, I think I reasonably am a calm person but sometimes I feel like I get more intense about certain things. And I think I need to, like, meditate a little.  I'm feeling the need. So I might check out Calm and check whatever it is. And I don't even know if I'm capable of it -- the way my brain works. Like I have no problem sleeping. I'm a good sleeper. I fall asleep in like, two seconds, so, it’s not that. But I think, like, whether it's the middle of the morning or whenever I would meditate. I'm not sure where my brain is going. I'm going to have to really work at this. I don't know how that's going to go down. Well I mean I think my natural inclination would be to fall asleep, because I'm an easy sleeper and I feel if we shut off all the lights here in our studio, and you gave me this chair, with all lights off, couple sips of that champagne, I could be asleep in three minutes. Give me three minutes, lights off, no distractions, and let me sit here. I would be in quasi -- when offered, I can often go to sleep very quickly, my dad, my sister’s the same way. Like we can sleep quickly. 

Reiley [00:17:40] So this takes me to a couple of things that are going through my head. So first of all, if you've seen the movie Eat Pray Love, which is -- that’s like one of my favorite movies. I don’t know if you have. It’s a Julia Roberts’ movie, I totally would recommend it. It’s probably one that Nicole would probably really like, I don’t know if you are really gonna like it, it’s definitely one of those chick-flicks kinda deal. But anyway…

Ryan [00:18:02] It’s a no for me…

Reiley [00:18:04]  Well, in the movie she goes to Bali because she's trying to like, work on the prayer aspect of her life or whatever, and everyone's trying to get her to meditate or whatever… but regardless, she's trying to meditate and it cracks me up because I just feel like this will go into a personal story in a second. But it's like she's sitting there and she's trying to meditate. She's like, she has her hands out, how are you supposed to have your hand out? She's like trying to do this. And she's itching and she's thinking about how to decorate her meditating studio at home and she looks at the clock and it's been a minute and she's like, oh, my gosh. But it's like, for me, when I first started meditating, it was kind of a similar thing of like, “okay, time is just like not my friend right now; like my mind's [at] a million different places, but I feel like people get into, okay if I meditate, I have to do this. And then it becomes this anxiety thing of, you know, I'm not meditating now. No, I'm not meditating. It's like just pause, chill! Just focus on your breath. That’s the first part of meditating, it is just your breath. So like, if you focus on your breath and you do that intentionally for five minutes a day, you can build up from that to really focus on complete meditation of just where your mind's at, other thoughts, controlling thoughts, things like that. But you have to start somewhere.  Rome wasn't built in a day. You have to start somewhere. Start with your breath.

Ryan [00:19:29] I am willing to try and I feel like I need to try. Not because, you know -- I have very low blood pressure, even in my most stressful moments, it's more my personality than I feel like stress, I think. We will find out,  I'm having a stress test for a couple of months. My doctor recommended it. But I feel like I'm going to fall asleep if I try to do it. But I want to try. So it is on my goals. I mean, I’m not gonna call it a new year’s resolution.  

Reiley [00:20:00] You’re right. But the intentionality is there and I think that's what's important. But what was there another one that you kind of set out to do this year, like ad-wise, that you were kind of like, oh my gosh?

Ryan [00:20:14] We talked, and we’ve got a few of our show notes or cheat sheet, so to speak. But I saw it again on TV for the first time with my in-laws. And, yeah, they're pretty religious, so, it's almost like feeling a little weird with them seeing it because you got this big, huge Satan or whatever. That Match.com Satan spot from Ryan Reynolds’ production company is just hilarious. 2020, if you haven't seen it, you didn't listen to our -- we talked about this I think a couple of months ago...

Reiley [00:20:43] It was a couple of weeks ago. It is crazy because this just came out and it was the thing where I'm playing it too. If you're on the YouTube video, you'll be able to see it. But the video came out a couple of weeks ago because it was right around. There was something that had happened and it was like right around that time period. But yeah, it was just a couple of weeks ago. 

Ryan [00:21:01] But Satan matches with a girl that is personifying 2020, she says “ hi, I am 2020”. And so, they were a match made in heaven or hell. I guess it's definitely a match made in hell, but it was just fun and very insightful from Match… I can only say to myself we all live in our own world, you know, like, as much as you try to empathize and know these things but -- and Reiley, you can speak this, you have a boyfriend now. But the idea or thought of trying to date in the middle of COVID -- I hadn't really thought about it, and like, that spot hit me, and like, this probably has been pretty fucking difficult.

Reiley [00:21:41] It’s been crazy difficult. Like again, we did long distance, in the middle of COVID…  I was like, horrible! It’s terrible…you can always add whatever to it and, you know…

Ryan [00:21:55] So anyway. So I thought it was very insightful for Match and, you know, the spot’s hilarious. You'd have to watch the extended version because some of the comedy I think plays out more in the extended version, the WTF… like when they're on the line [football field], like having a picnic or whatever is hilarious. There's just a little subtle,  some of it's very obvious humor, but then some of it is subtle. You have to look for it.  Really one of my favorites. 

Reiley [00:22:23] Yeah. Another ad that kind of stood out for me was the Whopper one, the moldy Whopper, this disgusting looking thing. Honestly, it just makes you think and it makes you appreciate the goodness of Burger King, right?

Ryan [00:22:36] I think… I thought highly of Burger King, for the episode this week, the value meal. And the Nuggets, it still blows my mind how many nuggets you can get for only five bucks. But anyway. But the moldy Whopper, like, I thought it was like I understood and appreciated, being in the creative business for twenty years, I appreciated the creativity and the thought behind it. I just still was like, sometimes because you can should you? … You’re really selling more burgers, I know it’s transparency… it’s like you’re really getting people excited about buying a Whopper, just because it’s going to mold properly, because it’s not Cheez It that it would last forever. I say it because Cheez-Its and Twinkies never disintegrate or whatever -- Twinkies like, supposedly like, [ after]20 years I guess you could eat it. It wouldn’t taste as fresh, but like it doesn’t do anything, like, no degradation…

Reiley [00:23:47] I’m just gonna stick to my avocados.

Ryan [00:23:50] Still, I appreciated the creativity, and I appreciated the transparency as a marketing person, but as a consumer I had my doubts as to whether or not it helped them sell any more burgers. Someone in their analytic side can tell us if that worked out for them. 

Reiley [00:23:45] I mean, another one, this was during the Super Bowl. This was like months ago —It feels like it was years ago, at this point — The Hyundai Smart Park commercial -- That was so clever. And it was so so funny!...

 Ryan [00:24:27] As a Southern guy it’s hard to kind of do a Boston accent…

Reiley [00:24:30] It’s so, so good. I loved that commercial. That was awesome.

Ryan [00:24:35] It was funny. And they had guys that were from that area or could actually pretend they were -- John Krasinski — somewhere from that area. But it's very funny. [It] also reminded me of all the -- I watch a lot of Ben Affleck, or some of his movies that were from that area where everybody has a heavy accent. Not that they were comedies, but I don't know. I thought it was very clever.

Reiley [00:25:00] Very, very clever. I liked it, too. And I’ve a Hyundai. I have a Hybrid, so I’m just like, yeah! A Hyundai commercial!...

Ryan [00:25:09] And I know cancer culture came around and got a hold of this one, but Kraft’s ‘sending noods’, ‘send noods’ was quite funny. And they were encouraging people to send boxes of Kraft to friends and relatives and all that and playing off the ‘noods’. And they did like a fake blocking off the screen of the box, like you would do in case the box was naked or something naked. So it showed that… I think the campaign lasted like three days. I thought it was brilliant.

Reiley [00:25:37] Exactly. Another one that stood out to me was how -- first of all, Travis Scott, I felt, was in every possible crossover industry you could have had.

Ryan [00:25:54] Crossover king of 2020.

Reiley [00:25:56] Oh, that’s good. Travis Scott —crossover king of 2020… like he was in a fortnight virtual concert which is dope if you really think about it. That's just going to continue in 2021. And then the McDonald's one with his own kind of special meal that was like a Whopper specially made or whatever. So that was kind of cool, too, and just the brilliance of the ad, and I felt like that propelled like other people looking at other pop singers or rappers with other industry crossovers and how can we get Lady Gaga to be an Oreo's, or whatever it was. So that's cool. 

Ryan [00:26:34] I think you see more and more of that kind of integration. With events kind of still being off the table with some other channels of in-person stuff. I think you're going to see more and more of this kind of creative integration of cross channels with celebrities, with musicians and all that stuff. One, because it was headed that way. And it's not that this is new. I mean, of course, musicians and brands have been working together for decades. But I think you're going to start to see more of that through all the social channels and TikTok and all leveraging it — omni channel. And so, definitely a cool campaign. All in all, though, it was a great year. 

Reiley [00:27:17] It was a great year. The other thing — I would say, it’s funny just to wrap it up, I guess — but if you are on Netflix, you need to watch the-2020-movie. I would recommend it. It was like 2020: the year in a recap, or whatever. I just saw it last night for the first time, and I felt like I was either watching a Borat movie, or just reading the Onion. I mean it was hilarious! It was so well-done. At first, I was like, whoever produced that, I mean it was so incredible because you have to take something that was -- 2020 for a lot of reasons was very intense, for a lot of people. And I think for the first time 2020 really unified everyone in a frustrated way. Whether it was because of COVID, or the Black Lives Matter, the election — whatever it was it unified a lot of people…so, I just thought it was very clever that this movie totally went the opposite direction and just brought in humour. Pointed out the irony of so many of these things, and just like the comedy of it. It was so well-done. Totally recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet. 

Ryan [00:28:25] So, there you go. New Year’s Day, or whatever. You got a weekend, a long weekend with a holiday, get a hold of that Netflix. I’m gonna watch that. Like I saw it hit my Netflix screen, but I haven’t watched it. I saw the preview… I’ll come back to that.

Reiley [00:28:39] I am not gonna lie, the first few seconds I was like, “Are they being serious right now?”. And then I was like, “Oh, they are! This is good!”.

Ryan [00:28:47] Cool. Well we really appreciate everyone listening. Episode 100! Happy New Year! And I guess we can toast together again. And cheers to everyone out there. Happy New Year's and we hope you stick around for our next 100 episodes — we might get to that in the first few months!... 100 episodes in 60 days, right?— We really appreciate everyone listening, and as always you know where to find us. We are at ‘theradcast.com’. And we will see you in the New year, 2021. Alright, thanks Reiley. See you next year. 

Ryan [00:29:35] 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 really appreciate it. And go leave us a review at Apple or Spotify. Leave us a solid. Tell more people, leave us some reviews. And hey, here's the best news of all. If you want to work with me directly, 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. Eight six four seven two nine thirty six eighty. We'll see you next time.