The Week of December 22, 2023 Marketing and Business News: Recreate Taylor Swift’s Time Cover with Your Dog to Win Doggie Day Care

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 As a maintenance supervisor at a manufacturing facility,
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 You're listening to the Radcast,
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 If it's radical, we cover it.
 Here's your host, Ryan Alford.
 Hey guys, what's up?
 Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast.
 I'm a little under the weather as you can tell.
 I don't have that booming voice like normal Chris,
 but I'm doing my best.
 We're weekly marketing and business news of the week here
 on December 22nd, 23.
 Merry Christmas to you, my friend.
 Merry Christmas to you.
 Hey, even though you're under the weather.
 Yeah, I feel okay.
 The voice is just...
 I'm on the tail end of it.
 It's more the nasally and the raspiness.
 So...
 Yeah.
 Apologize tonight.
 But I have my normal radio voice.
 The show that I'm going on.
 It's another holiday in the trenches for you
 with the family, huh?
 Oh, yeah.
 I was having flashbacks like the last two seasons.
 I think we've had a little bouts of something hit
 like the first week of Christmas vacation
 because I...
 Nicole literally this morning was like...
 She said something I was having déjà vu
 because that's where it was last year.
 So this was a shitty way to spend my first haul.
 Our first week off.
 I'm like...
 I was having déjà vu because I think last year
 this same shit happened.
 But...
 Yeah, it's going through...
 But you know what, man?
 We rise above.
 We make no excuses and we're here.
 Ready to bring it on.
 Hey, we appreciate everyone out there.
 Merry Christmas to everyone.
 I'll give you a happy holidays
 but I'm going to tell you Merry Christmas too.
 So...
 You can like it, love it or hate it.
 But...
 And I mean it in all sincerity
 because it's just a season to be jolly.
 I'm ready to watch me
 so much.
 Christmas vacation.
 That's all I'm saying.
 That's right.
 Classic.
 Yes.
 Yes.
 I hope everyone...
 Wherever you are, however you are,
 we appreciate you listening.
 And I hope you're on your way.
 We record this the 22nd.
 It's close to...
 Season time here.
 You could be like in the sleigh ride ready.
 Going on to Christmas Eve.
 Who knows when you're listening to this.
 So...
 It could be Christmas morning.
 You're listening to the Radcast.
 So definitely Merry Christmas.
 And I don't think we'll be having a white Christmas this year.
 Chris.
 In either South Carolina or Florida.
 Yeah.
 That is the one thing I get jealous of.
 I see the white Christmas.
 I'm like, oh, that would be cool.
 Yeah, I agree.
 It would be nice.
 That looks beautiful out.
 Yes.
 A couple of show notes for those of you.
 If you're new, then this will be new information.
 If you've been following along
 and one of our 1 million plus downloads a month,
 then some of this will be new.
 Some of it won't.
 But as we get down to the end of the year here,
 today's fairly light on the news.
 A lot of people are shutting it down,
 including our favorite people like Taylor Swift and Elon Musk.
 They're just not...
 The antics are on the lighter side this week.
 But next week will definitely be...
 We'll do it pre-recorded.
 We've got some specials, some different things,
 some comedic things, few things in marketing.
 And then we will be kicking off the New Year
 with our first guest, Dave Asprey,
 the original biohacker,
 the godfather of biohacking.
 We'll be coming on.
 We've already recorded that episode in full transparency.
 And it's a bomb.
 It's everything you need to hear.
 To get to your start.
 We got hacks.
 We got tricks.
 We got Dave going off on.
 Who knows what?
 If you follow Dave, you know him.
 He speaks his mind.
 And like him love him or not.
 He believes in what he does.
 And he's been wildly successful.
 Enjoyed that conversation that will kick off your radcast in 2023.
 We will have some program notes as it relates to this show
 that will start in February, kicking around some ideas.
 As the radcast network goes live and broader
 with what we think will be 40 to 100 shows next year
 under the radcast media network.
 So being a lookout for that,
 you'll see a lot of news, notes, different things on this show,
 other shows, and the like.
 It's exciting news, Chris.
 It's very exciting news.
 Expansion for two.
 Yes.
 I'm sitting here in the radcast studios.
 The team has put up our radcast trademark right above.
 Where I'm looking at your face, Chris.
 I get to see this like beaming at me.
 The gold seal.
 So you're putting that up there.
 I think with you know Cameron saw her.
 I don't know.
 I'll give them both credit.
 And it's like just shining on me.
 The trademark that we've worked so hard for.
 Something to be proud of.
 Hey, no one else can do it.
 The season to sis letters are going out, baby.
 I don't think till you've been in a position
 where you're trying to do a company or trademark.
 Do you really appreciate the value of a trademark?
 Yeah.
 Everybody's lost.
 What?
 It matters.
 And since we just went,
 we went through the renewal of the VK one.
 I'm like, I'm extra happy for you.
 I'm like, I really feel bad.
 I know it didn't come easy.
 It's a painly ass.
 But you're about to send it once.
 Merry Christmas.
 He sent the sis letters out of all your competitors.
 Yes, exactly.
 There's a couple of them.
 A couple of them.
 You know you are.
 We're coming for you.
 Plenty.
 We're going to be nice.
 I'm actually going to be nice about it.
 Perfect.
 Just be like.
 Perfect.
 Yeah.
 I'm going to turn the guard dog on you immediately.
 Just we'll see where it goes.
 But we're all about value here.
 Let's turn it into it.
 So trademark.
 Let's talk about that from marketing perspective.
 So the reason you get that is to protect your rights.
 It's both past, present, and future rights to the name and the usage of logos and name.
 It's usually safer to get the name marked.
 It's about you want to get the logo marked too, depending on how special it is, but you
 really get protected under the name, ultimately.
 And it just keeps people, if you have an idea or a business, even if you didn't intend for
 it to become gigantic or huge or whatever, it just protects you, a case that it does.
 And even if you don't want it to be huge, you want to protect your name and someone's
 not popping up next to you, either for us being another show, for a business, being
 another brand.
 And so a lot of people understand that, but there is a lot of legalities and things behind
 it.
 And when you get into selling a company, the valuations increase.
 There's a lot of reasons for doing it and protecting those rights.
 And we want to keep it about value here, Chris.
 The lessons.
 It's a protection on your investment, on your time, your energy, your idea.
 Exactly.
 And so if you, but be prepared, it takes about 18 months, if you're lucky, and some dough,
 exactly the vloggers, it's supposed to be like, and they'll say, you can do it yourself.
 Don't do it yourself.
 No, just pop up the dough, right?
 Take the check and just know that the first check isn't the last check.
 It's like something always comes up.
 It's funny how that is with lawyers.
 I love them.
 Right.
 And sometimes I want to kick them, just being honest, but necessary, yes, they are.
 And we joked about Taylor Swift, but I did think this was funny.
 He found this from USAToday.com, recreate Taylor Swift's time cover with your dog to win
 doggy daycare.
 Pet owners have been inspired by Taylor Swift's time person of your magazine cover featuring
 her cat, Benjamin Button.
 This is led to a trend where people recreate the cover with their own pets, posting their
 best blue steel photos on social media, content creator, comedian, Ryan Schitzel, something
 like that, participated in this trend by recreating Swift's cover with his one-year-old pup,
 Burke, named after his celebrity crush, John Krasinski's middle name, wow.
 The trend is game popularity, pet owners creatively mimic the iconic magazine cover featuring
 Taylor Swift and her cat.
 I thought this was pretty funny.
 I don't even have a pet, but when I get one, just so I can do this cover.
 Maybe I need to do a little storm T-Swifts.
 You should do that.
 Just take it.
 And Sawyer could probably put a background line or something.
 Sawyer could totally put something together quickly on that.
 So he's sitting in Sawyer.
 Deal.
 Sawyer coming your way, brother.
 It's, it's fun.
 And I just wanted to make sure that Swift got her attention.
 We were joking around about new names for the podcast for next year.
 And the Swift decast was already taken.
 So who knows?
 She's always in the news.
 She's in the weekly news.
 Yes, she is.
 What are, are there like some go to, this next article brings up another one of my favorite
 movies of the season.
 So they go to movies for you in the holidays to the ones that you're just going to watch.
 They're going to make the cut.
 What are they?
 Definitely.
 A home alone that's been running.
 Yeah.
 Health.
 Christmas vacation.
 Yeah.
 The green, I feel like makes his way on always.
 Oh yeah.
 And last night, home alone too was on in, in the background.
 Yeah.
 Love that.
 It's, I, it's so over the top, but I know everything that's going to happen because
 my kids have watched it 8,000 times, but it's, it's got its own warm place in the heart.
 But this article comes from a marketing dive.
 Warner Brothers March 20, cast 20 years, 20 years of love with a Roblox experience.
 We haven't talked about Roblox experiences in a while.
 The meta, metaverse sort of Warner Brothers, motion picture group is commemorating.
 That was more difficult to say than I thought it was going to be commemorating the 20th anniversary
 of the holiday classic elf with immersive.
 It's always immersive.
 That's like their favorite word on these if, if there's a, oh, I got to get on tandem
 here.
 Sorry.
 Little head, call it.
 Little head, call it.
 Little foggy.
 Just go with it.
 You've listened up to this point.
 So everyone, if the metaverse or anything like that, immersive, we're going to have an
 immersive experience like every marketer, every CEO, every quote's like, we have an immersive
 brand experience.
 Every event, I read it, it's an immersive experience, an immersive event.
 I got it.
 People literally use up the source and something about it, please.
 Yeah.
 Are you carrying your immersive, immersive experience?
 I didn't even realize it was a trigger word until you brought it up and now I'm like,
 you're triggered.
 Now you know, because you're right.
 That's what I'm saying.
 That's what we do on the show.
 We get you nodding.
 You're going, you know what?
 Right.
 It's got a point there.
 Every time I hear a immersive, developed in collaboration with Fairview Portals and
 Supersocial, the virtual experience allows participants to Don Elfhats and assume roles
 like wish, taker, toy maker and gift wrapper, those are my three, my favorite names, wish
 taker, toy maker and gift wrapper, tweedle, de tweedle, dumb and tweedle, something in Santa's
 workshop.
 Players are rewarded with presents and digital wearables for the contributions.
 The ongoing activation aims to attract new audiences, particularly among the younger
 demographic.
 This is free to repeat on all these things.
 Oh, yeah.
 I talked about Disco think because I love Elf and I love Will Farrell and I thought it was
 fun that they're doing something.
 I'm going to get my kids on Roblox later and we're going to go dive into this.
 Have them to tell you that right now because unless the house today, they were playing
 Fortnite and I think we're going to get into the Elfhorn Roblox and report back on how
 this goes.
 But I would yeah, as long as I can be the wish taker, I think you're all three, wish
 taker, toy maker or in the gift wrapper because daddy's writing the checks and probably wrapping
 the presents too for all the gifts.
 Yeah, you're a man of many names, I think.
 I think so and my wife does a lot of the does all the wrapping.
 I'll give her that I'll take those wishes though, wish taker.
 I thought it was the negative thing at first, are you accepting wishes or you're taking
 them?
 You know what I mean?
 Yeah.
 It's a little weird like I read it like it's a great grant or just like a scary character
 like the wish ticker.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 All your wishes are gone.
 There's no more wishes for you.
 Anyway, it's the holiday season folks lighting up.
 And if you want to learn from me directly, join my newsletter, ryanoffer.com, backslash,
 newsletter, sign up.
 I give daily advice on marketing, personal branding, podcasting, life.
 Give that a shout.
 Join that.
 It's free.
 Staley just like this show.
 Give away our best advice.
 All right.
 Hey, what holiday marketing discussion wouldn't be complete without moon pie discussion.
 Forget you know, are you like, are you a moon pie guy?
 Not particularly.
 I think that's how most people answer that question.
 I had to go.
 If we asked 100 people, I bet the 80 of them would say something to the equivalent of that
 really.
 Yeah.
 No exactly what they are, but if I'm in that category of food, I'm more likely to grab
 that oatmeal cream pie.
 I don't for sure.
 I just, there's something about the moon pie that's just like too much or something.
 Yeah.
 So taking one bite of a, one bite of a moon pie is like the equivalent of eat bite to something
 else.
 It's like the double layer marshmallow, like I feel like I'm like, I don't even know
 what I'm getting into.
 It didn't taste bad, but it's just, I don't know.
 And moon pies never going to sponsor us now, but I'm just, that's all right.
 It's okay.
 It doesn't align.
 I agree.
 It's a polarizing.
 It's a polarizing dessert.
 All that's making me realize is there's a small segment of population that absolutely loves
 these things and they're carrying the whole company because if you're right, you meet
 80% of people, you know exactly what it is.
 You're never reaching for it when you're walking in the mobile gas station.
 Oh, it's always the one like you, if you go into like a deserted town and they got
 seven snacks, they're all empty, but there's two blue pies left.
 It's like that and two black liquor sticks and I could be starving and I won't, I wouldn't
 buy it.
 And I'm like, yeah, no, that moon pie from 1967, I'm going to pass on that.
 But back to the article for marketing dive, our favorite marketing source, by the way,
 marketing dive is the bomb.
 If you're into marketing news, when you get them some love here at the end of the season,
 marketing dive.com, moon pie known for its marshmallow filled snacks, something like that,
 launched a global ad campaign, specifically targeting extra terrestrials, also known
 as ET's collaborating with agency, Tom Bruss, good agency in Knoxville, Tennessee, like
 this guy's an enthusiast, focused on unidentified anomalous phenomena.
 I have no idea how I made through that and I'm not sure I did anomalous.
 Yeah, I did.
 I made it.
 UAP.
 You did.
 I did it.
 The brand crafted out of home ads and a language purportedly comprehensible only to aliens.
 How did they learn that language?
 These ads were strategically placed in UAP hotspots, such as Washington, Roswell.
 And New Mexico, moon pie, maybe Roswell in New Mexico, combining words here and cities.
 Moon pie aimed to capitalize on the heightened interest in UAPs spurred by recent congressional
 hearings on the subject.
 Moon pie is known for good marketing.
 I will say this.
 Their marketing is way better than their, the actual product.
 Yeah.
 But this is fun.
 And I am.
 I do.
 I'm starting to think that the really UFOs are out there starting to be like undeniable.
 There's something else for sure.
 Yeah.
 But all these videos was shit flying around.
 They have no idea.
 I guess we figured out one day, which now that we're reading this, I am a little surprised.
 Other brands haven't tried to use such like a viral newsworthy event to what do you
 call borrowed interest?
 Look at them learning.
 Hey, you got it borrowed interest, shared interest.
 Yes.
 Yeah.
 But that's what they did.
 It's called news, it's called news, jacking as well.
 There's lots of news around the extraterrestrials, ET's and UAPs, we're just going to call
 that from now on, never saying those three words again.
 But and they are tapping into that and people, it's top of mind.
 We're real fucking scared that aliens are going to get them because there's all these
 videos keep coming out like every conspiracy theory ever.
 So they tap into that and hey, sell some more moon pies.
 I'm still not buying a moon pie though.
 This is me.
 I love to.
 Not for me.
 I'd like to get in.
 Send me a DM on Instagram if you're a moon pie lover or a hater.
 I want to do.
 I want to do.
 We need this one.
 We need like live polls.
 I'm going to do it live, like live polls or something because I need to know like real
 time because I have a feeling a more people don't call it in.
 Yeah.
 Call in and tell us about how much you look real quick in the room.
 Cameron Sawyer, moon pie, yes or no.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 Exactly.
 It was just for everyone looking.
 We got a absolute no and we got it, which is I think you're going to get a lot of
 and it's just polite because you want to like it because it doesn't taste bad.
 But when you really get after it, you don't really want it.
 You take two bites and you're like, eh, that was a bad decision.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 You should've gone from the nutty buddy.
 You should've gone from the nutter bar, like the Swiss cake roll, like some like the little
 Debbie's got like 12 options that are better than the moon pie.
 Literally.
 Yeah.
 How it is, is there so many better options right in front of you?
 Yeah.
 The peanut butter roll.
 Come on.
 Little Debbie's got like a whole freaking cupboard full of things better than the moon pie.
 Yeah.
 Good marketing.
 So there you have it.
 Instagram's launching a bunch of new features.
 Some I understand, some I don't.
 Some about AI.
 I think every company trying to put AI in something like every app I use now.
 Like here's a new AI feature that will never fucking work.
 It gets in your way and just to say we have an AI feature.
 I'm all for technology to improve for experience.
 But I'm not for technology sake and I think we're starting to hit this.
 We're jumping the shark early on the AI.
 Instagram is introduced a generative AI powered background editing tool.
 How was hoping that would?
 Our users in the United States, the tool part of metas generative AI initiatives allow
 users to change the background of their images and stories using props.
 Oh, you got to have a prompt engineer just to change your story background.
 When users tap on the background editor icon, they receive ready prompts like on a red
 carpet being chased by dinosaurs or surrounded by puppies.
 You can also create their own prompts to customize the background.
 As far as the go on that, I think we get it.
 And it's fine.
 It's cool.
 I.
 Yeah.
 It's I don't know, man.
 I know it's like different ways to express yourself.
 I get how much you want to bet I did that's not in the article.
 But how much would you want to bet I will bet you a thousand dollars hard cash that someone
 had Instagram used that quote or something very quotes to it when this came out.
 Yeah.
 We want people to be able to express themselves in different ways.
 I guarantee you that's the like the blanket statement when features like this.
 And I'm like, people can pay just to come up with this shit.
 And I'm like, yeah, if you came up with stories, dude, get a race.
 That was communication.
 That was way to do things that was different than the normal posting and all that.
 If they ripped it off from Snapchat, whatever it was, whoever it was, I don't care.
 Okay.
 That was cool.
 But backgrounds, just all prompts.
 Come on, man.
 I don't know, man.
 I mean, you're going to use that Chris.
 You're not bringing anything new.
 You're just simplifying Photoshop for the average person in my mind.
 Yeah.
 I don't.
 I.
 Not some of us.
 So there's some creator out there that's going to DM me and they're going to go, I actually
 find this very useful.
 All right.
 I'm going to be like, good for fucking you because you're, you got nothing better to do
 than to prompt your ass and Instagram.
 I just want to get my story up and have some communication back and forth.
 How many, how much more time do I need to spend like making what we're going to talk
 about?
 Let's just get it up so we can talk about it.
 I don't want the selfie up, man.
 Never happened just quick selfies.
 Everything's got so complicated.
 I know.
 Everything's a production now.
 Look at me.
 I mean, the moon pie on the moon with my full background, exactly.
 That's all I wanted to say.
 I feel comfortable with doing selfies, but I don't come, but you know why go Chris, because
 the skin's never looked better.
 Tell me.
 Caldera lab, caldera lab calm.
 Use rad Ryan.
 You get 20% off the most premium, the best men's skin care delivered right to look.
 I didn't even know like men's premium skin care existed.
 I know I'm like, you got a drugstore that's like swav or trying to use my wife stuff.
 And then I'm like, okay, got in touch with Caldera lab.
 They gave me a call.
 We're like, okay, we want to work.
 I'm like, send me this stuff.
 I used it for three months.
 I'm like, holy shit.
 I was actually surprised.
 It worked.
 I'm skeptical.
 You'll hear the cynicism in my voice a lot of times.
 Caldera lab works and they've been a great official skin care partner of Ryan offered
 and a rad cast here.
 And I must say, Chris, you look like you're even glowing here.
 I know you're at my mom's place there in Florida, you're already on your break, you're
 already relaxed.
 But I'm seeing at least a couple of years have dropped off your face.
 Oh, there's no doubt.
 Yeah, I've been, I like it a lot.
 I like the face wash.
 The oil.
 That's your own.
 You're actually looking yesterday.
 I can tell a difference and it, it smells good.
 It just feels good.
 It's nice.
 I've never been one to pat my cheeks, but something about when I put that stuff on,
 I just want to like pat the cheeks about it.
 I don't know why something.
 I don't even know.
 You're gone, man.
 But all seriousness, I just, it took some bags out.
 I guess the bag's going on.
 You have four kids, four companies.
 I've not tried the icon yet.
 I need to get that.
 Oh, that is, that's the one is right here.
 Look, it's right here, it's in right here.
 I could apply this right now, but I don't want to scare anyone by just how those bags
 disappear in real time.
 It does work quickly.
 We don't want that.
 But go, in all seriousness, this is our favorite sponsor of the year because it, this works
 and we've got a lot of great feedback from people that have bought it.
 CalderaLab.com, rad, Ryan, you'll get 20% off your entire purchase and these are good
 people making premium products right here in the United States.
 So go support them.
 We appreciate them.
 Chris, what's your big Christmas plans?
 No, I'm just hanging out with the family.
 Everyone's in town.
 Oh my, nephews, just being an Uncle Chris, just feeding them cookies and braving them
 with snacks.
 Is Storm with you?
 He is.
 However, today he's with, he's with a dog sitter for the day.
 My parents had a Christmas party and had to have the house for the evening and then go
 pick them up today.
 Understood.
 Storm is Chris's chocolate lab there.
 He's chocolate and he's got to be chocolate.
 Oh yeah, he's a big chocolate boy sometimes likes to make an appearance on the lab on the
 face of the planet.
 It doesn't like walks.
 Yeah.
 Yeah.
 He is.
 He's on the water.
 He is on the water.
 He is on the water.
 He is on the water.
 He does like the water.
 Thomas, he posts his videos.
 He says that.
 We do appreciate everyone whenever, wherever, however you are, Merry Christmas to you.
 It's been a light episode keeping it light here at the end of the year.
 We appreciate everyone.
 We'll have a fun episode next week.
 We've got some trends.
 I found a really cool article.
 I was going to save it.
 Do it today.
 I'm going to save for next week.
 It's actually some trends for next year, some insights.
 Along with some fun things and fun lists.
 So we're recording that for next Friday.
 We appreciate everyone and we appreciate you, Chris Hanson.
 Appreciate you.
 And Cameron, so are you.
 Oh, yeah.
 We appreciate all the team here.
 That's all your rights.
 My Cameron, we appreciate everyone and happy holidays and a happy new year if we don't
 see you.
 I'll do the side for Ryan, offer to Chris Hanson.
 We'll see you next time on the rad cast.
 To listen and watch full episodes, visit us on the web at the radcast.com or follow us
 on social media at our Instagram account v.rad.cast or at Ryan Alfred.
 Stay radical.