This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, February 13th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. And a happy Galentine's Day to all. I love that mushroom risotto. Gets me every time. I'm getting a steak for two.
We got to work on our menu strategy here. We got to work on that. We got to work on that. In the meantime, Yetis, we got three fantastic stories for today's show. Stocks are down, but these stories are up. What do we got, Jack? For our first story, every craft brewery in America is launched. their version of Bud Light. Because the fastest growing beer in America, defying every alcohol trend, is local light.
beer? Yeah. For our second story, BuzzFeed is launching its own social media app because BuzzFeed identified the number one problem with the whole internet. Snarfing. And snarfing. And our third and final story, Elf Beauty has a campaign to highlight the number of CEOs named Richard, Rick, or Rich. And what do they call it, Jack? So many dicks. So many dicks. So many dicks is a case study. in customer engagement. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.
Fantastic mix of stories, and I'm in on the steak. Let's do the steak. We're doing the steak? What the heck? Let's do it. We're dropping the risotto? It's a write-off. We'll get the hand-of-the-wood toast for an appetizer, if you know, you know. But Yetis, the most popular gift on Valentine's Day is the bouquet. The bouquet!
An attractively arranged bunch of flowers presented as a gift. A bouquet of roses, red or white, a bouquet of gardenias. In fact, tomorrow, 22% of Americans will buy a bouquet on Valentine's Day. But Nick and I have noticed... to new trend emerging, bouquets with no flowers. We're talking bouquets with anything but the flowers. We call them foquets. Yeah, foquets, fake bouquets. And it turns out there is a whole economy we've discovered.
of faux bouquets. If there was a male version of Galentine's Day... You'd get the fried chicken bouquet, which is a thing. Or you would get your partner a Lego bouquet, which is also a thing. There's donut bouquets, salami bouquets. Honest Company sells a diaper bouquet. For expectant moms. Disney sells a Star Wars.
bouquet. Filled with lightsabers for your lover. Because Jack, anything bundled in a triangularly shaped arrangement, what is it? Technically, that's a bouquet. Whether it's a dozen roses or a Dozen garden hoses. Technically, they're bouquet. So Yetis, you got 24 hours from Valentine's Day. And do you still need a gift? Get her a beef jerky bouquet. A dozen Slim Jims wrapped in a red bow with a card. 60% of the time, it works every time. Jack, let's hit our three stories.
Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%, that's a fat tip. T-Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. I'm Afua Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankopen. And in our podcast, Legacy, we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in history. This season, Chinggis Khan.
Best known for his brutal campaigns, he was accused of causing millions of deaths. But he also gave his followers religious freedom and education. So is there more to his story than violence and bloodshed? I suspect that there might be Peter, and since violence and bloodshed is basically all I ever learned about Genghis Khan growing up, I'm actually really curious to find out what lies behind the legend. I can promise you are in for a trip.
because the Mongols were capable of exceptional acts of brutality. But all the stuff in the positive column either is never talked about or gets brushed to one side. So I'm really grateful to have the chance to speak up for Mongol history. Follow Legacy Now wherever you get your podcasts. Or binge entire seasons early and ad-free on Wondery+.
I'm John Robbins and on my podcast, I sit down with incredible people to ask the very simple question, how do you cope? From confronting grief and mental health struggles to finding strength in failure. Every episode is a raw and honest exploration of what it means to be human. It's not always easy but it's always real. Whether you're looking for inspiration, comfort or just a reminder that you're not alone in life's messier moments
Join me on How Do You Cope? Follow now to listen to the full trailer or listen to early episodes ad-free on Wondery+. our first story. The Kelsey brothers are taking on Bud Light with their own beer brand. Because the fastest growing beer flavor in America is the easiest recipe in all of alcohol. Light beers. Yetis.
Two years ago, Jack and I did a story on the craft beer collapse. Craft beer, it simply went flat. There were simply too many craft breweries across America and too many IPAs. Yeah, and honestly... The real issue here was you got flavor fatigue. Consumers got flavor fatigue. Because there's a fine line between a heavy IPA and a pint of soup. Jack would hand me like a quadruple IPA a few years ago and it was like split pea black bean pale ale. It used to be.
all that I would drink. Yeah. But now I just physically can't handle it. Craft beers were so dense, I choked on one, Jack. I needed the Heimlich. Okay. And in response to IPA overload, many are pivoting back to their college beer of choice. Light beer. And with Bud Light having a brand crisis, Modelo and Coors are enjoying a light beer sales bump. But now...
craft breweries are pivoting to make their own take on light beer. Yeah, and this is the news. These micro brews are beating the macro breweries in the light beer category. Get this. The best performing beer category in America last year. was local light beer. Let that sink in. Local light beer. We're talking small regional craft takes on American light lager as the category's called. American light lager. It's light yellow color.
It tastes like water and it is highly, highly chuggable. Now the revenue of craft light beer. is up 54% in the fourth quarter of last year. That is by far the best performing type of beer. Again, pause the pod, sit down, stand up, and pass us another one. We've been covering the fall of alcohol for like two years now. And the fall of beer specifically. And yet craft light beer is up 54%. That's why the hot new celebrity trend isn't launching a canned coffee company.
It's launching a light craft beer. For example, Hulk Hogan launched real American light beer down in Florida. It's draped in an American flag. Troy Aikman launched elite eight light beer down in Texas. It's got a slim can like it's a Red Bull or something. Feels like a Diet Coke. And the Kelsey brothers of the NFL bought an entire light beer brand. They bought garage beer.
in Ohio. And sales of that Ohio-based brand are up 500% since the Kelsey brothers got involved. They actually record their podcast with like a 30 rack, like it's Miller Lite. But it's local Lite. It's local Lite. Besties from Colorado to Vermont to every college. town in America, craft breweries are launching new light beers. It's a Bud Light knockoff.
Because it's so easy to knock off Bud Light. Yeah. The recipe is barley, hops, rice, and a lot of water. Bud Light dupe. So besties, you are now buying 54% more light beer than you did last year, but you're not. buying bud or course. You're buying local light, which actually I wouldn't call a dupe because it's typically more expensive than bud light. All I know, Jack, is they put fewer hops in it.
So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are actually drinking beer? Life is full of graduation moments. So be the graduation gift. Yetis, as people hit life milestones, each transition is also a transition into a new buying habit. Smart businesses recognize those moments and serve a product for them. Well, in this case, that life moment is millennial dads.
millennials, men hitting 30 having kids. From experience, we can tell you that after you hit your 30s, it's scientifically harder to consume and process heavier beers. Honestly, this is scientifically proven. After having a kid, your metabolism struggles with a 6.8. 8% alcoholic quadruple IPA. So craft beer is growing with its millennial dad customers.
by offering them 100-calorie light lagers that won't knock them out. So besties, the transition of millennial men from frat bros to dadlenials is a graduation moment. And the craft beer industry capitalized on it. with a graduation gift. A 12-pack of light local lager. Let's be honest, a four-pack.
For our second story, BuzzFeed is launching a new social media platform to make the internet fun again. Jonah Peretti has identified the big problem with the internet. And what's it called, Jack? Snarf. And it's wildly accurate in our opinion. Why are we doing this? Because the internet is broken. That's a quote from a new manifesto.
Posted by BuzzFeed founder and CEO, Jonah Peretti. Now, Jack and I actually got to interview Jonah Peretti back in 2022. We did a whole interview on the founding of BuzzFeed, Jonah Media. It was great. He's an early pioneer of internet culture. He is. He knows the formula. for virality. Yeah, that's why you always saw those BuzzFeed articles like 14 mind-blowing Disney princess facts from the 1990s. I'm definitely clicking on that. Oh, one sec check.
If you answer these 18 questions, we'll tell you what kind of taco you are. That's when the internet was fun, right? Pineapple taco. Okay. Interesting. Here's the thing. Jonah Peretti hates what's happened to the internet and he hates what goes viral these days. So wild announcement, but he and Buzzfeed are launching a new... social media app. Name TBD. They haven't named it yet. We're calling it...
Buzz to Graham. Now, we should clarify, BuzzFeed is not launching this from a position of strength. No, BuzzFeed's in a desperate position right now. The stock is down 95%. It's only two bucks a share. And they recently sold their YouTube show, Hot Ones, to raise... some badly needed cash to repay debt. They don't want that going viral.
But Jonah Peretti is a very smart guy, and we think he has perfectly described what is going on with the internet with one single phrase. Well, he says that TikTok and Meta employees don't actually run TikTok and Meta. Honestly. Their algorithms do. Yeah, he describes a deep learning black box that decides what videos we actually see next. And basically, if you work at those companies...
you don't know what's in the box. But the world has discovered what the algorithm rewards. And the type of content that does well on social media today, he calls it SNARF. SNARF, Jack, could you sprinkle on a definition to the acronym SNARF? SNARF stands for stakes, novelty, anger, retention, and fear. Content creators exaggerate stakes to make their content urgent and existential.
They manufacture novelty and spin their content as unprecedented and unique. They manipulate anger to drive engagement via outrage. They hack retention. by withholding information and promising a payoff at the end of a video. And finally, they provoke fear to make people focus with urgency on their content.
Honestly, Jonah just nailed it. That explains pretty much all the content you see online right now. As guys who create content every day, we can tell you that is 100% the formula that everyone posting online tries to follow. We do a video on tariffs. It doesn't go viral.
You do a video on a mango recipe for a smoothie and why if you don't eat this mango, you're going to die in three years. You're going viral. Yeah, you see videos like, I can't believe what I just discovered. A city is about to get destroyed by a hurricane.
Watch to the end of the video to find out what city. Stock market will crash just after these messages. They're annoying, but you're probably watching to the end of that video. So Jonah is trying to create a social media platform that doesn't do any of that. An anti-snarf social media app. But we think that solution faces an uphill battle because of our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies?
Building a social media app at BuzzFeed. The negativity bias. That is what prevents the internet from being fun. Yeti's Jonah Peretti claims that BuzzFeed's new social media app will be built specifically to spread joy. It will be designed as an oasis from the algorithm-driven doomscrolling. But Jack, what's the problem with that? We humans doomscroll.
Because we have a bias for negativity. Yeah, case in point, it's what we notice with the news, what we covered every day, Jack. This is our favorite example. How many articles have you seen published about gasoline prices being low? None, none, none, none, none. But if gasoline prices go up, You'll see tons of articles about how expensive gasoline is. And the reason for that is that we humans don't click on the positive headline, we click on the negative headline. And that is why SNARF succeeds.
Deep in our brains, we have a bias for clicking negative things. Jack and I have researched this, and there's actually an evolutionary reason for that. We are primed to prepare for threats that may hurt us, so we focus on negativity. Now, we commend Jonah for fighting this battle. Oh, totally, Jack. His new BuzzFeed social media app will be designed for, and we quote, creativity and connection, not addiction. If you can name it.
you can start to tame it. And he and BuzzFeed are trying to tame our negativity bias. Now a quick word from our sponsor. Hello, Matt and Alice here, and we're the hosts of Wondery's podcast, British Scandal. We are, and our latest series covers one of the century's most controversial and complicated figures, Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who risks it all in the pursuit of freedom of information.
and ended up locked up in London. You might listen to this series and pump the air in support of the little guys exposing the corrupt secrets of governments and militaries around the world. Or you might be filled with fury at the brazen disregard for who gets hurt in that quest. Or you might just get creeped out. While wars in Iraq and Afghanistan raged, Assange was singularly focused on undermining America's narrative of the conflicts by making the truth known. But...
Did his difficult personality and extremely questionable conduct compromise his efforts? Join us in London's Ecuadorian embassy to find out. Follow British Scandal now wherever you listen to podcasts and you can binge entire seasons early and ad-free on Wondery+. I'm Raza Jafri, and in the latest season of The Spy Who, we open the file on Witold Pilecki, the spy who infiltrated Auschwitz. Resistance fighter Witold Pilecki.
has heard dark rumours about an internment camp on his home soil of Poland. Hoping to expose its cruelty to the world, he leaves his family behind and deliberately gets himself imprisoned. The camp is called Auschwitz. A hellish place where the unimaginable becomes routine. Pilecki is determined. He needs to organise the prisoners, build a resistance and get the truth out. Except when the world hears about the horrors of the camp, nobody comes to the rescue.
In the end, it's just him, alone, with only one decision to make. Accept death or escape. Follow the Spy Who on the Wondery app. or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can binge the full season of The Spy Who Infiltrated Auschwitz early and ad-free with Wondery+. For our third and final story, Elf Beauty says that corporate America has so many dicks. Referring to the number of board members named Richard, Rick, or Rich.
In business. Risky move in today's political climate. Yeah. But Elf customers loved it. And we'll explain why. E. L. F Beauty. Elf Beauty stands for eyes, lips, and face. They're famous for their inflation-proof $3 lipstick. It's always been $3. It's a sacred cow product. They were founded by a father and son team who tried to sell affordable makeup online. Honestly, their skin cream is so cheap.
it is too cheap to sell at Sephora. Now, if you look at the financials, the stock has been down in the last year, but they're still on a streak of 23 straight quarters of growth. So Elf is now worth $4 billion on your eyebrows. How did they become such a big deal? It started in 2019 when they created a song just for TikTok. It was called the Eyes, Lips, and Face song. And that hashtag challenge got 2 billion views. In 2021, they created...
burrito makeup in a partnership with Chipotle. Yeah, you could wear barbacoa on your eyebrows and that's sold out. What we're saying is this company is very good at going viral for good reasons. Well, the latest way they've gone viral is so... many dicks. This is a campaign to highlight lack of diversity on corporate boards. To clarify, the dicks are men named Richard, Rich, or Rick who sit on corporate boards. And there are so many dicks. Yeah, like, the data Elf found is
that there are actually two times more men named Dick than there are Hispanic women on these boards. And black and Asian women? barely outnumbered the dicks on corporate boards in America. But Jack, let's sprinkle on some context here. What do we got, man? Now, Elf's not the only company that's noticed homogeneity in our corporate boardrooms. In 2020, Goldman Sachs announced a new rule.
for companies that wanted to go public. If you wanted Goldman Sachs to lead your IPO since 2020, you must have at least one diverse board member. Well, Goldman was, like Elf, responding to the fact that there are simply... So many dicks in business. But this week, Goldman announced it's canceling that requirement, and that is part of a trend. Because, as you've probably seen, dozens of corporations have rolled back their DEI initiatives. From Meta, to McDonald's, to Target, to Ford.
Every day, we see three or four companies that are doing this. But interestingly, Elf Beauty, on the other hand, they're not canceling their wildly intense so-many-dicks observation, are they? No. In fact, the CEO just said in an interview with Fortune Magazine that they- have aligned their workforce.
to be just like their customer base. Yeah, Elf is one of the few examples where we've seen data on this, but 74% of their team are women, 75% of their team are Gen Z or millennials, and 44% are diverse, just like Elf Beauty Buyer. It's actually parody. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are anyone trying to generate brand love? Every now and then, you gotta serve them some red meat. Yeah, it is. When we select our three fantastic...
fantastic stories each day for this podcast. Jack and I say it's like we're going to a market, like we're chefs trying to pick out food from a market. We want the perfect mix to make a great meal. So we do a mix of industries, topics, and takeaways that'll just be delicious. But in crafting content, we also know there's a role...
for red meat, material for our most hardcore fans. Red meat is the most intense expression of what your brand stands for. Yeah, we did that this week. Like when we wrote a poem about how Peloton stock broke our hearts. That was red meat for our listeners. Beauty did a dicks campaign about diversity. That was red meat for its Gen Z women customers. Because great brands always make space for their most committed fans. So every now and then, you gotta serve them some red meat.
Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for that new Friday? The craft brewery near you probably has launched their own version of Bud Light. Because as millennial men become dadlenials, they're graduating from IPAs. to local lights. For our second story, Jonah Peretti and BuzzFeed are building a new positive social media app that is anti-snarf. The force he's fighting is the negativity bias because humans will watch anything online if it's negative.
And finally, Elf Beauty's So Many Dicks campaign is red meat for their Gen Z female customer base. Red meat, it's what you got to do if you're trying to generate some brand love. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, we just got the celebrity of monthly economic reports, the inflation report. The Consumer Price Index showed that prices in February...
increased by 3% compared to last year, which is the highest pace since June. Egg prices surged 15% month over month, and that's the eggflation situation. And as long as inflation is rising. Interest rates will not be coming down. And second, a guy who threw away $700 million worth of Bitcoin by accident is trying to buy the landfill that it's stuck in. His name's James Howells. He's a British IT worker who mined
7,500 Bitcoin way back in 2009. Okay, but here's the problem. He accidentally threw away the thumb drive with the key to access all those Bitcoin. So now he's trying to buy the local landfill. but locals worry that opening it up is going to contaminate the air and the water. Let him do it. Just let him do it. We'll invest in it. I want a piece of that action. Can you invest in this operation? We're in, James. We're in. And finally, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced...
15 nominees for the 2025 induction class. They include Mariah Carey, Outkast, and Fish. Fish perfect. timing, Jack. Fish, the Vermont-based jam band, is the co-star of our latest episode of The Best Idea Yet. That is, if you haven't listened yet, we just did a whole deep dive episode on Ben and Jerry's
and their fish food ice cream. So if you don't know anything about fish, and if you love ice cream, it's good, this episode is perfect for you. Link in episode description. Nick and I, by the way, we're listening to that episode on the way to dinner tonight. Yeah, I can't wait.
Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Jack's brother. I got to say his funniest brother, Tuck. All right, here's the question, Eric. Well, actually, this is the preview question. What's the most successful... college football program of all time. Okay, that would be the University of Alabama Roll Tide. Arguably, but it's pretty much Alabama. Well, here's the wild fact. No NFL player drafted from Alabama had ever scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
Until this Super Bowl. That's right. It took 59 years for a University of Alabama player to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. Devontae Smith had a 46-yard touchdown catch, and it was the first ever by someone drafted from Alabama. Joe Namath didn't score a touchdown. Julio Jones, Mark Ingram. Never scored a Super Bowl touchdown. Bart Starr. Not even sure who he is, but he threw a Super Bowl touchdown. That's not the same as scoring one. Good point, Jack.
Congrats, Alabama. You're welcome to all the sports fans who are about to text this to all their other sports fan buddies. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And remember, you've got 24 hours to buy them a foquet or a chaos bouquet or any kind of alternative bouquet you got going on. I'm thinking like 12 bratwurst.
would be a pretty big turn on for me. You want a Brock bouquet? All right. Let's see what we can do yetis. Alex, I hope you're listening. Besties, thanks for enjoying the show. One of the best ways you can help grow the pod is to drop down and give us a five-star review. to follow us so you get T-Boy every day. Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Can't wait.
And before we go, a happy 32nd birthday to legendary Yeti Harvin Vallabanani over in Atlanta. And happy birthday to Melissa Robinette in Corona, California. This biology teacher at Saddleback High School is the birthday girl. And Skylar. Friday out of Naples, Florida is going to eat chocolate for three meals a day celebrating a birthday. Celebrating Galentine's Day. Not too shabby. And congratulations to Nick Jordan from Buffalo, New York, whose parents conceived him.
On Valentine's Day, decades ago. Valentine's week, but we'll round up for you on that one, Nick. Kosher with the bratwurst bouquet. Yeah, I think that was totally fine. I said it's a turn-on. We like literally never crossed the line in this episode, but we were licking that line, Jack. We were licking it.
If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus and the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go... Tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you.