The Best One Yet
🧙 “Wicked’s Green” — Wicked’s color strategy. Froot Loops’ dye drama. Europe’s startup bruise.
Mon, 25 Nov 2024
Wicked’s opening weekend doubled Gladiator II… and it’s thanks to Wicked’s color strategy.Kellogg's Froot Loops just became a political debate… because of RFK Jr. and artificial flavor.Northvolt was Europe’s biggest startup ever… but it just went bankrupt.Plus, Butterball turkey is the biggest turkey seller in America… and the only one with a hotline.$K $KLG $MATWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show — The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is Wicked's color strategy?
To those of you working like we are, it's just T-minus 72 hours until that turkey day. And Jack and I will be here with you the entire time. Jack, we got three fantastic stories for the show. What's on today's T-Boy? For our first story, Wicked crushed Gladiator 2 in their opening weekends at the box office. But it was all driven by a single color. Wicked green, the color.
For our second story, it's Northvolt. Northvolt was Europe's biggest startup ever. It had raised $15 billion. But this startup just went bankrupt. And that tells us all a whole lot about Europe. And our third and final story is Kellogg's Fruit Loops. Fruit Loops. Nick, a billion bowls of Fruit Loops cereal have been sold. But Jack, Froot Loops just became the biggest debate in all of politics.
It's a wild one. Toucan Sam, you're about to get regulated. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories for Thanksgiving week. I love the mix today, Jack. But Nick, there's a lot of hotline phone numbers out there, aren't there? Yes, there are. There's 911 for emergencies. There's 1-800-Flowers for flowers.
And I'm pretty sure movie phone is still a thing, Jack. But the most critical hotline number is actually only open one day a year. And that number is the Butterball Turkey hotline number, isn't it, Jack? Get this, Yetis. Butterball is the largest turkey brand in America. Turns out one out of five birds is a Butterball bird. We're eating them.
And for 42 years, the people at this poultry business have hosted a Thanksgiving turkey hotline. Yeah, 1-800-Butterball. It's like 911 for white meat. When your company's name is seven letters long, you make a 1-800 phone number out of it. It's actually mandatory. Just make it happen. But this 1-800-Butterball, it's only open on Thanksgiving day. Right.
And they're ready to answer any turkey cooking question that you might have. Hello. Butterball, oh, are you thawing the bird? Are you carving the bird? Oh, you tried to be a hero and fry the bird. Here's the wild part. They get 200,000 phone calls every Thanksgiving. Oh, and in case you're curious, si, si habla espanol. 200,000 calls. Nick, that's half as many as a typical 911 day.
Jack, add up the numbers, and that means that the Thanksgiving Butterball Hotline is... is the second most called number in the country this Thursday. Only on Thanksgiving, but yes, it's the second most popular number in America. But funny thing, Yetis, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style and we got the recordings from last year's Butterball phone calls. We got the highlights, man.
Seriously, Butterball published like the best phone calls that they got. Get this, one person called Butterball to say their turkey was bitten by a raccoon. And they asked, can I still eat it? Another person called up Butterball and said that their frozen turkey was 15 years old. But it's been frozen the whole time, so can I eat it?
And you know, one dad tried to thaw the turkey in a warm bath while his kids were bathing. Interesting. And they said, hang up the phone and call 911, sir. And social services. Yeti's 1-800-Butterball. They have your answers to your turkey questions. Unless the turkey is attacking you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then call 911. Yeah, then call 911. But to quote the Ghostbusters, who are you going to call?
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Chapter 2: Why did Northvolt go bankrupt?
It's bigger than the entire stock markets of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, or any other European country. One company is worth the stock markets of all those European companies. Sit down again. Now, Yeti's Europe, it has some incredible startups. They've got big ones like Klarna and Revolut. They've got a whole bunch of talent, a bunch of our listeners, incredible talent over there.
Chapter 3: What political debate surrounds Froot Loops?
They got Spotify, an amazing company based in Sweden. But Northvolt was Europe's biggest startup. It was like Europe's open AI, but now it is bankrupt. So Yetis, this story highlights just how far behind Europe is compared to the United States in tech and adventure. The innovation gap, it's never been wider. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
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For our third and final story, Kellogg's Fruit Loops are in the hot seat as RFK Jr. is set to take on fake children's cereals. We'll explain in this story why Canada has natural Fruit Loops and America has fake Fruit Loops. But besties, let's start with some context. RFK Jr., the politician, is known first as the son of Robert F. Kennedy.
He's known second as an environmentalist, an anti-vaxxer, and someone who's married to Cheryl, the character from Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was nominated by Trump to lead our nation's health agencies. But Jack, what is his other big health policy these days? Besides vaccine policies, he hates big food. Yeah, RFK Jr., not a fan of processed food or artificial additives or colors he can't pronounce.
Which means he's not a fan of Kellogg. In fact, RFK Jr. said about Kellogg that their Froot Loops get brighter colors, but they are literally poisoning our kids. Kellogg scientists respond that scientists across the world say their artificial coloring is safe. And Jack and I consumed plenty of Yellow 5 when we were younger, and it didn't stop us from having kids, did it, Jack?
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Chapter 4: What is the Butterball Turkey hotline?
If you do hail an Uber XXL, Uncle Frank's not paying for it. And he's going to steal the water bottles in the backseat. And he seems to be hoarding my clothes. I think you took that one step too far. I don't know. He just kind of stakes stuff. He takes stuff. Now time for the best fact, yet this one whipped up by Jack and me because we have got a little trivia. Here's the question.
The existence of what item on an Airbnb listing increases booking rates by 13%? If you put this thing in an Airbnb listing, you can charge 13% more and people will pay. What is this thing? Is it a bidet? Is it a Peloton you can use while you're there? Is it a margarita machine? Is it an espresso maker? What could it be? The answer is... is the episode of The Best Idea Yet that drops tomorrow.
That's right, our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet, where we dive into the untold origins of the products you're obsessed with. The answer is tomorrow's episode. What item boosts an Airbnb's bookings by 13%? Tell us your guess in the comments. Yetis, you look fantastic to start the week. Jack, you know, we got an organic cookie crisp on the pod. Not too shabby over there. Looking great.
It made me lose my voice, to be honest. We're going to get you some cough drops. We're going to get through this. In the meantime, besties, if you haven't yet, drop down to rate and review the show because five stars, that helps us grow the pod. And Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Can't wait.
And before we go, a happy fifth birthday to Felix Speta over in Norderstedt, Germany, just outside of Hamburg. Alles Gute zum Geburtstag. And Evie is turning eight years old down in lovely Los Angeles. She's got a birthday on Thanksgiving and is listening to the best idea yet and the best one yet. Thank you, Evie. Evie, we love having you listening.
Happy eighth birthday to Kira Chapurin in Gatorsburg, Maryland. Listening with her brother Adrian on the way to school right now. And a happy birthday to Morgan Emery Grover down in the beautiful Brattleboro, Vermont. I'm pretty sure we slow danced in middle school a couple times. Okay. At a dance. Hey, fact check team, let's get on that one.
And Jeff Thomas down in Princeton, Texas is driving 52 miles both ways, commuting with T-Boy. Happy birthday, Jeff. We love hanging out with you. Happy birthday to Margo from Maryland, who is crushing it on her consulting project. And Andrew Cotton down in Atlanta, Georgia, happy 20th wedding anniversary. Your wife and you are both looking fantastic.
Happy birthday to Klor Kirinkov in Tallinn, Estonia, the GOAT developer over at Silver Ticket. And Justin Hartman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a hardworking EMT who has got a heart full of platinum. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Airbnb and Peloton. Is that all you're going to say, Jack?
That's all you got? Yeah, that's all I got. If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in 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. We want to get to know you.
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