Big Things Podcast
A weekly show where we talk about the big things we're watching in marketing, social media, pop culture and sports. We also talk through signals we’re seeing that could inform the future of digital marketing.
You can catch the podcast every Friday wherever you listen or watch it on YouTube. Be sure to follow us on Instagram or TikTok for updates on every episode.
Big Things Podcast
You Can Throw Your Gum at Me (E20)
From the unexpected launch of Domino’s pizza-scented perfume to Instagram exploring a Reels app, we’ve got a lot to unpack this week. We also dive into Timothée Chalamet’s epic poker night with Cartier, the end of award season, and how we’re feeling about the current state of the world.
More from us:
- Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi
- Mike Payne @mmmiiike
Timestamps:
- 02:05 – Timothée Chalamet’s SAG acceptance speech
- 06:23 – Kieran Culkin’s Oscars speech (You’re rich rich if you have 3 kids!)
- 10:30 – Award season is behind us. How we’re feeling about it.
- 12:56 – Thing 1: Dream of smelling like pizza? Domino’s just dropped a pepperoni pizza-scented fragrance.
- 15:40 – Mike shares his experience as Domino’s delivery driver: “Out on time, out to impress!”
- 20:10 – Mitzi’s dream sensory products, thoughts & ideas.
- 24:45 – Thing 2: Instagram may be exploring a separate Reels app. What does this mean for content creators?
- 35:50 – Thing 3: Timothée Chalamet hosts a poker night with Cartier. If we hosted our own games night, here’s what it would look like.
Show notes:
- The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2025 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2025
Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).
For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.
Here, we are Ready to rumble, are you ready?
Speaker 2:I'm ready, let's do it Okay.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Big Things. I'm Mitzi. This is Mike.
Speaker 2:This is our show where we talk about everything we're seeing in social media, marketing, pop culture and sports and talk through the signals that we're watching that could inform. I always mess with inform could inform the future of digital marketing.
Speaker 1:Yes, Today we're going to be talking about a few big things, including Domino's launching a perfume, Instagram's exploring a separate reels app and Timothee Chalamet's epic poker night with Cartier.
Speaker 2:Where was my invite?
Speaker 1:Sometimes I mess up, timot. Timothy Chalamet's name. I have to like really focus, to say it properly, but he's been having such a good year. He was nominated for Academy Award. Obviously he unfortunately lost which, like I have no opinion about because I didn't watch either movie, um, but I actually loved seeing him at all the award shows and seeing him with loved seeing him at all the award shows and seeing him with Kylie Jenner at all the award shows. They just looked like such a cute couple.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at first I felt pretty skeptical about their relationship. It just seemed like a PR thing. But I feel like the more you see them out and about, the more it seems like they actually like each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're like in love. They've been together for a while and they're like handsy, like you can tell, like there's there's like a connection there. I'm happy for them Connection.
Speaker 2:Travis Kelsey. Taylor Swift level connection.
Speaker 1:I mean, they seem like star crossed lovers.
Speaker 2:Amazing, Also I saw.
Speaker 1:Did you see Timothy Chalamet's award speech at the SAG awards, not the academy awards?
Speaker 1:when he said he's like working to be the one of the greats yeah, it's pretty divisive, like a lot of people are coming for him they don't like his speech, they think it's like too cocky. And then it seems generational. It seems like older people don't like it. And then younger people, millennials and Gen Z like love it because he's saying the thing out loud, like no one wants to admit that they actually want the awards, they want to be great, they want to be celebrated, you know. And so the fact that he's saying it, people like love it yeah, I've been seeing that too.
Speaker 2:It seems like it seems like it's industry people that didn't like it, and then everyone else loved it really that that's what it seems like.
Speaker 2:It's like people. My perception is that the people in Hollywood they have really tried to perpetuate this like effortless look while achieving great accolades, and it also seems, like many things, that there's a bit of like an insider group that kind of influences their, each other's ability to get those awards as well. So the idea I think maybe partly why it was it caused a stir was that this idea that someone might be able to just like work their ass off, someone who's like humble and like kind and thoughtful and creative could work their ass off and become one of the greats without like pandering to. This like insider group Right Was a little off putting to them. But I think in any other industry you know, you think about sports, for example like everyone is working there as hard as they can to become the best that they can be in what they're doing and there's a mutual respect for that, and it is more strange if you're not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you're not talking about it and manifesting it, or however?
Speaker 1:you want to describe that.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I thought it was silly that some people reacted the way they did and I thought it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:I loved it.
Speaker 2:Why not put it out there?
Speaker 1:I loved his speech. I Cool, I loved it. Why not put it out there? I loved his speech. I thought it was like it was a really good balance of you know, acknowledging the hard work that he put into it, acknowledging, like, where he wants to go, and he like named the greats, including, like Viola Davis, like it's so, like he honored. He also honored the cast and crew, like what you gotta do. The cast and crew is important piece of you know, making actors look good. But yeah, I thought it was really cool, like I think I it was probably scary to be like I want to be great. You know that's like so vulnerable to say, but I love people saying it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think most people would would acknowledge that he has the raw ingredients to be one of the great.
Speaker 1:I also feel like not everyone wants to be great, right they?
Speaker 2:want attention.
Speaker 1:Right, or some people just want to. You know, make a good money like money, earn a living. There's nothing wrong with that, but him being like no, I want to be one of the greats, like go off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it says it's about the art for him Totally, and I think it was it. What made it also like pretty authentic was that he named some people that he views as great. Like there could be this ambiguous definition of greatness that is more attached to, just like certain types of success, like making a lot of money, for example, or winning a lot of awards, but the fact that he visualizes certain people that have gone before him as like the dot on the horizon that he's working towards makes it feel all the more genuine yeah, for sure, like you need, michael jordan, viola davis, can't remember the rest other actors yeah, for sure I like it speaking of speeches, I didn't watch the academy awards but I did see the clip of kieran culkin winning his Oscar and specifically his speech, because it was so funny.
Speaker 1:I think you watched it too, but he was. He was saying like he won some an Emmy, I think like last year or something, maybe I think for white Lotus, no, no, no, succession, um, but in his speech he said like he was acknowledging his wife and like thinking his wife and then saying, like you know, you told me, if I won an Emmy, we could have another kid. So here we go, like let's work on those kids. And then when he won the Academy Award, he said you know what, after we won our, I won my Emmy. We were joking the parking lot that like I wanted another kid and I actually want four. And you said, you know, maybe if you win an academy award, I'll give you four kids.
Speaker 1:And he's explaining the story to the crowd and the screen and like tv and the whole time like his wife's like laughing at him and like being like no, no, no, more kids. I just thought it was so funny and relatable because like he wants more kids, yeah, because it's like sure, it's easy to want more kids and say you want more kids if you're not having the kid. You know, growing the kid and birthing the kid is I'd want more kids too if I didn't have to, like you know, carry the kid and birth the kid it's. It's just funny because I like her like reaction to all of it, like she's so proud and like happy for him and then she's also like no way, like we're not having more kids.
Speaker 2:I just thought it was so funny yeah, I thought it was funny too, but part of it also felt kind of cringe, to be honest really. I'm curious what you would think like as a mother like, or just as a woman like. Is that awkward to do that from stage?
Speaker 1:yeah, he even said like oh, so many people have been giving you a hard time. You, you totally like have been like he's. He said I didn't mean to like put you in this weird position, but hey.
Speaker 2:I'm doing it again.
Speaker 1:I gotta take my chance. He said it's like his favorite thing in the world is to be a dad and it's his favorite people, or his kids. He just wants more cool. I think it's kind of like heartwarming, especially because, like I don't know, you don't see lots of people doing that, like being like give me more kids, I want more kids. There's just like so much talk about like cause they're so expensive and like how can you raise more kids? I actually saw um, I shared this with you I saw like a meme of someone being like you know, when you see people have three kids, like a lot of people are like wow, like that's a lot of work, but most, most people now are like wow, that's a lot of money, like you're rich, rich if you have three kids, because it's like it's so expensive. So, anyways, I thought it was like funny and light and silly yeah, I think it's like a.
Speaker 2:It's like a refreshing disruption from professional awards where it's all about your career, like we were just talking about Timothee Chalamet saying he wants to become one of the greats. You know, but and then you got Kieran Culkin saying he just wants to be a dad. Yeah, while accepting like one of the pinnacle awards for his craft, you know.
Speaker 1:So that's cool.
Speaker 2:I think like twice is enough. Though, like, next time he wins an award, he can probably talk about something else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think he's probably like exhausted that. The other thing that was funny I didn't see this like as a clip on social but Adrian Brody won like best actor like academy award and he was not expecting it and they like called his name. He's like hugging people and kissing his wife and then he's like starting to go up the stairs and he realizes he has like gum in his mouth and he like turns around and he's looking for his wife to get her the gum and she's like standing up to try to get it and he like turns around and he's looking for his wife to get her the gum and she's like standing up to try to get it and he throws it at her I saw that.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure it was a zin. I don't think it was gum it was a what as in one of those like little pouches you put in your lip. Oh really, I don't know, it was probably gum. What do you think? Yeah, really there you go that should be this the slogan if it was in, you leave it in.
Speaker 1:I know where is it in the company get us in.
Speaker 2:You can leave it in right. I thought it was so funny, like, so, like, yeah, like such a classic wife and husband moment yeah, I'm just kind of like you're stuck in this like moment and you're frazzled and you don't really think through what you're doing on camera, just tossing a piece of chewing gum at your wife in a gown, but I can so like.
Speaker 1:if that were you like, yeah, I'd be running to catch that piece of gum too.
Speaker 2:Just swallow that thing real quick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I could never swallow gum just in a casual setting let alone you barely can swallow water. You take the tiniest sips. No, but I just thought that was so like real, like. So I don't know I would be chasing you behind you trying to catch your gum and I'd also be the one throwing it at you if I'm like about to accept it, you'd be the one throwing it at me.
Speaker 2:For sure, for sure.
Speaker 1:I saw people. I didn't see his speech, but it seemed like people thought it was pretty cringe.
Speaker 2:I didn't see his speech either, so can't speak to it. But yeah, award season is behind us. How do you feel? I mean, it's never really that big of a moment for me and most of them we can't watch anyway, because we don't have cable, but I mean if they start to do more of them on like.
Speaker 1:Netflix as live streams or things like that, then we'll probably watch more of them. Yeah, I mean, I would definitely I probably watch more of them. I feel like Academy Awards is like interesting to watch, but then, like, the more I think about it, I don't really watch a lot of those movies. Like I, I, I don't know like it's just not my first pick, like I feel like I always talk about like it it's hard for me to watch movies, so we don't have to belabor that. But I do like the golden globes and, um, grammys has been fun to see, like all the performances and stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I I lean more towards the music awards, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:And TV, tv is bigger now. Yeah, TV is bigger now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tv is great.
Speaker 2:I'd be down to watch. I will say one thing I think brands just need to quit on the award show memes Like it's just, it's just a thing of the past, like let it die.
Speaker 1:You think it's not as current or relatable or like interesting.
Speaker 2:I don't think people need that from you as a brand and I go out on a limb. We manage enough brand social accounts. I'd go out on a limb to say or assume that it's not getting the engagement it used to get you.
Speaker 1:For sure, and what does?
Speaker 2:that engagement really get you.
Speaker 1:Totally. I mean a viral post is nice, but yeah, but viral with who People that like the awards Like award shows Totally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just think it's time. It's time to kind of allude to some of the changes in behaviors and the ways that brands can show up in a way to provide relief outside of memes one thing I was going to ask you.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you saw, but mcdonald's posted a post today and it was like the receipts of all the celebrities at the academy awards parties and it was obviously made up. But it was like Kieran Culkin, like one small Diet Coke and that's it. Then it was like Julia Fox, it's like eight pancakes and like extra syrup, extra syrup, extra syrup, like they created like this kind of like post and like about like Academy Award adjacent. So I thought that was interesting but I feel like it's going viral.
Speaker 2:That stuff's more interesting, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's going viral. That stuff's more interesting for sure. Yeah, I'm just tired of those same kind of like screen grabs with like meme style copy and everyone's just recycling it. Totally Over the next like four days.
Speaker 1:It's true.
Speaker 2:Well, Thing one.
Speaker 1:Let's do it.
Speaker 2:If you dreamed of smelling like pizza. Now is your time For Valentine's Day. This year, domino's released Eau de Passion Pizza. Now is your time For Valentine's Day. This year, domino's released Eau de Passion, a perfume inspired by the alluring and irresistible scent of a Domino's pepperoni passion pizza with notes of spice.
Speaker 1:You have to like read it like Eau de Passion Eau de Passion. Yeah, give some oomph to it.
Speaker 2:With notes of spice, pepper and a woody, warm, comforting base. Papa John's has also gotten in on the craze, creating a limited edition bath bomb inspired by its garlic dipping sauce for fans who want to bathe in the signature scent.
Speaker 1:Gross.
Speaker 2:So Papa John's apparently sent the bath bomb to random fans who had posted about loving the brand on social media. Who posted about loving Papa John's on social media? Lots of about loving papa john's on social media lots of people.
Speaker 1:You must really love that pizza if you're posting about it on your social yeah, I could see, like papa's john's is not for me, but I could see a whole market for taco bell like they should do a little scented situation for taco bell is way more goaded than papa john's or am I just?
Speaker 2:missing out on like a side of subculture, like a special subculture.
Speaker 1:There's something for everyone. I can see this happening and you know what, like I don't I actually don't hate this. I would never obviously be a customer or like ever want this in my home. But I do like the sensory marketing kind of direction that they're going with. I love how they're leaning into one of the trends that we've been talking about for a while, which is play so doing like unserious marketing and just doing stuff for fun, and I think, like digital audiences want that. I feel like people really want brands to like just do something for the fun of it. You know, and I have no interest in a perfume that smells like pizza, but I would be interested in like some other stuff like Taco Bell.
Speaker 2:There's probably something in that space like some sort of sensory, like perfume or lotion that smells like Taco Bell yeah, or even like a taco blanket, like you make yourself the taco, like that's kind of what I liked about Papa John's execution even though Domino's is obviously at the top of the pizza game, like they're the bigger brand, I felt like Papa John's execution of even though Domino's is obviously at the top of the pizza game, like they're the bigger brand, I felt like Papa John's execution of the idea was better, like the idea they used the smell of a dipping sauce but in the context that you could dip yourself into it, that's pretty cool compared to just like squirting on this like weird pizza smell onto your body.
Speaker 1:But the pizza smell is so like I can smell it right now, Like it's so iconic.
Speaker 2:I would like it. I would have liked that better as room spray you like make your house smell like pizza you know, yeah, or your car, my car definitely smelled like pizza when I was 20 years old.
Speaker 1:Tell us about it.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of Domino's, I used to work at Domino's. I was a delivery driver during university. That's how I paid my way.
Speaker 1:That's how I afforded my big weekends with drew yeah, so you were a pizza delivery driver, and what kind of car did you drive? I wore the uniform.
Speaker 2:I drove a. I think it was like a 97 toyota camry. It was this like champagne color, but it was a v6, so I had I had some pep in my step love to say did you have to like intended?
Speaker 1:did you have to put the like dominoes sign on the top?
Speaker 2:of your. I resisted. Oh, you didn't. I never put it on. Wow, my manager, the manager, his name was oh my goodness, I'm blanking it starts with an R.
Speaker 1:Rob Rick.
Speaker 2:It might've been Rob. No, have been Rob, no that doesn't seem right. Anyways, I think I'm still connected to him on LinkedIn, Nice. But um, he pressured me every single week to put the sign on the top of my car. I was like, no, not about that.
Speaker 1:Really and you could just deny it. Well, yeah, I mean like he was your boss.
Speaker 2:I was yeah, I was a 20 year old and it was a delivery driver for Domino's. Like I didn't, I wasn't like that desperate to keep it. You know, if he wanted to fire me, he could fire me.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I did a pretty good job. One thing that was funny there was that I look back on him Like I can't believe I refused to put the sign on my car, but I was willing to do this was that every time we left with an order, we would have to basically like yell to the, to the restaurant, and then when, whenever we came back after delivering the orders, we'd have to yell to the restaurant. Even if there's customers and they're placing orders, we'd have to yell and then the kitchen would yell back.
Speaker 1:What did you yell?
Speaker 2:So when we left, we always had to yell as we were leaving out the door and you couldn't just say it, you had to yell it and they would get after you. But you had to yell out on time, out to impress. And then when you came back with your empty pizza bags you'd have to yell delivered on time, customer impressed. And the kitchen would be like thank you. And every time I just felt nauseous, like customers, like mid-order, yeah, I'll get a pepperoni pizza and someone's just yelling delivered on time. You know it was just the worst, but I suffered through it.
Speaker 1:That is so funny.
Speaker 2:And we got paid in cash at the end of every night. No, that's amazing, Our hourly wage plus all of our tips.
Speaker 1:Love it, so did you get lots of tips.
Speaker 2:On certain days Friday nights.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like Fridays and Saturdays were always pretty lit and you got pretty good. You learned the map of the city and you'd start to recognize addresses as being in the same area. So as you became more of a veteran delivery driver, you'd be able to take more orders at once and still deliver them hot. So I think the best I got was five orders in one trip and you'd get these little stickers that you'd put on your steering wheel with the address and like the order and the person's name, and then you just like peel them off as you completed them wow, we're like these days with uber eats.
Speaker 2:They've got it all on their phone and they've got the maps and everything you didn't have a map on your phone, you had to, like, look at the map at the restaurant, remember where you're gonna go there's no way I could ever do this job it was crazy.
Speaker 1:I could never. You just like know in the map where to go and then just go there from your like memory yeah crazy work like I could never, ever do that I know back in my day. So I think you should start saying that to me when you leave the house with the kids and you're gonna drop them off at daycare.
Speaker 2:I love that out on time out to impress. Delivered on time.
Speaker 1:Imagine we got our kids to say that out on time, out to impress, like that's low-key kind of empowering here for it low-key kind of cultish. But a little, but yeah, just like cultish in our family.
Speaker 2:I love a family cult.
Speaker 1:I love that story. I love picturing you as a Domino's delivery man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but the only problem with getting paid cash is you spend that so fast.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know, when I was a server, I had so much cash. I like it wasn't real. It was like play money, and when I think about the amount of cash that I blew through, it's nothing. I have nothing to show for it. I'd literally have so much cash. I'd forget about my paychecks. They'd call me and be like you have four paychecks ready to pick up and I'm like, oh yeah, sorry, like I was just like cruising through cash, just forgetting about checks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if only. If only. That was my experience at dominoes. But I'd like to know if you were cooking up some sort of like sensory product for a brand like. What kind of things come to mind?
Speaker 1:you know I was really struggling with this. I wanted to have like a good idea, um, but I don't know, it's it's hard, it's hard to say. I thought it'd be fun to do like a candle that smells like what you smell when you walk into disney, or something like that could be interesting. I know hotels have signature scents that they like have in their lobbies and things like that. I also thought it'd be interesting to do like a pasta water bottle, but that's not really like a sensory product, like maybe there's like a really good like pasta restaurant or something that could sell their like pasta water.
Speaker 2:Why do you need the pasta water?
Speaker 1:Because you can add it, when you're cooking pasta at home, to your sauce and pasta.
Speaker 2:Why add it to your pasta? Because your pasta will make pasta water.
Speaker 1:Right Well, you cook the pasta. That's not when you use pasta water. Make pasta water right well, you cook the pasta. That's not when you use pasta water. But then you would normally take, take a cup of that pasta water and set aside to add to your pasta later, later when you're mixing it all together. So you could just buy that pasta water and it's like a special kind of pasta water connected to their specific pasta.
Speaker 2:You hate it interesting, it's all good, but that wasn't scratching the itch. That's not like a sensory product I wonder what italians would say about doing that like. I feel like cooking is so religious to them, especially pasta. Like I feel like you got to use the pasta water from that batch of pasta right, they would probably hate it.
Speaker 1:But then it also reminded me of like that is such a scam because like you go to air one and they'll have, like they they'll have like a orange packaged without the peel and like you can pay like five dollars for this. I saw that, yeah, unpeeled orange or a strawberry, a single strawberry totally it's giving that like I don't want to, like that's not what we're trying to achieve with the sensory marketing thing, right? So I don't, I don't really, I'm kind of stuck on it.
Speaker 2:I'm hoping for April fools this year. There's some like really cool sensory product.
Speaker 1:I think it's going to be lit this year. April fools is. Every year we talk about it. It's like a bigger and bigger brand thing and I feel like, especially with like all these brands doing like more playful, unhinged content, that there's just going to be so much going on yeah for sure, last year wasn't there like a cheese company that did a their signature yellow gold cheese color as hair dye? Yeah, wasn't it like cheese it's or something?
Speaker 2:but they thought it was an actual cheese brand, not like a oh velveta.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah velveta worked with julia fox to launch it and then they had her hair dyed like dyed in that color and then she had like all those paparazzi videos and photos of her that I want to see more of that kind of thing yeah, get rid of the award show memes and do more of that kind of stuff I know, but it's like it's.
Speaker 2:It's hard to come up with something good yeah, it's always kind of be cheesy needs to naturally like present itself to you I think it also needs to connect to a niche market.
Speaker 1:Like it's not for everyone, there's going to be lots of people who hate it in the comments, but that's not what it's about. You know for good.
Speaker 2:April fool's I don't know how many people would hate it well, some people are gonna.
Speaker 1:It has to feel a little divisive. You know like some people, lots of people, it has to feel a little divisive. You know like some people, lots of people, hated the Velveeta thing. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And it needs to be something that people want to send to their friends and argue about it in the chat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, or I would hate this. No, I would love this. Like like I don't even know what's an example.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Pickled Oreos or something Whoa or pickled flavor oreos, when I think about april fools?
Speaker 2:I just think about oreo, do you?
Speaker 1:why, I don't know. Like have they done a lot of april fools? I don't think so maybe not well, we'll see.
Speaker 2:I think I think the like, parody and humor is what brands need to lean into more. I think for a long time we saw the whole like unhinged brand be what people loved but now that also feels kind of overdone. So I feel like unhinged is just being replaced by like lighthearted.
Speaker 1:It's unserious.
Speaker 2:Unserious fun, without being kind of like crazy and chaotic yeah. So I'm here for it, the world's serious right now. We need a little bit of levity. We need a little bit of relief, and that's the way that brands can serve it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, make me laugh.
Speaker 2:Come on, give me some cheese, colored hair or garlic flavored bath.
Speaker 1:Bath bombs. Yeah, let's go. I can never see you take a bath, let alone use a bath bomb.
Speaker 2:You haven't seen me with a garlic bath bomb.
Speaker 1:Get me in like a breadstick. Oh man, you gotta shout them out on social. See what comes in your mailbox. That's true, papa john's is the best. Okay, let's move on to thing two.
Speaker 1:Instagram may be exploring a separate reels app. A standalone reels app would be a more direct replica of tiktok. Opening to a full screen scrolling display of short form videos and, with reels recently being extended to three minutes, there could be a variety of content enough to potentially justify a separate reels app, and those longer reels are a key consideration to this new approach. So there's been a leak at Meta saying that they're talking about doing a separate reels app, which I think is really interesting because we know that, like TikTok has been maybe getting banned for a long time.
Speaker 1:There's been lots of talks and I'm seeing Zuck getting pretty cozy to the new president in Washington. So I just wonder if, like, he's lobbying for that to actually happen. And it's been always like the war of the short form media. It's like Instagram versus TikTok. So if this actually ends up being true, they move Reels into its own separate app. I feel like it's better suited to compete with TikTok as a standalone app and then, if you know, tiktok ends up getting banned through lobbying or through whatever reasons. Maybe it's national security that would be the final nail in the coffin to actually like remove TikTok from the like social landscape and like finally to meta.
Speaker 2:So why do you think that? Why do you think that it better positions it to compete with TikTok? Don't you think they're already like pretty head to head and like share a lot of similar features?
Speaker 1:Totally, but like a lot of people who are going to TikTok, they're just there for the video content, like I know they have a separate, but they're also not just getting video content, like there's carousels and stuff on there too.
Speaker 1:For sure, but I feel like they're it. It still feels like when you're going into Instagram. It still feels like you're going to Instagram for a grid or a feed or whatever, and this is just a little different. It's like a full screen video. It's like a full screen experience. I do think those like little tweaks are going to make a difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. I guess I my initial reaction was that I hate this.
Speaker 1:I hate the idea of a separate app.
Speaker 2:I think it's so dumb. I remember IGTV.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And how that just kind of fizzled and did nothing and no one really cared. You know, yeah, it fell flat and I know that was like it was a new. It was a separate app from the from launch and it was a new product, like Instagram hadn't really done video before, so it's different in that sense. I also understand threads being its own app, because it's a completely different medium. It's text, it's meant to compete directly with Twitter and blue sky, um, and it's a different type of user, right like someone who's posting a lot of copy as opposed to visual creative.
Speaker 2:But even that's starting to embrace some of the visual elements of instagram, like video and photo anyway, so it just feels like another app for the sake of having another app. I feel like they could easily just change, make some small tweaks to the in-app experience on instagram, like, for example um, just have it so that when you open instagram it just goes immediately to the real reels view instead of the feed view, and then have people give people the option to just toggle back to the feed view if they want. It could be one of the buttons at the bottom, rather than having to have its own complete infrastructure and UX. That's my reaction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know if I love or hate it. I do feel like it's interesting, I feel like it's competitive, I feel like they're making moves to really like do a final kick, but and it's who knows if it'll be successful. Like you said, igtv was a separate app. It didn't. It didn't do well and they eventually shut it down. So I don't know, and I guess my big question too is like okay, if if reels goes into a separate app, what does? How do do reels even still exist in the normal Instagram app? Because if so, then it's completely redundant. But if not, then that that would be a completely different experience, which I would download and watch reels on a separate app.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean threads shows up in your when you're scrolling in Instagram, but then it takes you.
Speaker 1:if you tap it, it takes you out of Instagram into the threads which is annoying it is annoying why can't I just have a threads tab?
Speaker 2:why can't I just keep having a reels tab and just keep me in the app until I click an external?
Speaker 1:link you know to go into the.
Speaker 2:I do feel like it is strategic, but I don't think it's strategic with the user in mind. I think it's strategic with the government in mind. I think it's strategic with the government in mind, for sure. Give the president a reason to ban TikTok and know that people have another option even if it's not the right option or the best option.
Speaker 1:Right, it could even be just like a temporary means to an end.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you mentioned this, but it could just be like they're literally just doing it as another nail in the coffin of TikTok in the US. Yeah, not for people that actually care about Instagram or use it on the regular.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they are also working. They've like talked about their edits app, which is like a competitor to CapCut. So I wonder if, like it'll roll out a similar time or maybe there'll be like the reels tab in the edits tab, you know, or in the edits app. Maybe they'll like incentivize people using that app in order to like like I would love to see, ok, say you see a reel you love, you want to kind of create a similar version, create an instant template out of that like inspiration video right in the app and then edit it right there. Like that could be interesting. So maybe that's a way to like incentivize people and creators, especially which is like who they're always after. It's always like Instagram is all about creators. So, like, go the creators, go there, learn how to make the apps and the videos that they like to watch and then also have like a for you version in that app to get more inspo to draw from in order to create more content, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes sense. I was thinking because in the article there was a quote that said people are sharing the feeds less, but to stories more and in messages even more still. And I was thinking more about that because we've talked a lot about how all the action is in the chat. You know, like people are sending stuff to each other rather than commenting in the comment section, and I think there's got to be ways that that could be tapped into even more. So this is just a random idea I had, like five minutes before the episode.
Speaker 2:But what would you think if you could actually have like different algorithms that you pick from? So maybe, like right now, our algorithm is based on our own preferences or viewing behaviors. I know right now, on meta specifically, it's very AI driven compared to before, it being more about accounts that you intentionally engage with. So you still have that one where it's based on your own individual browsing or like scrolling behavior. But what if you could opt to have like a crowdsourced algorithm with your friends? So it's like you have it's you and two of your best friends. Now you have your best friends algorithm, where it's like a contra. It's a combination of your viewing preferences but also the type of content that you send to each other in the chat, so you're starting to get more content. If you toggle into that algorithm while you're scrolling, that you're more likely to collectively vibe with well, I think they're already kind of doing that with, like the reels, your friends, like but what if you had control over what kind of algorithm you're in at any given time?
Speaker 2:so if it's like I just want to see the stuff I want to see, I'm kind of doom scrolling Friday night at home, that is what it is. But if it's like the chat's kind of popping off right now we're laughing at some memes and some funny videos I want to be in that algorithm and like see more stuff that I want to share with my friends.
Speaker 1:Interesting, I feel like that could be interesting.
Speaker 2:And then it also tell it starts to tell creators and brands more about the type of content that people are engaging with with their friends as well.
Speaker 1:That's cool. Yeah, that could be interesting, like, but I feel like my algorithm is so inspired by your content because I feel like you send me stuff and then I'll engage with it and I'll start to see similar stuff or so, like sports and stuff, and then I I feel like I'm getting so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't have any agency over that.
Speaker 2:So, it's like if we, if we, were sending each other a bunch of stuff, one on a Thursday. Now we're just at the mercy of each other's algorithms for the next few days, until we, kind of like, correct our algorithms. But what if we could just decide which one we're in, so that if it's like we're engaging together, we're in the one that's going to serve us the type of content that's more influenced by our collective algorithm? Um, or then I, as soon as the the chat kind of dies down, I can just go back to my stuff yeah, go back to your stuff totally, that could be interesting.
Speaker 2:And then you could also have an algorithm that's more for like work, like all the social media managers. Yeah, mike's algorithm yeah, it's like maybe you see less brand content and then maybe when you're in work mode and you're looking for inspo for the next reel you're going to create for your client, you're getting more of. You can have an algorithm where you're getting more of that kind of content but it's not messing with your own personal algorithm for later that evening yeah, at what point is there too much algorithm?
Speaker 2:maybe there's a max of three, maybe you can only have like three unique algorithms this reminds me.
Speaker 1:There's this really interesting app. It's not on like it's not a social app well, it kind of is, but it's calleditude and I just signed up to be on the wait list and it's a really. It's like, basically every day, you make a list of things you're grateful for. It can be like simple, it can be like big, and then you share it and your friends do the same and you can see their list and you can add photos to your list and you do it like every day, and so every day you're seeing, like what your friends are grateful for and what you're grateful for. I think that's so sweet.
Speaker 1:I like that, yeah, so I'm on the wait list, hopefully I get in, but it sounds like such a cool app.
Speaker 2:I feel like that could go either way, like it could be really cool if it's actually if the majority of users are actually leaning into gratitude. But it could be really cool if it's actually if the majority of users are actually leaning into gratitude. But it could also become like really performative how like instagram is at times, you know, like I'm so grateful for my personal jet or like so grateful that I'm in dubai with my friends this weekend. We're just like getting bottle service, you know I don't think that's the vibe good, that's great, but it could.
Speaker 2:it could easily be with mass adoption Interesting. Sorry, I didn't mean to kill the vibe on that one. So pessimistic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was like really excited about this because I'm like wow, finally a positive space. You're like yeah, well, what if they're? Yeah, it's all good.
Speaker 2:Maybe Social channels are yeah totally, I could just treat it. People could, not you personally.
Speaker 1:Well, let's move on to thing three Now that I killed that one in his tracks.
Speaker 2:Let's go to thing three, timothy Chalamet, who we've already talked about quite a bit today but deserves more. He hosted a poker night with Cartier. So Cartier offered him an evening to celebrate his Oscar nomination and instead of a typical ambassador dinner, like lots of people would do, he opted for something a little bit different a poker night. Timothy hosts a poker night with legendary guests, including Tobey Maguire, Kevin Hart, theo Vaughn, kid Cudi and, of course, kylie Jenner.
Speaker 1:Kylie Jenner was there Apparently. She's good at playing poker.
Speaker 2:I saw that I was reading the article and it sounds like she was making some big bets. I mean, who wouldn't if you had a billion dollars?
Speaker 1:yeah, well, I think this is so fun, like we we've been talking about this trend already in this episode about play, and like this totally leads into that um, and we know that like play is going to be a big trend that digital audiences want more of. So I feel like we're going to see more of like bingo nights and poker nights and all that like hobby kind of nights, and brands will get in on the action and facilitate those things which I'd love to see. We're actually going to do something similar to this this week with our team, we're going to have a bingo play hour, which I'm really excited about. We're like evolving our happy hour to be more about play yeah, because no one even wants to drink alcohol anymore.
Speaker 1:Exactly the other thing that I think is cool here is a nostalgia element, because it's obviously like a nod to like Molly's game. Toby McGuire was in attendance and Molly game. Molly's game is like famously about like his high stakes poker nights that he would host with like a bunch of like a-list celebrities, so I love that they like leaned into that. I don't know if, like Timothy is like great friends with Tobey Maguire and decided to invite him, but I feel like it's a Cartier move, like they probably helped facilitate the guest list and I think it's just like a mixture of all these great things yeah, I saw Kevin Hart was there and he was cleaning up and then I'm pretty sure he left early to go to a dinner, so it was like he was kind of killing it on the table and then just like didn't care enough to stay in and finish what he started.
Speaker 1:He just like went to something else yeah, yeah, I feel like wasn't he with like Rich Paul or something? Which is like Adele's like husband, yeah, yeah, I think it's so fun to see that.
Speaker 2:I feel like we're gonna see more of that yeah, the other thing I liked about it, from what I was reading, is just that it was like pretty chill, like it wasn't like everyone was there to flex it's just even though I'm sure it wasn't just all Timothy's guest list, like you said, cartier probably had a big part in figuring out who's gonna be there, because it's their event.
Speaker 2:Um, it just seemed like it was casual and like enjoyable and wasn't as like performative as much as it was just like an actual cool, like brand experience if you could host like a play night with like a brand, who's gonna pay for it all, what would you do like you?
Speaker 1:could I have an idea for you? Tell me you could do like a Nintendo night and play video games and have like pizza or whatever, but like elevated, you know, not like in your basement, like a, a cool, like setup.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the only thing I don't like about that although it's fun is just that everyone's like staring at the screens the whole time. The nice thing about poker is you're around a table and like engaging with each other. So I would. I don't know if I would opt for poker, but I think I would try to figure out something where you're kind of like directly engaging with each other.
Speaker 1:Monopoly.
Speaker 2:I did think of that.
Speaker 1:We played Monopoly this weekend and you were so savage even with our six-year-old daughter.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm trying to teach her to play to win.
Speaker 1:I know, but it was like I know it was killing you because me and her, like we saw, you did a savage move. You had the option to either add a property to the section or take a property, and you took a property because you're here to win and it was a really good learning lesson for our daughter, because I'd be like this is the way your father plays this game. Just make a note of that.
Speaker 2:And then her and I became like besties and like trying to like beat you see we're gonna have to work this out, because I don't think we should be projecting a move in a game as savage like it's a competition, like you're trying to but it's also fun for the win.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can have if it's winning is fun you can have fun, but then it's only fun for one person no, because then later in the game you got me back I know, but it's only fun for the winner if you're always like, this is fun if you win, you know.
Speaker 2:No, like the process is enjoyable as well.
Speaker 1:Even if you lose. Yeah, did you have fun, I did. Sweet.
Speaker 2:I was wishing that she wanted to play again.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think she had fun the way we played it.
Speaker 2:For sure it wasn't that deep.
Speaker 1:So you could do Monopoly night.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's do it Also. The card version of Monopoly without the board. Because the board. Well, I don't know, Maybe the card game has a max players, but the board does. So I don't know. It would be fun to do something like that and that plays into nostalgia too, where people don't play Monopoly that much anymore.
Speaker 1:Monopoly Go is the move.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like people don't play Monopoly that much anymore. Monopoly Go is the move, yeah yeah, or Monopoly Deal, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Monopoly Deal. Yeah, I love seeing this kind of thing. I want to see more brands do more stuff like this.
Speaker 2:It'd be cool as a brand to come up with a new board game, wow, that connects to your brand.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can imagine coming up with a board game.
Speaker 2:that'd be so hard I think maybe the first step would be to do a collab with the board game. Like, growing up we had monopoly, but it was like the indie 500 edition, right. So instead of it being like a random, like collection of um, like destinations and amusements on the board, it was like Indianapolis, specific places, and it had a certain theme. So you could always like start with something like that, where you do a collab with a, a game and you have like brand themes in it, right. And then if that vibes with your audience and you can actually look at like producing your own game.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I saw that monopoly has a version of that with like bluey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw lego's just coming out with bluey lego. Now too cute he's making moves. Oh yeah, I know, I feel like they're like we don't want to make any more episodes, so we're just going to do brand deals now it makes sense.
Speaker 1:I really I read an in-depth article with the creator of bluey and like his tension of like doing more Bluey episodes because it's getting so popular, but also like protecting Bluey, I just thought it was so sweet, like he's such an artist.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Which is it's always hard for an artist to be successful.
Speaker 2:And his kids are getting, are older. Now, right, because he had always kind of made the episodes around actual, like experiences he had with his kids yeah, yeah, and he never wants to replace the voices of the characters. That's so sweet, I know there's nothing weirder than like watching a show that you like, know intimately, and then the voices are different totally.
Speaker 1:But most shows like don't grow up like the character, especially animated shows.
Speaker 2:Like elmo's been three years old for like 50 years yeah, but there's, there's remakes of a lot of popular things like Lion King or like right stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Harry.
Speaker 2:Potter, they're doing a new tv series about Harry Potter.
Speaker 1:We still have to watch a new cast, second Harry Potter movie yeah one day? Yeah, have you read it?
Speaker 2:I did. I read the second book. Perfect, I think I I need a break from, like my my headier books that I've been reading, so I might read the third one pretty soon. Sweet well anything else about timothy chalamet before we go?
Speaker 1:I love to see him win, want to see him be great, and wishing him and Kylie all the best. Wishing them all the best. That's all I got to say about them.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, thanks for watching. Subscribe on YouTube, check us out on Instagram and TikTok and, if you're still listening, on Apple or Spotify. Thank you for riding with us on audio, but we want to hear from you, so jump on social, send us a DM, drop us a comment, let us know what you're thinking, what you're liking, what you don't like, and other than that, we'll see you next week.
Speaker 1:See you next week. Bye.
Speaker 2:Sound the alarm.
Speaker 1:Love it. It's crazy that that gong is such a big part of the show. I know it was just like a random idea.
Speaker 2:A moment of inspiration? Yeah Well, I'm going to go dip myself in garlic. See you later.