🎯 The Joker steals the show at the Venice Film Festival. KFC's new dating simulator game seems seriously creepy. The very different Coke Challenge could land you in jail. And is it time to say, "Oh, Thank Heaven for iPhone 11?" Plus a whole lot more.

In This Episode:

🏖 One Rick gets to enjoy "Rio" … (at :45 sec)

💣 … While the other Rick gets a "View to a Kill" (at 1 min :30 sec)

🤖 Weekly poll: "Terminator: Dark Fate" vs. "Zombieland: Double Tap" (at 2:16)

🃏 No fooling: "The Joker" takes Venice—is he gunning for an Oscar next? (at 3:45)

🍎 Eleven sent: The iPhone's goes bionic (at 5:30)

👃🏻 A very different kind of Coke Challenge is nothing to sneeze at (at 7:26)

🕹 From the WTAF Dept: The new dating simulator game from KFC (8:48)

🤡 BK's new AR game helps you "Escape the Clown" (at 9:30)

🍺 Now you can own your Bud Light Victory Fridge (at 10:45)

🍗 Popeye's goes BYOB: Bring Your Own Bun (12:00)

😶 Quick: Name the latest brand to 86 its logo (at 13:35)

🎾 Mercedes serves up voice and AR tech to score big (at 14:58)

Or Listen Here 🃏

Approx. 17 minutes

For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, and all other streaming services.

Just when you think Burger King can't top the crowning glory of last year's Whopper Detour campaign promoting its mobile app, it pulls off a battle royal from within its chief rival's own stores. 

Last year, BK won countless awards for geo-targeting offers for a 1-cent Whopper to customers who come within 800 feet of a McDonald's (see the success story below). But BK Germany may have upped the ante—again. 

In a cross promotion celebrating the release of "It Chapter Two," Burger King is using advertising on Facebook and Twitter to invite consumers to download its mobile app and scan a review of "It" within a movie magazine McDonald's distributes in-store.

According to The Drum, when consumers download the app, they're able to play an augmented reality-enabled mobile game that displays a "flee and run" route to the nearest BK. If they make it there within a certain amount of time, they're able to buy a Whopper for just one cent. 

It's just the latest in the kind of inventive campaigns that helped BK clean up at this year's Cannes Lions Advertising Festival—and at the cash register. And in truth, BK's unorthodox philosophy about marketing has been on display as far back as its work with CPB Group.

With this brilliantly devious cross-promotion, the QSR might just win "Creative Brand of the Year" for a second year in a row. 

Inside Mary Meeker's 2019 Internet Trends Report. Grand Prix Winners from this year's Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. Miller Light turns a beer into a game controller. Plus, all the coolest Funko toys headed to San Diego Comic-Con, and a whole lot more.

IN THIS EPISODE

🕷    'Spider-Man: Far from Home' arrives just in time (at :48 sec)

🦇    Poll about best Caped Crusader leaves out Adam West, fans go batshit (at 1:26)

🍻    Miller Lite turns a beer can into a game controller, and we'll drink to that (at 3:39)

👍🏻      Who's a better Internet role model: Keanu Reeves or Mark Hamill?  (at 6:20)

🤡      Chuckles, Krusty, or Pennywise? Funko's funky Comic-Con line up (at 8:32)

📱      Key insights from Mary Meeker's 2019 Internet Trends Report (at 10:20)

🏆      Grand Prix winners at the 2019 Cannes Lions Advertising Festival (at 19:08)

⭐️     Holy Hollywood icons: Look who's getting a star on the Walk of Fame (at 22:03)

🦁     2019 Cannes Lions' Buzzword Bingo (at 22:40)

🦸🏻‍♂️    More special edition toys coming to San Diego Comic-Con (at 24:04)

Approx. 27 min.

(For US audiences. Be sure to review privacy and cookie policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify and all other streaming services.)   

Pearl Jam's out to party like it's 2062. Booze wants to be the new wellness drink. Gillette's "First She." Man-size Kleenex and more.

In this Episode:

🚀 "Space" Jam: Pearl Jam's New Space Needle Time Capsule
(at 1 min, 30 sec)

💥 ComicCon: Marvel & WB Pull Out of Hall H
(at 4:27)

🍸 Booze is the New Wellness Drink?
(at 5:57)

🧔🏽 Gillette's "First Shave"
(at 8:38)

⛑ Shocking Los Angeles: "Mass Shooting Insurance"
(at 10:30)

🏞 One Outdoor Brand's Search-Jacking Jumble
(at 12:33)

🤧 Inclusion: "Man-size Kleenex"
(at 14:18)

(Approx. 15 min, 40 seconds)

For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify and all other streaming platforms.

Move over, Eggo Waffles: 'Stranger Things' has its own Lego Playset, now. Gen X runs for President and gets upstaged by a Millennial. Why the role of the CMO isn't want it used to be—plus a whole lot more.

IN THIS EPISODE:

🍿 'Wick' wows Wootten (at :50 seconds)

🐲 Name 'Game': 'GoT' finale and the babies named after the show's characters (at 1:42)

😡 Red Son: 'BrightBurn' reimagines the mythology of Superman (at 2:42)

🧟‍♂️ New Lego playset is one of the 'Stranger Things' we've seen this week (at 3:47)

🎮 Sony's gaming pact with Microsoft—did anyone tell the PlayStation team?(at 4:56)

💑 LaCoste commercial is a visual tour de force (at 8:03)

🤹🏻‍♀️ Meet the Chief Engagement Officer: The changing role of the CMO (at 10:48)

🇺🇸 Molly Ringwald for President? Gen X runs for office (at 14:02)

⏳ At T-minus 6 months, are you ready for the California Consumer Privacy Act? (at 15:07)

💋 The lip-lock that broke the Internet (at 16:03) Approx 17 min, 35 sec. For US audiences only. See cookie and privacy policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify, and all other applicable sites, apps, and streaming services.

🍗 KFC's new 'Bucket Bangers' Spotify playlist. AR dragons dive-bomb baseball fans. Parents name their kids after 'Game of Thrones' characters. ASMR affirmations for creative directors. Plus: The secrets of CX appeal and a whole lot more.

IN THIS EPISODE: 

🎉 A shout out to special listener (at :40 sec)

🐲 SK Telecom's augmented reality dragons dive-bomb baseball fans (at 1:03)

🏰 Parents are naming their children after their favorite 'Game of Thrones' characters (at 3:15)

👟 Move over, Laurel & Yanny: How you see these tennis shoes tells you whether you're right- or left-brained (at 4:20)

🎧 Top 5 ASMR Affirmations for Creative Directors (at 6:10)

🍔 Traffic Jam Whopper: Burger King will deliver right to your car door when you're stuck traffic (at 9:30)

🎶 KFC busts a move with a finger-licking playlist with all 46 hip hop tunes that mention the brand (at 11:20)

🛒 CX Appeal: Top 4 things customers value most when it comes to a positive customer experience (at 12:57)

🚶‍♀️🚶 The high price of even one bad customer experience (at 15:53)

👩‍👧‍👦 Age-old Mom-isms that apply to CX (at 17:28)

(Approx. 19 min, 5 sec. For US audiences. See cookie and privacy policies for Soundcloud, iTunes, Spotify and all streaming services.)

It's time to review what we got right, and what we got wrong, in our first annual predictions episode in early 2018. Which of our  prognostications on marketing, media, tech and pop culture turned out to be spot on? Which ones were serious misses? It's time to grade the good, the bad and the WTF predictions—one year later.

IN THIS EPISODE

🍡Pez Candy: Time for a 'Rick & Rick' Dispenser? (at 1:07)

🏛Politics: Did More Brands Take Sides, or Channel Switzerland? (at 2:07)

🏈 The San Francisco 49'ers: Touchdown? Or Fumble? (at 3:51)

🔠 Google Parent Alphabet: Playing the Name Game? (at 4:12)

🗣'The Post-Screen Internet': Are More Brands Prepping? Or Procrastinating? (at 4:36)

🍎Apple: Spit-Shined? Or Bruised? (at 7:27)

🏰Disney: The #1 Box Office Winner Every Month of the Year? (at 9:55)

😎 AR & VR: Are Brands Getting Their Goggles On? Or Playing 'Wait-and-See'? (at 13:58)

🎬Video Marketing:  ⏩? Or ⏸? (at 16:36)

🍕Brand Digital Innovation: Delivering? Or in a Ditch? (at 17:36)

🧠A.I. in 2018: Milestone? Or Reality Check? (at 18:27)

Use the Player  Above or Listen on iTunes

(Approximately 22 min. For US Audiences Only. See SoundCloud's Cookie and Privacy Policies)

Burger King, Nike, ESPN and more. See what makes a winner most, as the 2nd Annual Rick and Rick Awards continue with Best Mobile Marketing 2018. Winners include:

💥 Brand Reborn: "Player Unknown: Battlegrounds" took its rapidly shrinking world by storm to become the #1 mobile game of 2018 (at 2:02)

🍔 Trolling Mickey D's: BK's #WhopperDetour offered 1-cent Whoppers if you're within 600-feet of a McDonalds location—generating 1 million downloads in its first 36 hours (at 4:30)

👟 NIKE AR Shopping: Nike launches its "Kyrie 4 Red Carpet Edition" sneaker with a test of Facebook Messenger's AR feature (at 10:25) Learn more here.

🏀 iPhone Interrupted: ESPN scores with this test promotion for its coverage of the NBA finals that made use of iPhone's AirDrop feature to freak people out (at 7:02) Learn more here.

🏃‍♀️ 'Legend' is Born: Adidas "Here to Create Legend" created on-the-fly, personalized videos for all 200,000 runners in the Boston Marathon, complete with their personal stats—and has them ready to view and share within just a few hours (at 13:40)

(For US Audiences; See SoundCloud Cookie/Privacy Policy)

Cheetos is having a moment with the success of its recent pop-up restaurants in New York City and Los Angeles.

In New York, The Spotted Cheetah booked all 300 seats, and a 1,000 person waiting list for its three-day pop-up, which served delicacies such as White Cheddar Mac N' Cheetos. In LA, The Flamin' Hot Spot played up Flamin' Hot Cheetos-themed dishes, including the Hot Cheetos Burrito. 

In terms of novelty, the stunt was spot on, pardon the pun. And let's face it: Marketing is no longer just about engagement or interaction. It's about experiences. And with tastes, sounds and more, this Cheetos pop-up restaurant idea has legs.

Learn more about Rick Mathieson and iMathieson:

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In a all new podcast,  Rick Mathieson and Rick Wootten talk:

Netflix's hit series, Altered Carbon: It's not as far fetched as you may think (:36)

How to live inside HBO's "WestWorld" at SXSW (20:15)

KFC's Royal FCK-up (5:20)

NASA's new Coca-Cola Insta-Slushie (10:28)

The disconnect between the tech marketers love and what consumers actually want (6:24)

Whether brands really need a "voice agency of record (15:00)

Plus a whole lot more

 Or listen on iTunes:

Rick&Rick-Peak Smartphone Altered Carbon & More

 Meet RICK MATHIESON and RICK WOOTTEN