🔮 2023 Predictions Scorecard: TikTok Ad Growth, Virtual Reality, Mint Mobile & More

🤯 The Ricks revisit their big predictions for the year—what they got right, and what they got hilariously wrong—in the worlds of marketing, media, tech, and pop culture. from December 28. Subscribe now to get episodes the moment they're released! 

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>> LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE <<

IN THIS EPISODE:

📲 Rick M should have banked on an acquisition for Mint Mobile
🥽 Rick W's attempt at "reverse predicting" about the "Year of VR" pans out
🍿 Domestic box office: Movie madness, sadness—or both?
⏱️ TikTok, brand advertisers, TikTok
👨🏽‍💻 Social media influencer: Elated—or deflated?
🚙 EVs: Charge ahead—or a last laugh for Toyota?
📺 The streaming wars: Has the Great Shakeout begun?
📈 B2B: Is the Hybrid Workforce really here to stay?
🤖 A generative AI reality check: Just starting, or nothing burger?

Approx. 23 minutes, 53 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

From December 24. Subscribe now to get episodes the moment they're released! 


🧠 FOMO for Fun & Profit: The Secrets Of Psychology-Driven Marketing

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). Social Proofing. Tribalism. What are the most powerful psychological triggers for shaping consumer behavior and beliefs? In an all-new episode, we get insights from Jake McKenzie, CEO of Birmingham, AL-based Intermark Group, one of the nation's top psychology-driven ad agencies. By blending sociology, psychology, behavioral economics, and technology, it's possible to dramatically increase the efficacy of marketing programs. The problem: Far too many marketers start with a creative concept informed by demographic data masquerading as insight. In this can't-miss episode, we explore ways to hack the human psyche to boost marketing performance.

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👐🏻Shop now and save 30% with promo code R&RTAKE30 at TaskinSF.com: ow.ly/Vh6M30r9EpF👐🏻

IN THIS EPISODE:

🧐 An introduction to applied research and "creative psychology" (at 01:01)

🛍️ Adding psychographic insights to demographic data to optimize outcomes (01:43)

🦏 Animal House: Mohawk Flooring's carpet ride to market dominance (03:33)

📍 Building a better brief: Inside the mind-mapping process to make insights actionable (06:59)

👩🏼‍🦱 The problem with marketing personas: Context is everything (08: 57)

👀 The power of psychological heuristics like Social Proofing (10:36)

🍎 Who cares about product specs? Peer pressure doesn't fall far from Apple (12:50)

😳 Juicing demand by building a sense of scarcity–and why too many brands fear it (14:15)

🤓 Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and advances in neuromarketing (16:23)

👥 Focus groups: The need to get past what participants tell you (17:44)

🚭 Smoking surprise: The least and most predictive indicators of a future purchase (18:33)

🙅🏽‍♀️ Why anti-drug campaigns fail to leverage what works in changing behavior (20:13)

✊🏼 Harley-Davidson & Rita's Italian Ice: How brands can tap tribal psychology (21:03)

Approx. 24 minutes, 18 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.


🏆 Landing Legoland—Q&A With Whit Hiler, ECD at Ad Age 'Small Agency Of The Year' Cornett

If the trajectory of Whit Hiler's advertising career strikes you as unconventional, that's only because it is. Forget the background in art or copy. Hiler took a different route to becoming an executive creative director—and so far, it's working out pretty darn well for him.

In fact, mere minutes into a conversation with him, two things happen. First, you can't help but like the guy. And second, you start to appreciate the virtue of possessing just the right amount of naïveté to pursue ambitions someone who "knows better" might foolishly dismiss out of hand.

In this Rick and Quick interview, this ECD at Lexington, Kentucky-based ad agency Cornett (teamcornett.com) talks about his evolution from car salesman, to agency new business rep, to award-winning creative chief. Along the way, he shares how this 50-person Ad Age "Small Agency of the Year" (2021) scored a little account called Legoland Resorts—and helped A&W fix a 40-year-old "marketing fail." From March 21.

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IN THIS EPISODE

🚗 Driving a Modern Don Draper: The evolution as a 21st Century Mad Man (at 0:58)
👕 From retail logos to Legoland Resorts: How hard lessons beget big wins (at 1:24)
👩🏻‍💼 Behind every great ad agency: The wife-slash-boss leading Cornett (at 2:38)
🥊 Joining and jousting A-List agencies for the win—one interlocking plastic brick at a time (at 6:00)
🍔 Helping A&W fix a 40-year-old marketing fail with a little help from "A Beautiful Mind" (at 8:19)

Approx. 11 minutes, 15 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.


Marketing, Media, Pop-Culture 2020: The Year in Loaded Questions (Part 1)

🎄It's a super-sized game of Loaded Questions as the Ricks celebrate the season that tried to make lemonade out of one lemon of a year.

IN THIS EPISODE:

🎅🏼A holiday end-of-season for the Ricks (at :55-seconds)

👽The time Rick M. introduced Rick W. in Klingon (at 1-min, :49-sec)

🍔When a certain QSR brand's campaign for freshness is solid mold (at 2:48)

🧟‍♂️The Ricks do science near you, and the results are scary (at 4:30)

😲Could this unfortunately-timed ad campaign benefited from a temporary rebrand? (at 6:12)

🤖Arnie's "Terminator" takes on an unexpected new role–and casting trivia from the OG (at 7:02)

💇‍♂️Rick W. wins a Golden Flowbee during lockdown—and finds himself in esteemed company (at 7:52)

🤘🏻From "Sex Education" to "Finger-Licking Vegan Nuggets" to fMRI and beyond (at 9:48)

📺"The Mandalorian" tries on some 501s (at 11:30)

🏈 Oh for the love of Quibi (at 13:32)

🤣 Some memorable moments from Season 3 of Rick and Rick Rule the World (at 15:14)

Approx. 19-min, 45-sec.

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Pop Quiz: 2020 Super Bowl Commercials

📺 It's a super-sized game of Rick and Rick Loaded Questions about some of this year's biggest Super Bowl commercials. Who scores? Who fumbles? And which spots do you remember best? It's an AdBowl 2020 pop-quiz with a Rick and Rick twist.

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IN THIS EPISODE

📸 Will the real Kyle Shanahan please wave for the camera (at 50-seconds)

🍎 In a first, Steve Wozniak is mentioned in a conversation about the Super Bowl (at 2-min, 2-sec)

🖖🏻 … Then again, so is George Takei (at 2:38)

☝️ Parachute Pants: 30 years later, and you still can't touch this—thanks to Cheetos Popcorn (at 3:47)

🍫 #SnickersFixTheWorld: Who knew the solution to all our problems was to feed the Snicker's Hole? (...anyone besides us, that is) (at 4:56)

💑 Google monetizes an old man's memories in a moving spot (at 5:58)

🎨 Missy Elliott and H.E.R. Paint it Black—but what exactly is "it"? (at 7:01)

🏚 Met Life sends you four different kinds of love—'cuz you're going to need it (at 8:20)

🧗🏻‍♀️ Microsoft Surface scores a touchdown (at 10:05)

🚙 "Tough Never Quits," but neither do Kia's product shots (at 11:46)

⚡️ Martin Scorsese and Jonah Hill par-tay with Coca-Cola Energy (at 12:47)

🍺 Budweiser celebrates the typical, awesome American—and automates "Wassup" with home smart devices (at 13:25)

🥑 Quibi, Pop-Tarts, Audi's "Let It Go" and more: The Super Bowl 2020 WTF Department (at 14:47)

🏎 The Porsche museum is ready to roll, and we're here for it (at 15:57)

📺 Our final takeaways on AdBowl 2020 (at 17:16)

Listen via the player embedded above, or click here:

Download 🏈 Rick and Rick Score the Super Bowl Commercials

Approx. 18 minutes, 26 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.


🎄 'The Free Guy,' Coke Zero Lightsabers, 'Crisis on Infinite Earths,' 2019's Fastest-Growing Brands

🎄 "The Free Guy." Coke Zero bottles wage an OLED-based lightsaber battle. Netflix makes it safe for other nice brands to make the naughty list on Twitter. ''The Crisis on Infinite Earths" has begun. The Peloton Wife gets a new beginning—thanks to Aviation Gin. The 5 fastest-growing brands of 2019, and more. From December 8. 

IN THIS EPISODE:

🎁 One Rick is ready for Christmas—the other, not so much (at :40 sec)
 
Taskin logoWelcoming our new sponsor, Taskin—the first name in stylish, premium-quality travel gear—taskinsf.com (at 1 minute 32 sec)
 
💊 Blue Pill, Red Pill: DC or Marvel? McDonald's or Taco Bell? Rick W. has a surprising answer (at 2:55)
 
🎬 Ryan Reynold's "The Free Guy" trailer drops, and the Ricks are here for it (at 3:56)
 
💥 "The Crisis on Infinite Earths"—the mother of all TV crossovers has officially begun (at 5:57)
 
📣 Netflix tweets, "What's something you can say during sex, but also when you manage a brand Twitter account"—you won't believe how other brands respond (at 8:43)
 
🍸 The Peloton Wife gets a new beginning—courtesy of Aviation Gin (at 10:25)
 
⚔️ Coke Zero bottles use OLED diodes to wage a lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo Ren (at 12:18)
 
📈 Door Dash, Impossible Foods, White Claw, Postmates and ?—the 5 fastest growing brands of 2019 (at 13:37)
 
🧒🏼 👴🏼 Which brands win most with Millennials and Boomers? (at 14:24)
 
🎅🏼 Which CPG brand helped create Santa as we know him today? (at 15:19)
 
Approx. 17 minutes, 32 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

🎁 Cybertruck Blows Up The Internet, The Lightsaber That ... Meows? And More

🎅🏼 Tesla's Cybertruck takes the Internets by storm, and not all goes well. The holiday yule log gets spit-roasted—ASMR style. Our Top 3 Tech Toys Gone Wrong. The 'Christmas Pizza' that's covered in turkey and gravy—and served in a singing box, plus a whole lot more. 

🚀 Rise of Skywalker: How will this chiasmus conclude the chiasmi? (at :42 seconds)
 
📺 What the hell is The Mandalorian? And why isn't that Boba Fett and Yoda? (at 2:28)
 
📐 Tesla Cybertruck: Big splash, or botched launch? (at 3:45)
 
🔫 Our Top 3 Tech Toys for Holiday 2019—including a Lightsaber that … meows? (at 6:30)
 
💣 Our Top 3 Tech Toys Gone Wrong—including one inspired by Tesla (at 8:30)
 
🍕 The Christmas Pizza comes lathered with turkey, gravy, and a psychotic theme song (9:54)
 
🥩 The Beef Drool Log comes with ASMR-like sound effects and … an AI-based personal assistant?  (at 11:15)
 
🎄 Cardi B or Anna Kendrick? Will the holiday TV spot imposter please stand up? (at 12:25)
 
🛍 From Santa's WTF workshop: animal dissection kits, fluffy pets with removable fur and other gifts for children (at 13:18)
 
☃️ Some holiday chestnuts about goosing the kids, making memories and more (at 14:00)
 
🥁 The Ricks reveal the title of their future Claymation holiday television special (at 14:58)
 
Approx. 15 min, 40 sec. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

🦃 A Pringles Thanksgiving, Singles Day Stats, Twinkies Cereal, Why VR Stinks & More

Singles Day scores $1 billion in its first :60-seconds. "Arson Frog" and "Okay Boomer" have meme warfare raging among generations. Plus: Twinkies cereal ignites a social media storm, what fMRI tells us about holiday shopping behaviors, why the future of VR may stink, Loaded Questions, and more.  

IN THIS EPISODE

📺 'Prime' Evil: 'Man in the High Castle' Season 4 (at 1 minute, 43 sec)

🤯 Meme Warfare: 'Arson Frog' Catches Fire as 'Okay Boomer' Explodes (at 3:26)

💩 Smell-o-Vision: Why the Future of VR Might Stink (at 5:50)

💰 $1 Billion Sold in :60-Seconds: Our Singles Day Scorecard (at 7:16)

🤢  Turducken Pringles: Any way you stack 'em, someone's sure to cry fowl (at 8:53)

🥣 Twinkies for Breakfast: Social Media Cause Célèbre—or Cereal Offender?  (at 10:08)

👺 Why Deep Fakes Mean Real Trouble for Business in 2020 (at 11:44)

🛍 Google Data: Top 3 Best (and Worst) Holiday Purchase Influencers (at 13:06)

🧠 What fMRI Brain Scans Tell Us About True Shopping Influencers (at 13:50)

🎅🏼 Six Fewer Days for St. Nick: Online Retail's Race Against the 2019 Calendar (at 14:58)

Listen via streaming, or click here

Approx. 16 min, 5 sec. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.


🎧 Silent Coca-Cola Print Ads You Can Hear, AI-Generated Leadership Slogans & More

The Loaded Questions keep flying as we recall some of our favorite memories from Season 2 of Rick and Rick Rule the World.

IN THIS EPISODE

🎧 Silent Coca-Cola print ads you'll swear you can hear (at 9 sec)

🧠 The technical name for the psychological effect Coke uses in those ads - it's SCIENCE (at 1 min, 09 sec)

🔥 … Revisiting the knee-slapping family fun of "Brightburn" (at 2:09)

🏰 The Top 3 "Game of Thrones" character names parents are giving their newborns (at 3:17)

🚽 What Rick M. really wanted the GoT characters to do with the Iron Throne … (at: 4:02)

🌎 How the Ricks are going wide (at 4:47)

🤪 Which was more fun for the Ricks - Season 1 or Season 2? (at 5:54)

☕️ How ingesting too much of a good thing can go bad fast (unless it's Ricks Pez candies, of course) (at 6:28)

🕴 AI-created leadership slogans gone bad (at 8:01)

🛋 IKEA's plans to turn your living room into the set of your favorite TV show (at 932)

🐉 The Ricks nail their rendition of "Never Ending Story," the sex lives of Muppets, pre-Internet gaming, still obsessing about Shamrock Shakes, the trouble with time capsules and more (at 10:33)

Listen through the embedded player, on iTunes, or by downloading here.

Approximately 14 min, 45 sec. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify, and all other streaming services.

 
 

🚀 'Space' Jam, Gillette's 'First Shave,' Booze as the New Wellness Drink & More

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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.