Ep. 148 – Taylor Swift, Trampolines, and TikTok: A Viral Cocktail

Don (00:00) Yeah. Yeah. Rob (00:00) If there are two things that the internet likes, it is Taylor Swift and it is people completely injuring themselves. And you mix those two things together and we found the secret sauce. Yeah, Don (00:07) Yeah, people buff their ass. Yeah, yeah, Two great tastes that taste great together, Alright, episode 148, we're back, Rob. We're back! I like how you had to stretch out your neck. Rob (00:39) We're back. And you may have noticed I'm wearing the exact same outfit as I was for podcast 147. Apparently this is my podcast uniform. Don (00:47) Are you with the black? Okay, you only have yeah, okay. Well, ⁓ I don't have do you I don't have the Don Draper, like drawer of clean clothes in the office. You know what mean? ⁓ Rob (00:59) I have a co I do have a couple shirts hanging over there. Yeah. Don (01:02) Yeah, I have noticed I have noticed that about you, but my wife has always said because there's have a wear some horrible, you know t-shirt with graphic or older, you know, whatever like no, I got a call, know, I got a meeting or this or that I got to look halfway decent and Rach is always like why the F don't you have like just clean t-shirts in your office and you know, I'm like I just never think about it. Rob (01:11) Yeah. Yeah. I usually don't care. Like I usually am like, this is fine for a meeting, but I will say if it's generally speaking, if it's like a new business thing, then I'll pop the collar real quick. Yeah, I keep a couple of spares hanging in. Don (01:26) Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm I like the black t-shirt. I'm a black t-shirt fan though. I mean that's I mean today I'm wearing a you know printed shirt, but I like the nice clean simple one color t-shirt. Yeah, I don't even pop the collar for a new biz most of the time, so I'll do you know a little long sleeve if I need to but like hey, I'm a colorless kind of guy so. Rob (01:43) Nice clean, clean shirt, yeah. You're just a user. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, it's whatever you feel comfortable. Don (01:56) Yeah, alright. Well, 148 we're back. We're talking about what we're wearing as crazy as that when last we potted on 147, I said I surprised you and I said, Hey, you got to surprise me about what we're about to talk about today, right? We're doing the smart list approach, right? So that you can get the visual dynamics of the look of surprise. ⁓ So what are we talking about? What's about to happen? Rob (02:05) Seven. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah, so today I thought we were going to. We're going to break the mold a little bit ⁓ and today is going to be more of a I'm going to call it storytelling. It's going to be more of an anecdotal. topic and story that absolutely relates to what we do for a living ⁓ that happened to yours truly that I find hysterical and maybe maybe you will as well. ⁓ So I'm going to dive right into it. Interrupt ask questions, whatever alright. Don (02:28) Okay, story time. Okay. Okay, go for it. Rob (02:47) So think three days ago, ⁓ Taylor Swift, those in our audience that are unfamiliar with Taylor Swift, she is a recording artist and a very popular one at that. Anyway, she dropped an album and I guess one of the songs on the album ⁓ has a lyrical reference to... Don (02:58) Is there anyone on the planet that doesn't know who Taylor Swift is? ⁓ Rob (03:14) The last time I laughed this hard was with my friends on the trampoline. Okay. On the trampoline, right? that then immediately sparked a TikTok trend, right? Of people shooting TikToks and making TikToks of themselves on trampolines with their friends and various other people. And so this sort of a little bit of fire. Well, Don (03:18) Okay, on a trampoline. Okay, yeah. Okay, all right. Yeah. Rob (03:41) Back in 2018, I took my kids to, my wife and I took the kids to the trampoline park. And I will say this, I will say leading up to the incident, I successfully pulled off several back flips, right? And so the last one, my daughter, Don (03:44) ⁓ I think I might know where this is going. Okay. Okay. Okay, okay. Yeah, is it safe to say that in 2018 you're above average trampoliner? Is that what's happening? I mean, you're not a newbie on the trampoline. Okay, okay. Okay. I have no trampoline experience whatsoever. ⁓ None. Rob (04:15) I'm not a newbie. mean, I grew up with trampolines. I had a pretty solid bounce game. Yeah. Yeah. They're even when we were rubbery and little kids, they're incredibly dangerous. ⁓ I smashed my nose on the ball. Yeah. I mean, Frank Green had one that had no padding around. Don (04:26) Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I just feel like there's I was gonna say don't they have like all the springs that are like exposed around the whole the whole deal or what? Okay, yeah. Rob (04:37) Yeah, yeah. Yes. And in the early 80s, like no one had netting around it or you barely had padding around it. Don (04:42) Now No, if anything, you had like a gravel pit of jagged rocks surrounding it, you know, for drainage, for when it rained, you know, so. Rob (04:48) Yeah, it is a recreational instrument. Yeah. It is a recreational instrument of death is really what it is. So anyway, I'm at the trampoline park in 2018. I had done several flips to great success and admiration for my children. And so that's what we're going for. Right. And so so my daughter, Katie Ross, who's now in college. Don (05:01) I love it. Okay. Yeah, that's what we're going for. That's all we need in life. Yeah. Rob (05:15) Manage, film the last one. She's like, do one more, I wanna film it. As kids do. Yeah, well, you see where this is going. It did not end well. And in the, what's funny about the actual little video is that she actually shot it in slow-mo. And my knees buckle and my legs come out, I go sideways. And I mean, I landed on my neck and. Don (05:15) Yeah. Okay. Here we go. Hey, come on, dad, get up there. You know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Amazing. I remember this. I remember this moment. Rob (05:42) Buddy, I'm not lying when I say I thought, I wasn't sure I was gonna get up. Like I thought like, my gosh, don't, I am everything went tink, like everything went numb. Don (05:50) Yeah. So you ate it. You ate it on the trampoline is what's happening. And then did you hear you so you flip? Okay, so what happens though you you you bounce and then try to do like a full flip? Is that what we're doing? Okay, standard backflip. Okay, but ⁓ okay. Rob (05:52) I ate it. mean. Yeah, it was bouncing just to do it. Just do a standard backflip and and my knees buckle. I go up like this and then if this is my head and this is my head and neck, I come down right on my neck like and I mean I just fold like a card table. And it's I mean you look at it you're like, ⁓ wow, that did not end it. Well, you probably also remember me being out of the office because I was at physical therapy for like six months. Don (06:13) okay. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ god. ⁓ That's bad. Yeah. Well, I remember this. I remember this. That's what I was gonna say. Like I remember there was a tremendous amount of post disaster recovery, right? Rob (06:33) Yeah, I thank the good Lord I did not seriously seriously injure my. Don (06:38) Yeah, did you hear a pop or did you hear any crunches or anything or did you remember? I mean, it's been a while. Rob (06:42) I just remember every you know how loud this place it's indoors and it's so loud. I just I didn't hear a pop but I remember it went completely silent like silent and then my entire body was just like tingling. Don (06:45) Yeah. Yeah. wow. Okay. And then did you just lay there? I mean, were you just laying there or like? Rob (06:57) ⁓ So I kind of started to get up. Don (07:00) Because you're in a trampoline. Even if you mess up everything, you bounce back up, right? ⁓ Rob (07:03) you kind of bounce again. And so I started to kind of try and get up and then I just laid by and then I just laid there and was like, I'm in trouble. So anyway, so that happened. So, so you see where this is going. My daughter ⁓ put together a TikTok and it's set to the lyrics of the Taylor Swift song. And it says with onscreen type, you know, the last time I laughed this hard was at my dad on a trampoline in 2018 or whatever. And so she said, she's like, Don (07:08) Yeah, okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (07:33) Do you care if I post this? And I was like, no, I don't care. And mind you, her TikTok account or page or whatever, I don't really follow it, but I was looking at it after all of this. And like, I think the most views she had had on anything was like right at a thousand, let's call it. Well, anyway, she called, I said, no, I'm posting, I don't care, like it's funny. Okay. Don (07:35) Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. kudos to her for checking with you, by the way, though. You know, like, instead of like, just, yeah, hey, is it cool if I put this embarrassing video? mean, I guess it's embarrassed. I don't even know, like, this video of you eating it, you know what I mean? Like on the internet, right? So yeah. Rob (07:58) Well, that's right. Thank you for asking. Thank you for asking. I don't. Some people might be embarrassed by it. don't, I don't, I'm at the age where I don't really care anymore, you know? I don't care. ⁓ And if it helps people laugh, if people can laugh, great. I'm happy. Don (08:13) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, here's the good news. You're sitting here podcasting right now. You're okay. You know, yeah, it all worked out. Rob (08:22) Yeah, I'm talking about it. So clearly I don't mind. So she so she posted it and she posted it like it like this was two days ago. So 48 hours ago, she posted it at like 10 a.m. in the morning. And she calls me like, I don't know, it was like three hours later. She's like, Dad, you're not going to believe this. Like it's got like 3000 views in like two hours. And I was like, oh, that's great. That's great. It's amazing. then so I so I went to it and I started watching it just kind of refreshing. And it was like, Don (08:31) Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Rob (08:51) away, wait a minute, wait a minute. That three just went to just double to 6,000 likes in 30 minutes. And it just started going and going and going. And she's, you know, she's texted me on the side like, dad, I think you're going viral. think this, my video is going viral. I'm like, I, what, you know, it great, whatever. I'll fast forward to the end. Don (08:59) Wow. It snowballing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. ⁓ got to I mean, you know, we have to play this video at the end. The TikTok has to be at the end of this video. Yeah. Rob (09:19) Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Well, anyway, so then the then the first so so at the end of the first day we were at lie. It had jumped up to like. 60,000 or something and we were like I was like, oh my gosh, I may I wonderful hit 100,000 overnight. We woke up the next morning and it was at like 300,000 like the next morning I went to bed and then they woke up and I was like, oh my gosh, and she had in the funny thing was she was like dad. Don (09:30) Okay, all right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. my gosh. Yeah, yeah. Rob (09:48) I usually get notifications when people like stuff. She goes, my phone just started going, just ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I have hundreds of likes and whatever. So she asked, I had to turn off my notifications because it's just going bonkers. And she's like, me and my roommates are just sitting here like dying laughing. This is so funny. you know, anyway, so here we are two days later. Don (09:50) Yeah. Yeah. You turn that off. ⁓ Yeah, yeah. Taylor Swift. Okay, so it's so as of recording now it's been it's been 48 hours. It's been two full days. Okay, 51 hours. Okay. Rob (10:15) It's been 48, 51 hours technically. Yeah, and do you me to just reveal how many it has? Don (10:22) Yeah, well, I mean, as soon as you say it, it's going to be out outdated anyway. So it doesn't even matter. Rob (10:26) So as of right now, it has 1.6 million views. 1.6 million people have watched me absolutely destroy myself on a trampoline, which is just crazy to wrap your head around that that many people just watched you do something. Yeah, and it's got, in terms of likes, it's got 313,000 likes. Don (10:34) That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. Hahaha. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that is bizarre. Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Well, that does tie into like what we tell our clients actually though that like video actually garners more less likes because people will watch the video but not actually smash the like button, right? You know, like your views are so much more, you know, tilted towards the higher number than actual likes versus static content, which people will like static content, but video though, it's weird, human behavior is strange. Anyway, I mean to interrupt but yeah. ⁓ Rob (10:56) So yeah, it's got, I think. Correct. Correct. No, no, no, you're good. And that's totally right. But the funniest thing for me is going through and looking at the comments because it's all it's everything from like, is he dead? Like, you know, like, like to to my gosh. Don (11:25) god. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's been a hot minute since I've seen this video, but I remember watching that in your office going, ⁓ like, yes, you need to go see someone about something needs to happen back here. And I'm like, Rob (11:39) ⁓ That yeah, bad, bad, bad, but it but it's but it's everything I get from from is he is he dead to there are hundreds of screenshots of me at various states of the accident like and then there's all kinds of of of of you know, but then there's really nice things where it's like, my gosh, my dog just passed away and this made me laugh. Thank you like. Don (11:50) Ha Hahaha Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Whoa. That took a turn. Yeah. It is. It is. Rob (12:08) The internet's a crazy place. But anyway, so my first comment to my daughter was as soon as we saw it taking off, I'm like, I need you to figure out how to monetize this. Is there a way to monetize this? Which is a one-off and no, there's not. I think you have to be, well, I know you have to be a TikTok creator. You have to have a creator account in order to monetize based on views and whatever else. Don (12:19) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to be set up and the machine has to be already rolling in order to. Rob (12:37) Yeah, yeah. And what's crazy to me is I was thinking about, you know, just viral videos and marketing and stuff. And I remember a project that you and I worked on back in the day HTH and the Cool Chemical Company. And I remember they came to us and they were like, hey, we want you to create viral videos. And this was back when viral was kind of a new thing, the thought of actually going viral. Don (12:49) Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that was. Yeah. Rob (13:06) And we had to tell them, can't really manufacture something to go viral. Now times have changed and you kind of can to a certain degree these days. ⁓ With influencers and everything else, you can hire them and you can make it go viral if you want to call it that. But I was laughing about that because I remember having to tell that client, we can't guarantee that it's going to go viral. ⁓ Don (13:06) Will there were, go ahead, go ahead. can't force it. Yeah. Yeah, now you can. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, how many times over our career have we told people like advertising is not a guarantee? Like, if advertising was a 100 % guarantee, there would be no such thing as the stock market, right? Rob (13:36) It's. Well, and we would each have a private island and yachts and helicopters. And yeah, that's right. It is not a while there is science to it. is not a it is not a guaranteed for sure. Don (13:44) Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't be doing advertising. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a guarantee. Yeah. Another thing not to not to I do remember this like, we want viral videos. We want viral videos. Okay, well, you know, we'll do our best that type of thing. But I remember then, do you remember what happened after that? Right? It was ⁓ and I'm, there's a little bit of a prism of the fog of time because it's been it's been many, many years here. But but I do remember at a certain point, right? We have the concepts, you know, we're shooting video, all these good things happening, right? And then the lawyers got involved and it was, don't know if you remember this and fact check me, the lawyers kind of only was, well, we can't put this on Facebook. Oh, we can't, we can't put this on YouTube. You know, we can't put it. And it was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Like, I mean, and this was, you know, this was many, this is over a decade ago, right? And it was like, there was no TikTok. There was no Twitter wasn't a thing. It was like, huh? What? Like we can't like, Rob (14:33) I do remember that. I do remember that. Yeah. We can't put it on Facebook. Don (14:52) we can't put it like there's only three channels out there, you know, and it's like, you can't put like, I remember we had to fight and scratch and you know what mean? Like, what are you talking about this whole thing? So we did a kid I mean, it's still one of my favorite things that underwater dance video was absolutely hilarious. Yeah, and we can't I can't remember the name of that actor, but we cast that actor and then I you know, that actor went on to do all sorts of crazy little stuff, man. I mean, he was was he Rob (14:59) you Underwater dance video. That was funny. That was funny. Yeah, yeah. He was a very unique looking guy. ⁓ Very tall, very lanky, which is why we hired him. I mean, remember his nose was ginormous. He had a toucan. Don (15:22) Yeah, we went for looks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But he was in he was in ⁓ I want to say Kmart ads. I mean, he was in he was in a few sitcoms. Yeah. Yeah. We were like, my God. I remember I text you like, my God, our our underwater dance guys in this TV show I'm watching or whatever like that. That was so much fun. You know? Yeah. Yeah, that was a fun one, man. I remember I mean, as the title of the video, ⁓ you know, ⁓ Rob (15:37) All of a sudden he ended up all over the place. underwater dance video. That's right. Yeah. Don (15:56) for Lawrence, obviously, it was him dancing underwater, right? I just remember the end of the day, end of that shoot, it was like, I mean, his eyes were like, just bloodshot from opening his eyes underwater. And yeah, it was was like, my god, this is hilarious. I felt so bad for that poor guy. You know, that said, man, he crushed it back in the day. So Rob (16:08) More Visine, more Visine. Yeah, yeah. That's back when I remember on that shoot, another quick little anecdote that ⁓ we were out in LA for the shoot and we stayed at, ⁓ now I'm gonna blank on the, I'm gonna blank, it was the Roosevelt because they were shooting Encore. I mean, Entourage, sorry, sorry. And it was the Entourage episode with Eminem on it. Don (16:28) Roosevelt with Roosevelt. Yeah. They were, yeah, they were shooting encore. Yeah. Entourage, entourage. Yeah. was it? I don't remember that. Okay, okay. I do remember them being there. That's right. That's right. I do remember that. Yeah. Rob (16:41) Yeah, yeah, because they turned it. They turned the lobby into a club and they're like a dance club. And I remember seeing Adrian Greiner. I'm going to I'm going to butcher that, but I think it's Adrian Greener, Greiner, those guys they were shooting while we were while we were there, which was fun. We didn't see Eminem. That would have been awesome. Don (16:51) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Grand Yeah. Yeah. Rob (16:59) Yeah anyway so viral viral videos so there you have it. I'm viral and I you know I I. Text my daughter. Don (17:01) Yeah, you're viral, dude. You're viral is what's happening. How does that make you feel? mean, do you feel like, I mean, are you? Rob (17:10) ⁓ I how does it make me feel it makes me laugh. It makes me laugh you know because because I think for me it's like you know what that means like 1.6 I guarantee you 1.6 million people did this. ⁓ and then they went ⁓ and then they laughed and then they watched it again and then they showed it to their buddy and said my God look at this you know what mean and so I like to believe ⁓ maybe it's spread a little bit of lack. Don (17:12) Yeah, yeah, yeah, as it should, as it should. It's a funny, you know, yeah. Ha ha! Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, brought some levity. Yeah. Now has she come? Has she jumped in and commented on anybody's post or anything like or there's a ball? Okay. Okay. Okay. Just letting it letting it do its thing and let it Okay. All right. Rob (17:41) people. Maybe people got it. No, she's just kind of staying out and letting it do its thing. I don't know. It'll be interesting to see when does it die off. ⁓ Don (17:54) That's cool. ⁓ I don't know, man. I mean, I would love to say the reason why it's viral is because of the hilarity of you eating it, you know, but I do think Taylor Swift probably had something to do with it. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Rob (18:06) If there are two things that the internet likes, it is Taylor Swift and it is people completely injuring themselves. And you mix those two things together and we found the secret sauce. Yeah, now that's the secret sauce for week. That sauce will be thrown out with trash next week. So I would imagine that, I think we're probably peaking right now based on the attention span of. Don (18:14) Yeah, people buff their ass. Yeah, yeah, Two great tastes that taste great together, you know? Yeah, exactly. You think so? Okay, well, you know how it is though, like top rated videos get more views because they're top rate, you know what mean? So like once you get over that thing, it just keeps going and going and going and going and going. mean, you know, this thing could be 2 million, 5 million, 8 million, you know what mean? You never know. Rob (18:45) My gut says, and why don't we let's each take a guess at where it's going to kind of max out. I think I do. think we're, think we're cresting, we're peaking. So I think it gets to, and now they only show you an increments of a hundred thousand. Yeah. Once you get to, once you get to a million, it just goes an increment, which is not as exciting. I would like to see it in smaller increments, but I think we, I think we top out at, I think Don (18:48) Okay. Okay. really? Okay, yeah. Well, that makes sense. Okay, it just goes one, one, one, two, one, yeah, yeah, makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rob (19:14) we top out at one eight. We're one six now. I think we top out at one eight. I don't think we get to two. Don (19:18) Alright, I'm I'm really okay. So you really you think you're you're right close to the end. Okay. All right. I'm gonna shoot high man. I believe in you. I believe in the power of ⁓ you. ⁓ And I think four is my lucky number. So I'm gonna go four mil. I'm gonna go four mil. Yeah, I'm gonna say it quadruples from where we're you know, like, I know. Rob (19:24) idea. Okay. You believe in the fall? Whoa, whoa. Wow. Well, we'll find out. We'll find out. You got it. Now I think it's whoever's closest. I think you can go over or under. doesn't matter. No rules there. Whoever's closest. Don (19:42) Well, is this is this price is right style? mean, did I did I you know anything below four? Okay. All right. All right, well, next pod, we'll check it and then maybe the pod after that, right? And then go for there. Rob (19:54) and then we'll check in. And I'm like, you know, and again, I'm like, okay, down the challenges like, I'm like, KR, that's what I call my daughter. I'm like, what's your next video? Like, where do I mean, where do you go from here? Don (20:00) Yeah. Yeah, seriously. You got to bind those family. You know what's weird is it's it's kind of like America's funniest home videos all over again. We've just reinvented, you know, AFV, you know. Rob (20:13) Absolutely. Absolutely. All those videos were I mean, I would say 89 % of those videos were people wiping out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, somebody somebody somebody broke the ⁓ above ground pool and it is now spilling into the yard and yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Don (20:21) ⁓ yeah, it was somebody on a sled. Somebody getting hit in the nuts, you know? Yeah, I mean. Yeah, yeah. Totally, totally. That's awesome. Alright, this is a fun one, man. ⁓ I'm excited to see where this one goes, you know, the power of viral advertising. So ⁓ Rob (20:41) We'll see. We'll see and we will absolutely ⁓ post the video ⁓ here. You can watch it in just in just a minute here. ⁓ We'll have that coming up. So your next question is where can the people find us? Well, the people can find me on on TikTok at the account is the I'm going to give you the account. It's at Katie Kat. Why. ⁓ Dot Ross R O. How many S's does she have? Four S's Kat. Why. Dot R O. Don (20:47) Yeah. Yeah, that's funny. That's funny. TikTok. Four S's. Rob (21:11) SSSS. ⁓ That's where Don (21:11) SS. Nice, nice. All right. Rob (21:14) people can find me. ⁓ Don (21:16) People can just find me on the website, on our website, mocktheagency.com. Yeah, I'm holding it down for the common man. You know what mean? Rob (21:19) They just mocked the agency.com, not as a heading. I'm gonna need you to get out there and wipe out. Don (21:27) I'm not one of the stars. I'm one of the viewers. know what mean? just... Yeah, exactly. ⁓ All right, we'll see you next time, everybody. Thanks. Rob (21:31) You're behind the scenes. You're going to be behind the scenes. You're the producer. Alright, bye everyone.