Ep. 169 – The Unexpected Power of Cult Followings

Rob (00:00) I was in my daughter's room talking to him, talking to my daughter and And I said, don't forget to take your water bottle. You're, you're Stanley. And she just looked at me was like, Stanley. And she's like, dad, that's not a Stanley. It's a, the like, yeah, yeah, maybe it was a hydroflask. it was as if I had offended her. Don (00:12) Hydro flask. Rob (00:17) She goes, you remember when Stanley was a thing? And I was like, yeah, you had to have like eight of Don (00:22) my God. All right, episode one sixty nine. We're back, Rob. We're back. What's up? we're back. It's summer. It's hot, you know, the sun is shining. ⁓ birds are chirping, you know, ⁓ warmth. So Rob (00:47) 169. Yeah, it is. We're in the rainy season. It rains for like an hour or an hour and a half every day. And then it's just steam. It's thick steam rising. Don (01:00) Yeah. Thick, thick. Yeah. I know. Humidity. Humidity. So when I first moved to the South, actually, ⁓ growing up, I had crazy long hair. I know people were probably not gonna be able to imagine this, but I had super long hair ⁓ living out west. And then I, yeah, full-blown heavy metal Holocaust was totally into it, you know, playing guitar and whatever, right? and then I took tours of colleges down south, and it was like Rob (01:18) Yeah. Don (01:30) I mean, just the humidity. And I was like, hey, if I decide to go to a school down south, I'm shaving my head, is what I decided, right? ⁓ so yeah, that thick humidity. I was taking tours down in Savannah, Savannah, Georgia. I mean, come on, right? For SCAD. I mean, the thickest, like, ⁓ I mean dude, ten o'clock at night, just like it's like swimming while walking to the hotel, right? ⁓ and I was like, All right, I'm going to SCAD. yeah, we are absolutely shaving my head. And so I went from like crazy long hair. Rob (01:31) Yeah Muggy just... Don (01:59) To like like I mean, just totally bicked it was crazy. So Rob (02:03) All I picture is you walking around looking like the lead singer of Kohit and Cambria. Don (02:11) Knew you were gonna say coheed. I knew you were gonna say it because that guy's hair doesn't sit down. It's like a shelf. Yeah. Yeah. man. There's a band I haven't listened to in a while. And we were into those guys for a little bit and they had some cool storytelling, but then I don't know what happened. I just kind of fell off the Koheed train. So really. Rob (02:15) It does not stay down. just is. It just is out. It's just out. I played them the other day because I had that same thought and I was like, know what, I haven't rocked the Kohit in a while. It's that one album that I really liked. I don't even remember the name of it to be honest with you. Don (02:33) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean how many albums have they put out? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it was like, I mean, it was, you know, a s a theme. I feel like there was a theme that kind of went there was a story they were gonna tell album by album or something like that. Maybe I'm totally making that up, you know. ⁓ yeah. I will rock some Koheed after this pod, actually in honor of this pod. but yeah, his hair, I don't know what his hair looks like. I mean, you know, like whatever. So yeah, all through college. No. Rob (02:53) Of course there was. mean, they are the new prog rock. Do it. I mean, you can't change that hair. If you have that hair, like you have to rock, that's your brand. Like you have to rock that. You can't. Don (03:12) No, it's like your keratop. I mean, you can't change the thing. Kara that's a random thing, but like that's part of the brand, you know? So ⁓ Rob (03:18) Yeah, totally. Speaking of prog rock, ⁓ I will give a quick shout out to the new Rush tour, the new drummer. Don (03:29) Yeah, kicked off a couple kicked off a couple days ago, right? Rob (03:32) We kicked off a couple days ago and as most people probably know, Neil Peart, the legendary drummer, ⁓ Don (03:41) The best drummer in rock and roll. Right. I arguably the best drummer ever in rock and roll. Rob (03:44) ⁓ The most technically sound drummer in rock and roll, would say. That's a different debate, ⁓ passed away tragically. And so they have... ⁓ Don (03:47) Okay. Okay. All right. I'll go with that. I'll go with that. Yeah. I mean it's been like ten years, right? Or how long has it been? Has it been that long? No. It's been over five. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (03:59) Yeah, I don't it's been 10, but it's been several years anyway. ⁓ And so they hired a female drummer named Annika. I think it's Annika something. And I was like, you know, and we were, mean, huge Rush fan. And a bunch of my buddies were like, hey, are you, they're doing the reunion tour. They're like coming back out with the girl. You're to go. Do you want to go? And I'm like, Don (04:09) Yeah, Annika. She's German, right? Yeah. Are you guys going? Yeah. Onica Niles. Last name's Niles. You're not gonna do it. Okay. Yeah. It's not. Rob (04:28) I'm like, no, that's not Neil. I'm like, it's not Rush without Neil. Well, to your point, the tour kicked off a couple of days ago and I have seen multiple, multiple videos and angles specifically of YYZ, which is one of their very difficult instrumentals. And I gotta say, dude, she's winning me out. She absolutely destroys it. I mean, absolutely destroys it. Don (04:44) Okay. Sure. She's crushing it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. well, you know I love Rick Beato, the Atlanta, the Atlanta guy who interviews everybody under the sun and is arguably one of the greatest musician interviewers because he's a technician. He can talk to anybody in any band about any subject. So he can talk to her. He just he interviewed all three members of Rush, actually. They're all great. ⁓ but he can talk about tightening drum heads and the different woods of drums. Rob (04:57) Yeah, yeah. Everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Don (05:18) He can talk to the engineers about the control situation. He can talk to players about playing. Like he's a really, really versatile thing. and he had some footage of her playing ⁓ Tom Sawyer. ⁓ as did I think Eddie Trunk. Remember old Eddie Trunk, like the ⁓ the interview guy or whatever? And the reviews are out of control, amazing. Everyone's like, dude, she's crushing it. So ⁓ and yeah. Yeah. Rob (05:32) Yeah, let's have the truck. Sure. ⁓ Everyone I mean universally everyone's like OK like we welcome her into the rush pantheon. Don (05:45) Yeah. I mean, the question is like, how do you learn all those songs? Right. And her answer is great. It's like, I I I don't know. I just went chunk by chunk by chunk and learned how to play them. But then I had to learn how to like emotionally do it. Or you know what I mean? Like how how to do it. Like there's the mechanical precision of playing it. And then there's like the rush way, you know? ⁓ so yeah. Totally. Rob (06:01) Yeah, right. That's right. Yeah. Well, and that makes perfect sense because yeah, mean, you've got, mean, nerds everywhere, drum nerds everywhere study that catalog and learn how to play it. But it's so technical that you, would imagine you have to approach it that way, but that's not going to cut it for real rush fans. That's not going to cut it. Don (06:17) Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, is Rush the only band where you go to a concert and non drummers are air drumming the the entire song, right? I mean, yeah, yeah. I mean, name me another band where no one knows how to play any musical instruments, but they're pretending to play the instrument. Like it's unbelievable, you know? So So are you are you gonna go? I mean, are you are you like are you converted now? Like, man, I want to get ticked? Yeah. Rob (06:32) thousand percent. A thousand percent. Well, here's what I think some of the jam bands. I don't know, I don't know, because I don't know when it is and I don't know what. But here's what I'll say. I would, I would go. Yeah, I would, I would go. I would go. ⁓ If a ticket fell in my lap, I would go. I don't know that I'll seek it out, but there's a good chance a ticket may come my way. You know what mean? Don (06:51) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's no doubt that they're one of the most technically precise bands I've ever seen live. I mean, and they have been that way literally forever, right? ⁓ so even though those guys are older now, I mean, they're they're older, dude. ⁓ is like I know in my heart of hearts they wouldn't do it if they couldn't do it, right? So you know that it's gonna it's not like ⁓ you know, no, it's Motley Cruz final tour and like ⁓ Rob (07:09) Always. Yeah. yeah. Correct. That's correct. Yeah, the stones are back out. ⁓ no. Don (07:29) Yeah, like like you can't hit those notes anymore. You know, it's like, no, no, no. Rush can still look they can still crush it, you know. So ⁓ yeah. Rob (07:32) Yeah. They can still. So well, the other thing they did, which is brilliant, is this is going to be a surprise to some people, but not a ton of female fans, not a high percentage. ⁓ So let's go out and hire the female drummer who's totally kicking ass. And maybe even late in our career, we can start to bring in some. Don (07:51) Yeah. It's bringing in it's bringing in the women. It is, it totally is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they've been super honest about it since it was announced, you know. I mean, they did all this stuff in secrecy. And then if you really search out a lot of interviews and a lot of background stuff, it was they weren't they were like, Hey, I don't know that this is gonna work. Like, I mean, they had like 10 or something rehearsals and were like, Hey, I don't know that this is like maybe we shouldn't do it, or whatever that. And then it started to click, you know what I mean? And it's like Rob (07:57) bringing in some female fans. So really, really smart move and kudos to her for getting out there. Yeah. Don (08:23) I mean, can you imagine playing with guys for like forty years, fifty years, and then trying to replace one of those core members, you know, who's arguably the top three in in any, you know, of the world in everyone's list. You know what I mean? I mean, w the pressure for her, you know, is is legendary. So Yeah, I know. Dude, you you can make an argument they're all the lead, you know? Yeah. I mean, it's it's ridiculous. So Rob (08:33) The mo- the... Yeah. And there are three piece, you can't hide. There's nowhere to hide. They are all the lead. Alex, Getty, and now Alex. Don (08:54) Well, speaking, I mean, this is a good segue, I think, though. Speaking of, you know, legendary epic Rush fans, right? And and, you know, specificity to that end, right? I mean, I mean, you gotta I mean those guys know the whatever like that. I think that does kind of dovetail into today's topic, right? Of we were thinking about talking about ⁓ brands that have kind of a cult following. I mean, in rush, you could consider musicians. I mean, that's a great way to say, Hey, you're a cult following, you love that artist. Rob (09:00) Yeah. Don (09:22) You know, and you take that journey with them. Hey, this album's great, but that album's not so good. But you stick with them, you know? So ⁓ yeah. Cult followings as it relates to brands. Three, two, one, go. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (09:27) That's right. That's right. Yeah. So I thought of a strange one. And I thought about... this ⁓ little gas station, a little roadside gas station that now has grown up and turned into this wacky, quirky, ⁓ you know. ⁓ Don (09:46) Okay. Okay. Mm. Is there is there a costumed character that wanders around this gas station? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Rob (10:01) Absolutely. Absolutely. So we're talking obviously about Buc-Ease, right? And have you been to a Buc-Ease? Don (10:05) Yeah. It's a great one. I have been to a Bucky's. I've been to it twice. I've been to two Buckeys. It is not for me. I will be the first one to admit it is not for me. So Rob (10:10) It is it is insane. I mean it. No, no, but it is for millions of people and they got me. My daughter has Bucky's sweatpants. Because their merch is out of control and people absolutely love that place. I'm with you. It's not for me, although I do love the giant wall of beef jerky that they have. I'm a big beef jerky aficionado, right? ⁓ Don (10:21) Yeah, merchandise. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Sure. Yeah. I mean, there's absolutely a place in the world for Buckies. I'm not anti-Bukies by any stretch, but like you go in there to experience the Buckies and it's like, I mean, it's like ⁓ it's not going into Disneyland, but it's it's loud, it is obnoxious, people are screaming from one side to the other side, rah, rah, rah, rah. You know, I it's a whole it's a whole thing, you know, like so. Rob (10:42) No, but it's overload. It's sensory overload. yeah. It's thing and people love it. and you know, you you're driving down the highway and you see the billboard and it's like Buc-E's, you know, 138 miles away. And then you just see billboard after billboard after billboard. You're getting closer. You don't. Don (11:00) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Forty miles, you're getting closer, you know. How many pumps do they have? I mean, they have like eighty or a hundred gas pumps too. I mean, it is the biggest. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (11:14) ⁓ it's massive. is massive. It is absolutely massive. And so I, yeah. And I was looking at, so I looked it up right before the pod, just real quick, just to, and yeah, it totally just started off as this little roadside gas station and they just went absolutely bonkers and have created this. Yeah. It was just a small little, small little roadside gas station. Don (11:19) People love that though. I mean, that is that is a the cult following for a brand for sure. Absolutely. Yeah. Is that really how it started? It was just a small, it was just a thing, you know? Wow. ⁓ I think supposedly they pay really well too, you know. Yeah, I've I've heard that from multiple I don't unsubstantiated, but like, if you're a manager at Bucky, like you, you know, it's it's a it's a good job. It's a good job. It's not like just an hourly garbly gook, you know? So yeah. Rob (11:43) do they? You do really well. Well, mean, having been in one of those places, got to manage that place. I imagine that takes a patient skilled person to do that. Not a job I would. Don (11:59) Yeah. No, that is well, anytime you're wearing the merchandise of the store, right? Like, you got the pajama pants, as your daughter said, or like you see people, you know, with the Bucky's ⁓ t shirt, or like, they they threw a sticker on the back of their car. Like, what? Like, I mean, you you know, I mean, that's that's you know, that's living the brand. You know what I mean? You you identify with that there. So ⁓ that was gonna be my next thing. I, you know, there are plenty of brands, but I kind of almost thought more. Rob (12:19) yeah. yeah. That is living the brand. Don (12:32) Topically or categorically of this, like speaking of merchandise. ⁓ you know, my thought was like fashion as as as a cult following, right? It's like, ⁓ we've talked about Adidas and Puma and all the different things, stuff like that. But it's like, if you love, you know, Kate Spade or you love LV bags or you love whatever, I mean, that you're gonna like you got to get the coach, you know, this, and then you just keep going with that train. Do you know what I mean? It almost becomes this weird collectibility aspect. Do you know what I mean? Rob (12:54) Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Don (13:00) ⁓ so I think fashion brands, I mean, pick one, Kate Spade, whatever, you any of those things, you know? It's it's like, I love Calvin Klein. I always wear Calvin Klein, this, that, and whatever. And it's like, that's what I buy. I buy that thing because it fits me well and I don't I don't change horses, you know, which I always which I always thought was interesting, you know? So Rob (13:14) Yeah. Well, you know, another random thought I just had, ⁓ you know, in this day and age where things trends, ⁓ you know, come and go so quickly, right? Fads news cycles. mean, everything is just instantaneous. It's there and then it's dead. Right. So I, I last night I was in my daughter's room talking to him, talking to my daughter and Don (13:29) Yeah. yeah. Yeah. Your fifteen minutes of Haktua. They're gone. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (13:43) And I said, don't forget your, don't forget to take your, your water bottle tomorrow. She was doing a thing today. I said, don't forget to take your water bottle. You're, you're Stanley. And she just looked at me was like, Stanley. And she's like, dad, that's not a Stanley. It's a, what was it? It's the logo with the like, yeah, yeah, maybe it was a hydroflask. I don't, it was some other one, but she, mean, it was as if I had offended her. Like she was like, Stan, I was like, I was like, Don (14:00) Hydro flask. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but damn. Rob (14:11) She goes, you remember when Stanley was a thing? And I was like, yeah, you had to have like eight of them. and so I don't, so that was my point. Like, I mean, there are all these trends that come, like Stanley came along and I don't know about your household, but like my kids all had to have Stanleys and like they're way overpriced. Don (14:16) my God. Okay. That's crazy. Yeah, we've got all the we've got the Dillins, the alkaline things, the hydro flasks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (14:32) Everybody's got them. They're way too expensive. And now, Stanley's, it's coming on. Like, we're done. Don (14:39) I mean, I don't know about you, man, but I grew up drinking water from a garden hose, you know, outside. And like and we were lucky to Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And now it's like a fashion accessory, you know. I mean, I I mean I've got my Yeti and I sticker everything as ever, you know, whatever, and and so does everybody else. So ⁓ speaking of, have you seen those Yeti commercials that have been out and about now? All the Yeti on TV. dude. ⁓ yeah, I finally saw like a Yeti Rob (14:44) Yeah, I would lean lean over the kitchen faucet, know, and still. ⁓ Yeah, I do too. That's funny. have I think so. Don (15:08) Television commercial and it's great. And and and now I see it everywhere. I can't stop seeing it. So ⁓ Rob (15:11) Is it good? Is it like a? I imagine it's just beautiful. Like it's not like tongue in cheek funny, right? mean, I imagine it's just beautifully cinematic. Don (15:21) No, no, no, no, no. So it's it's ⁓ yeah, it's it's a it's it's decent music. It's I mean, here we I'm describing a commercial, people can just look these things up, but like it's just as it's a vignette of of stock photography, stock shots. It's not like one long thing, so it's constant, you know. And they use the Yeti logo, which is just simple Sansara, four letters in their little cartouche, right? In the little it's blue and the white with the whatever, and dead center of the middle of the screen. They only use four letter words, right? And it's all four letter words inside the thing. And it's a different image behind, and they just keep changing the word, right? Just over and over and over. So it's work. I mean, I'm not gonna remember all the words, so whatever that and it and it it doesn't really tell a story, but it kind of gives you like the emotion. And it's like it's outdoor stuff, it's indoor, it's all just cases, you know, it's it's like rams that are hitting each other, it's got all these weird different things, you know. Rob (15:52) ⁓ that's cool. Yeah, play, word, hike, camp. Don (16:18) ⁓ and then the end card obviously is just their logo, you it's just Yeti at the end, right? So, ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's really cool. But speaking of like water bottle brands, I mean, but hey, Yeti ties in perfectly to what we're talking about. That's been a a cult following brand forever. I mean, remember when we went to Surf Expo and it's like we don't even we're here with our trade show booth. We have no yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We we don't have any product to sell or anything because we're like Rob (16:22) Yeah, super simple. great. That's a good idea. dude. yeah. We don't, we're already sold out. can't take any orders. Yeah. Manufacturing was so backed up that they were like, we can't even write any orders here. It was kind of hanging out. You know, it's funny. I was, went fishing on a week ago, Sunday, and I packed a Yeti cooler that I have, and it's one of those ones with the backpack and the magnet, you know, that's that one. ⁓ And I'm proud to say I did not pay for this. This was a corporate gift. It was way expensive, but it was a corporate gift. And I finally Don (16:50) Yeah. I know, I know. I know. That's a Okay. Yeah. Well I mean the Yeti brand is expensive as can be. Yeah. Rob (17:17) ⁓ cause I, I, I'm a fan. I'm a Yeti fan. I like, I like what they do. ⁓ and took it, ⁓ took it fishing and put it in the boat and it's the backpack one. And I finally just looked at my buddy and I was like, I don't like Yeti soft coolers. I've said it there. I said it. I can't do the Yeti soft cooler. Like I'm out because they can't, they still haven't figured out how to open right. And they can't, they're just not great. Like they're just, they're sorry Yeti, but like you, gotta do. Don (17:19) Yeah. I drink out of one every single morning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're heavy too. Well, they're heavy and it's awkward, you know. So but but the Yeah. Rob (17:46) Yeah. mean, the hard plastic one is great. You know, they make a soft one that's like a six pack one that you open, that opens like, and those are fine, but anytime there's a backpack situation, I'm calling, I'm out. Don (17:52) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it I think it's a good idea because they're so heavy. When you put ice in them and all that stuff like that, then you load them with drinks, and you're like, shit, like how am I gonna carry this thing, you know? So especially if you're carrying those big ones down to the dock. So I think I think that's why the backpack kind of became a thing, but I'm with you. It's not it's not the easiest, you know. So ⁓ my other one I thought about was and and this is again kind of off topic from from Rob (18:10) Yeah, it's not ideal, not ideal. Don (18:19) cultish, you know, brand following is I think people become brand followers through a fantastic marketing, dare I say gimmick of membership rewards points. Right. So ⁓ I can only stay at Marriott properties because I'm a Bonvoy member, right? And I gotta, I gotta become a silver elite or ⁓ I only fly, you know, Delta Airlines because my sky my sky miles and the da da da you know right. Rob (18:32) yeah. yeah. That's right. Guilty. Don (18:48) So, you know, I was thinking about like, you know, do I love, you know, I'm a Bonvoy guy, right? ⁓ do I love Bonvoy hotels? I I don't know, sure. I mean, the West End is a great hotel. I'll go out to San Francisco, I stay at the W or stay at the West End or whatever, you know what I mean? you know, and then they and then every it's every single hotel, I mean, even IHG, right? They have the tier down to nothing, you know. Rob (18:55) Okay. Don (19:13) I kind of just need a light switch and a bed if I'm just going on a business trip. I don't need anything fancy. If I'm going somewhere for vacation, I want something better, right? But I do find myself going, nope, I'm going to selectively choose from the pool ⁓ in that city because I want to keep the Bonvoy thing going, right? So, but I don't know that I love, love, love Bonvoy. I do love American Express and membership rewards points. I mean, those are those are great. ⁓ but I find it interesting that I think people align with what's already in. Rob (19:20) Correct. Yeah, yeah. Sure. Don (19:42) In the hopper, right? Because it simplifies the choice and then you feel like maybe you're getting something back from utilizing their services. So they've kind of trapped us, you know? So yeah, totally. Rob (19:44) Yeah. Well, it's almost gamified in a way if you want to take it even one step further. I mean, I'm a Delta guy through and through. And I said on the other podcast, like it's one of my favorite apps because I check it all the time to see, I've made this, you know, I've made the next level or whatever. And then you take the marriage of Delta and Amex and dare I say, twin powers activate, you know. Don (19:57) Yeah. Through and through. Yeah. Yeah. Two great tastes to taste great together. Yeah. Totally. Rob (20:19) ⁓ that's a that's a that's a good one. Don (20:19) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I told you I I've taken a bunch of jet blue flights, and you're like, what in the hell is wrong with you? And I'm like, dude, I gotta tell you, I mean, I've been never not Delta for you know 28 years. And I'm like, I don't know, man. Jet Blue's pretty damn nice. Like, I mean, I'm just you know, like I'm I'm down with Jet. And I know, but you're like, uh-uh, never, no, no, no, Jet Blue. Rob (20:26) Why would you- Don (20:42) And it's like, I don't know, man. Is it better than Delta? No. It's an airplane. It you fly from here to there. You do whatever you know, I mean, maybe, you know, I mean it's not frontier for crying out loud. I mean, there are levels, don't get me wrong, right? But it's like, you just get I think that the cult following for brands, you know, is exacerbated by rewards points. And to your point, the game the gamification of of services, which is interesting. So Rob (20:48) Yeah. Well, let's be honest. Well, and let's be honest, mean, living in Atlanta, Delta is a beautiful thing. I mean, you can go nonstop to anywhere in the world. So, I mean, that kind of forces you into the Delta, the Delta club, you know what I mean? To some degree. But I will say the other thing that they do really well, I'm on a tangent, once you get Delta does a really good job of customer service when you get to the higher levels, right? The different status levels. I mean, they're coming around saying, hello, Rob. Don (21:11) Do. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (21:34) Welcome aboard. Great. Thanks for being a diamond member. I mean, they're actually really good about acknowledging and that goes a long way. You're like, well, hello. Good to see you again. Glad to be back. Don (21:35) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's Chick-fil-A customer service, right? I mean, it it's, hey, we're gonna make sure that we say things that yeah, exactly. That's don't say thank you, you know. ⁓ yeah, I mean, if we were doing this podcast 10 years ago, we probably would have said a lot of brands like Apple, right? Or a lot of technology brands, right? Like, ⁓ I got the Apple sticker, I put it on my car, I stand in line for iPhones, you know, I'm aligned with, you know. Rob (21:50) My pleasure. It's my pleasure. Yep. Don (22:09) I mean, to the point where they had that old campaign about I'm a Mac and I'm a PC, you know, and like the Mac is the cool guy. It's Justin, whatever his name was, you know, things like that. Right. I mean, a lot of technology brands I think people are cultish and and kind of evangelical about, you know. but I don't know if that's really the case. Any I mean, it's it's kind of just kind of part of our life now, right? Like Rob (22:13) Yeah. Yeah, well, you know, it's funny. were talking about, I was, somebody was talking the other day because Apple did their, I guess it was, I think it was yesterday when their developer conferences or whatever. And basically they're like, Hey, Siri, we're going to make Siri like AI now. ⁓ so they're a little behind the times, but point being, you know, it used to be back in the Steve job, back in the Steve jobs days, it was like, Don (22:38) Yeah, they did it yesterday. W W D C. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (22:59) Dude, mean, people, those were events. Like those were like cult events. We got people camping out at stores, which maybe they still do. Maybe they don't, I don't know. But product announcements, I those things were events. Now it's like, no offense to Tim Cook, but it's like, these are all pre-taped, blah, blah. Like they have completely, ⁓ they've kind of lost their luster. Don (23:02) No yeah, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cares. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It used to, I mean, Steve Jobs had like encores. It was like, thank you everybody for coming to Apple, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, 2015. And it'd be like, ⁓ but wait, there's more. What's under this sheet? You know what I mean? And it was like, and then it'll be like a whole nother presentation about this magical new device, right? People would be standing, cheering, cloud. It was literally like an encore at a rush show. Rob (23:23) yeah! Well, wait, there's more. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Don (23:43) You know, to bring this all the way back around. Yeah, now it's I read an interesting article about that, ⁓ WWDC. And it was, hey, it's not about it's interesting. It's not about new products, it's about making the products better and making them work. Because I think holistically, across everything, I would agree, or my my opinion is, I mean, technology doesn't work as well now as it did 10 years ago. I mean, technology is better, but it doesn't work as well. Like it's almost like remember when things worked and now we just Put up with the fact that, like, ⁓ Amazon AWS is down, up, Twitter's down, Comcast has an outage, blah blah like nothing works as well anymore. Yeah, there are more features, there's more whatever, but there's literally zero consistency in any technology brand right now, which is interesting. Like things just don't work as well. So our phones don't work as well. I mean, it's almost like we're getting we're it's like we're going all the way back around the horn again and like getting drop calls again. Like I've had more drop calls in the last, you know, call it year. Rob (24:20) Yeah. Don (24:42) Than I did the previous like eight to ten years beforehand. It's weird, you know? So Rob (24:47) Mine is just, you think we've figured out how to block spam calls, but we can't. And I don't know about you, but apparently I have some unresolved tax matter that people feel the need to call me, I don't know, eight times a day about. Don (24:51) My God. I mean the good news is I've been qualified for new roofs, you know, from every from every company. good news. ⁓ our inspection ⁓ you know ⁓ came up with the fact that you qualify for a new roof. Okay, great. That that's thank you for that. Rob (25:07) That's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. get the, ⁓ I get the random text message that's, by the way, we're doing tree service in your neighborhood. Would you like any limbs cut down? It's like, what? Anyway, ⁓ all right. Well, we're probably around the corner here, because we've done, ⁓ we're a bit over time. ⁓ But go ahead, rapid fire, give me a couple more. Don (25:24) Yeah, I mean yeah. So yeah, I mean I think yeah. Got what ⁓ No, no, no. I don't have any more. No, I I think just anything that has any type of storytelling component to it, I think is what people will identify with. So, you know, I mentioned fashion and you know, there's a storyteller there. You know, we could talk about you know, ⁓ like storytelling properties like Star Wars and things like people where where you like feel like you're part of the journey, which gives you like kind of bizarre toxic fandom, I think, to a certain extent. You know what I mean? Because you feel ownership of those things. But those people will never leave those brands. If I'm a trekker and I and I'm into Star Trek, you know, like you're never gonna leave that brand, right? Which is interesting. So and people are like that about Game of Thrones, about HBO, you know. So I think brand storytelling too is kind of an interesting aspect to thinking about cultish, you know. ⁓ yeah. Rob (26:11) Never. People are, mean, look, sports teams. People don't abandon their sports teams. Even if you move all the way, if you're from New York and you move down to California, you don't abandon the next. So anyway. Don (26:29) Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Do you think the Knicks are gonna do it? Knicks are gonna do or the Spurs are gonna do Rob (26:45) Here's what can tell you and I'm not a huge basketball fan. I did watch game three. I did watch the one the Knicks lost the other night. New York is going to go to ruins whether they win or lose. They're going to destroy the city. I think the Knicks will do it. I think it's their time. I think it's going to be the Knicks. San Antonio looked great the other night but the Knicks came roaring. Don (26:47) I haven't watched a single game. Okay, lost. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, mix and sex. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rob (27:14) They've got a good squad, I don't know. We'll see. We got what game for tonight? ⁓ I think the Knicks will do it. Obviously that they you know they won't win tonight, but. Don (27:19) Yeah. All right. Last one sports prediction and then we can jump off. ⁓ does the USA beat Paraguay in LA in a few days? We do. Okay. What's your what's your score prediction? Rob (27:30) Absolutely. Two to ⁓ nothing. Don (27:35) Ooh, okay. I'm gonna I was gonna go two one, two one USA. I I'm a homer. Rob (27:39) I think that's it. I'm telling you, we looked pretty good in our last friendly. We looked pretty good. I am, that was nice to see before the tourney starts. ⁓ It was nice to see them and go, whoa, all right. ⁓ I'm kind of getting behind the boys now. Don (27:47) Yeah, agreed. Yeah, yeah. Agreed. Agreed. All right. Well, we put it on tape, we're putting on the internet. Let's hope it comes to pass, you know? So Rob (28:01) Let's do it. Let's do it. World Cup kicks off tomorrow afternoon, so very exciting. And here's. Well, that's I did. I was talking to my wife and I'm like, babe, I don't think you understand what's about to happen. Like how much TV I'm about to watch. There's literally games on every single day for the next, you know, month and a half or two months or whatever it is. So very exciting. So go USA Friday night. 9 o'clock Paraguay Paraguay. However you want to say it, tune in. Don (28:05) I know. I can't I can't how are we gonna watch all these games, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Yeah, it's gonna be awesome. The people can find us online at mocktheagency.com and all the socials. So ⁓ all right, everybody, we'll see you next time. Rob (28:31) Alright, where can the people find us, Tom? Yeah. All right, everybody, we'll see you next time.