Happy Saturday,

There are so many Dicks. No, really. There are more men named Richard, Rick, or Rich on corporate boards than entire groups of underrepresented people. And Elf Beauty wanted to highlight it.

So the father-son-founded makeup brand launched its “So Many Dicks” campaign—and it’s still being talked about today (it’s all about how ya name it).

And yeah, that was a risky choice for the top of the newsletter, but it turned out well for Elf so…

🍿The Real Housewives of Gut Health Bevs

The biggest drama in business right now? The prebiotic soda beef. It’s Poppi vs. Olipop—the Uber & Lyft of carbonated gut health. Context: Poppi’s doing $100M in sales, Olipop is doing $400M… and here’s what just went down.

• ICYMI: Poppi went all-in on influencer marketing. A Super Bowl ad? Sure. But the real flex? 7-foot, 900-pound custom vending machines gifted to 32 top influencers like Alix Earle. The payoff? Videos posted with 100M+ views.

• But thing got real gassy in the comments. “Why do the rich get free stuff?” Suddenly, Poppi’s viral moment had more pushback than a gut reset. 1/5 of the comments were negative.

But Plot Twist: Olipop saw this as an opportunity. They didn’t just watch their rival suffer controversy; they fueled the drama. Their team dropped diss comments on the posts, pointing out the $25K price tag of each machine (fyi, it’s actually ½ that). At least one Olipop employee even ditched the corporate mask and jumped in from their personal account. Although we think that wasn’t a good look. Kinda thirsty.

The Takeaway: The comments are the content. 

Poppi’s campaign was worth it—not because of the vending machines, but because the conversation took on a life of its own… in the comments.

• ~$1M spent on vending machines got 100M views.

• A Super Bowl ad costs 8x as much for roughly the same # of views

• But the posts got so many views because of the comments, and the drama fueled more views (and more comments). Because the comments are the content.

🧠 The Best Idea Gets the Job

TED Talks is looking for a new CEO, and in classic TED fashion, they’re making candidates audition. Nothing says thought leadership like turning a job interview into a keynote.

We jumped in TBOY-style on TED’s biz model, and it’s the deepest we’ve seen in the media industry. What started 40 years ago as an exclusive conference for deep-pocketed intellectuals has evolved into a $100M/yr media powerhouse.

• 🎟️ TED Conference in Vancouver: $10K tickets to see Sam Altman predict our AI future.

• 🎥 TED Memberships: $5-$500/month to stream exclusive talks, including Mel Robbins reminding you that hitting snooze is self-sabotage.

• 🌍 TEDx Events: A franchise model that brings TED to any city (just name one)

• 📺 Syndication Deals: Netflix, Audible, even Delta flights #LicensingRevenue

• 💼 Corporate Training: Because nothing says team bonding like an 18-minute speech on “Community.” That B2B contract is TED’s Profit Puppy.

The Takeaway: Ideas are the currency of white-collar work.

Just like money, ideas are exchanged for value—professionally and socially. TED positioned itself as a source of insight so compelling that engaging with it makes you a more valuable person in any room.

A company built on speeches now makes $100M a year—because in today’s world, ideas are the most valuable currency.

BTW—Nick actually has an Apple Note called “Ideas.” If he loses it, TBOY goes bankrupt.

Financial Trickshots:

A low-cost, high-return strategy for maximum impact with minimum effort.

For visiting a bestie: If they’ve got kids, buy them a Hot Wheels car — Small investment of money, huuuuge return on kiddo’s satisfaction.

🏎️ The $1.50 Hot Wheels car is inflation-deying. Mattel hooks you with the individual cars so you’ll eventually buy their profit puppy race tracks (avg $30, margins ~80%).

🏎️ But in the meantime, there’s nothing any kid (boy or girl) will play with more for 72 hours than an insanely designed 3-inch Hot Wheels car.

👯‍♀️ Tell a Bestie:

These are the headlines from our “Headline Hammer” of potential stories for the show each morning that we couldn’t fit on the pod.

• 📈 The best hedge against inflation? Owning stocks—mattress cash won’t cut it.

• 🎭 White Lotus S3 debuts Sunday night — and the White Lotus Effect drives up tourism 20% wherever it’s filmed.

• 🍔 Adults are buying more kids’ meals… because “in this economy.”

• 🔥 Jamie Dimon drops the F-bomb over JPM’s RTO pushback.

• 👟 Brooks turned Run Clubs into record sales—turns out, community > commercials.

• 🍰 Caviar is now dessert—luxury knows no limits.

• Harry Potter’s getting a 10-year series—John Lithgow as Dumbledore? Manifesting.

• 🥤 Olipop raised $50M to hit a $1.85B valuation… wild/awkward timing to drag a rival

The Best Idea Yet 🎸🍦

🎶 Phish Food isn’t just a Ben & Jerry’s flavor—it’s a rock band that turned into a dessert.

But here’s the real scoop: This legendary pint almost never existed. Why? That’s the latest episode our new show, The Best Idea Yet.

This weekend, listen to the untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with… New 45-minute episodes drop every Tuesday… it’s simply The Best Idea Yet.

And one more thing. We spent the week together in VT—it was carnivorous and content-packed. We hit a farm-to-table spot so good it deserved a standing ovation. Nick needed to borrow mittens because Vermont cold does not play. And we checked out one of the 1st Ben & Jerry’s location to celebrate our deep-dive ep all about their ice cream.

BTW: We recorded some extra-special pods that’ll drop when Jack’s baby arrives. Enjoy the long weekend & celebrate the wins.

— Nick & Jack