TRANSCRIPT
This transcript was completed by an automated system, please forgive any grammatical errors.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
metaverse, shopify, tick tock, aarp, google maps, jeans, brand, apple maps, black friday, tic tock, buy, gen z, pickleball, platform, day, spend, question, videos, big, games
SPEAKERS
Mariah Parsons, Brian Lastovich, Shopify Ad
Mariah Parsons 00:04
Hey there, I'm Mariah. And I'm Bryan and this is retention Chronicles. Ecommerce brands are shifting their strategy to retention in customer experience. And so we decided to reach out to top DTC brands and dive deeper into tactics and challenges.
Brian Lastovich 00:20
But here's the thing. We love going on tangents.
Mariah Parsons 00:23
I teach Brian all about the latest trends, and I teach Mariah that it's a waste of time, and we discuss all things in the Shopify ecosystem. So go ahead and start your workout or go on that walk and tune in as we chat.
Brian Lastovich 00:37
Retention Chronicles is sponsored by Malomo Shipman, an order tracking platform, improving the post purchase experience, be sure to subscribe and check out all of our episodes at go. malomo.com.
Mariah Parsons 00:54
Hello, Brian, I'm excited for our chit chat episodes. Always excited. They've become one of my favorite things. I know, I know, you should definitely feel extremely honored. That's like the highest honor someone could get. Just in the world in general, above everything else. So you should feel that
Brian Lastovich 01:15
this is just like a one on ones. Oh, yeah.
Mariah Parsons 01:17
Yeah, exactly. Okay, so my first topic for you is like just a funny get to know you kind of question. Um, are you a Google Maps user or Apple Maps user? I feel like this.
Brian Lastovich 01:33
Are there Apple Maps users out there? Oh,
Mariah Parsons 01:38
you have an iPhone, right? I do. So Apple Maps is like the one that's on your iPhone. Oh,
Brian Lastovich 01:44
I know what it is. Okay.
Mariah Parsons 01:48
Oh, so you're a Google Maps person? Yes. Oh, my God, that is inferior
Brian Lastovich 01:54
99% of the users? I would say Google Maps?
Mariah Parsons 01:58
Um, I guess Absolutely not.
Brian Lastovich 02:01
I was. Are you an apple?
Mariah Parsons 02:03
Yes. So loyally to wow. Oh, my God. Yeah, we're weird. No. You know, I really don't think we are because Apple is what comes on the phone? No,
Brian Lastovich 02:17
it's the default. I get it. But you can change the default settings to Google. Like, have you used Google Maps?
Mariah Parsons 02:25
I have a hate it. It's, it's so ugly. Also, it doesn't like the direction like if it's like 1.2 miles away. It's like smaller than the thing. Like, I don't like it.
Brian Lastovich 02:38
Okay. I think I've told you the story before, but I'll tell it publicly. Okay. This was to, to like an Active Campaign, I believe. But it was like a brainstorming session and the subject all of a sudden turn to what was like the app that was most being used on your device. And that's when the feature came out that tells you like how much you're using your device. And that's breakdown by Yeah. So I'm gonna pull it out. And then it was like Instagram, Instagram, Instagram, ones, Facebook. Instagram again. And mine was Google Maps.
Mariah Parsons 03:21
You now that you tell it sorry, I do. Remember you telling me that? Um,
Brian Lastovich 03:25
I mean, you can look up anything that you want Google mascot Street View. It's me. Yeah.
Mariah Parsons 03:33
Okay. Okay. So this is? This is an interesting point. Because, one I know how much you do love Google Maps, like you will all say something to you. And you'll look it up
Brian Lastovich 03:45
by the restaurant, and yeah, I said, you're going to I'm talking to someone else. Like, if I'm talking to someone that is from somewhere outside of the US. I'm just like, well, what city you live in? And then I'm starting to google it is that should I not be doing that? No, I think it's a good No, exactly.
Mariah Parsons 04:04
I think it's a habit the person is talking to Yeah. And like you also are probably you have a better sense of where things are, because of it. And like a better better sense of what they look like or the story. So I it's a funny character trait to have. But I also want to make the distinction that on my laptop, I use Google Maps on my phone. I use Apple
Brian Lastovich 04:31
says, this is a strange question. But is there Google? Is there Apple Maps? For desktop?
Mariah Parsons 04:37
Yeah, if you have a Mac product, yeah. It's like the app that you have is, so you have to go to maps. But it's it's not like a URL, you know? It's like an application. Yes. Yeah. So like,
Brian Lastovich 04:55
I don't think I'm ever Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 04:58
I think I honestly just Do so I don't use Apple Maps on my laptop. So I think it's the convenience factor and also that I already take storage on my phone for Apple Maps. And so I don't want to add more storage because I always struggle with storage. So I have to be an Apple Maps person.
Brian Lastovich 05:21
I mean, I will say, I'm a fan of design. And when I think of Apple products, I think of design first, Apple Maps has a more just beautiful user interface. But I can't get away from Google Maps. Yeah, there it is in green. All right, random tangent. So speaking of Google Maps, and Apple Maps, and just walking out different places, so my son today had his first geography test. Do you mind if I test you to see how
Mariah Parsons 06:02
Oh, oh my god do it but I'm gonna be so bad.
Brian Lastovich 06:08
Third grade. Okay, okay. Okay.
Mariah Parsons 06:12
I don't know state capitals or anything. So this is
Brian Lastovich 06:15
gonna be funny started easy. Let's start. Capital. New Jersey.
Mariah Parsons 06:21
Trenton. Good. You should
Brian Lastovich 06:23
know that one. I usually know that. Because you're from there. Just making sure the audience knows that. Okay, capital of Maine. Is okay, capital of Rhode Island.
Mariah Parsons 06:44
Like, okay, I can tell you New York Albany.
Brian Lastovich 06:49
It see my son can't do that like to test and be like, Oh, I know. This one.
Mariah Parsons 06:54
Rhode Island. Who even lives Okay, um, people out there. Wait, okay.Um, is it something? Newport isn't Newport?
Brian Lastovich 07:06
No. Okay. Capital, Connecticut. New Haven. I'm sorry for calling.
Mariah Parsons 07:20
Okay, this is funny. This is
Brian Lastovich 07:24
this is exactly this test. I'll give you the next one. This is E the capital of Massachusetts.
Mariah Parsons 07:31
Boston.
Brian Lastovich 07:35
Last one, capital, Pennsylvania.
Mariah Parsons 07:42
I want to say Philadelphia, but I'm nervous that it's not it's not is it?
Brian Lastovich 07:47
Two or six? Okay, wrote on me all these Rhode Island? Providence? Oh, yeah. Maine. Augusta. I
Mariah Parsons 07:59
almost did something with an A. I was like
Brian Lastovich 08:05
Connecticut, Hartford? I think that's it. Yeah. That's hard, though. I will admit when I was teaching him i
Mariah Parsons 08:21
Yeah. I mean, you'll fill up Google Maps, or you open up Google Maps. So you're zoomed in on your state? And you're like, ah,
Brian Lastovich 08:34
there's Yes. Give my son the phone heading school said here's a look around the Google map set the capitals and stuff. So yeah, no, I like to I'm I'm happy that you embrace that.
Mariah Parsons 08:51
Oh, I do. I've said multiple times after trivia nights with my friends. I need to get a globe, like a physical globe and study it because I really don't know. Huh? It didn't even
Brian Lastovich 09:03
get the globe. Just bring them with you just hold on to the world. Well,
Mariah Parsons 09:08
isn't that what a phone is? When you think about a globe? Yeah, no, I said I was like, I need a globe because I really am bad at it. So I embrace it.
Brian Lastovich 09:20
Okay. Okay, I got something for you. Okay. So, this was an article in the Wall Street Journal. It is about a very old pair of jeans. Okay, so there were were a pair of jeans from the 1780s in men's condition. Levi's. So in the 1780s it was in an auction they say is one of the earliest jeans ever created from the the brand jeans in general. I think they went for $76,000. Okay. Oh my god. Here's my question. Okay. But I pay long. No, no. How long? Should you have a pair of jeans until you get rid of it? Oh,
Mariah Parsons 10:08
um, for me, it's not a timeline. It's a wear and tear. If they still fit, so like, it's not like a timeline, that'd be like, Oh, I've had these jeans for five years time to get rid of them. It's like, oh, how how well have they kept up? Like, do they? Are they like falling apart? Are they do they still fit? Um,
Brian Lastovich 10:33
are they 10? They could be? Oh, yeah. Teens? Great. They could be 10 years old. Yeah, as long as they walk fine. And it's it. They stay?
Mariah Parsons 10:44
Yeah, if you still like them. I think they stay. Yeah, like I have. Until recently, like, I think like sophomore year of college, maybe I had a pair of jeans that I used to wear in. Like, they were too big on me in eighth grade. But eighth grade is when I bought them. And I still had them through college. What's? What's your answer?
Brian Lastovich 11:12
What's your answer? What's what's a? That's an accent from somewhere? Is from it? You said you're gonna do the accent?
Mariah Parsons 11:21
Oh, what did I say the accent on? I was like over it. I think that's what it was.
Brian Lastovich 11:25
Yeah. That's much better than me. I see. Here's the thing is like, from my perspective, you hit these milestones, like, the very first time when I was going on dates with my now wife, but when we were just dating, as soon as she was kind of like, oh, like she made like, those jeans, you know, like, Okay, put those to the sidewall over those. So yeah. And then when I when I got married, and then she kind of like, those, I would get rid of those. And then I'm, like, changed up the wardrobe. So that's kind of a I feel like every No,
Mariah Parsons 12:12
I mean, if they look ratty, like I don't wear jeans every day. So like, if, if someone's wearing jeans every day, and they're going to work and they're really wearing them down. If your jeans are worn down too much, where it's like, oh, they you can tell that they're over worn then that makes sense. Also, if you're older, I think then you have the money to actually like put towards nice jeans or get new ones. So smart on your wife to say like, Oh, those are not gonna cut it and make you there. It's true. But I would say I feel like it's, it's more of a like case by case basis. Like, I don't think there's like Oh, after you've had jeans for like, four years you retire them and get a new pair.
Brian Lastovich 13:02
I would love to see. So I just haven't made the move yet. But there's a DTC brand called Dearborn jeans. Now Dearborn, denim, based out of Chicago, and I've heard like good things about them. I can imagine, like the post purchase experience, or just like the education of how long how many times I've watched them, there's so much education like it denim. Yeah, I think that they probably
Mariah Parsons 13:33
know how to take care of them better. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'd be curious.
Brian Lastovich 13:39
So, okay. That was it. That's what I want to know about cheese.
Mariah Parsons 13:44
Okay. All right. Cool. Um, I have another topic for you. It has to do with our favorite thing most, most importantly, your favorite thing tick tock, and it's in the newsletter raisin bread. But what I'm actually talking about is AARP on tick tock, which I think this fits nicely with what we talk about a lot because like, tick tock is perceived as like a Gen Z platform.
Brian Lastovich 14:18
As reality,
Mariah Parsons 14:19
as well, I don't know what this does. Okay. So, AARP, American Association of Retired Persons. Think I got that right. Um, day. I'm gonna read the excerpt from the newsletter because I said it better than what I can Okay. AARP was nominated for a 2020 Webby Award for Best Use of video made specifically for social media, which might have you asking yourself what business does AARP have creating Award nominated content on a platform? But
Brian Lastovich 14:53
so that's exactly what I'm asking myself. Right. Exactly,
Mariah Parsons 14:56
exactly. On tick tock or like tick tock tick Talk is often viewed as Gen Z's platform of choice, but it's something much bigger, which ARP used to amass 50,000 followers on the platform as of September 2022. If you spend a minute on tick tock, you know that there's quite literally something for everyone. anyone of any age confined and is never and will inevitably be served something they're interested in learning about, or being entertained by, that matched with tiktoks Unreal discovery algorithm, which is highly curated towards your personal interests, almost guarantees that your message will be seen and heard by your ideal audience without needing a mass to amass a huge following or spending tons of money on advertising. So AARP, which quite literally, by definition, is retired non Gen Z. People, audience, they are even succeeding on Tik
Brian Lastovich 15:59
Tok. I don't believe that. Is there a question here? Or you just want my comments?
Mariah Parsons 16:04
I just want your comments. And I want you to agree that
Brian Lastovich 16:08
no, it is it is.
Mariah Parsons 16:11
It's kind of the pinnacle that we talked about.
Brian Lastovich 16:16
My okay. So you believe that people using Tiktok it's evenly distributed from Two Gen Z to millennials to go versus?
Mariah Parsons 16:34
Yeah, I think that's the last one. The next one.
Brian Lastovich 16:37
Do you think it's evenly distributed?
Mariah Parsons 16:39
No, not on users. Right now? No, it's not. But I think it could be.
Brian Lastovich 16:49
Of course, they want to the here's what, here's, here's my marketing brain. This is clearly a push to get older generation on tick tock, because it's heavily swayed towards Gen Y, and they need these articles to be pushed out pushed out because they like it's like, hey, everyone else is doing it. Come on. Come on. Come on. The way I see it. What are they doing on tick tock? Okay, I can only speak for myself. When I get to retirement. Please, if you see me on tic tac, tell me to stop. I'm going to be retired and just hanging out on tic tac all day.
Mariah Parsons 17:38
I don't know what they're doing. I didn't even look into what they're doing that they're doing something. Right. Who? ARP? They got 50,000 followers.
Brian Lastovich 17:52
I mean, I guess if you think about it, like these people are probably bored out of their mind.
Mariah Parsons 17:58
Yeah, I mean, there's adorable, like, people who are retired, like I've seen retired, like, especially during COVID. There was retired like retirement homes, and they like, make videos with their, with their attendants, residents, residents, with their residents, and it was really cute. And some of them like went viral because of it. Yeah, so I see like that it's like entertaining for them, you know? And then like AARP, there's sure a marketing play because like, you know, you're reaching out to Gen Z, which, when we're retiring, like, maybe we'll think of AARP or maybe like our parents or grandparents or whatever. But it's just interesting that they're that they're doing that they're,
Brian Lastovich 18:47
here's a tangent off of it, okay? AARP, if you're looking at, like, community building, right, like we think of marketing. And now what's being talked about a lot is like how to build a community, and being community led and all that stuff. AARP has been doing that. For a long time, I would say that they're very successful. That would be a really good case study to understand, like, how they've grown in like, best practices and all that stuff, you know?
Mariah Parsons 19:20
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're doing something right. Like, no matter what they're doing, it's working, like community based or tick tock, so it makes sense more. I'm gonna send you a tic tock later from AARP.
Brian Lastovich 19:38
So you can send it to me. You don't have
Mariah Parsons 19:41
to have the app. You can view it on the website. Yeah.
Brian Lastovich 19:44
Okay. I'll do that. Okay. Oh, you get
Mariah Parsons 19:48
like you just yeah, it takes you to I can go to
Brian Lastovich 19:50
take that account or login. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. This is what happened. And I see one more video after it's not gonna listen Just
Mariah Parsons 20:01
Yep, we should get your reactions real time.
Brian Lastovich 20:04
That'd be scary. What? Okay, question for you. Okay, today? Well, I don't know when we'll be publishing this. But October Thursday, Today is October 12. Yesterday was October 11. I believe these were the two days of prime prime day.
Mariah Parsons 20:23
Right? Yeah. Is it? Is it today? Tomorrow? It's one of the three days I can't I don't even tomorrow? I. Yeah, I think so. It was either the 11th and 12th, or the 12th. And 13th. Yeah.
Brian Lastovich 20:36
Question for you. There's something that's, like, you see, on your Tiktok ecommerce advertizing profile. Yeah. Like it was a prime advertisement. We're trying to take that. To buy that now. Because it's Prime Day, or do you wait until Black Friday?
Mariah Parsons 20:54
Um,
Brian Lastovich 20:58
what's your go to?
Mariah Parsons 20:59
I honestly would, if it's depending on what it what it is, I'd probably just buy it now.
Brian Lastovich 21:06
So you don't roll the dice to see maybe it's gonna be a better deal. And a Black Friday?
Mariah Parsons 21:12
No. If it was like a bigger pie than Yeah. But if it's like a smaller than one, then no. Because prime I mean, you also have the security of like, you can just return it. So if I was really, really nervous about it, I might wait. But it feels like a smaller thing. I don't buy a ton of big things off of Amazon. Like if it was like a, like a chair or like, furniture, I'd probably wait for Black Friday. But if it's like a makeup product, that's like 1520 bucks, I'd probably be like, yeah, how much better? Could it get? You know? Right, right. Yeah. So I think for smaller stuff I just ordered on Prime Day.
Brian Lastovich 21:54
I asked you because, I mean, they're targeting everyone, but like, prime is targeting me like crazy across Twitter. And I think just like display in general. And they got, well, here's the I saw the Amazon fire stick, right. And we already have a fire stick at home. But it's probably like, we're four years old or something like that. But I feel like it's it's like seeing it today. And so it was the decision that I made now that you said it, it was like, Oh, is this worth it? Or should I wait till Black Friday? And it was such a like it was only 20 bucks or? Yeah, let's just buy it now. Yeah, I'm curious if this Amazon Prime Day is taking away from Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Or is it just adding on to what would be a successful Black Friday, Cyber Monday?
Mariah Parsons 22:54
What do you mean by ticking away and adding on like, like a marketing aspect? Or like
Brian Lastovich 22:59
taking away like?
Mariah Parsons 23:02
What like logistics?
Brian Lastovich 23:04
No, not logistics, just the great. I imagine. Everyone has a certain like, when should they get a certain budget of like, okay, this is what I plan to spend or what I need to get during this time? Are they just changing the date of like, okay, I'm just gonna get it now as opposed to later, or are they buying now and still have the same budget to buy? on Black Friday?
Mariah Parsons 23:36
So like, from your consumers point of view?
Brian Lastovich 23:38
Yeah. Just like, wow, like they got me. Yeah. Or are they just shifting my behavior from purchasing everything? The day after Thanksgiving to purchasing so now than selling the day after Thanksgiving? Oh, yeah,
Mariah Parsons 23:53
that's an interesting question. Um, I would think that, I mean, this is from someone who doesn't do a ton of budgeting, like I don't, I know, like my range, but I'm not like, super, super good about it. I would say like, most people, because if they're for if the purchases are further apart, they'd spend more overtime. Because like, if you purchase a lot on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, you're gonna be like, That's it. I'm not doing any more. I've spent my budget that you know, but if you kind of do it over a couple months.
Brian Lastovich 24:32
That's good. That's a good point.
Mariah Parsons 24:35
Thank you. Good point. More people would spend more because like, if I buy it now, I'm not thinking about that Black Friday.
Brian Lastovich 24:43
No. Are you you're thinking about it now. But you still have a whole month and a half. Left and by that time? Yeah. You'll feel motivated to buy again.
Mariah Parsons 24:54
Yeah, yeah. Like you kind of like if you buy a bunch of stuff all in one. De it's like a quick hit versus if it's more drawn out. I think it's it's less of a guilt or like impact on the buyer.
Brian Lastovich 25:14
Yeah, yeah. That's a good point. Like it.
Mariah Parsons 25:18
Thank you. Thank you. Are you going to so you already you bought for
Brian Lastovich 25:27
retargeting me with funny now going to be well under our books for that looks good but no, I will not hold my ground.
Mariah Parsons 25:42
I have so many pieces of under Under Armour from rowing because they were our sponsor. So I have like sworn off of buying anything like I'm literally I think I'm wearing Yes, yeah.
Brian Lastovich 25:55
Yeah goddess did sponsored by Under Armour. Yeah, that'd be sick. That would be sick. Yeah, we'll reach out to them. Maybe just this episode. We're just this like, 22nd segment. Yeah, by Under Armour will say no. This is sponsored by Under Armour. Yeah. Just know how it's done.
Mariah Parsons 26:16
I love your product. I wear it all the time. We didn't even play in this. No, no.
Brian Lastovich 26:21
Okay. This is I don't have much to say here. But we talked about. Okay, so we interviewed paddle Smash. Match. Yeah. Last week. Yeah. And we talked about their beginnings were from pickleball and the uptake and pickleball. And then they took that and then merged it with what's the
Mariah Parsons 26:47
little like, ah,
Brian Lastovich 26:49
yeah, that's the pickleball. Now, like you saw, so Lebron James. invested into a pickleball. Team, player, professional pickleball. Team. And then I just saw like yesterday, Tom Brady. invested into a technical team.
Mariah Parsons 27:12
Interesting.
Brian Lastovich 27:13
It's really, it's really trending.
Mariah Parsons 27:17
I don't know, maybe this is a little ignorant, but I didn't even know until that call that they were like professional. Pickleball pickleball teams. Wow. Tom Brady. Pickleball. Yeah.
Brian Lastovich 27:32
Okay. Yeah, yeah, I don't have much to say about it. But I just like, like, it's that's really it's, the more data the more news articles and just updates about pickleball and that moving forward? I'm sure the better for paddle Smash. Wow. Yeah.
Mariah Parsons 27:52
Good for them. They're in a glass. Thanks
Brian Lastovich 27:54
for me. Oh, have you seen so Shopify has their conference this week. It was like a developers conference call unite. Unite. They also just released like a new new ad. Oh, so check this out. I'm going to share it with you and on live and I want to get your feedback.
Mariah Parsons 28:27
Oh, okay.
Shopify Ad 28:28
Okay, you've got sales. I do. I do. Do you want to water and goodbye Do you got sales? I gotta get used to that. You've got sales? Yes. You've got sales. You got sales. You've got sales. You got sales. You got sales? You got sales? You've got sales. Who is he? That's when you got the Internet's most loved commerce platform. You got sales?
Mariah Parsons 29:21
Go to shopify.com to start your free trial today. Not okay. Um, I like it. The last line they said I had to rewatch over to the automation was like when you've got the biggest set like Shopify platforms. And then it was just like trial free trial was a little weird to me. But um, cute, commercial. Or ad and the actual Oh, no, it's playing again. The actual feature I think is cool like for, for merchants to see there. or to get notified of their their purchase or Yeah, their their checkouts. That's cool. I could like I'm sure. Merchants will be happy with that one.
Brian Lastovich 30:13
So I find what's interesting is that do you know where that guy's from? Or no,
Mariah Parsons 30:19
no. This see from diet like that lets the job with the dial up like is that like, Oh, yes.
Brian Lastovich 30:27
This is it. See, this? Is the generational ration different. So that's the, that's the person that did. You've gotten now on AOL, or like the whole signing in process, I will when you're going to use dial up.
Mariah Parsons 30:44
I see. Okay, so like I could with the copy, and then like the name that is called in the video. Like, I was like, Oh, I felt that
Brian Lastovich 30:54
I was like, I don't know if that is real name. I don't think that person it's just the face is the voice. The voice is the same.
Mariah Parsons 31:02
Oh, like the You've got mail that? Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Can't say that. I know that.
Brian Lastovich 31:12
Sounds interesting to me, because I think that I mean, maybe I'm wrong here. But there's tons of Gen Z Shopify brands out there. And this ad, I think goes, is not speaking to them. It's speaking to the older, I'd say shop by brands.
Mariah Parsons 31:33
Yeah, I would agree. I think I don't think with a Gen Z perspective, that they're, they're losing that humor, for sure. Because we're not getting the joke. Right. But they're not losing it to a point where like, they don't get their main message across. So like, even if I don't get the joke of like, You've Got Mail, like, I still know that. It's like, oh, that was someone at some point. Like, I don't know, it's AOL. Or like that it was that voice or like the dial up modem noise. Like, I don't know what any of that means. But I can still get that. It's like, what they're trying to advertise for? Yeah. So they might lose some of that branding, or that like wittiness to it. But then for the Shopify, for the older Shopify brands, it works.
Brian Lastovich 32:22
So here's the here's where I think there's a disconnect. Is that so I follow. Harley was the president of Shopify, and he's now doing podcasts and getting the word out there and talking to him as he heard ours now. See brands just waiting for the invite. I'm sure he is. And he, his main mission, you can tell is that like, Shopify is for entrepreneurs, it is for those that like, Get up and just grind and make a life for themselves. And are thinking it's almost like the outlaw approach, and like thinking differently. And I feel like he's consistently saying that and saying that and really hammering it in. And then you watch this ad coming from the old Shopify brand. And what I get from it is that, like, if you want to start your business started on Shopify, and you will be you will make money. It's that it's almost like that drop, like drop shipping, almost approach it like, Hey, here's something you do, and you can make money doing that. So find it at odds with each other, honestly. And they can save both, that's fine, but I think we know that a at least my belief is like a great marketing message is consistently said is the same and repeated across multiple channels. Yeah, that's, that's my take.
Mariah Parsons 33:52
That's interesting. I thought you were gonna go along with like, if Shopify Harley was Harley Harley like saying that be saying he was entrepreneurs but then his marketing towards like a joke that people were a little bit older would only understand that like, doesn't match Do you want like new entrepreneurs, but that is a very interesting concept because there is a like it's trending right now to like have a side hustle have like, like passive income and make your own side brand and then like just be getting money without without having to do work. So I feel like that's what this is this out. It's definitely targeting towards so I can see how it would be contradictory because like, if you start your own brand, unless you go viral, like you're gonna have to put in work to get major sales right. And like the lucky few that go viral, that's great, but then they have to like they're swamped with that can't keep up inventory or they haven't prepared for that. And then there, there's a whole other back issue of like having to grind that out. So it is that's, that's a really interesting perspective on it of saying you want entrepreneurs and like rewarding the grind. But then the underlying message here is like, Oh, you just make money while you're going about your day.
Brian Lastovich 35:20
Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. So wanted to share that with you.
Mariah Parsons 35:26
That's a good one.
Brian Lastovich 35:27
That's, those are the topics that I had.
Mariah Parsons 35:30
Yeah. I have one more. Oh, yeah. Is this. This is so Chipotle. Yes. The Metaverse so they launched their garlic. I think it's pronounced go here. Yes. Oh, you've tried it. Oh, okay. I didn't even know is the thing. So, but you gave up. So it wasn't
Brian Lastovich 36:00
okay. It's okay. Yeah. Okay.
Mariah Parsons 36:04
Go ahead. Sorry. They were trying to switch it up. You don't like it? Um, they launched that correlate that garlic guajillo stake in the metaverse. So it's like it's funny you can they like put it in Roblox. And so they're like this Chipotle is claiming that the first restaurant to like launch a menu item in the metaverse and you can like learn how to cook like learn cooking techniques and like product information from their VP of culinary so it's just it's very interesting. They like they said in this article, which I can send it to you but they said that they Chipotle has been experimenting with like a virtual restaurant and like a Chipotle burrito game or like builder. Yeah, I thought it was interesting because I am not well versed in the metaverse other than like the Spider Man movies. And so yeah. Do you know what I'm talking about? No, the metaverse one. Oh, it's a good one. It's a animated one. Yeah. Yeah, it's
Brian Lastovich 37:19
good to watch that.
Mariah Parsons 37:21
I feel like your kids would enjoy it. For sure. It's got like all these different spider men from all these different universes. And they all like collide. Yeah.
Brian Lastovich 37:32
I mean, it's been on my mind.
Mariah Parsons 37:35
Well, there's actually two net but yeah, then there's like the real person one with like, Tom Holland. And yeah, there's two, there's like the cartoon one. And then there's like the actual one that they did with Marvel with the three of them. That was like the whole blockbuster thing, you know, with the three different Spider Man's throughout the years. So? Yeah.
Brian Lastovich 37:56
So what do you want? What do you want to know? I,
Mariah Parsons 37:59
um, I just want to know how how well versed you are on the metaverse. What's your opinions on? Like, I don't even just I don't get like. It's just like gangs. Yeah. Right. Like Roblox is just like another type of game.
Brian Lastovich 38:18
Okay. I think I get it. And this only because meta, had a conference, I think, a virtual conference yesterday called meta connect, and they released a new new hardware called the West. There's like meta quest. And this is like meta quest, or something. And so here's they didn't talk about this. But here's my thinking. They're being so right. We have Facebook. And then you have Twitter. And then I think you have probably a couple others. And I think of tick tock. Netflix over here, streaming TV. And there's so many so many web app platforms to spend time on, right? And they're losing all that to all these other competitors. Now, they could develop another sort of platform, or they could try to add on to Facebook from a high level. But that's really, really difficult to do right now. I think it's very spread out. People are just like yourself spending so much time and other platforms that are brand new. So my thinking is that like this whole Metaverse is their way to then control like another way to spend your time, right instead of just another product on the devices that we use today. So that's why I think that Okay, now here's the metaverse and now you can do the same things. Right. You can probably I think they saw like, you can watch tic tock videos together in the metaverse. You can watch a movie together in the metaverse, you can play games together in metaverse. The thing is, though, what's come the commonality between all this is that you're in the metaverse, right? You're on Facebook's or Metis platform. To me, finally, like, that makes sense. It's their full way to like, look it up and try to like, again, take over where all your time is spent and spent on a meta
Mariah Parsons 40:38
platform. Okay, so this is where my history like, Facebook is the one who invented the term metaverse. Yes. Okay. And then like VR, is that in the metaverse?
Brian Lastovich 40:54
Metaverse is virtual reality. And say they say virtual reality and now starting to mix in augmented reality, which is a blend of reality and virtual.
Mariah Parsons 41:06
Okay, that's crazy. Yeah, I just don't know. Like, I feel like I hear Metaverse, so like Roblox that's what Chipotle just really sit on. Like.
Brian Lastovich 41:18
I don't know too much about that. I know. I'm not even gonna guess I just not. I have not done ended up.
Mariah Parsons 41:24
I haven't either. Okay. All right. That was actually a good, helpful explanation, though. There's
Brian Lastovich 41:31
last thing, there's like four things that they're trying to do, right? Like, there's games, which is probably what you've heard, like the most about, like you put on this Oculus. You could play games in virtual reality. Then there's this component, that's exercise. And that's just starting to take off. And I feel like a lot of people are experimenting and finding an actual, like, finding success doing that. Like, think about have you seen any of these like exercise Games in? Are they like it was in VR.
Mariah Parsons 42:03
I haven't seen them, but like, my mind just goes to like, we like we face
Brian Lastovich 42:08
that. It's like the next I'd say it's like the next step up. But like we. So there's, there's that. And then there's entertainment. And that's like what we're talking about, like you can watch movies together with other people you can watch. Or you can pretend you're at a basketball game, the front row and you look to the right, and it's like a friend watching this game with you. Or tickets to the movie already. Then the fourth component is work. And so this is a big thing. Like how can they? You know, this could be in the metaverse because then you would see, like, we'd be in the same room together. Right? Like we can point and look at them to do together. You would see all my expressions. So they talk about like, what's missing from a zoom call, and then you get this from the metaverse.
Mariah Parsons 43:01
Okay. Um, interesting. I guess. Yeah, I do have to, in my mind goes to like, okay, like, how, so you have to wear the headset to be in the metaverse. Yes. Okay, because I could see the battle with that being like, motion sickness. And I feel like that would be a big hurdle. Just because it's top of mind because like, I, my friend has a VR headset. And like, I could not do it. So I'm trying to Yeah, and I've also tried like a simulator. So like a joystick, and this was like for research in college. But it was a huge TV screen, like so big, where it feels like you're in it. And then a little joystick to like, move around. It was like a dark room. And I know I already can't like be in a dark room and watch a movie or play games. Like I have to have the lights on. So because I'm very prone to just motion sickness. So that's like where my mind goes to. Because I see like,
Brian Lastovich 44:08
the hardest thing to get over is like, there's something that you have to like, put on Yeah, joysticks as well. Yeah. And it's like,
Mariah Parsons 44:19
like, how does typing that like how do you like if you're working together, your joysticks in your hands and then he has to like put the joysticks down tie. Like that's where all those little things. I'm like, it'll be interesting to see what happens because I think it's a really cool idea. And like my mind goes to like movies that I've seen with a metaverse. It's like, very techy. And like movies like are like the videos of like, I've watched, like I've seen games and like playing games with a VR headset. And it looks super real or like the videos of someone like running into a wall because they like forget that they're in a Metaverse or like a VR simulation and then they like saw tic tock Yes, I did. I did see on tick tock um So it's super fascinating, but I never really knew the origins of it because like, they're the metaverse in like comics is a thing like Marvel and the metaverse. Yes. So not too much about that. Because like, that's where I get confused because I'm like the metaverse and then but
Brian Lastovich 45:18
it may have been just a generic term that was used. And then Facebook came along and said, We're gonna Yeah, out that term and then change their company to it is possible. I don't know the I don't know the behind the scenes.
Mariah Parsons 45:32
Okay. I just looked up like Metaverse generic term, and it says that I'm not going to get this the the term metaphors is a court man toe. No idea what that means. That combines the worlds meta and universe it is primarily to refer to the anticipated future iteration of the internet that's often hailed as web 3.0. So I think it was a thing before meta. Took it. Yes. That would make sense made it like a product.
Brian Lastovich 46:05
Yeah. Yeah.
Mariah Parsons 46:10
Yeah, super interesting.
Brian Lastovich 46:12
Yeah. We talked about that. I was reading. I was just reading about it the other day. And that's why it's the timing. Yeah, that's why I know exactly. And I just read this to you just because you asked me maybe next week. This is great. I am now four minutes late to a meeting that I have with Edie right now. So whenever he hears this, if he hears this,
Mariah Parsons 46:42
you can blame him or blame. blame me blame me. Yeah. It was worth it. We're teaching people necessary information.
Brian Lastovich 46:50
We did a lot today. Again, you never know where these chips go. No. They do. So and that's it.
Mariah Parsons 47:00
Very fun. Okay. Well, enjoy your meeting with Eddie.
Brian Lastovich 47:04
I will. Thanks again. Thank you. All right. I'm right.