Latest / WOI Unfiltered / Taco Bell, KFC and the latest in Pet Tech! - Epi 27
Transcript
- speaker-0: Alright I just hit record. speaker-1: Wait a second, wait a second. Let me grab coffee. Hey, how you doing, Jana? speaker-0: I am good. We're just like in the full swing of summer over here. Things are really busy on the work side and then just like chaotic on the home front. And you know, it's just we're gone with it. speaker-1: High. Yeah, and and this morning we have the Canadian smoke, which will be bad for a few days. So that's a bummer. speaker-0: Yesterday morning it looked just like dark and hazy. Yeah. Like it was gonna pour. It looked like it was gonna pour, but the forecast had no rain. So I kind of was like, okay. And then as the afternoon progressed, the whole sky was just this weird tinted yellow, like a hazy yellow. All I mean, it was insane. I did let the kids go outside. Maybe the best idea, but speaker-1: Yeah. No, I mean yeah. I I think it I don't know the delta between those with respiratory issues versus like a a healthy human, right? But I it makes me nervous because you can you know, you just feel it the second you walk outside. I mean, I think about the dog, which will parlay into some of our topics today. Like I don't want her to be outside that much. but yeah, so that's been interesting. speaker-0: What does your sky look like right now? speaker-1: yeah, it's like a it's a bit of a bright yellow filter at the moment. speaker-0: Well the weird thing is now, today, we have clear clear skies, beautiful blue, all that. But I was reading there's like there's still an air quality alert and stuff. So I even think after Yeah, lingers. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. Well, I think they expect it through the weekend. But that today may be the worst. But then you kind of think, how and why? I know it's the weather systems 'cause I don't know how they're mitigating it in Canada as a source, right? But yeah, it's it's about how the air moves around to see how quickly it'll dissipate. But anyway, yeah, little curved ball. speaker-0: Yeah. Well, so today we're gonna talk a little bit more about what is happening in the news because aside from the wildfires happening in Canada right now and kind of that trickle into the states and what that looks like, there's another big thing happening, which is this this outbreak. I have to say out loud I was talking to a friend the other day, and somehow I had kind of missed this on the map. And she said, Have you heard about this like sudden diarrhea outbreak? I was like speaker-1: I believe the word is explosive and that is that is speaker-0: Explosive diarrhea outbreak and I was like speaker-1: Hilarious, not hilarious. what? Yeah. Yeah. speaker-0: And then I of course went and did my research and now I have seen it multiple times since then. So she was maybe just like a little bit ahead of me on that curve. you tell me what it's really called. speaker-1: Yeah, I need to actually look at it. Cyclosporiasis. Did I overemphasize the ass on purpose? Cyclosporiasis. speaker-0: Thank you. I mean, it's essentially a an intestinal illness. I think it's a parasite. Yes, it is. It's a parasite. there are thousands of cases reported right now in the US, but thousands in the sense of like call it five to six thousand. I actually think it's like probably twenty, thirty thousand. I mean it's it's speaker-1: They're saying it's very under reported. speaker-0: Very underreported. And I was telling you I had a parasite two years ago and speaker-1: Most do. speaker-0: I ended up reporting it and getting tested because ten years ago I had had salmonella and I had gone through this insane process of figuring it out. And so I I knew what it was when I was feeling off. It's a it's a it's a particular feeling for speaker-1: Yes. speaker-0: but we I was talking to a friend who is i unfortunately experiencing this, this current one, and several of her family members are, and you know, she hadn't reported it and she was kind of saying, you know, she's just hoping that it kind of clears everyone's system on its own. but I think a lot of people are like that, right? Where there's no sense in going to the doctor when you especially when it's reported like this, you know what it is. speaker-1: Sure, and it's not fatal, which is the other good news. but I think you probably can't do much in the way of trying to get checked out or taking anything, I don't know, over the counter that could help. I'm not even sure what what that would be because it sounds so severe. When you had salmonella, Jenna, could you trace it to what you ingested? speaker-0: I mean hypothetically you should be able to. Unfortunately with mine, it took like two weeks to figure out what it was. And by that point I had kind of forgotten. So no and I think a lot of people who have it now because the symptoms don't come on for a while. Yeah. speaker-1: So longer. Yeah. And well, I think to to parlay into the fact that only, you know, there there is a brand out there that has been connected in the same sentence, and and that is Taco Bell. And obviously, any any crisis that happens when a name is associated devoid of facts, because a lot of people just read a headline, right? It's sort of like the case is already written. Because people don't really dive that next layer. They certainly don't dive deep. But what Taco Bell did was try to be a bit proactive about saying they've voluntarily pulled some of the produce that that sits in their line, the cilantros, the guacamoles, lettuce, that kind of thing. in hot areas of the country too. And again, just to be proactive, they weren't admitting. that there is a connection, but sometimes you wonder is the damage done. I I personally think it's a great move. It it feels consumer first and it feels it feels transparent by putting out a proactive statement, but I think it can't always be read that way across the consumer base. And yeah. And it's always like, are they hiding something? You know? But it it's not confident that they are involved. speaker-0: I think the funny thing is, so what I saw in the media was that Taco Bell there there are investigators looking to see, as you said, if there's a connection between some of their ingredients and the illness. I don't know because we're not on the inside. if Taco Bell had said nothing, if the fact that they were being investigated would have been public knowledge anyway. so I'm not aware of of that. I love that they pulled some of their ingredients. I think that is the right way to go, the consumer first. However, and again, we we have the privilege of kind of dissecting this from far out, but we just had a crisis comms episode air. And you know, in terms of the action that they took with pulling the ingredients, thousand percent aligned. Like, yes, yes, yes, protect the consumer. Ultimately, that does good for your brand. However, announcing that you did it is a whole other question of like, I would imagine they announced what they did thinking, hey, we're being proactive and putting consumers first. I bet you other organizations are going to follow suit. I bet you other entities will do the same thing. And when they pull their ingredients, we'll announce that they're doing this as well to say, hey, we're doing this great thing for our customers. I haven't seen anyone else do that. And Given where everything is in the news, I think you're right, is now they run the risk of just people thinking, Doc Obell caused this, or I'm never going there again. They're gonna give me a stomach issue. And it's the it's the old question of like, should we have been proactive or should we have sat on it in terms of what to say publicly, not what to do? Should we have sat on it a little longer and then maybe not said anything? Maybe just let people think we were having supply chain issues because of this issue versus speaker-1: Leave it a little murky and up for interpretation. And yeah, I mean, this more so than other product recalls and whatnot has really shifted consumer behavior for the time being. you know, people are not buying produce from the grocery store. They're skipping out on the things that could be contaminated. you know, I just went to a barbecue on Sunday and it was like, you know, bring what you want, but please, please don't bring a fruit salad. Because we want nothing to do with it. So when you think about it in that sort of landscape where people are avoiding it, you know, these healthy things even, you know, maybe, maybe you do it, like you said, Jenna, and and don't come out publicly. But it's that is what every brand needs to battle with is that supreme transparency and to try to give a rationale that the public will respond to. And I think the the ideal scenario is yes, earn the trust, come back and see us again when this is all over. speaker-0: Yeah. It is a delicate dance when you look at this sort of thing and crisis comms and crisis PR and and a lot of times less is is more in these situations. Saying less and again, I am not talking about doing less. I think that you have to make sound business decisions to protect your your customers. So doing more and and pulling things is the right thing to do. But saying less is sometimes the more effective thing to do. But we'll see. I mean, also, we've said this a million times. People have short memories. This is gonna come. This is gonna pass. Yep. Give it six weeks or so, and I can guarantee Taco Bell loyalists, even if they have their feathers ruffled now, are gonna be right back over there and just fine. speaker-1: Yes. That is one thing you can always rely on with the news cycle and with the human brain. What is the next 10 second snippet? Right. So there is recovery for sure. speaker-0: So while we're talking about fast food and kind of doing what consumers want and all that, let's talk about KFC for a second. KFC made an announcement recently that they are bringing back popcorn chicken. And they were not shy in their announcement about saying that this is because of consumer demand. This is because people were posting on social media and writing and calling and Pushing and pushing and pushing for this popcorn chicken to come back. So the background is KFC pulled popcorn chicken from their menu in 2023. I was curious, of course, and did a little digging and it looks like popcorn chicken was put on the menu in nineteen ninety two. So we've had a good run. speaker-1: Wait, so you're saying ninety two to twenty twenty three. This was a standard. speaker-0: It was a standard, had a good run. I and look, I've not frequented KFC very very much in in my lifetime. And I was speaker-1: There's the mashed potatoes when I did. speaker-0: So I believe that they even put the popcorn chicken like mixed in sometimes with like a mac and cheese or something. So it was a staple. And in twenty twenty two they came out with like a new chicken nugget. And when they came out with that, they pulled the popcorn chicken. Again, I'm sure it was all about supply chain, costs, efficiency, all of that. They were still providing a chicken product to consumers. It te tested really well, performed really well. So people were liking the new product. It wasn't that. Sure. But then when they pulled popcorn chicken, I think people were like, Wait, wait, wait. That was my go to. That was my jam. Like To me, this is the ultimate like customer centricity move. It's very similar to the Burger King campaign that we talked about a few months ago when Burger King had their president available for people to call and people called in about the Whopper, but they came out and then like announced an update to the packaging and I think some other things with the Whopper in response to people calling. So it was it's very similar in the sense of like letting your Consumers lead the way in terms of the products that you're offering. And sometimes the supply chain decisions are not necessarily going to be the right decision. Even if you're saving money, you're gonna lose customers to the extent that then you're losing money, you know? speaker-1: Yeah, it is that analysis that you really need to put forward and some cute marketing things too that they're doing to promote it, the partnership with Giphy, kind of these live action short anime snippets, of which there are quite a lot. I mean, you can see these things kind of flying off the digital shelves if you would, especially if you're a big fan of popcorn chicken. So the more conversation that consumers rally around, the better off for the brand, right? And I think they know this is a gold mine from a demand perspective. They've heard it in social listening. And now they can capitalize on it from a proactive marketing standpoint. So it's it's a really nice through line for the brand. speaker-0: Yeah. I love it. I I think it's fun. And like these are the brands that need to listen to their customers, especially as we look at nostalgia and retro and all of that and like your customer base. And if mom and dad ate it when they were kids and they loved it and they remember it, there's a higher likelihood that they're bringing their kids back for the same thing. So don't take that staple item off the menu. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. You're creating a new generation of fans. Yeah. For sure. I wonder if we need to do a taste test, Jenna, between the popcorn chicken and the new chicken nugget, but maybe we'll deal with that later. speaker-0: That sounds fun. I do have a KFC down the street from me. Should we do that? speaker-1: I do as well. Maybe we should. I think I mean, can you even remember the last time you graced the doors of a KFC, though? I don't I can't. speaker-0: No, I quite literally cannot. I it long time, probably road trip of some sort. Definitely. speaker-1: Maybe even. Yeah. Okay. Let's let's add it to our weekly to do. speaker-0: Okay, so taste tests. We are recording that. I love it. speaker-1: We'll let you know. speaker-0: All right. Well, let's pop back to you alluded at the beginning of this call to being worried about Ziggy and little Ziggs experiencing air quality issues. speaker-1: Correct. No, if that isn't bougie dog ownership, I'm not sure what is, but she is a third child. The youngest speaker-0: the stats say that you are not alone. I'm not feeling like little Ziggs is a part of the family or even your child. Right. speaker-1: That's that's absolutely right. And we've seen this knowing the category pretty well through and through, right, over the years, Jenna? For for like a decade now, I guess. I was speaker-0: Gonna say, let's let's for clarity, we have worked in the in the pet care space for a decade now. So we've seen all the trends, we've seen all the stats and the data. And we talked about pets as family for a long time, but it's just that the stats continue to prove that and continue to prove that like it's just really baked in now to people's ethos. speaker-1: Yeah. And I mean that coupled with this up and coming Gen Z generation not wanting to have kids, or at least that's what they think right at this point in their in their life stage, it becomes even more you know, even more prominent, right? With this up and coming generation of people that are going to come to family building age. They're already in it. So I think those two facts coupled together makes it the the pet category potentially larger and you see some brands already certainly capitalizing on it. speaker-0: Yeah. So a new Harris Bolt just came out. and it was one of the things they were focusing on is the Gen Z and millennials and being what they called a pet first household. So kind of choosing to have pets over children. forty percent of the respondents chose pets, thirty-nine percent chose both pets and children, and only twenty-one percent chose children alone. So I just feel that speaks volumes to not just those choices, but the the kind of mentality of these people of like, well, yeah, I'm gonna choose pets and they are essentially my children and I'm going to treat them as my children. Yeah. Care for them as my children, right? I just had a conversation, not with a millennial, was a with a woman who was in her early 70s the other day, and speaker-1: Ha ha ha. speaker-0: She was saying, you know, her children are grown. Her grandchildren are now, you know, in like late teens, early twenties. And her children were saying, Mom, you gotta get another pet. You gotta have something to really like care for, because you're used to caring for us and your grandchildren. And she said, you know, she did. And and I mean, it's essentially filled that void for her. But this younger generation is just looking to do that from the onset, which is just so interesting. Well speaker-1: And I I do think there's an economic discussion to have prior to that too. I mean, I think one would think the notion is that it might be a cheaper proposition. Ultimately, yes, you're not paying for education and a very steady grocery budget and all that kind of stuff. But there are major costs associated with owning a pet. I interestingly enough, I had a conversation with my son just this morning about it and he was just like, Mom, just tell me If we've spent more than a thousand dollars on Ziggy. Short answer is yeah. speaker-0: Six months bad. speaker-1: But you know, you could you could adopt a pet, you cover those adoption fees and right, you're you're kind of perceiving this as a a free dog, which is great. adoption fees great, but so so much goes into the proactive health care, the reactive health care, the caregiving when you're out of town, especially for a dog. You know, I'm curious, Jenna, about the the boomer you chatted with. Did she end up getting a dog or a cat? speaker-0: She got two dogs actually. wow. And one of them is a senior dog. And she was talking about just the expenses of a senior dog, which I yeah had one dog that passed recently. I know you did as well. And now I have another senior dog. And we just paid thousands of dollars to get her teeth pulled. And it was a really hard decision to make because it is so expensive. speaker-1: Okay. speaker-0: Yes. But I will say, now having so many of her teeth pulled, she is like a spry little chicken again. She's popping around like I mean. Yes, very very glad for little Miss Tones. But but yeah, I mean consumers are talking about, you know, pet expenses being a concern for them and and a reason why they may not do both pets and children. Yeah. speaker-1: Okay. speaker-0: In the in the survey, I think it was fifty four percent of the younger consumers are worried about the cost of living and not preventing them from giving their pets the life they deserve. speaker-1: Right. Yeah. Which again speaker-0: is just you're almost replacing the word children with pets. I mean that is really what you're doing in some of this. And it's just it's fascinating as somebody who's always had pets and now has children. I I I get it. speaker-1: But it's Well, and I love I love this other stat of 83% of pet owners consider their pets to be like their own children. I fall in that category. You know, I mean, on a day-to-day decision making basis on behalf of Ziggy, you can leave her in the crate all day, or you could spend some money, you know, where she goes out on this great play date with a bunch of other dogs. She'll survive both scenarios, but that quality of life piece is what pulls you into the latter direction. at your cost, of course. And you know, if you're just starting out in the world, that's that's not an easy decision to make against the expense. speaker-0: Yeah. Well, and I think the other thing is so the pet category has been booming for a while and you've seen different products come out in service of pets. You saw like going back to like a bark box, right? You saw things like that start to come out. there's a new product that we stumbled across. there's a debate if it's phi or phi, but it's F I. We're both fine. Fi just introduced a new product called the Phi Ultra, and it is a tracker for pets. it goes on their collar, I believe, and it uses mobile technology so that it can track from like far away. So let's say your dog runs away, or somehow you lose track of your dog it whether you're traveling or at home. the technology is is created in such a way that it can find them basically anywhere. and it switches between I think it was like L T E and speaker-1: Satellite maybe? Yeah, satellite technology, which yeah the first of its kind technology. Because I think when you're off LTE it could still pick up a signal. speaker-0: So I just think to me, this just speaks more to the humanization of pets and keeping track of your pets in the way that you would with kids, right? There's a lot of parents that will put like an air tag in their kids' shoe or in a pocket or something like that, especially if you're going to a big space like a Disney World or a water park or you know, a a place like that. and this is this is very it it's in the similar space, right? Where it's like you wanna make sure you can keep track of your pet at all times no matter what. So to me, this is really about like the humanization of pets and the investment that people are willing to make to keep their pets safe. I mean, this is let's see, pricing. It's about two hundred dollars plus almost a dollar a year membership. I mean, so it's not cheap. speaker-1: Annual. Yep. No, it's not. And and I think the according to the Verge article, it's the battery life that is a little problematic because you would need a long shelf battery, right, if you did lose your dog, because chances are you might not find them right away. Can I can I tell my Ziggy story? speaker-0: please tell your Ziggy story. Wait, did you know my Ziggy story? the Ziggy story. I know the story, right? I know this story. Please tell the story. It's speaker-1: Yes. She she knows her way around Chicago, but what I will say is she's microchip too. So I would like to understand the total delta between the the microchip is where you have to bring the dog to a vet that can read the chip, right? So like a consumer interaction has to happen whereby five you're tracking them on your phone or whatnot, right? It's an easier interface. But yes, one day Ziggy ran away from playgroup trying to chase a rabbit. And then she found herself unable to get back to the playgroup. She was in a park about a mile and a half north of us. And so what she ended up doing was running home to our house. And the the dog playgroup folks eventually I connected with them. I said, Any chance Ziggy's in the neighborhood? My neighbor just said they saw her running, running free down the block. And they were like, Yes, Emily, it's possible. Lo and behold, it was her just wreaking havoc in the neighborhood, running around, free as a bird, a bird dog. And what ended up happening is I jumped in my car to try to find her. And I ended up leaving my front door open. And when I got home, after 20 minutes on patrol, I'm like, what am I going to tell my kids? She was inside my house. She had found her way home from her doggy GPS. And it was. Very reassuring. It's it's weird how now I don't even worry about it. I'm like she's street smart, she grew up on the streets, she tracks. so get thee a dog like that or get thee some fee. Fi. speaker-0: I mean, Ziggy is like a one of a kind dog. I I don't think that that is insanely common. For her to be able to check through Riv you live in Chicago. No, I'm You don't live in the suburbs. You live in Chicago. So she was running up and down city streets finding her way. Like speaker-1: At least two major arteries in North Chicago. speaker-0: I mean it was pretty fast. Like she ran right home when she realized she lost. So speaker-1: And she still had the energy. Yeah, I know. It was insane. And Jenna, credit to you for you having me pull the adoption trigger on this one of a kind crazy. gosh. speaker-0: No, you would have done it anyway. You would have done it anyway. Yeah, she is a one of a kind little pup. and yeah, I mean, I do think though, like having a piece of technology like this on them would have meant that you could have seen, she's home or she's on the street. The microchipping is wonderful and I'm a big proponent of that. But somebody's gotta not only find the dog but be able to get the dog to come with them in their car. There's of in order to Yeah. So like it is there are multiple steps there. Yes. speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: So anyway, we're big we're big fans of dogs. I love to see these fun new pieces of technology. I love to see that people are still passionate about their pets, as as passionate as ever about their pets. speaker-1: Yeah. And plenty of innovations to come, I'm sure. Right. And in nutrition and technology for these guys. So, you know, hopefully as this trend continues with humanity about kind of preferring a pet who doesn't talk back to you. hopefully the cost analysis works out for for the people who want to take that path. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. all right. well I think it's finally I think it's time to jump into our our last question, which is what's our impact for the world? speaker-1: Yeah. What is our impact? speaker-0: you know, I we have some fun things going on right now. Some fun campaigns that we're working on that we'll launch in the fall time frame. I am actually going to speak to on the professional side, we just wrapped up an H1 impact report for one of our clients. and speaker-1: Okay. speaker-0: It was a reminder of the great work that we have done over the last six months because I think sometimes when you're in the trenches and you're turning through turning and burning, you kind of lose sight of the the impact that you're actually having. And the report surfaced the volume of eyeballs that we were able to get on the content that we had been working on for this client for the last six months. And it was really nice to see. how much we had actually done, especially when we looked at this versus last year at the same time. we were just leaps and bounds above what we had done, which showed not only that we could do great work, but we were continuing to optimize for the client. and I would say as an agency, we talk a lot about impact and we talk a lot about having that impact come from insights and data and research and To be able to go back and track ourselves and assess it halfway through the year and say, yeah, okay, we are on track. We're doing a good job. Here are the places where we could do a little bit more. And here's where we're great. Let's keep a status quo. I I think is nice. It's a nice gut track. and when we see places where we need to do more, it allows us to make that step change before it's too late in the year. So I was pretty proud of that. speaker-1: I mean the data doesn't lie and you know, it it's gotta be the backbone of any strategy, insights and and data backed at the end of all things. So congrats to the team on that. That's a really nice one for this week, Jenna. speaker-0: I love it. All right. Well, I would say the other fun one to just mention, and we can talk about this a little bit more probably in the coming month or two, is we are scripting out a piece of content that I am so excited to have go into production. It goes into production a few weeks. We've been working very hard on the script and getting the tone right and per s you know, the personas and all that. So That's a really fun one that will be awesome to see coming to life. And we will chat more about it when we can at the end of the summer or in early fall. speaker-1: Perfect. Can't wait. speaker-0: All right. Well thank you, for taking the time to chat today and have a lovely rest of the day. Hopefully you can take it outside, maybe. Yeah. speaker-1: I'm gonna try a little bit. speaker-0: All right, we'll talk soon. Bye. Bye.