Episode 77: Fantasy Brand Draft | A Brave New Podcast

In this episode host Josh Dougherty is joined by the A Brave New team. Art director Phil Padilla, content director Brad Steinbacher, and project manager Mel Johnson share their thoughts about which brands they would draft for their fantasy brand football team starting with quarterback and running down the other key positions on the offensive side of the ball.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

The difference between a slot receiver brand and a big play receiver brand
Which position best fits brands like Hersheys, Adobe, and Black & Decker, and Magic Spoon
The powerful ways that perceptions and emotions shape our perspective about brands
Why Phil believes that root beer is an underrated drink that deserves a lot more credit than it gets
How brand positioning is not so much about being positive or negative, but more about highlighting different strengths and attributes.

Additional Resources

Transcript

Josh Dougherty:
Welcome to A Brave New Podcast. This is a show about branding and marketing. But more than that, it's an exploration into what it takes to create brands that will be remembered and how marketing can be a catalyst for those brands' success.

I'm Josh Dougherty, your host. Let's dive in.

Hello and welcome to the show today. Really excited to have you on. Today we're doing something a little bit different. We're going to have a fantasy brand draft in homage to the beginning of the NFL season that's fast approaching upon us.
And so, today, I have everyone from the Brave New team joining me. I have Brad Steinbacher, our content director here.
Hey, Brad.

Brad Steinbacher:
Hello. Get ready to lose.

Josh Dougherty:
Are you ready?

Brad Steinbacher:
Oh, yeah.

Josh Dougherty:
I think you've got a good chance of winning if you can win the draft order. That's what it's all about at the end of the day.
I also have Mel Johnson, our project manager here. Hey, Mel.

Mel Johnson:
Howdy, howdy.

Josh Dougherty:
And Phil Padilla, our art director. Hey, Phil. How's it going?

Phil Padilla:
Hey, hey.

Josh Dougherty:
So today, with our fantasy brand draft, it's kind of like football style. So we are going to have four picks a piece. There's going to be a quarterback pick, which is kind of like the showboat brand, the brand that's the center of the show. The one that's driving the conversation.

We're going to have a running back pick. Running back is, as many of you know from watching football, the dependable one. The one that the ground game helps you keep the football game moving, keep the sticks moving. Converting those first downs that you need.

We have a wide receiver pick, more of maybe a flashy pick. If it's a slot receiver, maybe not so flashy but productive.
And then finally, you have your tight end who's often a high performer. Reliable, but not as in the limelight as others.
So before we get started, I'm going to take out my A Brave New beanie. I've stuck everyone's name into the beanie. They are all sticky notes of the same color. I've had that verified ahead of time. I'm going to pull them out just to determine our order of how we're picking.

So without further ado, Mel is first in the draft order.

Mel Johnson:
Oh, geez. Okay.

Josh Dougherty:
Pick number one.

Josh Dougherty:
Then Brad.

Brad Steinbacher:
Yeah.

Josh Dougherty:
And Josh, myself. And finally Phil.
So we have to decide on rules of engagement before we start people. Do we want people to be able to double pick the same brand? Or if they've been chosen already, does someone have to come up with a new brand on the fly? I vote for chaos myself.

Phil Padilla:
I agree with chaos. On the fly.

Josh Dougherty:
All right.

Phil Padilla:
Quick on your feet.

Mel Johnson:
Calvinball this.

Josh Dougherty:
Perfect. The risk is highest for you, Phil, and me too since we're towards the end. So if we agree for chaos, we'll go with it.
So with all that, let's dive in. Let's start not with quarterbacks because I think those are maybe the most interesting. I want to do an oddball and choose tight ends first, pun intended. We will start out with you, Mel, who is your tight end brand? The high performer, reliable, but not as flashy as the rest of the ride receiving core pick.

Mel Johnson:
So I went with Hershey's as my tight end. It's mostly because they're somewhat timeless, immediately recognizable. There's been minimal changes to their logo and branding since, well, basically from the '60s to the early 2000s. It was fairly similar during that whole time.
I think that the other thing is that their brand identity and presence is really reliable. It's very steady. It's unshakable. You know exactly what you're going to get when you see a Hershey's logo.
My only complaint, I think, is their recent logo change in 2014 that brought the Hershey kiss to the end of the word Hershey's. It doesn't look good. But other than that, I think that they're a pretty solid pick.

Josh Dougherty:
Yep, they're solid. I mean, they show up on my kids' s'mores every time we make s'mores, even though there are many better chocolate brands, right?

Mel Johnson:
Shout out to Theo's.

Phil Padilla:
Yeah, they're a heavy contender. I mean, timeless is a good word. I don't even know if they advertise that much. They just seem to be relevant.

Brad Steinbacher:
Around Christmastime, you see a lot of Hershey's kisses stuff going on.

Phil Padilla:
Yeah.

Josh Dougherty:
True. It's true.

Mel Johnson:
Where the Hershey kisses are bells.

Brad Steinbacher:
Yeah.

Mel Johnson:
And I think they actually play Carol of the Bells in that commercial.

Josh Dougherty:
Look at this, random Hershey's trivia I didn't even know. I also have to go look up the logo now because I didn't notice that they have a Hershey kiss at the back end of their logo.

Brad Steinbacher:
Does it just look like a poop emoji at the end?

Mel Johnson:
It does look like a poop emoji. TikTok went off on it. I want to say like last year possibly, but they had a lot to say. It wasn't very positive.

Josh Dougherty:
Perfect.

Brad Steinbacher:
Poor Hershey spent a lot of money on that brand change.

Josh Dougherty:
Oh yeah, that is horrible.

Mel Johnson:
He just looked at it.

Josh Dougherty:
What? Did they keep it?

Mel Johnson:
Uh-huh. Yep.

Josh Dougherty:
Okay. All right.

Mel Johnson:
I saw a picture of it when I was looking at the logos earlier. It's on their building with that kiss pile of poo emoji.

Josh Dougherty:
Fascinating.
Brad, with that, who's your tight end?

Brad Steinbacher:
Mine is somewhat similar to Mel's, but not the same industry at all. I went with Black and Decker for tight ends. They have a solid reputation. They're utilitarian. You can forget about them unless they do something, unless you see an ad for them.
And their biggest role is helping you achieve your goals. Like the tight end's biggest role is helping the offense, protecting the quarterback, helping in the run game, occasionally catching passes. So they're the ones that I went with.

Phil Padilla:
My garage would agree with you.

Josh Dougherty:
Mine is a little bit different. I have tech brands as all of mine, so we'll see how much carry over. But I have the brand Alphabet as my tight end. The reason for that is I think it's less flashy than a lot of tech brands today. It's ubiquitous but less flashy.
But they're always moving the ball forward. They do a little bit of everything, similar to your comment about Black and Decker, Brad. They're doing search, they're doing AI. They're doing a number of other things. They've got a bunch of plays all over the place and they're helping move stuff forward.
But even though we don't think of them as flashy as some other brands in the tech space, they generally are leading the team in most of the areas that they're working. So think about that with a good tight end too. Often the leader in receptions and yards, but no one thinks about them as being that leader.

Brad Steinbacher:
That makes a lot of sense. And if they're a bad tight end, it's like how Alphabet routinely fumbles projects that they lose interest in and drop like ...

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, but they still get to start.

Brad Steinbacher:
Exactly. Exactly.

Josh Dougherty:
What about you, Phil?

Phil Padilla:
My selection's a bit off the wall because most of my selections I think naturally I'm biased towards.
So I selected more of a category. I selected root beer. There are two heavy contenders: A&W and Barq's. And the reason why I think it's compelling is I'm not a root beer fan, but my youngest daughter is. And to me, that's just almost like a head scratcher because it's managed to make the leap from decade to decade. I can't think of any advertising through root beer I've ever, ever seen.
They seem like they're steady trucking forward. They're still relevant today, and I'm not a root beer fan personally. I just don't know how. So it puzzles me. They seem to have minimal exposure, but they remain relevant. They have to be doing something right.

Josh Dougherty:
Do you remember those A&W cafes or fast food restaurants they used to have? I used to go there after soccer when I was growing up. It was the best. Looked forward to that bottomless root beer there.

Phil Padilla:
There's an infamous one over on the Olympic Peninsula. That's the only one I could think of in the Washington State area at least. I think it's still there today.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, I think most of them have disappeared beyond that.

Mel Johnson:
You said root beer and then you said Barq's. I immediately remembered the catchphrase from commercials in the '90s. Barq's has bite.

Brad Steinbacher:
Oh, that's right.

Josh Dougherty:
Look at our brand associations. None of us really drink root beer. But you have one. I have one. That's very strong, right?

Phil Padilla:
Well, and that's what makes it so weird when you hear your youngest daughter fight for a root beer. You're like, what?

Brad Steinbacher:
If Barq's had been really brave, they would've gone with its Barq is worse than its bite.

Mel Johnson:
I think that's probably what informed Barq's has bite. But that's just a guess. I don't know for certain.

Brad Steinbacher:
Just be committed to the bit.

Phil Padilla:
Own it, right?

Josh Dougherty:
That's the thing about root beer. It's not committed to the bit and that's what's made it successful. I don't know.

Brad Steinbacher:
All right. I stand down.

Josh Dougherty:
Sneaky root beer trick: if you don't really like root beer but you like rum or rum and root beer is pretty good versus a rum and coke. My brother-in-law, when we were out at the coast a couple of weeks ago, introduced me to this. I was like, huh, not bad. We were drinking A&W. So you could try different brands to see if there's any preference.

Mel Johnson:
Now I'm curious, what kind of rum was it? Because there's dark rum like Kraken, there's Puerto Rican-

Josh Dougherty:
Well, we were drinking Bacardi Silver, so pretty simple mixing rum.

Brad Steinbacher:
Is there a thing like the Cuba libre where you put a lime in a rum and coke and all of a sudden it's a different drink? Is there something like that for the root beer?

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, but what country is it, like a Nordic? What is root beer from? I don't know.

Brad Steinbacher:
I was going to stick with the Communist thing and call it the Chairman Mao.

Josh Dougherty:
Perfect. Done.

Brad Steinbacher:
We're branding drinks. We're learning all about Hershey's. This is off to a blazing start.

Josh Dougherty:
It's a blazing start.
Speaking of blazing, let's go back. Go to the speed category, our running backs. Mel, who is your number one running back? Or your running back pick I should say.

Mel Johnson:
So my running back pick is REI. The reason I picked REI for my running back is they're definitely dependable. You know exactly what you're getting. The logo is immediately recognizable. Not only because it has a tree and a mountain, it also has REI in it.
It's a Seattle icon. It's less well known than Starbucks, Amazon, Microsoft, yada, all that. But it is distinctive. The abbreviation of REI, instead of Recreational Equipment Incorporated, feels as timeless as Patagonia or the North Face. It's also very easy to remember.
The co-op model is unique and lends itself well to that feeling of comfort and reliability.

Josh Dougherty:
Nice.

Brad Steinbacher:
Yeah, it's a good choice.

Phil Padilla:
Yeah.

Brad Steinbacher:
Hadn't occurred to me.

Mel Johnson:
Yeah. I mean, the option is still there. I'm going to bring it back to the Seahawks for a minute. It's dependable, right? But there's still a little bit of flash. Kind of like a Marshawn Lynch situation. I would say that REI is to brands as Marshawn Lynch was to the Seahawks.

Josh Dougherty:
Nice.
What about you Brad?

Brad Steinbacher:
Me? All right. For running back-

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, to you.

Brad Steinbacher:
... I went with Budweiser and that they're constantly there. You constantly see them. You hear about them, especially when you're watching football. They're the bell cow of beers and the go-to for large portions of the country.
They're workmanlike, but they're not afraid to be creative now and then when they're advertising. Remember way back, when that whole what's up thing with the guys on the phone with each other were saying what's up? I mean, that was completely off-brand for them. Before that they were all polar bears and weird stuff, and then they went with that.
Yeah, I just feel like they could be a really good solid running back.

Mel Johnson:
What about the Budweiser Frogs?

Brad Steinbacher:
I forgot about those.

Mel Johnson:
Those were great.

Brad Steinbacher:
Spuds MacKenzie wasn't Budweiser, was it?

Josh Dougherty:
I can't remember.

Brad Steinbacher:
Or was that Corona?

Phil Padilla:
He was for Coke or Pepsi or something like that?

Brad Steinbacher:
I thought he was a beer.

Phil Padilla:
Maybe. I don't know.

Josh Dougherty:
I can only remember the horses.

Brad Steinbacher:
Oh, that's right.

Josh Dougherty:
Was Budweiser horses?

Mel Johnson:
Oh, no. Spuds McKenzie was for Bud Light.

Brad Steinbacher:
There you go.

Mel Johnson:
Yep.

Josh Dougherty:
There you go.

Mel Johnson:
Good job, Brad.

Josh Dougherty:
Even more of a running back than Budweiser, Bud Light.

Brad Steinbacher:
It's true.

Josh Dougherty:
That's a special beer. I drank too much of that in college. Back in the days when Coors seemed classy. I don't know if any of you had those.

Phil Padilla:
The champagne?

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah. If we're really talking about American lagers though, I prefer Miller I think of all of them, if I have to have one of those.
All right, my pick for running back is Adobe. I think it's a powerhouse software. I think it's more of a fullback than a running back if that's allowed. I know you wouldn't usually draft a fullback, but here I am. I'm doing it.
My reasoning is they have some tricks and cool plays up their sleeve. They're integrating in the new AI stuff. They're doing things like that.
But overall it's a little bit clunky. They're kind of big, beefy, clunky brand. But much of the world wouldn't work without them. So they're doing a lot of blocking and tackling, and then they're pulling out some flare every once in a while to help you deliver on what you need to do. Just like a good fullback helps clear the way for the running back. And then also every once in a while and that magic moment gets handed the ball and gets to do something themselves.

Brad Steinbacher:
I like that one. That's a good one.

Phil Padilla:
Yeah. That was a solid pick. Truth be told, I'm surprised I didn't think of it.

Mel Johnson:
Could've been a little too on the nose, Phil.

Phil Padilla:
I only use it every day. I should probably avoid things like that, right?

Mel Johnson:
Right.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah. It's kind of like, I was going to say HubSpot. I'm like-

Phil Padilla:
No.

Josh Dougherty:
... we can't talk about that on this.

Phil Padilla:
My selection is nothing sexy. However, steady and dependable are two of the keywords that come to mind when I think of Kirkland Signature brands.
It's kind of funny because I think this is a brand that gets kicked around a lot between us. Maybe it's just the demo. But one thing I really like about it is they just don't seem to waste their time with anything that you would consider BS or anything that might be a short-lived trend. All the products they offer seem to ... I don't know, they just seem to be fundamentally solid and not flashy. Something that you would use in 10 years from now, or 10 years ago versus a new play toy for the kids that they'll forget about in four weeks.
So I think that's one area that really makes them just steady, dependable, timeless, solid foundation. Not going anywhere. You can count on them.

Josh Dougherty:
So tell me, Phil, when you think about Kirkland Signature, which of their products is like the 60 yard run? When they break through the defensive line and-

Phil Padilla:
Probably like that 200 roll toilet paper. Then you have to get a one separate cart just for the toilet paper. And then your wife has to follow you with the other cart for everything else. So I'm on the blocker with the toilet paper, and she's taking all the business behind me.

Josh Dougherty:
Amazing. Meanwhile, you got some logo Kirkland Signature shirts. Have you guys seen those rolling around lately?

Brad Steinbacher:
No, but I want one.

Josh Dougherty:
They're a hipster cred here in Seattle. People are wearing them all over the place. It's just a black T-shirt with a Kirkland Signature logo on it.

Mel Johnson:
That's hilarious.

Phil Padilla:
Representing.

Josh Dougherty:
We'll add that in the show notes if we can find where you can purchase it.

Phil Padilla:
I wish I had one though.

Mel Johnson:
I'm good without it, but I love the fact that it exists.

Josh Dougherty:
Exactly.

Phil Padilla:
I'll tell when I was younger, my dad fricking loved Costco. He would talk about it with a smile on his face like it was an old crush or something.
As a youngster. I just never really understood. Now that I'm adult, I get it. But I used to just sit there as a kid and go, "You're a dork."

Mel Johnson:
But Costco is so cool. Literally I was just talking about this with my spouse a couple of days ago about how the model of Costco is insanely profitable. They treat their employees amazingly well. Costco's got it, man.

Josh Dougherty:
And they only sell good, quality stuff. It's not like you're buying something there that's not going to work.

Mel Johnson:
Exactly.

Brad Steinbacher:
I also feel like they're kind of a magic trick and that you end up spending way too much money than you expect when you go in there.

Josh Dougherty:
Every single time.

Mel Johnson:
I mean-

Phil Padilla:
Don't hate the player hate the game on that one.

Mel Johnson:
There it is, Phil. There it is.

Josh Dougherty:
I had another conversation when we're going in and we have our list and we're like, we're only going to get the things on our list. And then a car and a half later you roll out.

Brad Steinbacher:
I need all this bleach.

Josh Dougherty:
Exactly.

Mel Johnson:
I need 900 baby wipes.

Josh Dougherty:
Exactly. Well, I'm not going to have to buy them again for 10 years, right? It's fun. It's-

Brad Steinbacher:
I tell you-

Josh Dougherty:
... won't expire.

Brad Steinbacher:
I tell you, when we were kids, the Costco diapers were the way to go.

Josh Dougherty:
Oh, that's amazing.

Brad Steinbacher:
So much cheaper. They were great. Durable.

Josh Dougherty:
We actually got a Costco membership for that because of how much cheaper they were than everything else. You buy the big box, that's another cart filler. Just drop it in, fills the whole thing.

Brad Steinbacher:
We started out with a cloth diaper service and it lasted about 20 days. And then we're like, forget this, we're going to Costco.

Phil Padilla:
I think that's how 1-800-DIAPERS started. They opened a business and they showed up at Costco every morning and bought boxes and boxes and boxes of diapers and then repackaged them and delivered.

Brad Steinbacher:
I had no idea 1-800-DIAPERS existed.

Phil Padilla:
They were hungry and they started a business and just became a middleman.

Josh Dougherty:
There you go. What every brand aspires to be the middleman. Snappy though. 1-800-DIAPERS.

Brad Steinbacher:
Were they bought out by 1-800-FLOWERS?

Phil Padilla:
I don't know. But when I read the story, first of all, I had the same kind of realization you did. I never heard of them. I was like, huh. They did what?

Josh Dougherty:
They merged with 1-800-FLOWERS, so now they're a little bit messy, that brand.

Brad Steinbacher:
Yeah.

Mel Johnson:
Get it?

Brad Steinbacher:
They just force it together.

Josh Dougherty:
Yep, exactly. Sorry for the dad joke. Can't escape.
Anyways, with that, we'll move on to quarterbacks. Mel, who is your quarterback brand?

Mel Johnson:
My quarterback brand is Apple.

Josh Dougherty:
That's a good one.

Mel Johnson:
Extremely popular, super dedicated fan base. There's a high expectation also by that fan base, but overall the brand consistently performs at a really high level. It's a sleek, simple, classic-feeling logo with minimal changes since 1998.
And Apple also really sells an emotional connection while spinning up the exclusivity of their offerings. It's easy to relate to the brand and feel somewhat unique by purchasing and using their products. So when I was looking at this, I thought Tom Brady, Apple.

Josh Dougherty:
Totally true.

Mel Johnson:
It just measures across very, very well.

Josh Dougherty:
And they maintain that exclusivity as people get just as good as them. A la Tom Brady over time.
Well, maybe not. Tom was pretty good all the way through.

Phil Padilla:
Let me plug my mouse into charge before I comment.

Brad Steinbacher:
Every quarterback has a flaw, and that mouse is definitely a flaw.

Mel Johnson:
Yeah, Tom Brady's flaw was definitely his ego and the fact that he stayed playing for probably a year longer than he should have. And Apple has had some interesting flaws as was greatly explained by Phil there with how that mouse is charging.

Josh Dougherty:
The other flaw I would say is their 2017 to 2021 MacBook Air. Shittiest computer ever.

Mel Johnson:
I can't disagree.

Josh Dougherty:
I'm going to plug in my mouse too while we're talking. It's a great idea.

Brad Steinbacher:
I also had that MacBook that they had to do a recall on all the keyboards.

Josh Dougherty:
Oh, yeah.

Brad Steinbacher:
But that's just interceptions. I mean, every quarterback throws an interception now and then.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, it's true.
Brad, who's your quarterback?

Brad Steinbacher:
My quarterback is Disney.

Mel Johnson:
Nice.

Brad Steinbacher:
Because they're a mixture of old and new. So you got the flashy running quarterbacks. You got the old ones like Tom Brady who stay in the pocket. They get a lot of attention when things go good, like when Marvel is conquering the box office. And then they get a lot of attention when things go bad, when Marvel is now crumbling and the box office is getting taken over by young upstarts like Barbie and Oppenheimer, which, yeah, young upstarts.
So they're the ones that I went with. And they're easily recognizable no matter where you are. And I feel that's the same way for these quarterbacks with soup commercials and State Farm ads and stuff like that. They're everywhere.

Mel Johnson:
Mahomes.

Brad Steinbacher:
Yep. Mahomes, Rogers.

Mel Johnson:
Rogers.

Brad Steinbacher:
All of them.

Josh Dougherty:
I'm going to follow up with a more hated brand. Well, loved and hated, which is I think a good quarterback. Tesla, I would say. Flashy, avant-garde.

Brad Steinbacher:
Bursts into flames.

Josh Dougherty:
Do amazing things. Have the four interception game every once in a while, so it's kind of like a San Francisco 49ers quarterback. Really-

Brad Steinbacher:
Shots fired.

Josh Dougherty:
Really exciting, but then falls apart at certain moments.

Mel Johnson:
Brock Purdy.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, so I don't know. I think that the other thing that is interesting about them that makes me think of a quarterback is the ubiquitousness of them. They are the EV. They are everywhere. They're also all over the charging game. They're trying to corner the market on everything, just like I think a good quarterback tries to do with their brand.
They also are constantly trying to roll out new products, but they, I think, expand who buys them. But they stay really true to their core game of trying to make this sleek, flashy car brand.

Mel Johnson:
That is a polarizing pick.

Phil Padilla:
Yeah, I would agree.

Brad Steinbacher:
It fits really well though.

Mel Johnson:
It does.

Brad Steinbacher:
Yeah.

Josh Dougherty:
It's kind of like a ...

Brad Steinbacher:
Erratic owner a lot of the football teams have.

Josh Dougherty:
Exactly. Yeah, kind of like the Dallas Cowboys. You either love him or you hate him.

Brad Steinbacher:
That's right.

Phil Padilla:
I went with a solid contender and just went with Nike. I mean, we're talking quarterback here.

Mel Johnson:
I almost went with Nike.

Phil Padilla:
I wanted something trusting and reliable. Definitely has that layer of flash, but at the core relies on fundamentals. Consistent, reliable.
I trust that when it's put in a corner it will make the sound decision versus the showboat decision. So there's that core element of just reliability and trust. And then every now and again they do something stupid and create a turnover, but you can live with it because 9 out of 10 decisions are right.

Brad Steinbacher:
It's also a really good fit.

Josh Dougherty:
It's such a good pick.

Phil Padilla:
It's like very Joe Montana.

Josh Dougherty:
It's true. My only gripe is their shoes are too narrow.

Phil Padilla:
They are. I have wide feet so I definitely-

Josh Dougherty:
I can't wear them.

Mel Johnson:
See though, I thought I had fairly wide feet. But I got a pair of Nike Airs and I love them. They're brand new. They're fricking great.

Josh Dougherty:
I have my indoor soccer shoes are Nikes right now and I've had them for a year and a half. They are just on the edge of being too narrow. Every week I'm like, damn it, I need to replace these. But then it becomes less of a painful thing the next morning. And then I put them on the next week and think, ah, better that I don't replace them.

Phil Padilla:
You must have wider feet than me.

Josh Dougherty:
Well, their soccer shoes are really narrow. I can wear their tennis shoes pretty decently well.

Phil Padilla:
I've tried on a few pairs though that I could [inaudible] whoa, what are these?

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, sweet.
Well, we're down to the last pick in our draft: wide receivers. I'm interested to see if people have slot picks or that big play wide receiver that they chose.
So Mel, to take us down the home stretch or maybe in the final 10 yards. Another horrible pun, but I can't help myself.

Mel Johnson:
We're in the red zone. Let's go.

Josh Dougherty:
We're in the red zone. Can you convert?

Mel Johnson:
I went with Samsung.

Brad Steinbacher:
Son of a...

Josh Dougherty:
Yes.

Mel Johnson:
Calvinball, baby. Come on, Brad, come up with something quick. I'll keep talking. Samsung has a unique letter mark because of that A. It's immediately recognizable.
Why do I feel that they're flashy though? Straight up, it's their commercials. They went in a very Apple-feeling direction for their commercials over the last probably almost two years I would say. I feel like in the last six to eight months they've started to come more into their own feel. They feel less Apple. They feel more completely Samsung. So when you're watching TV and the commercials come on, you know that's a Samsung commercial. Or you know that's an Apple commercial.
The other thing I really like about Samsung is the way they use their colors. It is mostly black and white for a lot of things, but they have this really beautiful, vibrant blue as an accent color that I can't get enough of.

Josh Dougherty:
The reason they feel like Apple is they might be copying Apple.

Mel Johnson:
Oh, I agree. I absolutely agree.

Josh Dougherty:
Just saying. Sorry-

Mel Johnson:
Yeah, those commercials they definitely crimp on Apple.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, we-

Mel Johnson:
Absolutely.

Josh Dougherty:
We won't get too much into the accusations. The smartphone wars of the last decade and a half, right?

Mel Johnson:
Yeah.

Josh Dougherty:
I don't know. Is it them accusing Apple or is it Apple accusing Samsung? Or is it both at different times?

Mel Johnson:
It's both at different times. The reason I do think that they've kind of come into their own identity is because they have the folding phones now.

Josh Dougherty:
Oh, yeah. That's pretty sweet. I keep waiting for Apple to come out with one of those, but who knows? I like the Samsung call. Their plays are good, too. Can't beat a Frame TV. It's pretty amazing.

Mel Johnson:
They got a lot of really great stuff.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah.

Phil Padilla:
Yeah. Good selection.

Josh Dougherty:
Brad, do you need a pass? Do you need someone else to select ahead of you or are you ready to go?

Brad Steinbacher:
I'm ready to go. I'm just disappointed.

Mel Johnson:
I love that we picked the same one, Brad, that makes me happy.

Brad Steinbacher:
I'll add something to Samsung thing too that makes them like my receivers is they're not afraid to trash talk in their ads, which we do.
But for my replacement, hell, I went with Toyota for a slot receiver and that they're not super flashy, although they can do flashy things now and then. Durable, have a long career. Toyota seemed to last forever and so that was my desperate pick right there.

Josh Dougherty:
Nice.

Mel Johnson:
I like that a lot, Brad, actually. Because the flashiness I feel like is the 2000s Celica. Do you guys remember that? It looked kind of like a race car.

Brad Steinbacher:
Well...

Mel Johnson:
A little flashy.

Josh Dougherty:
Or the 2024 Land Cruiser. Have you seen that?

Mel Johnson:
Haven't seen that.

Josh Dougherty:
It's not coming out in the US but it's fricking amazing. Work playing on all the nostalgia for me of kids who grew up when land cruisers were a big deal.

Brad Steinbacher:
Yeah.

Josh Dougherty:
My wide receiver is ChatGPT. Big play receiver making huge splashes, dropping new things and everyone's like, "Oh my God, I've never seen that before." Just like the catch when the guy's dragging his toes as he's falling out of bounds.
The other thing is they're a bit cocky. They're a bit like we're changing everything, but they have no clue what changing everything means. Sam Altman's like please, we're going to push this forward. But we don't have any idea where AI's going but we're going to go for it anyways.
Which I think is a good wide receiver. I have no idea if I can make this catch, if I can do this thing, but I'm going to go for it. I'll be a little bit more mercurial and celebrate as I'm going along.

Mel Johnson:
I'm not sure what to think about that pick.

Josh Dougherty:
How so?

Mel Johnson:
It makes sense the way you explained it, but ...

Brad Steinbacher:
I mean it makes sense. The NFL is big on throwing now. Journalism is going toward AI, which is horrible. Our defense is not ready for the new game.

Josh Dougherty:
Can't react to it.

Brad Steinbacher:
Flashy, faster receivers. So I think it makes a lot of sense.

Phil Padilla:
One tool I just haven't used very often. I know what it's capable of. I just have yet to get my feet very wet.

Brad Steinbacher:
I think we all know what it's eventually capable of. That's the problem.

Phil Padilla:
Yeah. My wide receiver is a brand you may or may not know and you may have mixed feelings because I have mixed feelings about it. But it's a brand called Magic Spoon.

Josh Dougherty:
I love that brand.

Phil Padilla:
They make nutritional cereal. The reason why I bring that up is because they definitely have a very bold, very flashy, very unique, memorable brand that they designed. It's supported by a very unique illustration style that really ... It's almost invitationally. It lures people to try the product.
My wife got the product. I love the art. The love pretty much stopped at the art though. Look, I'm not the demo, so I'm not the person they're trying to win over. So I shouldn't be saying negative words. It wasn't for me. But it's one of those cereals, high protein, low carbs, low sugar. They have a good mission and cool art. I definitely think they fit that flashy, wide receiver slot. But might underperform on product delivery.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, they're also going to go for maximum contract value. It's expensive.

Phil Padilla:
Yeah, those boxes are a lot. My wife told me each box is like $16 or something like that.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, it's $44 for four boxes or something on a discount or something.
Just to be clear, we are not one of the podcasts that is sponsored by Magic Spoon. You cannot get a discount code by visiting magicspoon.com/abravenew.

Brad Steinbacher:
You could try.

Josh Dougherty:
You could try. You could try.

Phil Padilla:
The funny thing was that the brand is so well thought out and put together that I wanted to like the product. I really wanted to. I just didn't.

Josh Dougherty:
Are you sure you just didn't have the right flavor yet?

Phil Padilla:
You have to buy all four flavors. Anyhow, I think I tried them all. I think I'm just used to sugar.

Brad Steinbacher:
Corn Flakes.

Phil Padilla:
I'm used to cereal that came out of a factory.

Josh Dougherty:
There's more than four flavors.

Phil Padilla:
Is there?

Mel Johnson:
I was going to ask you, Phil-

Josh Dougherty:
There's like 20 flavors.

Phil Padilla:
Oh, I don't know.

Mel Johnson:
I wanted to ask you, what was it that made you not want to buy it again?

Phil Padilla:
It's like eating cauliflower mashed potatoes when no one told you they were cauliflower. They're like, "Hey, would you like some mashed potatoes?" And then you bite into it and you're like, this isn't mashed potatoes.

Josh Dougherty:
Oh yeah, I agree with that. If you are going into it expecting normal cereal, you will not like it.

Phil Padilla:
Agreed. And come on, I'll eat it. I could eat a box. I went into the first bite with an open mind.

Josh Dougherty:
You're really bringing me back to the days when my mom would make soy mac and cheese when I was growing up. Be like, it tastes just like Mac and macaroni and cheese and we're like, nope.

Phil Padilla:
It's like that-

Brad Steinbacher:
God. What sort of horrible incarceration did you grow up in?

Josh Dougherty:
We can't get into that now. It'll take too long.

Phil Padilla:
It's like a new pizza place opening across the street from where you live. You want to love it and then you're disappointed when you don't.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah.

Mel Johnson:
That's fair.

Brad Steinbacher:
Well, I mean regardless, we're never going to get their sponsorship now after Phil just tore them a new one.

Josh Dougherty:
I know. We could have gotten the lucrative sponsorship and I could have been getting boxes of Fruity Magic Spoon delivered to my house for the rest of my life. No more.

Brad Steinbacher:
Back to the Costco, the Kirkland brand of cereal.

Mel Johnson:
Everything. The Kirkland brand of everything.

Josh Dougherty:
By the way, this is really bad, but if you buy the Kirkland brand of keto friendly cereal, it is not as good as Magic Spoon. But side note-

Brad Steinbacher:
Now we lost the Kirkland support too. Great.

Josh Dougherty:
Yeah, we're doing good on sponsorships.

Mel Johnson:
We're doing great.

Josh Dougherty:
All right. I think we should now go through and decide who we think is going to have the best season with the choices that they made. So let's have each person go around and remind everyone of their four draftees. And then we can maybe have each person weigh in on who has the best lineup.

Mel Johnson:
Or can we Frankenstein the lineup?

Josh Dougherty:
We can, yeah.

Mel Johnson:
I already want a Frankenstein.

Josh Dougherty:
Let's Frankenstein. Let's do it. So let's go through and remind everyone of our choices. And then we can choose the All-Star team out of it.

Mel Johnson:
Awesome. All right, so since I was first in talking about my picks, remember that my quarterback is Apple. My running back is REI. My wide receiver is Samsung, and my tight end is Hershey's.

Brad Steinbacher:
My quarterback is Disney. My running back is Budweiser. My alternate wide receiver, I'm still bitter about, is Toyota, and my tight end is Black and Decker.

Mel Johnson:
That's still so good.

Josh Dougherty:
My quarterback is Tesla. My running back is Adobe. My ride receiver is ChatGPT, and then my tight end was Alphabet I suppose.

Phil Padilla:
My quarterback was Nike. My running back was Kirkland Signature. Costco, a wide receiver was Magic Spoon and for tight end I had more of a category of root beer. But you can use Barq's.

Josh Dougherty:
They've got bite.

Phil Padilla:
There you go.

Mel Johnson:
That's right.

Josh Dougherty:
All right, let's Frankenstein it. Who's the best lineup, Mel?

Mel Johnson:
Okay, so my Frankenstein lineup from everything that we've talked about is tight end I want to go with Brad's pick of Black and Decker. I think that's fantastic. I can't think of any reason why that would not be one of the most perfect picks for that position. I am going to go with Samsung for the wide receiver for sure, especially because both you and I picked it, Brad.
Let's see, running back. What was your running back again, Josh?

Josh Dougherty:
Adobe.

Mel Johnson:
Yeah. As much as I love REI, I think Adobe is a much more nationally recognized brand and is better for that position.
And then remind me of what your quarterback was again, Brad.

Brad Steinbacher:
Mine was Disney. But I feel like Phil's Nike was probably the best fit.

Mel Johnson:
Nike's pretty good. I think I'm going to stick with Apple.

Brad Steinbacher:
Oh.

Phil Padilla:
Decent lineup you got.

Brad Steinbacher:
Yeah. Yeah. I think my Frankenstein will be Nike. I'm going to stick with my Budweiser for running back. Samsung for wide receiver. And Josh, what was your tight end again? Alphabet? And Phil, yours was I kind of ... I got to go with the root beer. It's true. It's just delicious and I like it, so I'm going with that.

Josh Dougherty:
All right.

Brad Steinbacher:
A&W instead of Barq's.

Josh Dougherty:
Nice.

Mel Johnson:
Just to be obtuse.

Josh Dougherty:
Mine is Tesla. I'm going to stick with Tesla for my quarterback. I'm going to go with Budweiser for the running back. I like that call a lot. And Black and Decker for a tight end. And then Magic Spoon for the wide receiver.

Phil Padilla:
I think I'm going to stick with a couple of my own picks. Nike is the quarterback. I think they're a solid contender. Definitely leaning into Adobe for the running back. I think they just have a special place in my heart honestly. I'm going to go Samsung. If you walked around my house and looked at appliances, I'd be a fool not to pick Samsung.
Those are three solid contenders in my opinion. So I'm going to go with a bit of a wild card on the tight end and stick with root beer.
Definitely thinking in 50 years, there'll be some eight-year-old drinking it. Some old person will be like, how?

Josh Dougherty:
Exactly.

Brad Steinbacher:
How is that position still around?

Phil Padilla:
Yeah.

Josh Dougherty:
Exactly.

Phil Padilla:
How are you still on the team?

Josh Dougherty:
Amazing. Well, I think I figure this finishes up our draft. Thanks everybody for jumping on, shooting the shit for a while, and coming up with I think a really good selection of brands.
We'll be back with more regularly scheduled programming soon, soon-ish. But I think the question you're asking is, when will we get back with another ridiculous sports take on branding? It'll probably be the next three or four months since I think we are creating a little bit of a trend that we're doing that.
So we'll all be back shortly talking about brands. We'll make sure we share the Magic Spoon link and some other random things in the show notes and ...

Brad Steinbacher:
It's Kirkland tees.

Josh Dougherty:
Kirkland tees. Got to find Kirkland tees. And after that, yeah, we'll be back on in the near future with some more content. So thanks for joining us. See you all later.

Mel Johnson:
Bye-bye.

Phil Padilla:
Thank you.

Josh Dougherty:
Thanks for listening to this episode of a Brave New Podcast. Go to abravenew.com for more resources and advice on all things brand and marketing.
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A Brave New Podcast is created by A Brave New, a brand and marketing agency in Seattle, Washington. Our producer is Rob Gregerson of Legato Productions.