A (2:24)

All right, let me get three answers in.

B (2:27)

Okay, I'm ready.

A (2:29)

Number one, Is it something like. You're gonna laugh at this. Is it something like cigarettes or like a controlled substance or something. Something edgy?

B (2:38)

That's actually a really good guess, but no, it is not something edgy.

A (2:41)

Okay, Is it something. It's like more fashion forward. So your company that doesn't necessarily make apparel, but like, launching a line of something.

B (2:50)

It is not merch. It's not anything in the merch kind of area. That's a really good guess, though. God, I want to see people go test these out. Because all, like, both of those were good guesses.

A (2:59)

Final guess, type of product that makes a brand 20% cooler.

B (3:03)

Yep, 20% cooler. If you launch this type of product, think more. I don't know, like, think a little bit more abstract. Is that a good hint? I don't even know.

A (3:15)

We're thinking, is it just a more expensive product?

B (3:19)

Oh, that was a good guess, but no.

A (3:21)

All right, what is it?

B (3:23)

Okay, according to science, if you launch an absurd mini product, it could increase the cool factor of your brand by 20%.

A (3:32)

I just saw G Shock do this.

B (3:34)

Oh, did you really? Okay, so we're talking about, like, spin off products that are in unrelated categories. For example, cybersecurity, theme toys, fried chicken, nail polish, or like mascara water bottles. Like, think weird.

A (3:49)

All right, all right. So when you say mini, you don't mean small.

B (3:54)

Not just small, but just like an.

A (3:56)

Offshoot of a product completely a different thing. Oh, that's cool. That makes sense.

B (4:01)

Anything that's like, sort of related to your product, but not exactly related to you. So this was across four experiments, 1,454 people, and an analysis of over 5,000 social media comments. Scientists found that when real brands launched these kind of like, extremely unrelated products, like KFC fried chicken scented nail polish, people thought the brand was 20% cooler after launching these particular products.

A (4:26)

Do you know there's a. There's a Lamborghini wine.

B (4:29)

There's a Lamborghini wine.

A (4:30)

Yeah.

B (4:31)

Oh, my God. I mean, that's legit, though. That's actually really well related.

A (4:36)

And I think I've seen, like, Ferrari, like, coasters and stuff. Yeah, I get it.

B (4:41)

So, yes. So you could term this a little bit as merch, but the way I'm interpreting this is they have to be like, very odd things. Like, it doesn't. It's literally just like a for fun product. So I'm not talking about merch that has like your brand on it and it's like we're going to give you an umbrella or like we're going to give you like perfume or whatever that literally one of the examples they have is spicy flavored toothpaste that came from a hot pot brand. And people were like, yes, this is amazing. So, and I've seen only one brand do this incredibly well. Crocs capitalizes on this better than anybody I've ever seen.

A (5:17)

What do they do?

B (5:18)

Let's pause for just a minute.

A (5:20)

Prospecting on Meta in 2025 has been a huge pain. Reaching net new people is getting harder and harder and harder. And the only thing Meta seems to care about is rolling out more AI slot features that take away a lot of our controls as advertisers. So brands have been looking for another side and they're turning to other side. Other side is an agency that figured out how to turn programmatic advertising into a performance marketing channel. They're able to advertise outside the Meta eco system, show clear and accurate attribution, and they have the ability to prospect and retarget across platforms. So you're able to unlock huge new audiences that aren't like us. They're not chronically on Meta and Instagram. For brain driven brands listeners, they're running a crazy offer right now. They'll run your ads for free for two months to prove to you it works. Then you can either part ways or continue at their normal affordable retainer. But they're making this risk free and it's a no brainer for you to try. So go to jointheotherside.com and let them know we sent you.

B (6:16)

And now back to the show. Crocs has those little tiny like tchotchkes that you can put on the shoe.

A (6:21)

Oh yeah, right, yeah, they're literally just.

B (6:24)

Like shoe bedazzle basically.

A (6:26)

Yep.

B (6:27)

You know what I'm talking about. And they're like these little, I don't even know, cartoon characters or there's like a hot dog you can put on it or like weirdest little thing like cotton candy. It's literally just to make the shoe interesting to use. So I think that's what the psychology is around. This is like people really want just odd, fun, interesting things that don't necessarily add to the product, they just add to the experience of it. And it, from what I could tell, it's got to be a little weird, like fried chicken nail polish. Okay, so I have brands that do this already. You want me to list the Ones that I know.

A (6:59)

Yeah, let's go a few real ones and then we'll try to come up with their own.

B (7:03)

Outside of Crocs, I have seen Liquid Death do this. They partner with like makeup brands. They had that little coffin makeup thing that I absolutely love because for one thing there's a lot of like women who were goth or men who were goth in their high school years that.

A (7:17)

I did a watch too.

B (7:18)

Really? Yeah, they've done a watches. They've done all kinds of interesting things where if you're in kind of that mode of like you just like dark things, this matches so incredibly well. And I mean for them obviously it was like a good brand play, but stuff like that I think is. Is fantastic.

A (7:34)

So I've actually been on the other side of this for a couple of of years. We had licensing deals with Jack Daniels and Ford and Coors who don't make watches, but they were like, that is a thing that makes our brand cooler and more premium. We heard that over and over again. Like we couldn't really sell enough watches that would be like interesting to like brown Foreman's bottle. Like bottom line, because they're a four billion dollar a year company, but like they loved what they did for the elevation and like premiumization of the brand.

B (8:06)

Yes. What I. I'd be so interested to see some of these brands do something like this where they. It's sister brands partnering together.

A (8:14)

Yeah.

B (8:14)

Like breeze. I haven't seen partner with literally anybody. I'm like, you're actually a really good brand for this because you got kind of that like psychedelic kind of like what do you call it, like rainbow kind of a. A thing going on. I'm like, why don't you guys go partner with like My Little Pony? Yeah, you know how many adults love My Little Pony, like that type of stuff. I want to find good connections with brands that literally don't have any. They don't share a whole lot of head space in the category, but they're just, they're well suited to each other just based upon like how interesting they are together. So. Yeah, that's a really good example.

A (8:46)

What would you do for. For adapt.

B (8:49)

That's what I. Okay, so this is what I was trying to think of. So there's a couple caveats to this effect. The effect apparently is stronger when the brand is popular or well known. You guys have the added benefit of like your founder has a pretty iconic face. The effect is stronger when the extension is co branded. So for example, people rated McDonald's 9.7.2% cooler when they launched a sauce themed sneaker with Adidas, which I found really interesting. It's also weaker when the new product is in a category near the core brands. 1. This is the reason why I say it has to be like, off the wall. You. It's got to be off the wall for you.

A (9:23)

I can't believe I didn't think of this. I've been doing this my whole career.

B (9:27)

Isn't it so interesting? I'm like, o, no, I want to.

A (9:30)

See what should I do for my little side hustle whiskey themed hat brand? By the way, guys, shooting doubles dot com. I'll talk about it. Go buy some hats.

B (9:41)

Yeah, you should please start talking about it. Oh, the side hustle.

A (9:44)

Have you seen. Have I sent you? How many country artists have bought and worn hats organically from me without me doing anything?

B (9:53)

Are you saving these images? You need to save them. Okay. Yeah. Use them. Holy God. Okay, now we. We have, like, we haven't even opened up this box of like, I know.

A (10:02)

I sprung it on you today.

B (10:03)

You totally did. Okay. All right, all right. So great example of this. And I'm just going to steal this from their examples because I can't think of these off the top of my head very quickly. I like this idea of fortune cookies. Can you do a whiskey themed fortune cookie where it's like inside everyone's like.

A (10:17)

It'S just like hard rock.

B (10:19)

Like, just like blue collar.

A (10:20)

Just like have another one more round.

B (10:24)

Yeah, I want to see this. I want to see some fortune freaking cookies only for blue collar men. There you go.

A (10:30)

That'd be so funny to drop fortune cookies into boxes of hats.

B (10:35)

Do it. Oh, my God. And this would be such a surprise and delight. People would talk about it and you.

A (10:39)

Open it and it's just like, I see six whiskeys in your near future. Yeah.

B (10:46)

Oh, can you please do it? Do you also know that fortune cookies are actually really cheap to source? Because I've looked into it for many, many brands in the past. We were almost going to do it for the hotel that I worked at in my 20s. They're very cheap. They're very easy to generate. They're really easy to ship because they're super light.

A (11:00)

Yeah, you can like, customize the messages.

B (11:03)

Customize it? Yeah, you can customize messages for whatever you want.

A (11:05)

Like, I think I should do it.

B (11:06)

Oh, let's do it. Let's try it. Okay.

A (11:10)

I like that. I like the weird accessory play.

B (11:13)

Weird accessories. The weirder the better. I think in this particular case. So everybody go out this week, test some really weird brand products. If you can, go get fortune cookies, please, and just tailor them to whatever you're talking about in your brand.

A (11:27)

Can I tell you that I just had to tell my new boss that I need the Airbnb to be stocked with Red Bull at our first trip and I haven't heard from him since. So I don't know if he's or.

B (11:42)

Not, but he may not have a job after.

A (11:44)

We'll see.

B (11:45)

There you go. That's our quiz for today.

A (11:48)

Thanks for listening to Brain Driven Brands. You can follow me and Sarah if you want and if you don't, then you probably just make less money. That's fine if you want to do that. So thanks for listening. See you next time.

B (11:59)

Bye. Thank you so much for joining us on the show today. Appreciate you guys listening. If you want to follow me, I'm arahlevinger. Anywhere you consume content, he is Aelagos. If you like this show and if you like this episode, go ahead and like subscribe. Share with a friend. Drop us a review when you have a minute. We would appreciate it. Otherwise, have a great week. We'll see you next time.