A (1:46)

Sure. And so I'm sitting there and I'm like, okay, I just want to test this on my. Aside from marketing. Like, there's no way I'm. I don't say I'm not copying. There's no way. It's like I'm coming over here and I'm talking about hooks and it's going to be seen as like me trying to replicate or copy. Long story short, people were definitely in the comment section saying like, did Joshua approve this Whatever that is a lesson based on what I'm talking about now where it's like it, you should do something so recognizable that people associate it with you as a person or a brand, right? Where if I copy it, yo, it's like, aren't you just copying Brooklyn Coffee Shop? Aren't you just copying Subway Takes, right? Like you want to be able to create that. And understanding how you own the first three seconds of a video is how you do that how you intro? Is it always these three movements? Is it always you walking in screen and picking up your phone? Like what are the things that you're doing? Intro and also the setting that you're in that makes it unique to you. And so I, I think about it through the lens of the set. So if you know, like we're building up this, this all the shit that you see in the, in the background, I'm going to have sets that are unique to us, right? Where I won't say all of them but like, you know, we're building like these, these specific like walls and settings so that when we, when we create an idea or when we take an idea and then we put it into this setting, like it is just us, you know, it's not just a green screen that anybody can, can kind of do, right? And so you look at the, you look at the set and you're like, okay, that is mine. That's one of one that's unique and also makes it much harder for somebody to replicate it, right? That's one. Then two is the actions that you're doing. What are the unique, the actions that you're taking that make it unique to you that I see. I instantly recognize that that's what you're. Or that's what is going to like. This is a series that I'm about to watch. This is a type of content that I'm going to watch, right? And so that is, that's how I'm thinking about owning the hook and then also owning like the verbal hook, right? The thing that you say. So I'm going to go through a good amount of examples that I think they do an amazing job at this and this is also why they're growing insanely fast. And um, I have a, I'm finally back on the YouTube game.

B (4:11)

This is you.

A (4:12)

Yeah. Um, good. It needed, it needed to happen. Like this was, I mean this is why we're like building these sets. That's why there's these old ass TVs over there. Boy, I was like old TV hunting for it's for a sec. In. In at Goodwill this weekend. Trying to find that bro interesting people go to Goodwill.

B (4:29)

Everyone there is.

A (4:31)

Oh, my.

B (4:31)

From a different background. And it was find a billionaire.

A (4:35)

I went to a Goodwill over in, like, East Austin. That's interesting. Then one in, like off Congress. Then one in drippings. When I talk about the types of people like it just right. Imagine you see like the Thrifters kind of in the east side. And then you see like a mix of wealthy people and then a mix of like homeless people in. On Congress over here, Hillbillies. Like, it was. It was just so funny to see the different types of people. Anyways, so first brand, or not even brand, but first show that I'm going to start with is Subway Takes. I'm sure you've seen Subway Takes.

B (5:08)

Yeah.

A (5:09)

Okay, so think about Subway Takes from the lens of. Okay, what does he own? Well, he owns the fact that he is filming in a subway, right. Camera straight on, two people sitting next to each other. If you and I did that tomorrow and we even did like, content takes. Yeah, Be. Everybody be like, I am your copy. And Subway Takes, Right. So he owns the setting. Then he owns the. The. The visual hook of going like this and turning really fast to the person next to him. Then he owns. So what's your take? Right. That is all. If we're thinking about owning hooks that Subway Takes right there is owning that three seconds kind of two. Two to three seconds that opens up their series, their show.

B (5:53)

Also the expectation of who is this person that he's asking? Because then he's sometimes got. You had also Butler on there. He had like, all sorts of folks there that, like, were. I guess it's a. It's a. He'll have randos. But then it's gotten so big that you kind of like, ooh, like who's the guest today? So it's also about expectation setting. You know, you want to kind of. Yeah. States that there's going to be a surprise. You know, the familiarity gets you to stop the scroll. I mean, homeboy with School of Hard Knocks does this extremely well goes on here. Yeah. Okay, I'll let you get to them then.

A (6:27)

No, you're fine. You're fine. Um, I was going to give all the examples, then go into familiarity and expectation setting. But we can dive into it now where the importance of expectation setting is the fact that I consume, let's say, 250 pieces of content every single day. If I'm spending three to four hours on. On Instagram going through Content. It is so important to set an expectation so that the person scrolling and consuming as much content as me, less content than me, More content than me, sees my first three seconds and knows exactly what they're going to get out of that. That's the importance of building this set or thinking in sets and then having these repeatable aspects of your show that make it something that somebody expects and knows what they're going to get out of it as well. Familiarity is why that's so important. I talk about House of Errors, or maybe I made a video about House of Errors and how important it is to have familiarity attached to your content. So, you know, if you're. If you're starting a clothing brand, nearly every clothing brand does, like the overlay shot where they put their shirt on something like this, like stones, floor, and they go overhead shot and they kind of have that crinkled up. Cool. Now the problem is there's nothing that makes that unique or familiar to a brand because everyone's doing it right. All of a sudden, House of Air is like, yeah, we have these cherry red, like, wood cabinets, and I think they, you know, they have a specific floor that they have and they shoot everything in front of that. They do skits in front of that.

B (7:55)

They.

A (7:55)

They do their lookbook in front of that.

B (7:56)

Yeah.

A (7:57)

All of a sudden I see that back backdrop and all I think about is that familiarity is attached to House of Errors. I just know it's House of.

B (8:05)

Yeah, it would look wrong if somebody else is there.

A (8:07)

Exactly. So those two things are very powerful aspects when we're thinking about developing these. These sets. This other guy that I have is. I think his name's like, Joshua. I guess I don't have good luck with Joshua's, but Joshua Charo. Charo. I'm gonna send you the link to. To him because I. I don't know if you've seen this guy or not, but he does a lot of kind of like these mini docs on artists, artists that have been, like, really doing their craft for that 40, 50 years that maybe don't get all the recognition that they should. And so if you look at his page, you're going to see a lot of content. Dude, that has, like, right. 2 to 10 million, if not more views. And they're all like these. These, again, these artists in their studios that they've had for a long, long time. And he's making these little documentaries.

B (9:00)

Yeah, this is sick.

A (9:01)

It's sick. Now when you look at the hook for each one of them, they all Start with three layers. Layer number one being the actual shot. The actual shot is this wide angle slow motion shot typically. And like the person's in like the bottom third or kind of like doing some kind of action. She's just swing. She's on something unique. Like she's swinging in on her swing in her. Which is a sick loft, by the way. This is her loft.

B (9:28)

Yeah. These are. These are the boomers that make sure you can't afford a home. Yeah. Because they wouldn't send them that motherfucker for 40 years.

A (9:34)

Since 1986, bro. The rent in. In 1986 was 750 for this. Yeah. When she had 7,000 square feet. Isn't that something crazy odd? Um, and so he starts with this slow motion shot. It kind of like sets the tone for like, I'm about to watch a powerful piece. Right. Number two is they. Then he has a title hook. He does this for all of his. All of his videos that are similar to this where it's like just some kind of statement right here. The rent in 1986 was $750 for this when we had 7,000 square feet. Again, powerful. But if you follow him, if you follow Joshua and you. And you regularly consume his content, he creates familiarity by always having that ultra wide angle, slow mo shot. And font and. Exactly. And font kind of tidal hook on his. On his videos. This again is super. When we're talking about like this just sea of content where we're always consuming endless, endless content. You have to have these things that not just stand out, but that people recognize. Like, I think we're moving from. You have to stand out to. You have to be recognized. Yeah. And you do that through repetition.

B (10:45)

I also think there's some principles in a lot of his, like text hooks for people to think about. One of a super top performing one is like we've lived in the last remaining Ellis island ferry boat for the past 25 years. Like that kind of has a lot of that shock and awe that you see in viral YouTube videos.

A (11:00)

Yeah.

B (11:01)

Where it's okay. It's not one of the last. It's the last.

A (11:04)

Right.

B (11:05)

It's a really recognizable thing in Ellis Island. And then it's a quantified time in 25 years. Like you want to have these extremes in your copy. And a lot of people are super uncomfortable with that is something that I've actually just uncovered over the last years. Working with all these folks is like, they don't want to use hyperbole in all of their statement. It's it's honestly, you're just playing five times harder when you're not using hyperbole. So if you want a title hook that's actually going to stand out, you need three things. So, number one is you need the hyperbole. Right? It's got to be an extreme scenario. I was the last remaining person in Ellis island loft before getting kicked out after 25 years. That second part is the action, right? What is actually happening. Like, you're setting the table for what the video is going to be about. And the last piece is just quantifying it. Like, you have to have a specific timeframe. So you want it to be super extreme. You want there to be an action, and then you also need to have a specific number to quantify the whole thing. All right, what else you got?

A (12:03)

So, Muse cheesecake, this shit looks so damn good.

B (12:05)

You know, a lot of people. A lot of people don't take Winter seriously for their physique. Is that how you're treating it?

A (12:11)

No, I'm back on Manny's game.

B (12:13)

You're shredding.

A (12:14)

I'm shredding.

B (12:15)

It's time to shred.

A (12:17)

It's been time to shred for me. It's just. It's just that hasn't happened. Probably the last time I lost eight pounds was because I got traveler's diarrhea. That's too much for the plot.

B (12:28)

Yeah, we'll admit. We'll admit.

A (12:30)

All right. Okay, so I want to talk Muse cheesecake, predominantly how they have a visual element and visual setting that is unique to them. So they shoot everything kind of low angle or, you know, at product height, but everything is shot in front of this kind of, like, maroon backdrop where most food is shot in. In the setting of the, you know, the actual restaurant or whatever. They've, like. They've kind of brought a few layers into it that I think are amazing. So I'll send this one specific video that I think is really good. And they. They have multiple that are very good.

B (13:08)

But I'm gonna say something out of pocket.

A (13:11)

There's kind of sexual.

B (13:12)

There's some erotic undertones to a lot of this footage.

A (13:14)

It's kind of sexual. Right.

B (13:15)

You know, and. And I think that that can't be discounted in you.

A (13:19)

Well, part of the hook is powerful, dude. It's part of the hooks. So if you look at the one that I just sent you, and I think there's one that's even better, but I think it plays into it, right? Like, the maroon is, like, a little lusty Right. Like having that white glove.

B (13:31)

The maroon background is like high contrast again, same font throughout everything.

A (13:35)

Yep. The white gloves is also key, in my opinion. Like, a lot of luxury kind of fashion pieces. A lot of, like, leather goods. They'll use a lot of. And I actually have an example of this white gloves as you know, them holding the product to just. It's like this little thing that communicates this is luxury.

B (13:51)

Well, it makes you feel like you can't put a fingerprint on it. Yeah, right. It's luxury.

A (13:55)

And like, exactly like, you can't. You can't like put any kind of little blemish on this.

B (14:00)

I can't keep watching this squeeze.

A (14:02)

I know. And they're doing this for. For cheesecake. Right. And it's like, imagine what the full macro shots, bro.

B (14:07)

Imagine what the secret account looks like.

A (14:09)

Yeah. So they've kind of owned this where they've made it really, really unique to be able to just shoot their product imagery in a way that just is so different than other brands. Right. Okay. Another one that I'm going to go to is I actually talked about this on a video recently, Project 88. They all start with this like, overhead drone shot, or they have a camera mounted like on a C stand over. Over the car. But for this, every single shot is kind of open the door, you have sound design on it, and then they get in and they drive off. Right. This hook is extremely unique to. To them, which I, I love because it. It kind of shows a different POV of the car as well, where, like I'm looking at the. The interior is just like popping out and talking to me. Yeah, right. And they own this. By putting it in a studio, most people are going to see the car more so like on. On the lot or something like that. So it's like, okay, what can we do? If we take the Virgil abloh's rule of 3%, what can we do that makes this a bit more novel? Okay, what if we put it in the studio and then we shoot overhead? Two simple things to think about that make this entirely novel. Where. If everybody is shooting at a dealership or in a. Not in the warehouse, but like where they. They fix the cars or whatever. Like if they're shooting that kind of setting and all of a sudden you go into a studio setting very much. If you shoot a product, shoot product content and then you change the angle and you start owning the angle of going extremely overhead. Now you're playing in a completely. Like you're playing in the way I would Phrase is, you could either race. Run a race with a hundred people, or you could run a race that you're the only person racing. Yeah. What are the chances you win with a hundred people? You and I are pretty high, you know what I'm saying? But, like, you put trials in there.

B (15:58)

That's.

A (15:58)

That's 99.

B (15:59)

I've been questioning my athleticism recently. I was. I was hooping the other day and I was just thinking to myself, I was like, damn, I'm moving like I'm 34, not 29. And I. I think I gotta start doing something about that.

A (16:11)

I got a funny story. So me and Chris love to shit talk. And so before he moved to his. His current place, we. We went to his old place and, like, the rear. I don't play video games, but when I'm around Chris, I'll be like, throwing ncaa. Put money on the table. If you're on ncaa, we're gonna run it. That happens. I whip his ass and I'm like, if we go on the field right now, I. Dusty. I was like, whatever, you sprint. I would bat pedal. But I used to be nice at backpedaling back in the day.

B (16:38)

Yeah.

A (16:38)

Where I'm like, yo, I'm keeping up. If you're not a run, maybe not a running back or a receiver, but it's like, yo, I could keep up with. Most people just back cover. So we line up on the field and he's like, you really want to do this? I'm like, yeah, bro. Like, I would literally keep up with you. Worst case, I'm going to be a step behind, but I'm going to be there with you. His little nephew's like, ready, set, go, bro. I push off and I'm like, why am I not. Like, why was there no.

B (17:04)

Like, there was no explosiveness at all. Yeah.

A (17:07)

And like, no offense. Chris is not the most explosive person either.

B (17:11)

So you're still neck and neck or he's smoking?

A (17:13)

No, but he's smoking me. So he takes off and he's like, five yards and he starts doing this like, bro, what the. And I'm like, yo, I am trying to, like, I don't know what is going on.

B (17:23)

No father pushing Father time comes for all of us. I think at the beginning of this podcast, if you're a long time listener, you understand Alex and I at least thought we were athletic, that it's fading. You know, at least my perception of, like, you know, someone was like, go dunk right now. I'd be like, give me like, five. Give Me five minutes.

A (17:42)

So the. It is fading. We're unk.

B (17:45)

Why you're a dad. I'm. I'm like, for sure.

A (17:48)

Youngsters, you know, I definitely know it's fitting because things that even just in call. I don't want to say college. Like, five years out of college were just very easy to do. And he says it's kind of sus. But, like, I used to just be able to drop down and split. I could still do a split, but I gotta go down a lot slower. You know what I mean? And then, like, the split that's like this.

B (18:10)

That's crazy.

A (18:11)

The split that's like this. I don't know if I. I haven't tried it, but I don't think I could.

B (18:15)

Like, how. How hard were you dropping it down before? Like, when you were answered split 24.

A (18:20)

You were like, my pants was split. I hit it. Like.

B (18:23)

Were you a job leader in college?

A (18:25)

Hell, no.

B (18:25)

There's, like, a side story here where. No, you were on the football team.

A (18:28)

I'm sure I said Blue Mountain State. Like, I was on the cheerleader. No, but now it's like, I got to go down a little slow. So now I'm stretching at night. I'm foam rolling at night, because I'm like, what is going on?

B (18:42)

Yeah, you got to get it back.

A (18:43)

Or just, like, when I'll bend down to grab something, I keep putting the arm out, you know? Like, you know what, bro? I'm putting the arm out, and you do the.

B (18:52)

A little extra support. Yeah.

A (18:54)

All right, last thing, and we'll get back into the content. Not this weekend. The last weekend, you know? I mean, Vanessa will, like, alternate between putting Zara to bed. This is Friday night. And I remember telling myself, like, I'm gonna have a good weekend. I'm trying to go do these things, whatever, because I want her to go lift. I want her to get back into routine of lifting and whatever. I'm putting Zara to bed. And every time, like, you put Zara to bed, she's asking, like, one more hug, dad. One more hug. It's like the most. It's the cutest thing, of course. And so I'm putting her over the crib, and I'm holding her like this, and she's like, one more hug.

B (19:30)

That.

A (19:30)

One more hug, and I'm holding this position. I'm talking about broke down. I, like, kind of like, put it down slowly. And I was stuck. And she's crying. She's like, well, my hug. And I was like. And I was these Are just things.

B (19:45)

That should not be happening to you yet. No, should be at 40.

A (19:47)

I'm talking about like I was stuck on the crib like this for like three minutes. Like I could not move and I couldn't straighten out it. There was like a legit pop sound.

B (19:56)

You're terrified too, huh? Because that's like. No, we're talking six months in the wrong scenario.

A (20:02)

It could have been it by Sunday. I took a lot of relief. I took a lot of relief. Luckily I have like cupping, but it's like a. A batteried cupping. And so I cupped my entire lower back glute area and like that helped. And so like, I have my root. I've hurt my back enough where I know kind of what to do to make it better. New cold plunge at the house. So I was doing all the. All the things. Okay, cool. I know you're short on time. Next brand Buster and Punch. I'm gonna send you this right here. So what I love about them, they start everything on these tight macro shots. Asmr. It's what they own. Tight shot just flickering on. And it's like you just see a gold plated arcamoto switch, you know, and it's. And it kind of has that wow factor. We've talked about. Most spoke before where they do a lot of macro shots and they do it to the sound of specific songs. They do this more so just on the visual ASMR part. But it's. It's shot in a way that is insanely unique to them, which is the whole goal of this. And. And how, like, they have competitors, but the fact that they're always shooting like this one is my. Is probably my favorite. This singular video right here is like they could start this wide angle. Right. And they could really start with this setting. But there's something satisfying about seeing a light switch that is gold.

B (21:31)

Yeah, it also looks good.

A (21:32)

Yeah, that's very luxurious. It's like looks. You know, it looks retro. It looks vintage, but also looks very high class and opening for the. For that. Okay. I have a few more. I'll try to run through them pretty. Pretty fast. So have you seen Street Hearts? Okay, so Street Hearts is like a. Okay, you got it pulled up. Okay. Cool Little. Or I think it's like this. Finding strangers. Hooks up, hook up.

B (21:57)

I'm seeing a lot of dating apps doing this. Yeah, like, dating apps are doing like the IRL sort of show format. Yeah, it's a good opportunity. I mean, they got the little table here. I see what you're saying exactly. So she's got her outfit. Cowboy hat.

A (22:10)

Yep. So it always opens with the host hidden with a question. They're always in. In the middle of like New York. They have their signature kind of style on their. On their table with like the right red and white checkered print to individual on the side. Always starts wide angle. You kind of see the entire setting. And then they, you know, they'll go back and forth with. With it. But it always opens with a question. And it's like question split screen. Damn. I opened the zestiest one.

B (22:41)

It's. It's. There's. That's a stiff competition for which one's the most zested.

A (22:45)

Yeah, yeah.

B (22:46)

I can feel myself zestifying just by watching this video.

A (22:50)

Yeah. Now one of the coolest ones. I don't know if you've seen them or him specifically. Check this out. Vinyl Nights. Have you seen this guy?

B (23:00)

I mean, bro, you're. You're in the trenches.

A (23:02)

I send you the link.

B (23:03)

Okay.

A (23:03)

Check him out. Pause. Nearly 700,000 followers. And look at his entire feed.

B (23:14)

It's kind of crazy. Okay. This is like the final boss of exactly what you've been talking about.

A (23:20)

Look at his entire feed, bro.

B (23:21)

Yeah.

A (23:22)

So he has this wall of nothing but, you know, these, the different vinyls.

B (23:25)

This is called leaning in, right? Yeah. Like he understands like a smooth action, like a similar setting, a trending audio. Like he's doing well.

A (23:33)

He doesn't do trending audio. He does the vinyl. Right.

B (23:36)

Right.

A (23:37)

And it's always like this. He always has like a sequence of shots in slow motion as he starts his video. Like they go crazy and every single video pops.

B (23:47)

Yeah.

A (23:48)

Low key. So this kind of backdrop vibe is what I think we should have for guys. By the way. Like, I just moved into a new studio so it's a little raw, but if we put like that color wood across this entire side.

B (24:01)

No, it'd be crazy.

A (24:02)

And we had it like a little. I forgot to change this desk out to like. I don't think this desk will. Will fit it anymore. If we go, you know, without the.

B (24:10)

Desk is very like post apocalyptic warehouse.

A (24:13)

Yeah.

B (24:15)

Served us well.

A (24:16)

But he does this for every single thing. And there's a reason. Even when we talk about recognition. If I see him pulling out the.

B (24:21)

Vinyl and it's never. No phrase you use is working.

A (24:25)

You're the one that got called out on the last episode.

B (24:28)

That's fair. A bunch that said.

A (24:30)

You said some. If I pull out that or if he pulls out the vinyl slowly. I Automatically know what's happening. You know what I mean? That shot is just so familiar.

B (24:39)

Right.

A (24:39)

And that's a powerful. A power. Very powerful thing. Last one.

B (24:44)

Posts every other day, too. Post every day? Pretty much, yeah. He plays like 30 times a day.

A (24:50)

So that's awesome.

B (24:51)

Just. Just simply hammering the algorithm. Right. I mean, like, if you. If you put out so much volume that people have no choice but to associate you with a certain thing, that's another strategy.

A (25:02)

Yep. Studio boom's the last one. So Studio boom, they do everything kind of overhead. Not everything, but a lot of things overhead. So if you look at this video, it's 1.5. It's everything coming into screen. You just see hands shot overhead. White gloves as well. Intro. Right. And I really. I really like that angle. They do it for this video where they're just, I think, introduced in a different color way. It's a singular hue. And so it's almost like this video that I just sent you here is another variation of it where kind of these nice sleeves, white gloves, kind of scientists in the lab. Yeah. Vibes.

B (25:45)

High end.

A (25:45)

Yeah, very high end. Just screams luxury ocd. Yes.

B (25:49)

Very put together.

A (25:50)

Very good. Good job of owning this type of hook. But to wrap. Wrap it all up, I know you have a meeting. Since people think we fake our meetings to. To get off the plug, we squeeze these.

B (26:01)

We squeeze these in.

A (26:03)

Yeah.

B (26:04)

I'll keep it real with y'. All.

A (26:06)

We do to. So to wrap it up, the idea is if you. If it's not about just creating a hook that gets somebody's attention, it's about now creating a hook that through repetition, creates recognition. I'm gonna set that. Say that a little smoother. It's about creating a hook that, over repetition, it creates recognition. So the fact that I own this set, I own these actions, I own this angle. Understanding those layers helps you create the first three seconds of your video. When we talk about how important the first three seconds of your video, it is everything you can think of, everything that's going to go into the first three seconds, not of just what I say, where it said, how it's said from you know what angle I'm saying, like all of these different layers to then, okay, that worked. Let me let that be the thing that I never change so that everybody who comes, scrolls and sees this content has engaged with it before, knows that it's me. That's a powerful thing to do, especially in today's social landscape where everybody's publishing content, everybody's talking about the hook. You now have to go from a hook. That's to get somebody's attention, to get recognized.

B (27:16)

Yeah. Yeah. Love it. I think that was super valuable. I mean, I think a lot of people are probably searching for direction, and that's a great place to start. Is what is a format, an action, a hook style that you can own and then be associated with for the long term. Because what content really is is a game of compounding. Like, you have to post a bunch for it to start working, and then once it starts working, it exponentially works more. And I think this is one of those good things that you can do. It's like, you know, if you invest in that early, it'll. It'll pay off long term. Yeah.

A (27:54)

Next week, though, if you want to tune into next week's episode, we are going to have. Again, if you looked at my story, on my story, I put. If you. If you want to submit your brand, because we're going to brainstorm, submit it. We're going to have a bull here. That bull is going to have a bunch of logos in it and a bunch of people that commented. We're going to print it out.

B (28:14)

Which important note, comment your brand if you want to be featured.

A (28:17)

Yeah. Brian's going to pick some. I'm going to pick some. And we're going to brainstorm live on the pod. We'll do. We'll give 10 minutes to each. Each brand. We'll go for 30, 40 minutes. Maybe 40. So it's two and two. Whatever. Yeah, but that's what we're going to be doing.

B (28:31)

Free game.

A (28:32)

Yeah. It's going to be sick. It's going to be sick. Eventually, maybe we call people in and we do something, make it a little more interesting. They put us out on their platforms as well. It could be cool.

B (28:41)

Cool.

A (28:42)

All right, y'.

B (28:42)

All, see you next week.

A (28:44)

Peace.