❄️The big “oops” at Bath & Bodyworks. Lays brings back five funtastic flavors. The Ricks have fun with AI headshots and AI Snapchat filters. Why short-form social video is the most effective tool for B2B high-tech marketers. Election 2024’s staggering digital ad spend. Loaded questions and more. 

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IN THIS EPISODE: 
😎 Rick W’s big week with AI LinkedIn headshots (at 01:23)
🤖 Rick M cracks himself up with AI Snapchat filters (02:41)
😱 Rick W one-ups that with blue hair and tattoos (03:12)
🙏 F*cks Given: Nun? Is there a future for Netflix’s smash hit Warrior Nun? (03:50)
🥶 Snowflakes-cum-design fail: The “Clandles” at Bath & Bodyworks (06:00)
🎬 Bite-size brilliance: the power of short-form social videos in B2B high-tech marketing (07:48)
😋 Mountain Dew-flavored Lays & Oreo Coke Zero: a specialty flavor flare-up—or out? (10:30)
🤪 Heinz à Deux? Ketchup brand’s “Ha-Ha-Ha” leaves the Ricks asking, “W-T-F?” (15:23)
🧢 Hi-Chew has a bizarre new mascot…and the Ricks have questions (16:43)
📈 Doing the numbers on Election 2024’s staggering digital ad spend (18:14)

Approx. 19 minutes, 55 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services. Episode intro, commercials, and artwork created with generative AI tools.

🎬 Why Social Video Rules B2B, AI Head Shots, Lays’ & Coke's Funtastic Flavors

🎄 Are those chatbots roasting on an open fire? Through the magic of AI, Coca-Cola spreads holiday joy by kicking Santa to the curb. Amazon Prime’s effort to bore subscribers to death with spoiler-free, AI-generated episode recaps. Plus a “Wicked” packaging face plant, and more. 

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IN THIS EPISODE:

🥤 Ho-ho-ho, or oh-hell-no? The backlash over the Real Thing’s holiday ad campaign (00:30)
📺 Amazon Prime promos yawn-inducing episode recaps generated by AI  (03:25)
🧸 Toys tied to Universal’s latest movie release come with a “Wicked” surprise (at 05:28) 

Approximately 7-minute, 54-second runtime. Review privacy and other usage policies for technologies and/or services through which you access this podcast. Episode contains audio, visuals, and/or other content developed using generative AI and/or other digital production tools.

🎅🏻 (Un)Real Thing? The Fallout Over Coca-Cola’s AI Holiday Campaign

☃️ How to make it a December to remember for your favorite Batfan—with one of 10 tricked-out, Nolan-era Batmobile replicas costing just $2.9 million. What’s putting a drag on the growth of e-commerce sales this holiday season? Plus: The surprising reason your ChatGPT prompts aren’t working as well as they should be—and more—in a quick round of Rick and Rick Loaded Questions. 

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IN THIS EPISODE: 

🛞 It’s bound to lose a wheel this time of year, but it’ll still cost you $2.9 million (at 1 min, 7 sec)
🛍️ Three key reasons behind the drag on e-commerce growth this holiday season? (at 03:22)
💬 It turns out there’s a certain etiquette to writing prompts for ChatGPT (at 05:00)

Approximately 8 minutes, 14 seconds. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, iHeart, and all other streaming services. Episode intros, outros, promotions, and artwork may include elements produced using generative AI tools.

🎁 Holiday 2024 E-Commerce Projections, Nolan-Era Batmobiles for Sale, and Ps & Qs for ChatGPT

Well deck the halls and get your tinsel in a tangle, because it’s time for the Ricks’ list of the hottest tech toys of holiday 2024.  

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IN THIS EPISODE

🎁 Just like Spotify’s Wrapped, if Wrapped was any good (at 01:09)
🍑 Tongue-in-cheeks fun for the whole family (at 01:20)
✈️ Your ticket out of a state of despair (at 02:22)
🧪 The last science kit you’ll ever give (at 02:44)
🛞 Revealed: The Pink Panther, er, Jaguar EV (at 03:09)

Approximately 4 minutes, 20 seconds. Review your streamer’s privacy policies. Episode may feature audio, visual and/or other forms of content developed using generative AI or other digital tools.  © Maverix, LLC.

🛍️ Hottest But Hardest-to-Get Tech Toys for Holiday 2024

It’s time for our annual predictions scorecard episode, as the Ricks review their prognostications about trends in marketing, media, tech, and pop culture—the bullseyes, botched calls, and more.  

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IN THIS EPISODE:

😬 The GenAI nightmare that wasn’t (at 01:32)
😅 Sighs of relief over SEO fundamentals (at 03:02)
😎 Shifting from paid search to paid social: big changes, new rules (03:42)
🛍️ Social commerce: Win, lose, or draw? (05:10)
💩 The poop on Phillips Laxative…and Taco Bell (08:00)
🛒 Shoppable streaming’s new converts (09:04)
🕺🏻 Social media: declines here, resurgences there (10:39)
👨🏽‍💻 Domain-Specific Language Models: Ahead of the curve? (13:24)
📺 The year video streaming became profitable (14:43)
🤖 Machine customers in the age of agentic AI (18:10)
🌭 Whither Neuralink Sausages & Franks? (19:50)
🦾 ChatGPT: Building a better candidate? (21:19)
🎲 A rebrand for OpenAI? (22:02)
🐯 Was “Cheetle” really 2024’s Word of the Year? (22:50)
📣 Outdoor advertising for outdoor advertisers (24:24)
🎨 Pantone’s 2025 Color of the Year (25:55)

Approximately 28 minutes. Review your streamer’s privacy policies. Episode may feature audio, visual and/or other forms of content developed using generative AI or other digital tools. © Maverix, LLC.

🤓 2024 Predictions Scorecard: Impact of GenAI in Marketing, Social vs. Search, Shoppable Streaming

From the vault: In a pre-pandemic time capsule from August 2019, the Ricks marvel over a freaky new Amazon Prime show called “The Boys,” an R-rated horror movie featuring “The Banana Splits,” the origin story of McDonald’s Shamrock Shake, and enormous Luck Charms marshmallows coming to a s’more near you. 

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IN THIS EPISODE
👨‍🏫 The Ricks talk Back to School and pre-Internet gaming in the good old days  
🗓 The Ricks have a big milestone coming up  
🧜‍♀️ It's summertime, so of course Pumpkin Spice Lattes are already back  
🥤 Remembering McDonald's Shamrock Shakes of yesteryear  
🍌 The Banana Splits are back, in an very violent, R-rated horror flick  
📺 Why you need to drop everything & watch "The Boys" on Amazon Prime  
🥛 Did somebody say McWTF? McFizz is an unintentional eye-opener  
😸 "Friends": Old TV comes with perks—LEGO's Central Perk Playset  
🥣 Lucky Charms Jet-Puffed Marshmallows: Magically Delicious?  
🚀 "Star Wars Barbie" rocks the geek look—for an out-of-this-world price  
📸 Instagram and WhatsApp get new names  
📱 Verizon sells Tumbler to Automattic … for how little?  
🦸🏻‍♂️ Look who's coming to CW's "Crisis on Infinite Earths"  

Approx. 17:33. Review privacy and cookie policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify and all other streaming services. Some audio and visual elements created using generative AI-based tools.

☘️ Lucky Charms Go Big, The Banana Splits Go Bad, ‘The Boys’ Go Bonkers & More

In a wide-ranging new interview, 1Kosmos CMO Michael Cichon shares insights the state of B2B content marketing, adoption of generative AI in modern marketing operations, the importance of digital identity, and more. Including: The end of websites as we know them. Next-gen email marketing. And SEO and SEM in the age of AI.

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IN THIS EPISODE:

📣 Becoming a CMO for B2B brands marketing SaaS-based solutions (at 1:00)
👺 Criminal minds: The fascinating world of cybersecurity (at 2:34)
🪪 The impact of digital identity on brand—for customers, the workforce, and more (at 3:24)
📈 The critical role of content in high-tech B2B marketing (at 7:48)
🤖 GenAI in B2B and the quest for more innovative applications- (at 10:30)
🎯 Microtargeting: Leveraging intent signals, social media & more (at 11:38)
🦾 Next-gen AI automation for marketing organizations (at 12:23)
❓ AWhat do SEM and SEO look like in the age of AI? (at 13:45)
📤 Email gets an AI makeover: Drilling down on email marketing (at 15:28)

Approx. 17 min, 10 sec. Review privacy and cookie policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify and all other streaming services. Some audio and visual elements created using generative AI-based tools.

B2B CMO Michael Cichon on Content Marketing, GenAI, Digital ID & More

From the vault: In this episode from 2018, the Ricks respond to a Geek.com article about eleven 1970s sci-fi movies that were … better than Star Wars? Plus: iHop’s “iHob” rebrand revisited—and advice the Ricks would give their younger selves about a career in marketing. 

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IN THIS EPISODE:

🥞 iHob Revisited: Results from iHop’s stunt re-brand as “iHob” (at 0:54)
💥 Geek.com says these 11 1970s sci-fi movies better than Star Wars … (at 2:24)
👽 … And the Ricks have some thoughts about it (at 3:11)
📈 The Ricks on advice they’d give their younger selves about a career in marketing (at 14:33)

Approx. 20 min, 08 sec. Review privacy and cookie policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify and all other streaming services. Some audio and visual elements created using generative AI-based tools.

🍿 Eleven 1970s Sci-Fi Movies Better Than Star Wars?

Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” satisfies. Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” rebrand. Plus: loaded questions about surprising (and hilarious) brand refreshes for Mtn. Dew, PwC, and Panda Express. 

IN THIS EPISODE:

🫂Digital 'Halo' technology helps Michael B. Jordan play twins in “Sinners”
✱ Marvel gives “Thunderbolts*” a major rebrand in post-release campaign
💥 Can Marvel really pull off a movie like “Avengers: Secret Wars”?
🥤 Mountain Dew brand refresh goes wide with—tattoos?
📢 PwC upgrades its brand identity without spending $1 billion
🥡 Orange Chicken and a Song: Inside Panda Express’s “Pandaoke”

Approx. 22 min. Review privacy and cookie policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify and all other streaming services. Some audio and visual elements created using generative AI-based tools.

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New Brand Refreshes for Mountain Dew, Marvel's Thunderbolts* & More

Insights on Google’s Agentic AI moves. Billie’s scratch-and-sniff deodorant billboard. “The Pineapple Pizza Wars” raging at the Chicago Sun-Times, sparked by an AI-generated summer reading list’s fake books. Oura Ring’s provocative new campaign, and more. 

IN THIS EPISODE:

🍔 Welcome BBQ surprises are the best kind of BBQ surprises (at 1:17)
🧨 “M:I The Final Reckoning”: No “Fallout,” but still fun (1:44)
🥋 Bruce Lee and “Warrior” parties like it’s 1888 (2:34)
🚀 Tony Gilroy’s “Star Wars: Andor” lands the dismount (4:21)
🤖 The droid you’re looking for? “Murderbot” has “Lost in Space” vibes (4:44)
🧟 “The Last of Us” pulls a Ned Stark—and the Ricks aren’t impressed (5:28)
🍿 “Lilo & Stitch’ steals box office gold from Tom Cruise & crew (6:50)
📚 The summer reading list that wasn’t, courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times (8:20)
🛍️ Are agencies and retail brands ready for Google’s agentic AI? (9:24)
👀 Why SEO is more important than ever in the age of AI (10:49)
👃🏾 Billie’s scratch-n’-sniff deodorant billboard smells like the pits (11:43)
🥃 A whiskey brand’s scent-vertising & a ski trip with Longtime Listener Bill (13:03)
♨ Oura Ring’s new campaign begs you to “give us the finger” (15:00)
🔭 Outlook: Insights from Deloitte’s latest CMO survey (16:27)
🦁 Looking ahead to winners at the Cannes Lions Ad Festival (18:03)

Approx. 20 min. Review privacy and cookie policies for SoundCloud, iTunes, Spotify and all other streaming services. Some audio and visual elements created using generative AI-based tools.

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Google AI Goes Agentic, Oura Ring Says ‘Give Us the Finger’ & More

Looking for insights on the latest digital marketing trends? Rick Mathieson (author of Branding Unbound and The On-Demand Brand) and Rick Wootten (Silicon Valley CMO) share their unique brand of news and views from the intersection of marketing, media, tech, and pop culture—delivered with an extra-large serving of fun. 

From B2C to B2B. CPG to SaaS. Digital to direct. Email to experiential. Social to search. Content to commerce. Generative to agentic AI. Viral video to virtual & augmented reality. POS to podcasts. Full funnel to WTF. This is the podcast for every marketer who’s out to rule the world. https://www.linkedin.com/company/rick-rick-rule-the-world

Google AI Goes Agentic, Oura Ring Says ‘Give Us the Finger’ & More

Rick & Rick | Marketing, Tech & Pop Culture Trends