The Best One Yet
🧱 “MEGOs” — Mattel’s LEGO dupe. Utah’s online bouncer. Pizza’s stuffed crust strategy.
Fri, 07 Mar 2025
Mattel is launching their own version of LEGO bricks… What will win, brand or price?Utah will make you show an ID to download Instagram… It’s a Social Media Bouncer (aka “The McLovin Rule”).The economics of stuffed crust pizza are wild… so why’d Domino’s take 30 years to make one?Plus, we’re dropping a Snooze Pod… We read 1 shareholder letter to help you fall asleep for Daylight Savings.$PZZA $DOM $MAT $METAWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Doritos Locos Taco 🌮. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is Mattel's new product and how does it compare to LEGO?
And Jack, why do we pay four times more for a Lego-branded brick? Because of nostalgia. Our parents used to play with them, and that's kind of cool. And because of built-up trust, and also maybe because it's not some cheap, unknown material like Best Lock dimples. My kid's putting Legos in his mouth. I trust Lego plastic more than that random Amazon plastic.
But we got to point out, Mattel, consumers trust and know Mattel's brand just as much as they know and trust Lego. Mattel said that their Megos are designed to disrupt the status quo, and they signaled that they will be priced at something lower than Legos. And in this economy, you're going to be tempted by Mattel's lower-priced Legos. Megos.
Mattel's Legos is the truest test yet of the Lego brand. For our second story, Utah just became the first state in the country to require users show ID before downloading apps. This is a digital bouncer. It's a win for parents, a loss for the tech lobby, and there's a bunch of details we're excited to tell you. But yeah, it is. Okay, wait, Jack, it's like you had a kid 10 days ago.
I keep forgetting it was less than two weeks ago. You had a new baby. Dude, I have three under four. Oh, wow. But here's the big question, Jack. Have you gotten Oakley a Gmail address yet? Did you get him a Gmail yet? I got Wilder and Brooke's Gmail accounts, but I haven't gotten Oakley one yet. Okay, that's the first, you know, pro tip everyone shares with you.
But Jack, what is the other parenting advice that we found really useful related to business? We protect our kids way too much in the real world these days, but not nearly enough online. Like, let's stop worrying about recess. Start worrying about Roblox. Let the kid go out and play in the woods. But let's be careful when they're on like the World Wide Web.
Well, the state of Utah seems to agree because they just passed the App Store Accountability Act. It requires users verify their ID before being able to download apps like Instagram. Now, besties, if you are 18 years or older, you're good. You're going to see this once, but just once. It's a one-time age verification to prove you're an adult, and then you can download whatever you want.
On the other hand, if you're a minor... Then for every app you try to download, you're going to need your parents' consent. That's why Jack and I call this the McLovin rule. How old are you? Old enough to party. I'm going to need to see that ID. And then you can download Instagram.
Now, yetis, what Jack and I found fascinating about this story is that Meta, X, Snapchat, all the social media companies, they're actually celebrating this news. Because this news in Utah means they don't have to do anything. Yeah. You know, there's actually huge pressure on Zuckerberg to protect minors who use his social media apps. There's a lot of creeps DMing minors on Instagram.
It's a huge problem. And the other problem is that kids love it. Why? Teens love to say that they're older than they really are so that they get the adult version of the app. So this new law in Utah shifts the burden of age verification from those apps to the app stores. And it makes sense, actually. Yeah, it does.
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Chapter 2: What is the McLovin Rule in Utah?
Nothing feels better in business than sticky. Stuffed crust pizza was actually invented 30 years ago by the carbohydrate engineers over at Pizza Hut. Pro tip, you order the dish of marinara on the side to dip the stuffed crust into. Actually, the only time I've ever choked, by the way, pizza had stuffed crust pizza. The cheese was so stretchy, it was stretching down my throat.
And then like I was in some kind of a comedy show, I was like pulling it out of my mouth, but it was just stretching and stretching. Like we said, nothing stickier than stuffed crust, Jack. But besties, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style. It turns out Pizza Hut did 300 million bucks in sales during their first stuffed crust year 30 years ago.
Chapter 3: How does Utah's age verification law affect app downloads?
So Pizza Hut naturally tried to patent their stuffed crust pizza. But no dice. They couldn't patent it, which is why Papa John's and Little Caesars followed suit with their own stuffed crust. But Domino's always refused to stuff their crust. And why is that, Jack? The CEO called it a gimmick. He thought it was tacky. He thought stuffed crust pizza was a cheap party trick.
Also, understandably, Domino's was worried about stuffed crust logistics. True. Because you stuff that crust by hand. And pizza, it's in the shape of a circle. There's like no efficient way to do that. I didn't know where you were going with that geometrically, Jack, but I like it. So three years ago, Yetis, Domino's did some research for some stuffed crust data.
And they determined that stuffed crust sticks on customers like yeast. According to Domino's research, stuffed crust pizza buyers order more pizza, they order more often, and they spend more on every single pizza order. They're the best customers there are. They actually found that 13 million Americans will only order stuffed crust pizza.
So for 30 years, Domino's has been pushing away 13 million of the best pizza customers in the country. Because Domino's arrogantly thought their pizza was too high-end to stuff that crust. It's so obvious after looking at the data that Domino's has been missing out. So they finally swallowed their pride and have reversed their position. on stuffing the crust.
Yeah, the last three years, Domino's pulled off the Manhattan project, the Parmesan. They trained 7,000 stores over the last 12 weeks and just launched off crust. Despite the choking hazard. I'm going to try it. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the pizza industry? Brand beefs are now mutually beneficial.
So yeah, these Jack and I were curious, how did Pizza Hut respond now that Domino's finally copied their stuffed crust? Well, they called him out. Pizza Hut just launched a 30% off their stuffed crust pizza because Domino's was 30 years late to the game. But interestingly, that actually fits with a theme we've been seeing in every industry.
Brands are calling out their rivals in public for the first time. Last month, it was Poppy versus Olipop. That was the big brand beef for that big vending machine drama. Last year, Chili's saw a surge in traffic after calling out McDonald's expensive Big Macs. And the wild part? Oftentimes, both brands in a beef enjoy a sales surge based on the publicity.
Brands are basically pulling a Kendrick and they're dropping diss deals on each other. But there's no Drake in this analogy. Both sides have been winning out when it comes to sales. Honestly, it almost makes you wonder if it's staged because a good brand beef benefits both. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday?
Mattel is launching a lower-priced Lego dupe that hits shelves this May. We call them Megos. It's a stage five zucking, and the biggest test for a brand is a dupe. For our second story, Utah is the first state that requires age verifications in the App Store. It's a digital bouncer, and it means the bouncer is jumping from the physical world to the digital.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of online age verification laws?
Chapter 5: Why did Domino's take so long to create stuffed crust pizza?
Okay. Pause your pod. Pause your pod. Okay, Yetis. Jack is celebrating his birthday, his wife's birthday, his second son's birthday, the birth of a new son. He actually got spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, which he's been wanting for 364 days. Remember, I got to go to confession on Sunday because I ate it during Ash Wednesday. And I still have my gift for you arriving in 24 hours, Jack. Really?
Yes. Do I have to sign? It's not pizza. It's not stuffed crust, but you may have to sign for this thing. Besties, share the pod this weekend. Tap to follow us so you get us every day. Enjoy the best idea yet as well. And Jack and I will see you Monday. Okay, that was the most perfect run through of Jack celebratory things and pod CTAs I've ever heard. Practice in front of a mirror for 12 hours.
Nick and I will see you Monday. Can't wait.
And before we go, a happy birthday to the second pod son, Brooksy Kravici-Kramer over in BT, baby.
Now, Brooks is basically a meatball, which is funny because I had spaghetti meatballs on my birthday. Congratulations, Brooks. And Axel and Axel turning seven and eight years old, two buddies in San Mateo, California, listening on the way to school. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Graham Goose Lewis in North Vancouver, British Columbia. This is a smooth skating defenseman, Nick.
You guys better face off. Sure. Watch out for those hip checks. And Robert Prager is turning 61 years old down in Richmond, Virginia. Happy 25th birthday to Zellen Heath in Mountain View, California. And Marion Trey is turning 39 down in lovely San Diego, California. And happy birthday to Ken Whalen in Manhattan Beach, California, who's headed to South by Southwest this weekend.
Call us from a robo-taxi, Ken. Let's hear some good facts from South by. And a big shout out to Curb Ball in Adena, Minnesota, who's actually... Edina. Jackie pointed out to us that I mispronounced Edina. It's Edina, not Edina. So now we both mispronounced it. Now we've both done so. Thank you, Curb.
And a special shout out to Mike and Kayvon over at the Half Day Beverage Company for their fantastic brand refresh. Congrats on the huge wins of getting into Erewhon and getting into Whole Foods. Two incredible distribution milestones. I've seen Half Day in so many places, the can already looked incredible. I can't wait to see what they whipped up.
And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Apple, and I own stock of Roblox. Were you sealed? That's a great line. If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
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