Transcript 0:00 Cash Now, More Later from Opendoor gives you cash upfront for your home, plus all the profit later. That's no chaos now, no cash left behind later. Skip the showings now, pocket extra profit later. This is so simple now. 0:15 This is so awesome later. Or sell fast now and pop the champagne later. Cash Now, More Later, now available nationwide. Start your offer at opendoor.com/acast. Profits calculated after fees and costs. 0:28 Eligibility and offer price may vary. Wheelhouse DNA. Hi, everyone, my name is Boye Kolade. And I'm Chris Sawtelle. 0:41 And welcome to the Future Forecast, a podcast where we explore the intersection between business, technology, and entertainment. Today, we're looking ahead. 0:49 We're gonna talk about McDonald's new promotion, how Reddit is going public, and the new bill aiming to keep young people off social media. But first, let's catch up. 0:58 If you missed it, Chris Sawtelle had a hot take that was struck from the record books, and it's getting put back in. Okay. The hot take being, 1:10 of course, that Bitcoin and Eth, being the two prominent cryptocurrencies out there in the world, that this year would be a bullish year for, for transactions. 1:24 And I'm not looking to parade around and say that I'm right and be like, "Ha ha ha, I, I am." But I, but I am. And it has gone up relatively, I would say, 20 per- eh, 20%. Point is, crypto went up. Yeah. 1:39 I'm not, I'm not mad at that hot take. I'm, I've actually been staring at my phone all morning. [laughs] I'm actually super stoked. Well, you know what? I, I love it, guys. [laughs] Um, I'm just say- I'm not even mad. 1:50 How high do you think it's gonna go? I b- I think it'll go up to 125, but I, I don't think that's gonna happen in this year. I could foresee a scare happening. 2:00 There is so much tension between Russia and the US and China, and all these discussions around the, the deficit and where we are, uh, being, like, trillions of dollars in debt. Yeah. There, there could be a huge spike. 2:13 Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people are saying there's a couple different reasons why Bitcoin is on a tear. One, recently it was allowed as an ETF. Yeah. Right? Uh, there's rumors of Ethereum being allowed to be an ETF. 2:29 Uh, the Bitcoin halving, right, uh, is another- It always goes up with that halving. Yeah. But then it g- and then it goes down right after. Yeah. Well, and then the economy in general, you know. 2:39 So I, I, I think, you know, crypto certainly has, uh, a, a lot of opportunity. The question, though, is will NFTs come back? I think NFTs as we know them will not. I mean, eh, the announcement that happened with Epic. 2:54 Epic is, uh, Epic and Disney, that's one giant NFT in my personal opinion. All they're talking about is associating digital collectibles or things that you can collect online and associating them with a price point. 3:09 All right. Well, should we talk about the first topic of the day? Yeah, let's do it. McDonald's has a brand-new campaign that they released in the form of a rebrand as a nod to the art of manga and anime. 3:20 So it's a cool new program. It's w- becoming WcDonalds, so it's flipping the Mc with Wc. It's gonna have limited edition packaging, a new chili sauce, and a series of anime shorts and manga. 3:36 I actually think it's really cool and unique, and it's a smart niche play for McDonald's, who has been, like, on a tear with their marketing campaign. 3:45 But, uh, to go anime and just have this huge campaign is quite interesting. I just love that they put in there that they'll also have a new chili sauce. [laughs] I don't know about you, [laughs] that just... Oh, no, yes. 3:56 The one thing w- bye, that is dope. I mean, I- Their sauces are iconic. Their sauces are iconic. Yeah. So I, I never, I never had the sauces. I never did it. 4:04 I never got like, what is it, like honey barbecue and- There's, like, a Szechuan sauce- Yeah... or something like that. I don't know. Rick and Morty, like, defined the Szechuan sauce. Yeah. They brought it back. Yeah. 4:15 Yeah. I mean, talk about marketing. How crazy is that? I mean, not to go off, off kilter here, but to talk about anime- Yeah... 4:21 to have pop, pop culture be so relevant with McDonald's, to, like, have the Szechuan sauce be a fan favorite or a cult favorite that was discontinued, then be implemented in a cartoon 4:38 and be brought back by McDonald's because of it. Yeah. So we then, as we talk about this, like- I wonder actually-... phenomenal marketing... 4:46 I wonder how much, you know, tying it into the cartoon and the, and the anime, you know, the idea of s- a moment in pop culture causing sort of real-life implications, you know, this is almost the reverse, right? 5:02 It's, it's a huge restaurant, a multi-billion dollar company saying, "We recognize the power of storytelling, and we're gonna co-opt, you know, this demographic of, of people." 'Cause I think ma- like, anime 5:19 crosses divides. It's not just for young kids, you know? Yeah. I feel like a lot of, like, you and I, we, we like anime. Oh, we- I grew up on this... grew on it. You know? Toonami. Come on, guys. [laughs] Let's not... 5:30 Anyone listening. Shippuden. Uh, yeah, that's exactly right. Naruto. Oh, man. One Piece. Like, I loved it all. I used to, I used to, I would get home from school between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM, I mean, usually 4:00 PM. 5:43 I would almost miss Dragon Ball Z, but Toonami was Cartoon Network's, like, anime period or moment in time. 5:51 I used to try to l- I always wanted to watch the cartoon, the inter- little interstitial Toonami cartoon moments, and they would never play them. I now finally got to watch them after the fact on YouTube. 6:02 But it took, you know, they, they created a full storyline. Yeah. Anyway, did you know that the NFL also did this? This is becoming so much... 6:10 It's truly more great commentary on anime becoming more and more relevant or, or at the forefront of pop culture. Yeah. 6:17 And I would say Western civilization recognizing it, because the people that loved it, like yourself and myself, are now becoming, uh, into power, so to speak- Yeah... 6:27 you know, at a, at a marketing level, to actually reward those that- Yeah... that, that watched it. So it's, it's super interesting. 6:34 I wanna dive in a little bit too into, uh, the artists and the creators behind- Let's do it... W- WcDonald's. So, uh, the branding for this promotion was l- actually led by a Japanese manga artist named Akibright. 6:48 And, uh, he is commissioned to create this content, and this is a quote from him, "Although I am a manga artist and often parody real brands to avoid legal issues, this occasion was unique because McDonald's itself initiated the parody officially, a first of its kind globally." 7:05 Not trying to take anything away from WcDonald's. Yeah. I hate the name already. [laughs] I hate it so much. What, uh, WikiLeaks? Is this gonna be an... I don't even. I, I can't even. I got no jokes. WcDonald's. 7:18 What is that? So I am gonna defend it. A, I vibe with the name. I think it's, like, cool and quirky. This name has actually been around for a while. 7:27 Uh, tons of TV shows, graphic novels, video games, they have not wanted to infringe on McDonald's, so they've actually had been flipping this in the past. 7:38 [laughs] And so this is McDonald's essentially recognizing this community. 7:41 I think it's, it's kinda cool, you know, 'cause it was in animes, you know, and content like Cat's Eye, Cowboy Bebop, you know, so on and so forth. WcDonald's, baby. 7:52 Anyways, so Akibright was commissioned by McDonald's- It is pretty cool... and the studio Pierrot, I think that's how you pronounce it, to produce four anime shorts as a part of the campaign. Pierrot is known for Naruto. 8:05 Uh, I love Naruto. You say Naruto. Or you say Naruto? I say Naruto. Oh, yeah. I mean, potato, potato. Uh, anyways, they're, they're, these shorts are around a different theme, romance, action, fantasy, et cetera. 8:19 Can we just talk about, that that's a huge get for them. I mean, like, between any studio, Studio Ghib- uh, is it Ghibli? Yeah. I mean, to get 8:29 Pierrot, I mean, like, I don't know about you, but Naruto is truly my fave- Yeah... like, of, of all the animation styles, Naruto is truly- Yeah, I love, I love, I agree with you. 8:40 Naruto is, like, the best one, and it's also my favorite. And I, I, piggybacking off of Naruto, recently it was announced that Naruto was gonna get a live action spinoff, and what I'm seeing is really just a huge play 8:56 for anime in general. How do we feel about the live action adaptation? I'm nervous but excited about it. I think it will be... I, I personally am someone who, I like worlds, I like world building. 9:07 So I've loved the manga, I've loved the anime, and so to see it live action I'm excited, but yes, he, they could butcher it. I don't know. Uh, but you know, One Piece I thought was pretty successful, 9:18 uh, in sort of translating the, the manga and the anime on screen. So it feels like a lot of brands are really excited about anime. And I feel in a way anime has felt very, like, subculture. You know what I mean? 9:36 Like, not widespread, at least when we were coming up. But this is, like, mainstream now when you have, like, huge brands really- Yeah... you know, coordinating, you know, campaigns like this. 9:47 But I, again, I have to give the flowers to McDonald's, who has done really interesting campaigns with everyone from Saweetie to Travis Scott, J Balvin, Cactus Flea Market. I feel like they really get it. 10:01 They kinda make me wanna eat a cheeseburger right now. I'm, I'm not gonna go consume the digital graphic novel. Yeah, I mean, look, some of it's probably hype. And we have to remember McDonald's is a global brand. 10:12 It's not just American. Mm. I think it's just cool, kitschy, right? 10:16 For example, when they do something with Cactus Flea Market, not everyone is getting the toys or has the ability to get the toys, but part of it's just the PR, you know? We should talk about the next topic of today, 10:31 Reddit's going public. Whoa. Yeah. So social media message board site Reddit filed last Thursday to go public, making it the first major social media company to do so in several years. 10:47 Facebook filed in 2012, Twitter in 2013, and Snapchat in 2017. So yeah, I guess it has been a while. Reddit boasts 73 million daily users and has more than 100,000 active communities. 11:01 Uh, I know for a while it's branded itself as really, like, the early, it's like the, the internet under the internet. I'm paraphrasing. Yeah. 11:10 Now it feels like Reddit is mainstream, and they've had a lot of limelight over the last couple years, especially when it came to GameStop and AMC and the whole WallStreetBets, you know, run. 11:24 And so it's actually quite meta, uh, that- [laughs] No pun intended... no pun intent- yeah, [laughs] no pun intended. 11:29 It's actually quite meta that they are now going public and actually face the threat of becoming a meme stock themselves, for better or worse. Will you buy? No, I don't think so. Why? 11:42 I just, like, so apparently they're, they're trying to get a price of 5 billion at IPO, like, evaluation, and I'm just like how big can Reddit actually get? You know what I mean? 11:54 Like, if I, if I buy in at 5 billion, how big do I really think this company's gonna be? I don't know if they're making a lot of money, you know? Well, where do they make their money? Ads? 12:04 Yeah, I think Reddit's working on some other monetization- 12:08 Streams as well, but I know maybe a year ago there was, like, rumors bubbling that they actually haven't really even turned a profit in all of their years But that makes sense. 12:19 It makes sense, but to be around for as long as they have, and to be in this environment where Wall Street is rewarding profit, cashflow, healthy margins over just pure scale, I feel like that's why I would be hesitant to buy. 12:36 Because there's that open forum, just- Yeah... anything you ask, question, do, say, 12:42 you might not, it might not be attached to your data or your name personally if you don't actually, if you didn't set up an account- Yeah... in that way. But they do have all that data. 12:52 They do, and there's a lot of concern with the company licensing its data from countless threads and conversations to AI training models. Do you think companies should be allowed to do that? It depends, right? 13:05 Some companies will get that permission upfront, some companies it makes sense. Like, I don't want 23andMe selling my data, you know what I mean? That's like my DNA. 13:16 But if I believe in the company and it's not gonna hurt me, why not? It's a good question. But I think it's funny, though. They really have to think this through. 13:28 I think you have a responsibility to make it publicly known so that moving forward, if you're going to start that- Yeah... that people are opting in to that. 13:40 I think they have to be extremely careful with their audience, period. 13:44 And if they do want to collect and sell data, wisdom would say that they should take into consideration connecting with these community leaders, so on and so forth. I mean, and they understand this, you know. 13:59 Given that it was reported Reddit's going to reserve some of its shares at IPO for about 75,000 of the company's most prolific users if they wanna actually purchase it. 14:11 And I believe it's because they know that if they have upset users, it's not gonna go well for them. Those users have so much power. 14:20 They were responsible for driving GameStop, you know, into the billions to make people millionaires, and they were responsible for having these major hedge fund managers lose- Yeah... 14:32 billions of dollars who were trying to short the stocks. Whatever they decide to do, they're in a predicament because they really have to factor in the community in it all. Fun fact, 14:46 Sam Altman is the largest shareholder of Reddit. Oh, wow. Yeah. He owns more Reddit shares than the CEO, Steve Huffman. Really? Yeah. It's kind of wild. Sam, you know, he's the 15:04 CEO of OpenAI, obviously. He, i- in an odd way, he's becoming, like, an Elon Musk-type character. But he invested in, in Red- in Reddit early. 15:16 I don't know all the details of, of the background behind it, but yeah, right place, right time, I guess. Anyways, Reddit, it's gonna be interesting to, to see the journey. 15:26 I d- I do feel Reddit, again, has a lot of power when it comes to creating community and, uh, we'll see how the IPO does. [electronic music] Still waiting in line? Again? 15:43 That's time you will never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com. Over four million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com. 15:51 Join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. 16:01 Get $20 in free postage when you sign up for the Pro Plan at stamps.com/blackfriday2026. Terms and conditions apply. [electronic music] Speaking of social media. Yeah. Florida wants kids off of it. Whoa. 16:18 16-year-olds and below, to be precise. Wait, what? Yes. So Florida passed a bill to keep young people off of social media. The measure has yet to be signed. 16:28 They as a state have really been on a tear to be in a position to give more power to parents and, in their opinions, protect young people and young minds. I respect the idea of attempting that. 16:44 16 is, I think, a, a bit of a high age for it. I mean, if you're letting kids play video games, and not, not equivocating them entirely the same, same regard, but 16:57 there are people that are allowing their kids to play video games. I played video games at the age of two. Yeah. It, it's a little... Video games have evolved though, right? 17:05 So when we were younger, like, I didn't get a cellphone till I was in seventh grade, and it was, like, lo-fi, you know. You had, like, the Nok- Nokia. Yeah, or the flip phone. Playing Snake during school. Exactly, right? 17:15 So we're not, like, on social media then. Yeah. And even right now, there's an age, I think 13 is the age limit- Yes... which people can get around, right? Mm-hmm. You just put in a different date. 17:27 So this bill is essentially gonna force people to, should it come to pass, it's gonna force the social media platforms to, A, you have to be 16, B, you have to verify. 17:38 So kind of like when you, when you get set up, like, a Coinbase account. You have to, like, show your ID and make sure you are who you say you are. 17:44 And the idea is by having these restrictions, forcing the platforms to essentially take down, ban anyone who's under the age of 16. Uh- But this would be a state by state type ruling, yes? Yeah. This is, this is... 18:01 I mean, I don't know that this is gonna go to the Supreme Court. Yeah. Maybe. Who knows? But yeah, the idea is this is probably gonna be state by state. It's gonna be a huge issue. 18:09 What happens if the Supreme Court comes out and says- 18 you're allowed to vote. That's how we see freedom of speech. That could turn so much on its head in how we see the world, th- literally civilization. 18:25 It's a great question. I mean, this, this bill has the potential to open up a huge can of worms, especially when it comes to- Yeah... you know, the First Amendment, free speech. I, I don't have the answers. 18:36 When, when does free speech become free speech? I mean, one might argue when you're born. Yeah. You know? The moment, the moment you're... 'Cause you're free, right? Yeah. 18:46 Although you're under the protection of your family, and so maybe that's where this comes in, right? You know? At, at what, technically at the age of 18 is when 18:58 you become an adult and your parents are, don't oversee your decisions. That's the biggest issue with the court system, right? 19:06 Court system, if you're eight years old and you're talk- and you have like a, a family dispute or your parents are fighting and they're trying to find out where the best household is, a kid can say, "I wanna live with my mom," or, "I wanna live with my dad." 19:19 And just because a kid says that, the court then go- dismisses the kid's opinion and their word because of the fear of the coercion that a child might be falling under with a parent. Yeah. 19:32 I mean, you bring up, you bring up interesting points because there's so many nuances from the ages of 10 to 18 where there are some things allowed. 19:41 But I want, I wanna talk about something really quick, 'cause you mentioned gaming, and I actually think that's a quite fascinating conversation. You know, what does this bill cover? 19:50 Does it cover Twitch, Snapchat, et cetera? Because Fortnite, World of Warcraft, these are also social media platforms. They are indeed. You know? And, and nefarious things happen on those platforms as well. 20:07 And so I- I think it's interesting that we're, that gaming is not a part of this conversation, which you've pointed out in, in, in the past. 20:14 And it, it, it makes you call into question because so many young children, they're on Roblox, you know? Yeah. They're on, they're on Minecraft. They're building things. And they have freedom of speech. 20:25 They have the ability to, like, source and discuss and communicate. They do have, they, Big Brother's always watching. They, you know, they have, like, what is it, like, moderators is probably the, the best word. 20:36 [laughs] But they, they do have moderators, but there's only so many moderating and only so much i- it, you're only seeing what you're seeing in the chat. You can't oversee too many of the conversations. Yeah. 20:46 Well, the que- the big question at the end of the day is why. Why is this happening? 20:50 You know, many parents, teachers, politicians, doctors, they're worried about the mental health of young people due to prolonged social media use. Which is interesting. 21:02 I feel like if you ask any of these major tech CEOs, their kids are not on social media. They don't have phones till they're a certain age, 'cause they know the effects of what this does to your mind. 21:14 But there is something to be said about the generational gap of looking at us, right, who are now at the age that we are. We've been seasoned, we've been in the industry, and we've been dealing with what we deal with. 21:29 And think of, so we, we said we didn't have our phones till seventh grade. We probably weren't on social media in the, in the, like, earliest versions till, like, the beginning of high school, right? 21:42 MySpace, Xanga, Facebook. These kids are getting iPads when they're two years old. This is a really hot take, and I'm saying it coming off of what you were just saying. We don't put regulations on the food that we eat. 21:59 We're given the freedom to make the right choices and the resources to be aware of things that we shouldn't or should, and what is the national standard of, you know, nutritional facts, et cetera. 22:13 We are talking about limiting the communication that our s- young-minded people have. And I, and the goal, of course, being to protect their minds. 22:26 But we're also, ironically enough, then going to be putting them at a disadvantage as it pertains to other people that find loopholes around it to navigate the world of social for their own betterment. 22:40 And when I say betterment, I don't mean their own self-betterment as, like, a human being, but, like, let's talk about how much work gets done by way of social media now. How much? 22:50 Literally, they're, all kids do, uh, I know so many kids that don't even use email, and they're truly just texting and DM'ing on social media to get stuff done by way of work. 23:02 Now again, a lot of those people now are 18 and up. But what about all the young, how many young entrepreneurs started out at 14? Yeah. You know, that, that, that were hustling and bustling and doing, and it was cute. 23:15 Like, no one talked about their mental health. Yeah. It's all for the right reasons, but at what point are we doing too much- Yeah... and enforcing what we think to be the right reasons on others? 23:29 Yeah, it's a great question. It's interesting you mention that as well, because there are huge social media creators, influencers who are under the age of 16. You know? 23:40 And so are we wiping out a generation of entrepreneurs who can't get started and who we can't see their POV? So I, I, I think it's just, it's not black and white. Yeah. 23:53 It's, it's a very tough decision, and we'll see what the rest of the states do. [static] All right. It's about that time. It's about that time. It's Hot Take time. Ooh. [laughs] Ooh. All right. 24:10 You're gonna find that out on Spotify. [laughs] It's Hot Take time. Pew, pew, pew, pew. [laughs] All right. So Chris, what's your hot take today? So we've talked about Sora. 24:24 We've talked about innovation taking away jobs or helping ramp up the ability for so many to have creative capabilities, but also costing others what they've worked so hard to do. 24:42 And what we're seeing coming out of the SAG strike, I think we're gonna see a lot less production coming out this year, though we would think that we would have the platforms all being like, "We need to pump out more and more and more content." 24:56 That's gonna stay true. 24:57 There is actually murmurs of IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, going on strike as well, which also covers, I believe it covers animation employees. Oh, wow. 25:15 It's the Animation Guild, which many of the m- many members that were members of IATSE could still work both the writers' strike and the SAG strike 'cause the IATSE covers the Animation Guild. Mm. 25:25 And so that's why everyone was saying, "Do more animation, do more animation, do more animation," and it might actually flip. 25:32 So my hot take is as we see less shows in 2024 get sold, made, or even come to life this year and available for people to actually be in these jobs, 2024, 2025, branded content is going to continue. 25:49 I mean, it, it, it's not going anywhere. But I also think that many people are gonna find themselves funneling into more branded experiential. 25:56 So instead of seeing TV and film, we're gonna see a lot more creatives focusing on branded and experiential events to make their money. I, I- I feel like that was two hot takes in one. Oh, it wasn't intentional. 26:12 [laughs] It wasn't intentional. Um, no, I, I, I think that's, that's really interesting, and I could agree that productions will slow down this year. Tap into that brand money, baby. 26:22 So my hot take, Dune 2's coming out, and I happen to believe it's going to be a huge movie. The first one had around $400 million, uh, in the box office, and the second one 26:38 is getting a lot of great reviews, and I feel it's has the potential to crack the top 100 top grossing movies of all time. It has 26:52 a great cast, a really good, like, fervent fan base now that the first one's come out. And yeah, I think it's gonna make a lot of money. Wow. Yeah. The next two months, there's not a lot in theaters. 27:07 Uh, it's really dr- it's like, honestly like a dry spell right now. Kung Fu Panda's coming out like next week, so I could see this being, uh, 27:16 in the bil- maybe with the billion dollar club, but the top 100, like, there, there's a couple that are around 800 million, so I'll take the win there. But, uh- [laughs]... yeah, it's gonna be a big movie. That's funny. 27:28 That's huge. There's also the, what, the, Dirty Track gonna be the highest rated sequel movie on the horizon to make? Yes, yes. Yeah. You're correct. You are correct. 27:37 So it's getting good reviews and, and usually what I've seen when a movie's actually good and it's got good word of mouth, people will wanna go see it after it comes out. Uh, great episode today. 27:47 Thanks for tuning in to the Future Forecast. [upbeat music] Like and subscribe wherever you get podcasts, and we'll catch you next week. The Future Forecast is produced by Wheelhouse DNA for Acast. 27:59 Our executive producers are me, Boye Kolade, along with Fanny Baudry, Cassie Berman, and Leah Sutherland. Our audio producer is Chiara Noni. Our audio engineer is Matthew Blocka. Our editor is Nick Kursiemy. 28:13 The podcast is hosted by yours truly, Boye Kolade, and Chris Sawtelle. Thanks for listening, and see you next time. 28:19 [upbeat music] When you're running a growing business, the right systems can unlock your full sales potential and make fulfilling every order effortless. 28:30 Switch to ShipStation before peak season so you're prepped and ready before the rush hits. ShipStation connects Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and over 200 more marketplaces with one platform that does it all. 28:40 You can manage orders, sync inventory, track returns, all automatically. Everything your operation needs, all in one place. 28:45 Upgrade your shipping operations to stress-proof your biggest sales days and capture every bit of potential revenue. Go to shipstation.com and use code AUDIO and get 30 days free. 28:56 This show is brought to you by The Future Party and Crosstalk Studios, produced by Chris Sawtelle, Boye Kolade, and Paul York. 29:03 Special shout-out to our production team, Araceli Rubalcava, Max Goolen, Shannon Klein, and Eli Tafur
