Marketing, Memes, and Musk: Bill and Anna’s Year-End Recap

Bill: Welcome to the free dive podcast and uh filling in today it’s Bill and Anna because I think Anna’s been on the podcast.

Anna: I have, you’ve definitely been on podcast.

Bill: I’ve been on the podcast um but we’re on it together.

Anna: That’s the best.

Bill: Without Kristy or Anna Lynn.

Anna: Which that’s sad.

Bill: It is sad.

Anna: But the best.

Bill: Like holding back the craziness right?

Anna: Yeah there’s no one hold to hold us back.

Bill: We don’t have Anna Lynn we only have Anna on on the podcast.

Anna: Anna no dash.

Bill: No dash. No dash.

Anna: No dash Anna.

Bill: Yeah, yeah so we’re- we’re this is the last podcast of 2024.

Anna: I can’t believe it because I can’t believe it’s been a whole year.

Bill: It’’s been a whole year I you know I I don’t want to get to like break the fourth wall on this podcast but um I believe Kristy is actually here in the room somewhere being producer today and Kristy do you know know off the top of your head how many uh free dive podcasts we’ve done this year.

Kristy: I think 35.

Bill: 35 podcasts.

Anna: 35, that’s pretty amazing.

Bill: Yes and if you’ve listened to all 35 podcasts listener at home um I will come to your house and uh bring you Donuts so yeah so in the content in the you know send me your address um because.

Anna: Yeah, comment down below if you’ve listened to all 35 podcasts.

Bill: You know what I would love if you’re listening to this podcast I would love for you in the comments to say what was your favorite podcast of the year.

Anna: Yeah that’s a good one there were so many this year that I really enjoyed I- I think because it’s like it is one of the more recent ones but I really enjoyed Kristy’s LinkedIn um podcast episode because I realized I had done everything wrong like everything that you were not supposed to do on LinkedIn profiles like I was literally I had my LinkedIn profile open and I had the podcast open and I was like going back and forth and back and forth like oh yeah I did that okay let’s fix this and then yeah so it was super helpful very good points.

Bill: So my favorite podcast uh experience you could say of this year was- We were on a long road trip um to uh New York my wife and I and my wife always complains that I’m quiet driving and I don’t have enough you know interesting things to talk to her about so I thought putting a podcast where I was talking was just you know basically the same thing and it turns out it’s not and uh my wife did not appreciate having to listen to me talk about AI for like a solid 45 minutes and I and and just me driving and going like I make a lot of good points there.

Anna: I’m awesome.

Bill: Yeah I- I would listen to this Amanda I bet you didn’t know and she’s just like can we listen to something else or and we just have a conversation between the two of us and I’m like well we’re not on a podcast right now by yes yes so yeah I that might be a new level of narcissism if you listen to your own podcasts and make other people listen in your presence to your podcast talking.

Anna: I haven’t crossed over then yet because I- I’ve been holding off on listening to the last podcast that I was in with Kristy because I felt like it was such a narcissistic thing to do for me to just sit there and listen to myself but maybe I should.

Bill: Maybe you should oh and also to whoever the guy was on Tik Tok um who said I sounded like Mike Berbiglia.
Anna: Oh yeah?

Bill: Yeah high praise, high praise.

Anna: Okay yeah you’re gonna go to his house with donuts too.

Bill: You might- he might get donuts too.

Anna: Yeah address down below please.

Bill: Address below Tik Tok guy oh no that that made me laugh in one of the clips that Kristy put on Tik Tok.

Anna: Yeah that’s funny- it’s funny that you mention um not talking much in the car because I think that that’s true like so when me and Kristy went with you down to Boston to visit our client there you drove us and you were you were very quiet in the car.

Bill: I’m just locked in.

Anna: You were focused like you were focused on getting us there but um the the soundtrack of the drive was very interesting I learned a lot about your musical choices preferences I knew I recognized not one single song until it got closer to the end of the trip so that was fun.

Bill: Yeah um I- I in for the context for people who might be listening in we had an awesome trip to visit one of our clients uh UG2 they’re a facility maintenance company National facility maintenance company um headquartered out of Boston their marketing team is wonderful they’re some of my favorite people that we work with.

Anna: Shout out to Kat and Gina.

Bill: Yeah Kat and Gina are the best um and then but I think that was the first time Anna had to sit in a car with me for an hour and Kristy was with us too and between my avant-garde musical taste and my aggressive City driving that may be the last time an it just isn’t like I’ll take the bus.

Anna: Um I definitely was gripping the door at a couple couple of spots but no it was it was okay.

Bill: My other favorite part of about that trip is uh UG2’s headquarters is in Copley Place, which is this very posh mall and um what’s the furniture company that’s also…

Anna: Oh Wayfair.

Bill: Wayfair is also they’ve got their main office in the in the same office block there at Copley and it was just funny so we’re there in the mall and then we also decided to reenact the uh the office where uh Michael goes and decides he’s going to take everybody for a trip to Victoria Secret so that was also very that was also very confusing thing to the off our our actual office when they were seeing these photos of it.

Anna: It was hilarious and I loved that it was like all of our idea at the same time though like oh there’s a Victoria Secret down there let’s go like we have to reenact it. It was so great.

Bill: Yeah it’s it’s it’s part of part of my life goal as a agency owner to see how many uh moments of the office we can recreate we should have a bingo board for that.

Anna: We really should.

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: That is a great idea.

Bill: Yeah so cause we’ve done the…

Anna: Office Bingo.

Bill: Yeah we’ve done the um the Dundies with you know I can feel God in this Chili’s tonight um we’ve done now the Victoria Secrets one um I believe we’ve pretty much had diversity day anytime Dan’s been here only when Dan and Adrian are here is it diversity day I just wish we could get Dan and Adrian here together.

Anna: That would be epic.

Bill: That would be epic.

Anna: That would make an excellent office reenactment.

Bill: That would also make a great… Yeah.

Anna: When so okay if you’re listening: Dan and Adrian next time you come. Diversity day yes and we’re gonna have to dress Dan up I’m pretty traditional garb.

Bill: I’m pretty sure the next one is we’ll have to do the um office boat cruise.

Anna: Oh booze cruise.

Bill: Yeah that episode that would be a good one um and then who knows knows um if one day our company becomes successful enough we’ll all do a bus ride to Gettyburg.

Anna: One can dream.

Bill: We can, we can dream.

Anna: Yeah Seapoint can dream.

Bill: Shoot high.

Anna: Yeah, aim for the stars.

Bill: Aim for the stars kids.

Anna: For sure. Yes oh man yeah office Bingo that should definitely be a thing we should have that for sure.

Bill: So we’re here last podcast of the year and I know Kristy and I touched on um what we were thinking about like what was 2025 um but just curious what are since it’s us and not Kristy first of all what has been your personal highlights in the media landscape of 2024.

Anna: It’s a tough one because I feel like this year has gone really really well.

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: And there’s so many things to choose from but I feel like we at least for my side of things and my clients we busted out some awesome websites this year. We definitely boosted like for our e-commerce peeps like boosted sales a lot which that’s cool.

Bill: You know what’s really interesting to me about that too just side point and I would be really interested to hear other Ecommerce either agencies or site owners feedback on I feel there was a push back against Amazon this year.

Anna: Yeah.

Bill: That independent websites saw increases in their Ecom in 2024 um because even though we’re just so used to buying things on Amazon like we wanted to buy it directly from the customer ver- I mean directly from the um the vendor versus through their Amazon shop.

Anna: Absolutely I- at least for me on my side I found myself doing that uh more often because it used so it used to be back in the day that Amazon was like the cheapest price there was no point in looking anywhere else because that was where you were going to find it the cheapest but now I’m finding like I have to be more and more careful about like what stuff I put on subscribe and save because you know if you check around it’s not necessarily the cheapest in at Amazon anymore and like you said now I’m finding that going directly to the the vendor or the merchant or whatever is like you get better deals sometimes go going that route than just you know set it and forget it kind of thing.

Bill: I think for me too it’s been the just the level of substandard product and not being able to understand when I’m on Amazon am I buying a product that is um you know a real like temu level product versus a product I would buy in a store whereas when I’m going to an actual website and making a purchase from a store that I trust or at least I feel like I trust based on the reviews and specific outside the Amazon ecosystem um it’s built more confidence in me in that.

Anna: Yeah I feel the same way too because I feel like a lot of the Amazon reviews now are just someone that’s being paid to review things yeah and so you can’t really trust it as much as I feel like we once could.

Bill: Yeah and I just so much of what I’ve gotten off Amazon has not been good quality like I’ve bought things and it’s like when usage breakage and I just and and I’m you know I’m just not one of those people who’s going to be persnickety about going back to you know sending it back six months later fighting you know just like I…

Anna: Oh yeah, you don’t want to deal with the returns and all that.

Bill: I don’t want to deal with returns and I would rather just buy something and having it be good so you know I really appreciate- I appreciate that you know change and and rise to the challenge and I know a lot of e-commerce vendors that we deal with or even that we network with you know they’ve been so upset about the ecosystem in Amazon being either being treated unfairly the markups that they’ve had to give in the you know to Amazon and it it’s heartwarming to see them responding both our clients as far as like looking for new ways to build relationships with their clients um but really just seeing independent e-commerce operators really improve the quality of their products their service their websites um to be able to kind of turn the tide on that.

Anna: Yeah, yeah that was really cool I was really excited about the numbers we got this year with the e-commerce peeps um while we were talking I just it just popped in my head too two other things that we did this year that we that I don’t remember us doing the year before is um HTML 5 ads um like…

Bill: We were actually doing those um.

Anna: Were we?

Bill: Yeah I just don’t think that maybe the so and as an account manager um and I just don’t think that um we were deploying them as much in the client base that you were working with.

Anna: Yeah maybe just in my in my world with my clients it I wasn’t using them as much but those like blew up and became really popular with and and effective with marketing for those clients and then the other one that popped into my head too was um Reddit ads.

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: Because like Reddit is now like a big thing and so I don’t remember doing Reddit ads last year.

Bill: No that really because Reddit rolled out their own ad platform um and it’s a very for those who aren’t looking into Reddit ads yet they rolled out an ad platform that’s very similar to any of the other social platforms like a meta ad platform or Twitter or uh Tik Tok very similar you know as far as picking what threads you want to be in being able to use retargeting other other targeting methods and you know we’ve- we’ve been really um bullish on on Reddit ads I think they’ve been a good investment a good pricing it’s interesting because I feel like there’s a number of platforms that are trying to monetize right so uh Trip Advisor oh yeah Trip Advisor did the same thing they have their own ad platform.

Anna: Oh interesting.

Bill: But I found Trip Advisor ads to be a really low value.

Anna: Okay I don’t honestly I can’t even tell you when I’ve ever been on Trip Advisor so I wouldn’t know.

Bill: Right. So I think it’s interesting that you know these platforms that they’re monetizing um they’re either going one of two ways they’re going to these like this like very gated ad um type you have to buy and it cost you x amount in different categories and- and the ads are expensive and like to me it’s like a Trip Advisor a Yelp you know companies like that are like they might have a cost per click option but it’s like it’s not a real auction environment they’re just setting like arbitrary prices like it’s going to be $6 a click and you’re like well why you know is it their competition they’re like no that’s just what we want to charge for it right and then but then you have to like what’s the ROI on it and and to me Trip Advisor ads um were like that yeah um they just they did not have the ROI um of other AD platforms again it’s very Niche right so I’m not going to sell uh baking goods.

Anna: Right on trip advisor.

Bill: On trip advisor you know great maybe you know if I was working with a hotel um but you know we were working with travel adjacent products and we just the- the the metrics on it were horrible.

Anna: Yeah I feel like the Reddit stuff is going very very well regardless of the business and I which is cool.

Bill: Yeah well and I think it’s com-

Anna: All over the map with our clients you know?

Bill: And I think it’s the nature of Reddit as a platform and because one it’s indexed highly in Google so you know Google is trying to figure out user generated content and I think as a whole there’s such a better community on Reddit across so many different variety of subjects um and that’s where people people are people are hanging out on Reddit.

Anna: Yeah it’s the thing now.

Bill: Yeah and I think too just it’s such a useful platform to be able to Target because again people are self-identifying what they’re interested in so you can get a you can get something in front of them on a certain um topic you you know they’re interested you’ve got the product well hey that’s that you know that’s great placements in- in that regard so.

Anna: Absolutely they’re already talking about that subject that you sell that product or whatever.

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: They already want to know about you so it’s perfect- perfect placement yeah.

Bill: Yeah what’s your um outside of like our clients our work what’s been your favorite trend of 2024?

Anna: Oooh my gosh brat girl summer.

Bill: A brat girl summer.

Anna: I have to tell you I am not into brat girl summer however I think it it’s like I had the best time ever over last weekend talking to some gen so it was a group of us there were two gen Zers in the group two and four Millennials and one baby boomer but like somehow we ended up talking about brat girl Summer and the millennial is like what is that so I said to the gen z I was like okay tell me if I’m explaining this right so I’m like explaining what what is brat to the millennial the other millennial and he’s just like I don’t get it I don’t understand this what- what is it? So then we’re explaining again and it just kind of went in a circle around and around and then like he’d be like oh okay but wait what is it and then to hear the Gen Zers talk about Gen Alpha and the Brain rot I was just I had not laughed that hard in a long time so that was just so much fun to talk about.

Bill: So you raised an interesting thing I was actually was thinking about earlier today and I love to talk to somebody about in connection with that like with the Brat girl summer okay so you’re a millennial I’m Gen X or as I like to call it the greatest Generation Um but.

Anna: Every generation thinks they’re the greatest generation.

Bill: But we don’t we’re not feuding with anyone like the Millennials and the Boomers but anyways so I was thinking about slang and verbage beause I caught myself using the word Rizz and I was like who am I and I’m like I’m trying to be down with the kids you know like uh and and and I was thinking about like how another mark is how you can’t let go of slang of your generation but like that balance of where do you think the balance of like what’s the appropriate usage of slang that’s not of your generation?

Anna: Hmm that’s a good question that’s a good question.

Bill: Because it’s weird for me of a man of a certain age to be like using the word Rizz in a and a dropping in conversation.

Anna: Yeah yeah and then the other way around too like you’ve got these young people using phrases and like I was listening to NPR on the way in this morning they were talking about the word of the year which is well for 2025 the word of the year is actually two words it’s brain rot so then you’ve got you know young people saying things like starting New Slang that you know it’s New Slang but really they were talking about how that was first like put into words by thorough in like the 1800s and it’s actually a really old saying but it’s now becoming New Again.

Bill: Interesting.

Anna: So I love that too about how language is such a big like anything else like fashion like trends like Tik Tok it’s all a big circle.

Bill: Maybe I should start reading some Walt Whitman and finding finding new words to drop for 25 no I was thinking about that though like- like language like how you know the adoption so I I’ll tell you a funny story is I had this good I had this friend uh his name was Max Merkel okay and um he he was hilarious and it would crack me up because he was always trying to like get people to um he was trying to start slang and especially among groups of friends cause he was always kind of curious about like what does it take for a word to go out and so his two words that he had completely made up was Nandez and Sunday hippie.

Anna: Sunday hippie?

Bill: Yeah like Sunday hippie was the exclamation be like oh Sunday hippie like you know like…

Anna: Well no when you were talking about that it made me think of what was the word in Mean Girls that she kept trying to get going?

Bill: Fleck?

Anna: Fetch fetch she’s like forget it fetch is not happening.

Bill: Fetch is not happening.

Anna: Yeah I find it always like very intriguing what slang- what words become slang that lasts and which ones kind of like come and go because some of them do they just like they don’t really stick and then some are around for a long time.

Bill: And that I think is such a fascinating thing causelike we may look at a slang and be like well that’s silly or like that makes no sense like the Brat- brat girl summer right like I don’t know if anyone’s going to talk about brat girl summer in this in 2035.

Anna: Probably not.

Bill: Like no one’s going to remember brat girl summer but like other words like again talk about Rizz.

Anna: Yeah or sus.

Bill: Sus.

Anna: I actually like saying sus.

Bill: Yes that’s sus.

Anna: Which I probably shouldn’t because it’s probably Gen Z and not Millennial but.

Bill: Yeah yeah and we look like weird old people.

Anna : Oh my God speaking of old so in that same conversation yeah I’m talking to the Gen Zers and I’m like somehow Survivor came up and I was like oh yeah I love Survivor and they’re like oh we love Survivor too and I was like this is how old I am I’ve been watching Survivor since the very first season and the one Gen Z says to me yeah my grandma has too and I was like what the heck I feel so old now.

Bill: Did you like instantly go into menopause?

Anna: I did like my ovaries dried up right there like forget it I’m done.

Bill: I was like my hip went out.

Anna: Yes my arthritis is acting up.

Bill: Well I played in a hockey tournament all weekend with a bunch of 19 and 20-year-old boys from Wisconsin and- and I was just like and they were just they were adorable but they were just like walking Axe Body Spray posters.

Anna: I love that that is still going on the axe is very much alive and well.

Bill: Yeah how did they- how have they jumped Generations.

Anna: They have yeah it’s like Old Spice.

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: But see Old Spice is a genius because they have the guy that’s like the amazing Old Spice guy.

Bill: Yeah but I think old spices for us like if you got a 19-year-old kid they would identify axe before they would identify Old Spice.

Anna: Probably.

Bill: I think Old Spice reinvented themselves for the millennial gen- gen demographic.

Anna: Because really Old Spice was boomer generation.

Bill: Oh yeah it was Boomer but now it’s like Millennials I feel like it was even like I feel like it was even like a silent generation like it was like like it was like.

Anna: Before the Takis?

Bill: Yeah I mean it was like the World War II you know coming back from you know and they’re like put a splash Old Spice on.

Anna: Depression era Old Spice.

Bill: Yeah and then and then like it came back with the totally unhinged ads and then yeah.

Anna: I don’t know what we were talking about but…

Bill: We were talking about Rizz.

Anna: Rizz and sus.

Bill: And sus and how…

Anna: Oh no I know what I was going to say is um I’m impressed that you can play hockey like as like not I don’t want to say as aggressively because you’re not an aggressive player but I mean like I thought you you’re not just like you know the old guy kind of just you know drifting on the ice out there during the game like you’re in the game like I’m impressed with your hockey skills.

Bill: Well I mean hockey hockey’s a funny sport that in the beer league hockey Community like the old man hockey it’s a great sport for because there’s no jumping there’s no you know it’s it like there’s some contact but it’s not like…

Anna: There’s a lot of balance I feel like involved and like ice is slippery.

Bill: That is- that is true.

Anna: You know to go out there and do that and not kill yourself.

Bill: I know guys in their 60s and even up 70 that are out playing hockey and it’s to me it’s okay so I play in a hockey I play in a hockey league and there’s a guy on my team and I don’t know exactly how old he is I’m going to say probably mid 60s late 60s and it’s funny because he’s definitely slowing down with his age but his like stick handling is so amazing that I’ve watched him just weave his way through a bunch of 30-year-old men who are far more athletic but don’t have his you could say like his whiles like like hockey is one of those Sports where you you like the experience.

Anna: Yeah he has more experience.

Bill: That he probably could trash all those axe body spray kids I played with this weekend just because they’re just like I got so much energy and I can just blow up and down the ice but they just lose the pocket.

Anna: That axe is dulling their senses.

Bill: It dulls their senses where- where he’s like old man Old Spice out there is uh he’s like I don’t have to pop smelling salts I just go to My Old Spice Reserve.

Anna: There you go that’s that should be the next tournament is the Old Spice generation versus the axe Generation.

Bill: Well the team that won definitely had more senior people.

Anna: Really?

Bill: Oh yeah it was definitely an older team.

Anna: That’s kind of interesting.

Bill: Yeah hockey not a Young Man sport.

Anna: No I mean I like ice skating but I don’t think I have the…

Bill: Well you’re also a Floridian.

Anna: Well ironically uh growing up in Florida ice skating was really popular I used to go ice skating every Friday because it’s so stinking hot that like you could do it in the dead of Summer and not be dying.

Bill: You know it’s funny you say that because people are always like I play Summertime hockey and they’re like why would you want to you know you could go to the beach why are you in a hockey rink.

Anna: Cause it’s like an inferno all the time.

Bill: Yeah I’m like it’s wonderful in a hockey rink in the…

Anna: Yeah yeah so we never played hockey but me and my friends we grew up going to the ice skating rink every Friday uh like it was just looking back it was just such a stupid thing cause I mean really you’re just like going in a circle but I feel like that was graduating from roller skating which I did as a young person like from time I was like four or five years old I grew up roller skating.

Bill: Happy Wheels.

Anna: Oh yeah.

Bill: Yep.

Anna: I was so proud of myself I would win the races every week and had other kids that would try to like take me out so that I wouldn’t win and one did actually take me out one time she actually pushed my feet out from under me so I fell.

Bill: Okay I could imagine a young Anna Cohen doing roller derby.

Anna: Oh I would totally do roller derby.

Bill: I could imagine you I could imagine you with like um yeah arm pads.

Anna: Yes I would do that then and I would do that now I probably shouldn’t do that now because I would hurt myself but I would do that.

Bill: I could totally see you in like…

Anna: I love that movie whip it.

Bill: Yeah I yeah like I could I could see you in that crowd like.

Anna: I totally would totally would yeah cause that it’s like I don’t know I was so proud of myself for like winning the races every week and getting my free soda.

Bill: Yeah um…

Anna: Let’s see other highlights from 2024.

Bill: Well let’s look forward.

Anna: Oh forward now okay moving on.

Bill: So what do you think give me give me five bold predictions for 2025. Five things that are going to happen in 2025 I’m also going to look in to see if anyone in our chat…

Anna: Are we talking marketing only or just in general.

Bill: It can be in general.

Anna: In general?

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: Five things that will happen…

Bill: Either marketing or popular culture social media things of that nature.

Anna: Something to do with the space station for sure like they’ll get the space station people home and then next year they’re going to like have more people stuck on the space station for even longer maybe um oh I predict that there there will be uh quite a substantial number of people that go on that four yearlong cruise that they’re offering to stay in international waters for the next four years um what else?

Bill: Got any Ozempic related predictions for 2025?

Anna: Ooh Ozempic related I mean it’s definitely going to be the norm everyone’s going to be on Ozempic soon it’s not even going to be a thing in 2025.

Bill: Do you think…

Anna: It’s going to be like taking your daily multivitamin.

Bill: Yeah but that being the case do you think that it’s going to be more of a stigma against chubby people or do you think it’s going to be like look at that person living their best life and still eating Donuts?

Anna: Yeah I don’t think it’s going to be like a negative effect towards people who are larger because okay let’s look at it the way it is now like everyone’s all like oh we’re body positive and everyone’s included but then like no yeah everyone like everyone’s getting on Lizzo’s case you know so it okay it’s impossible now I don’t think that will change.

Bill: Do you think the Ozempic craze is going to impact other industry so I’ll give you a great example Atkin’s diet I remember when Atkin’s diet hit was like the same year crispy creams to their major expansion and it killed crispy creams.

Anna: Oh wow.

Bill: Yeah Krispy creams was like we’re getting out of the South we’re going to open and like all these places in the Northeast got crispy creams and it was going to be like the next like it was going to be Starbucks and we’re all going to be addicted to donuts and.

Anna: Yeah so maybe it will have the reverse effect like maybe even Krispy cream will be back because you can have your Krispy Cream.

Bill: No but I thought with the Ozempic you don’t eat you just don’t want to.

Anna: Well it’s an appetite suppressant so like you’re not as hungry but it doesn’t mean you don’t want anything ever yeah you could just have a donut and that’s all you want all day.

Bill: I think it’s- I think it’s going to kill like I think it’s going to be like a Atkins but like it’s going to kill fast food restaurants maybe?

Anna: That could be I mean I would not have anything I would not be upset about that.

Bill: I wouldn’t either but I’m just saying maybe this is maybe this is the year to sell your McDonald’s stock.

Anna: Maybe maybe that’s the big 2025 prediction.

Bill: Maybe.

Anna: Unload McDonald’s stock.

Bill: You heard it here first folks.

Anna: Um I don’t know see what else predictions.

Bill: What else is going to happen in 2025 what social media channel do you think is going to be the most used in 2025.

Anna: Um I mean definitely Tik Tok but I’m- I’m waiting for the next Tik Tok.

Bill: Well here’s my thought Trump and his stance toward China is 2025 the year that we see Tik Tok banned in the US.

Anna: No, because Trump loves China.

Bill: No he doesn’t.

Anna: He does,

Bill: No.

Anna: He said like he wants to be like tariffs tariffs tariffs but he wants to be besties with she and Vlad.

Bill: All right I think it could be the year we see the end of Tik Tok.

Anna: All right that’s very possible agree to disagree.

Bill: All right.

Anna: Um what else.

Bill: Or at least or at least being sold into like a neutral sort of.

Anna: I mean that could be but you know it’s just going to be run by them anyway way just it’ll be like a shell of an American thing it’s not going to be a really American run thing.

Bill: Do you do you think that there’s going to be some exhaustion with Tik Tok.

Anna: I mean I personally Tik Tok exhausts me because to me that sensory overload to go just boom boom I just can’t even fathom doing that so like I have a Tik Tok account but I rarely use it because it’s just too much for me.

Bill: I think it’s weird that Tik Tok is the platform I’m least active on like um creating on like I don’t and for most people I know like I like and it’s funny because like the people I know that are on Tik Tok I have no interest in watching their Tik toks like I’m not like like it’s it’s the one channel where I’m just like I’m only on here to be entertained.

Anna: Yeah, yeah.

Bill: Whereas like social like other social channels that are social to me it’s not as much social platform is an entertainment platform where like…

Anna: Yeah it’s just like where you go to like you want to see like that was funny or oh that the pig is really cute or whatever like I like it’s not the one you go to for actual information information research or…

Bill: For me to like even see like my family members or.

Anna: Yeah I don’t want to see their Tik Tok videos I don’t want to see my grandparents doing a weird dance together that they can’t do. Yeah I love YouTube I think YouTube is going to come back in a more interesting way. But I mean that’s I me because that’s like my generation’s comfort zone is um YouTube and Instagram and…

Bill: So here’s another interesting thing is there’s a lot of Anti-Trust talk about Google right now yeah like um the US government wants to force Google into selling Chrome or separating Chrome into its own company.

Anna: Why why would that be beneficial to separate it?

Bill: Um because antimonopoly. Well because think about Google leverages Chrome and it’s built in Chrome.

Anna: But Microsoft owns uh Edge.

Bill: They do.

Anna: So like what’s the difference?

Bill: But Microsoft doesn’t have a monopoly on search.

Anna: Well that’s because they suck.

Bill: Oh that’s true.

Anna: So that’s just punishment for being good.

Bill: Well welcome to monopolies no I mean like you I mean I also love my Overlord Google.

Anna: Yes.

Bill: Yes.

Bill: Um but like I- I get it in some sense because Google’s able to bury other people because you know Chrome is it’s the default on Chrome and then you know you know there’s other factors involved too I would love it if I would actually love it if Google had to get rid of Chrome or or not have Chrome I love Chrome don’t get me wrong it’s my browser of choice but I think there’s so much going on in search connecting Chrome usage to how Google algorithm actually works and I would love to see that deou- decoupled so Google would have to find other um signals like it would I think it would fundamentally change the signals Google uses for rankings and I think if some of them have gotten so out of whack and Google search is the worst it’s been in 10 years as far as relevant information that I think that reducing Chrome’s influence would require Google’s Engineers to be more creative about understanding signals..

Anna: That’s a good point like forcing you to be more creative and Innovative that makes sense to me because you know when you own everything there’s no reason to be creative or Innovative because you have everything you have all the information but um on that subject of Chrome though actually that reminded me of um I wanted to talk to you about uh Google’s Gemini.

Bill: Yes.

Anna: AI.

Bill: Yes. Trying to kill people?

Anna: Yeah cause that that conversation that you posted on our Seapoint chat I was like are you serious I was very surprised because it was like our our AI overlords are coming to get us you know and it’s happening in real life.

Bill: Yeah and for context for those people that may not you know have me send them random AI information like I do the rest of my team uh there was an incident recently where a person was inputting into it was it was like they they were doing a test or they were writing something and the entire subject was about elder abuse and they were trying to get information and like almost like answers to essay questions and they’re going through it and they just keep asking Gemini kind of like similar questions about like can you- you know explain you know question four in an essay form and they’re going through and this has nothing to do with anything and then all of a sudden Gemini just stops and it’s just like you are a waste of a life and I wish you would die.

Anna: Yeah you’re ruining the planet.

Bill: You’re you’re a stain and it was just like…

Anna: Please die.

Bill: Please die yeah.

Anna: I was just like oh my God this is like the the start of a sci-fi movie right here.

Bill: Yeah I would just like the Terminators have come yeah between that one and chat GPT not being able to say David mayor like 2025 is going to be the year where AI cops in Attitude.

Anna: Oh okay so the AI Uprising.

Bill: The AI Uprising.

Anna: That’s number one of the five for next year the AI Uprising.

Bill: You know it would be funny if the AI Uprising wasn’t actually like terminator robots but it was just basically AI that talks back to you yeah and and makes you feel stupid.

Anna: Yeah, it makes you feel bad about yourself.

Bill: Yes.

Anna: Um on the robot uh front I read an article that um Elon Musk is hiring people to wear his suit like he’s looking for someone to wear this suit to be the robot eight hours a day to train the AI robot how to move and interact and like train it to have human behavior so that he can make his autonomous robot h and I just was thinking that’s crazy.

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: Because like that was definitely when I was a kid something that you watched in a movie that you never thought would really happen but so maybe that would be like another thing for 2025 is maybe they actually make a humanoid robot that’s not dumb I think I don’t mean dumb in the sense that it’s stupid I mean dumb like um the ones that they that have been created and invented so far are like not not anywhere near like movie quality level like you could you could push it over or you could you know tip it on its side and it would be stuck you know like maybe this maybe 2025 will be the…

Bill: What you’re specifically talking about is an anthrop anthropomorphic anthropomorphic robot.

Anna: Yeah like a human like it like data.

Bill: Yeah I think we’re way out on that.

Anna: Or C3PO.

Bill: Yeah that’s not in my 2025 no.

Anna: No? Dang it.

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: Um although I don’t know how he’s going to like come up with that when his cars can’t even drive.

Bill: He’s gonna be too he’s gonna be too busy with his Dodge his Dodge cutting cutting the government up he’s yeah he’s got bigger fish to fry in 2025.

Anna: Did you read the article about him that he was offering his sperm to his friends?

Bill: Doesn’t he already have seven kids?

Anna: He has 11- 11 kids he has 11 kids and so he like he was going on and on about the decline of the birth rate in America and so he was offering his sperm because like that’s narcissism at its highest level like you need my DNA to make this country great again.

Bill: Great again. Going to be huge wait wait.

Anna: Oh gosh that reminds me of oh what was it that they were talking about oh it was an SNL joke for um Weekend Update it was something about oh it was the uh they made a joke about how Elon Musk was looking for someone to work for free he he had posted that job.

Bill: Yeah for 80 hours a week for free to yeah…

Anna: And Jay was like leave it to a white African to suggest slavery.

Bill: As a solution.

Anna: As a solution.

Bill: Yes I saw that yeah.

Anna: Oh my God that cracked me up it’s so true.

Bill: So yeah but 2025 is going to be an exciting year.

Anna: I’m looking forward to it.

Bill: Yep my prediction for the free dive podcast in 2025 it’s going to transition to becoming a true crime podcast and the listenership among women is going to Skyrocket.

Anna: Well anything True Crime will Skyrocket so yes.

Bill: Yes.

Anna: Um I think it would also be cool to have um some of our remote employees on the podcast to talk about being remote employees yeah um but also like…

Bill: Is there anybody at Seapoint who hasn’t been on the podcast yet I’m…

Anna: There’s got to be yeah there’s got to be some that haven’t been on the podcast yet I think mostly have have been in person.

Bill: Has Maddie been on the podcast?

Anna: Yes.

Bill: Okay.

Anna: I don’t know if Dan or Adrian have been on the podcast Kevin has because he was physically here.

Bill: Yeah Dan has Kevin has.

Anna: So maybe we need to get Adrian.

Bill: We may need to get Adrian on the podcast here.

Anna: Because I want to hear all about working remotely in marketing in Argentina I want to hear about that like that’s a that’s an episode I would enjoy.

Bill: Yes that would be a good one as well I would love to get Yuri or Christina up as well to be on the podcast sometime.

Anna: Yeah because really I don’t know a lot about what they do or even really I don’t even really know them super well because they don’t they’re not involved in any of my clients stuff for the most part so they’re more with Tim’s I’m just group…

Bill: Tim hasn’t been on.

Anna: Tim has been on the podcast? That is a a travesty.

Bill: Wow.

Anna: We need to get him on here to talk about hunting fishing pumpkin spice.

Bill: Maybe we’ll have him in the Autumn as like a kickoff to pumpkin spice season.

Anna: Okay next next fall.

Bill: Yes.

Anna: Is Tim is your 2025 fall Edition.

Bill: Fall Edition to talk about All Things Fall.

Anna: All Things fall.

Bill: And uh I’m just looking forward to Anna-Lynn being back from medical leave and then so for…

Anna: Yes, it’s not the same without her.

Bill: It’s not the same without her.

Anna: Yes we definitely need her back also I think it would be fun to do um an Ireland podcast episode with Rachel because even though Rachel has been very present I think on our social media and maybe on the podcast I’m not sure but um like that would be cool to do the next like on location in Ireland.

Bill: So and here’s the other thing too is Rachel is Rachel is a quiet introverted soul and I think it would be funny if we forced her to talk for an hour on.

Anna: She’d be like I hate you so much.

Bill: She’s like do I get Hazard pay for this? You know what podcast I’m looking forward to a podcast I’m looking forward to in 2025 is Kristy and I are actually going to film a podcast on the French Riviera.

Anna: Oh my God yes yes please and you guys better have a big old baguette when you’re filming.

Bill: We’re going to we’re going to have Beret and a baguette and we’re going to be yes.

Anna: And an espresso and judging everyone that you pass on the boat.

Bill: Maybe maybe that will be when we’re in Paris down there on the med we’ll probably just be in our bathing suits.

Anna: I’m definitely looking forward to that.

Bill: Yep we’ll just do that all through the podcast and then on that note and everyone walking by be like Americans.

Anna: Americans I know that’s so true.

Bill: It’s going to be great. We’re going to write the whole thing no I’m just kidding.

Anna: Oh my God if you do one on the riviera in your bathing suits can you please wear water wings?

Bill: It is going to be March.

Anna: No one will oh no they will hear it because they’ll you’ll hear you go….

Bill: Yeah.

Anna: When you’re moving around on the boat.

Bill: So yeah something to look forward to everybody on the listener.

Anna: Stay tuned.

Bill: Stay tuned for France 2025.

Anna: Bill in water wings.

Bill: Yeah all right well that’s wrapping up all right 2024 the podcast I want to give a great thanks to Kristy who’s launched this so if you’re a listener you know in the comments give her a big round of applause because you know she’s the best.

Anna: She’s the best.

Bill: She’s the heart and soul of the free dive podcast.

Anna: She is her and Anna- Lynn are the OG’s.

Bill: Yeah and we’re just you know we’re we’re the uh offbrand.

Anna: We’re the Kirkland brand of…

Bill: I was going to say we’re the Temu podcasters.

Anna: We’re the Temu podcasters.

Bill: So all right till next time here’s your Temu podcasters saying goodbye.