The Bounce Rate Podcast

WEBVTT

00:00:00.017 –> 00:00:08.097
It’s Thanksgiving 2025, and this is the time that people play into traditions,

00:00:08.097 –> 00:00:11.057
and traditions are tons of fun.

00:00:11.737 –> 00:00:18.917
And traditions are big in marketing, Oscar night, Super Bowl ads,

00:00:20.057 –> 00:00:22.537
the McRib, seasonal things.

00:00:22.537 –> 00:00:33.617
Like, you know, there are people that are, we use traditions as a excuse to

00:00:33.617 –> 00:00:37.297
do bigger and bolder marketing. Yeah.

00:00:37.797 –> 00:00:41.837
Deep fried turkeys from Jonathan’s Rub. Yum. Yum.

00:00:42.477 –> 00:00:46.397
That’s really good. What about A-Bears? Oh, A-Bears. Oh, God.

00:00:46.497 –> 00:00:50.377
A-Bears is so good. Have you had a turducken? I’ve not done them for a long time.

00:00:50.717 –> 00:00:52.737
Have you heard of a turducken? I’ve heard of that.

00:00:53.197 –> 00:00:57.117
They’re really good. They’re really quite tasty. So, James, we’re…

00:00:58.067 –> 00:01:03.247
You and I were at Indoor Media when we both did, or sorry, Click and Create

00:01:03.247 –> 00:01:05.227
when we did A-Bear’s website?

00:01:05.967 –> 00:01:09.847
Yes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Yeah. So they were, yeah, they were doing online.

00:01:10.087 –> 00:01:14.787
They were, so turduckens, right? For those, surely everybody knows what a turducken is.

00:01:14.907 –> 00:01:18.847
It’s a turkey, duck, and chicken all stuffed inside each other.

00:01:19.707 –> 00:01:22.547
I think it’s duck on the inside, then chicken, then turkey.

00:01:23.487 –> 00:01:28.827
So A-Bear’s spelled Herbert’s. Yeah, I always threw me. I’m like,

00:01:28.967 –> 00:01:30.527
what? It’s a Cajun. Yeah. Yeah.

00:01:30.987 –> 00:01:34.247
So it’s A-Bear’s specialty meats.

00:01:35.047 –> 00:01:38.927
They do crazy amounts of business for Thanksgiving. That’s one of their traditions.

00:01:38.947 –> 00:01:42.587
And I’m sure a lot of people’s traditions is to get one of their turduckens

00:01:42.587 –> 00:01:45.867
and they will, they ship them all over the country too.

00:01:46.107 –> 00:01:51.287
And so it’s a big thing for companies to give them as gifts for their customers

00:01:51.287 –> 00:01:52.767
and do stuff and all that.

00:01:53.107 –> 00:01:56.387
Yeah. And I was blown away how much people would be willing to spend to ship it.

00:01:56.607 –> 00:02:02.467
Because the thing itself was not cheap. And then it would cost like $60, $80 just to ship it.

00:02:02.527 –> 00:02:06.427
Because they’d stuff it with like styrofoam and dry ice.

00:02:06.747 –> 00:02:09.607
Because it’s a perishable meat.

00:02:10.127 –> 00:02:16.227
Well, I’m curious about y’all. Like your personal Thanksgiving and also just

00:02:16.227 –> 00:02:17.327
general holiday traditions.

00:02:17.627 –> 00:02:22.527
I know our tradition growing up was always to go to my grandma’s house in Dallas.

00:02:22.527 –> 00:02:26.667
Um and um we shout

00:02:26.667 –> 00:02:29.687
out to dallas great city um and we

00:02:29.687 –> 00:02:35.987
would always have turkey ham and lasagna for some reason oh lasagna yeah that

00:02:35.987 –> 00:02:39.707
was just every year that would be that we’re not an italian family but that

00:02:39.707 –> 00:02:43.407
was just all we’d always have that and then twice baked potatoes like and that

00:02:43.407 –> 00:02:49.307
was the only time of year that we would make that stuff so um we would uh.

00:02:50.451 –> 00:02:54.771
Always look forward to that. Well, funny you talk about that because we have

00:02:54.771 –> 00:02:55.771
something going on in our house.

00:02:57.311 –> 00:03:00.431
With my family, my sister lives in town with her husband, her kids.

00:03:00.551 –> 00:03:01.891
I live in town and my parents live in town.

00:03:02.611 –> 00:03:05.511
And for years, we’ve always gone to my parents’ house.

00:03:05.651 –> 00:03:08.711
My parents are getting older and they don’t really want to do all the cooking

00:03:08.711 –> 00:03:11.091
and stuff anymore. So we decided to.

00:03:13.047 –> 00:03:15.607
Every year someone else is going to do it. So this year we’re doing it.

00:03:16.107 –> 00:03:17.827
Oh, my little boy’s grown up. I know.

00:03:18.427 –> 00:03:24.847
But the funniest thing is my kids, my two boys, 14 and 16, are pissed. They’re like, no.

00:03:25.387 –> 00:03:27.507
No, we go to mama and papa.

00:03:28.627 –> 00:03:31.447
So that is such a funny thing.

00:03:31.587 –> 00:03:35.507
My wife and I, we talked about this as our daughter was growing up.

00:03:35.527 –> 00:03:39.407
And I think I’ve carried this over into my work life. I don’t really have a lot of traditions.

00:03:39.607 –> 00:03:43.847
Me neither. I didn’t really. And one of the things we specifically talked about,

00:03:43.887 –> 00:03:45.087
all those families that,

00:03:45.287 –> 00:03:51.667
especially with their kids, you know, from age four to 16, always went to this

00:03:51.667 –> 00:03:55.347
one place or they took that trip or whatever it was.

00:03:55.507 –> 00:03:58.927
And those kids are heartbroken when you stop that tradition.

00:03:59.727 –> 00:04:02.927
It just made me think about like how powerful it can be. Yeah.

00:04:03.167 –> 00:04:05.827
Really. I mean, like my kids are teenagers, boys.

00:04:06.007 –> 00:04:08.547
They don’t seem like they care about many things. And all of a sudden they’re

00:04:08.547 –> 00:04:13.427
like throwing a fit. So I was like, wow, like some people really look forward

00:04:13.427 –> 00:04:15.287
to something, even if they’re not vocal about it.

00:04:15.467 –> 00:04:19.287
What’s the business version of that? So what’s a tradition?

00:04:19.547 –> 00:04:23.087
Do you guys have a place that had a tradition and stopped it?

00:04:24.007 –> 00:04:27.087
Ooh, I mean, is this the episode where we talk about endless shrimp?

00:04:30.027 –> 00:04:35.307
That wasn’t an ending of tradition. That was a bankruptcy of tradition. Yeah.

00:04:35.767 –> 00:04:38.907
Wow. uh yeah that was one

00:04:38.907 –> 00:04:41.647
definitely that i was like every year i’m like well

00:04:41.647 –> 00:04:44.427
of course we’re going to go to endless shrimp and then they stopped doing

00:04:44.427 –> 00:04:48.827
it i’m just thinking what else what other um businesses have traditions around

00:04:48.827 –> 00:04:56.367
this time well our family loved those white chocolate covered oreos yeah and

00:04:56.367 –> 00:05:01.907
white the white chocolate fudge and it is really interesting because um They’re seasonal.

00:05:03.047 –> 00:05:09.387
And in our current economic landscape, Oreo has gone…

00:05:09.906 –> 00:05:17.526
Frankly, insane in that they have every different flavor you can think of.

00:05:17.646 –> 00:05:19.106
There’s tiramisu Oreos.

00:05:19.246 –> 00:05:22.926
There’s peanut butter pie Oreos. Red velvet cake. Red velvet cake.

00:05:23.706 –> 00:05:27.426
Golden Oreos. I was actually just sitting there. I’m like, I really like Gordon Oreos.

00:05:28.406 –> 00:05:31.806
Fried shrimp, boiled shrimp. Shrimp Oreos, yeah. Shrimp A.Touffee, shrimp.

00:05:32.286 –> 00:05:37.466
They’ve got this huge selection of experimental flavors in Oreos.

00:05:37.546 –> 00:05:39.066
And I’m not complaining, guys.

00:05:39.286 –> 00:05:46.486
Just look at me. I, I’m a fan of this strategy, but the white,

00:05:46.626 –> 00:05:50.326
what chocolate fudge covered ones are still seasonal.

00:05:50.766 –> 00:05:54.346
They still only come out. So, I mean, from a market share perspective,

00:05:54.346 –> 00:05:58.246
I guess it makes the most sense to keep that as a,

00:05:58.446 –> 00:06:01.406
you know, we run it into a certain production rather than, you know,

00:06:01.546 –> 00:06:07.406
even, even though they’ve expanded completely, those ones are still only for a couple months. Yeah.

00:06:08.226 –> 00:06:12.526
What about traditions at businesses, like places you’ve worked or whatever,

00:06:12.946 –> 00:06:15.886
and like that they did, not necessarily for their customer, but what was kind

00:06:15.886 –> 00:06:19.106
of a business, a tradition at some place that you worked?

00:06:19.226 –> 00:06:22.186
Like, you know, there’s a lot of places I worked at, I mean,

00:06:22.326 –> 00:06:29.066
and indoor media being no exception by far, the traditional Christmas party and having one of those.

00:06:29.246 –> 00:06:33.286
That is our struggle, though, for a second. And it’s been a struggle here.

00:06:33.486 –> 00:06:37.366
It’s like, what do we do, right? And, and every year we’ve got,

00:06:37.406 –> 00:06:44.966
um, we’ve got somebody that that’s at the office that does, I would say 89.6%

00:06:44.966 –> 00:06:47.246
of the planning herself. Amazing.

00:06:47.806 –> 00:06:51.726
And every year it’s just so much work. And I’m like, oh my gosh,

00:06:51.926 –> 00:06:54.206
I saw the most, we would not be doing it.

00:06:54.206 –> 00:06:57.006
I saw the most heartbreaking thing the other day because I was at a,

00:06:57.046 –> 00:07:03.326
um, I was a guest at a company party and, um, I’ve worked in entertainment for

00:07:03.326 –> 00:07:07.206
a while and that I’ve worked in like, I’ve been a music entertainer.

00:07:07.786 –> 00:07:13.526
I’ve been a comedic entertainer. I do events and stuff. And, um, yeah.

00:07:14.794 –> 00:07:19.974
I have a pretty good read on what entertainment fits a different group.

00:07:20.174 –> 00:07:23.774
And this group. So just so we can flesh that out a little bit. Yeah.

00:07:24.114 –> 00:07:27.594
You can see something and say, that’s entertainment.

00:07:28.354 –> 00:07:30.714
And I do it often. Yeah. Every day I say, that’s entertainment.

00:07:30.714 –> 00:07:32.694
Okay, that’s a reference to a movie, but that’s okay. Go ahead.

00:07:32.694 –> 00:07:34.954
No, yeah, that’s why I was singing the chorus.

00:07:36.254 –> 00:07:43.234
But, you know, it’s something where I was at this party and there was a magician.

00:07:43.234 –> 00:07:46.294
And no one could hear him and he was not well

00:07:46.294 –> 00:07:49.314
lit and he’s not well lit and

00:07:49.314 –> 00:07:52.274
it was birthday party i like that it was no it was a holiday party

00:07:52.274 –> 00:07:55.734
and nobody was paying attention and i’ve

00:07:55.734 –> 00:07:58.934
also been you know in musical groups

00:07:58.934 –> 00:08:01.754
trying to entertain people and people often pick

00:08:01.754 –> 00:08:04.814
the wrong entertainment for the wrong type of party yeah like

00:08:04.814 –> 00:08:08.114
they’ll pick something that everyone needs to pay attention to and like uh

00:08:08.114 –> 00:08:11.614
i don’t know holidays parties are difficult because

00:08:11.614 –> 00:08:14.294
what will happen is that those decisions are made in a little

00:08:14.294 –> 00:08:17.514
bubble and they go well maybe we get this contortionist and

00:08:17.514 –> 00:08:20.514
then the day comes and they’re like nobody is watching the

00:08:20.514 –> 00:08:23.414
contortionist i i want to go to your parties man that’s

00:08:23.414 –> 00:08:26.274
i would like oh somebody’s got it outside the box they’re having

00:08:26.274 –> 00:08:30.414
a contortionist i like that this is yeah i am going to use this episode to plug

00:08:30.414 –> 00:08:34.614
my new business where i do entertainment consulting where i will contortion

00:08:34.614 –> 00:08:39.034
give give me 12 hours to interact with your team and I will tell you exactly

00:08:39.034 –> 00:08:43.474
the kind of entertainment that you need to have. Takes 12 hours?

00:08:43.654 –> 00:08:46.894
Yeah, because I have to get a feel for their vibe. Is it always contortion?

00:08:48.814 –> 00:08:54.094
That’s on the list. It’s on the list. That was really good.

00:08:55.494 –> 00:08:57.814
And to clarify, it’s not me doing the contorting.

00:08:59.234 –> 00:09:05.154
But anyway, you know. But you know what? If your tradition is having a contortionist,

00:09:05.234 –> 00:09:07.094
if your tradition is having a magician,

00:09:08.403 –> 00:09:18.963
Why not? I think it’s not necessary to have traditions, but it is really nice to have a thing.

00:09:19.243 –> 00:09:23.063
And I think this is for all local businesses because they’re small.

00:09:23.303 –> 00:09:28.943
You know, they have kind of a community between them and their customers and their staffs.

00:09:29.423 –> 00:09:34.643
I think I think you need a thing that comes up every night, whether it’s a quote

00:09:34.643 –> 00:09:37.963
tradition or not. It didn’t have to be every year at the same time or related

00:09:37.963 –> 00:09:40.063
to a holiday or something like that.

00:09:40.183 –> 00:09:45.843
But I, yeah, I worked at one place and all the employees, we had free sodas

00:09:45.843 –> 00:09:48.983
and they, and you could tell the office admin, whatever you wanted,

00:09:48.983 –> 00:09:49.923
and they put it in the fridge.

00:09:50.583 –> 00:09:53.883
You know, so if you’re like, I like roast beef, there’d be roast beef in the

00:09:53.883 –> 00:09:57.843
fridge. Now, if you didn’t need it, they wouldn’t get that again for you. Strike one.

00:09:58.103 –> 00:10:01.543
Yeah. But if you were asking for golden Oreos, they’d be there.

00:10:01.643 –> 00:10:03.903
And if you ate them, they’d buy more. It was really cool.

00:10:04.823 –> 00:10:10.623
When James and I were together, we did have a tradition every Wednesday afternoon

00:10:10.623 –> 00:10:15.543
starting at, well, it was supposed to be at like 3.30 for our staff and customers.

00:10:15.683 –> 00:10:18.683
And then it started like at 3 and then 2.30.

00:10:19.163 –> 00:10:23.183
We’d have drinks. Nice. We had a cabinet, just open up the bar.

00:10:23.343 –> 00:10:25.983
Mad Men style? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:10:26.543 –> 00:10:31.023
The martini glasses weren’t quite as fancy. But we had a pretty good stock bar.

00:10:31.583 –> 00:10:36.523
We enjoyed it. Jennifer Counts, who’s with us here at Indoor Media now, was a part of that.

00:10:37.309 –> 00:10:42.429
Uh, I did enjoy that. A simpler time where driving home drunk wasn’t his problem.

00:10:43.029 –> 00:10:47.909
It’s just less distance to cover too. Yeah. That was sarcasm. Right.

00:10:48.229 –> 00:10:53.209
Um, well it’s, uh, they can be traditions can be great for local businesses.

00:10:53.349 –> 00:10:58.209
Um, I’ve seen, I’ve had local businesses that for instance, February, um,

00:10:58.749 –> 00:11:05.549
for Valentine’s day, those, uh, I’ve had great success with two for one offers, uh,

00:11:05.829 –> 00:11:08.589
just because that matches the vibe of

00:11:08.589 –> 00:11:11.869
valentine’s day um the vibe of or

00:11:11.869 –> 00:11:14.749
it makes you feel really bad because you don’t have a tooth you don’t

00:11:14.749 –> 00:11:23.789
have to and it motivates you um but uh you should offer the two do i like you’re

00:11:23.789 –> 00:11:28.509
providing the two yeah does that as a business yeah yeah and i think they have

00:11:28.509 –> 00:11:34.669
those they’re called escort services yeah for sure um and and just a simpler you know a simpler too.

00:11:34.969 –> 00:11:40.509
From experience, it is not cheaper to get half off at a meal and have an escort.

00:11:43.332 –> 00:11:46.492
It is really not worth it we’re talking about a ford escort

00:11:46.492 –> 00:11:50.032
that’s right um but you

00:11:50.032 –> 00:11:53.672
know as we said there’s a there’s a spectrum there

00:11:53.672 –> 00:11:56.832
on the one end endless shrimp was not

00:11:56.832 –> 00:12:00.352
working it was as what it was a tradition that they

00:12:00.352 –> 00:12:03.152
were losing money on and they had to stop how long did

00:12:03.152 –> 00:12:05.912
that go on how many years it was that had to

00:12:05.912 –> 00:12:09.012
be over 10 really i remember it um as

00:12:09.012 –> 00:12:12.732
a as old as i could remember yeah and sometimes

00:12:12.732 –> 00:12:16.172
maybe you do have a tradition and market changes

00:12:16.172 –> 00:12:20.112
uh occur yeah like shrimpflation shrimpflation

00:12:20.112 –> 00:12:24.692
uh and you say you know what this thing that we have traditionally we can’t

00:12:24.692 –> 00:12:28.792
afford to do anymore that is something that uh hits a lot of businesses or if

00:12:28.792 –> 00:12:35.032
you traditionally your products are a certain price and you reach a point where

00:12:35.032 –> 00:12:36.472
prices have to go up Yeah.

00:12:36.752 –> 00:12:38.732
Are your demographics change? Absolutely.

00:12:39.052 –> 00:12:45.512
Oh, speaking of a tradition, I just threw one of my favorite little restaurants is James Coney Island.

00:12:46.032 –> 00:12:52.352
And their tradition was every day on their anniversary day, they roll back the

00:12:52.352 –> 00:12:54.432
prices like 10 years or whatever.

00:12:54.652 –> 00:12:57.852
So I think maybe it was based on how old they were.

00:12:58.112 –> 00:13:01.292
Yeah, you’re right. They’re around from like 1923. You’re right.

00:13:01.412 –> 00:13:06.092
So they’re at like 90, well, they’d be at like $1.02 for a $1.

00:13:06.192 –> 00:13:09.632
I remember a couple of times being shocked at how cheap. Oh, it was unbelievable.

00:13:09.972 –> 00:13:14.432
Unbelievable. But those are good. Those are neat little traditions to have on

00:13:14.432 –> 00:13:15.992
the spectrum, like most of us.

00:13:16.132 –> 00:13:20.272
I think for traditions, I mean, it gives you a reason, right?

00:13:20.472 –> 00:13:24.512
To do something different, change it up, right? Like really stand out.

00:13:24.672 –> 00:13:27.432
Like, you know, and you know, you’ve got holiday traditions.

00:13:27.852 –> 00:13:29.112
You’ve got all sorts of traditions.

00:13:30.172 –> 00:13:32.732
But really lean into them because.

00:13:34.735 –> 00:13:38.295
You know, like I realized with my kids, they like tradition,

00:13:38.495 –> 00:13:40.935
right? People look forward to it. It makes them start thinking about it.

00:13:41.175 –> 00:13:46.335
So, yeah. And we talk about this concept a lot where local businesses especially

00:13:46.335 –> 00:13:55.435
are faced with this duality where you need to project a brand presence of consistency

00:13:55.435 –> 00:13:59.815
and being a pillar of a community that is unchanged.

00:13:59.815 –> 00:14:02.635
Changed at the same time you have

00:14:02.635 –> 00:14:07.455
to find ways to constantly spark that area

00:14:07.455 –> 00:14:11.935
of people’s brains that go oh yeah they exist oh yeah i should go check them

00:14:11.935 –> 00:14:15.835
out oh that’s a cool new thing that gives me an excuse to go do it and that’s

00:14:15.835 –> 00:14:19.375
not always easy and there’s a there’s a lot of things and a lot of times like

00:14:19.375 –> 00:14:22.755
you’re talking about there’s a lot of things you just can’t control Uh,

00:14:23.195 –> 00:14:27.835
one of my traditions is usually by about this time in November,

00:14:28.115 –> 00:14:32.135
uh, my tradition is to walk the dogs and not sweat.

00:14:32.255 –> 00:14:36.055
And I can’t do that because we’re at day two, literally two.

00:14:37.255 –> 00:14:40.975
248 or 49 days in Houston above 80.

00:14:40.975 –> 00:14:44.335
Right yeah it’s crazy so i’ve got

00:14:44.335 –> 00:14:47.375
some traditions for you my brother-in-law is a realtor he he’s kind

00:14:47.375 –> 00:14:51.495
of he always comes up with crazy ideas and what he started doing a few years

00:14:51.495 –> 00:14:55.815
ago is um it just went by i can’t remember the exact date but every year he

00:14:55.815 –> 00:15:01.515
hires a company to do photographs and you can sign up for free he’s always in

00:15:01.515 –> 00:15:04.315
the same community because that’s his community you know i mean and so they

00:15:04.315 –> 00:15:06.795
have an awesome place that they go out it’s outside

00:15:07.235 –> 00:15:11.075
and you get like a 15 minute time slot and all day long, you know,

00:15:11.155 –> 00:15:14.215
he pays for the company and they’re out there just they take these photos and

00:15:14.215 –> 00:15:18.135
they give you, I think you might, you might get a certain set photos and you

00:15:18.135 –> 00:15:21.115
guys have to pay more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it’s absolutely free.

00:15:21.555 –> 00:15:24.415
And then this year he started a new tradition because he just got a new office.

00:15:25.075 –> 00:15:27.135
He’s bringing in a Santa Claus and he’s, you know.

00:15:28.370 –> 00:15:33.350
You know bring your kids in and get the pictures you know so it’s just i don’t

00:15:33.350 –> 00:15:37.050
know i was always impressed with that and and the the the family photo thing

00:15:37.050 –> 00:15:39.850
is huge like it’s so is this for,

00:15:40.470 –> 00:15:45.070
employees no no so he’s a realtor yeah right so for the community that he’s

00:15:45.070 –> 00:15:49.250
in that he focuses on it’s for anybody in the community and that’s genius yeah

00:15:49.250 –> 00:15:57.950
to say like hey i am a i’m a symbol in this community and, um.

00:15:58.570 –> 00:16:01.730
You can rely, you know, here’s this thing I do every year.

00:16:02.090 –> 00:16:06.250
That’s great. And I think that’s something that, you know, I would love to see

00:16:06.250 –> 00:16:08.210
other realtors do, you know?

00:16:08.350 –> 00:16:13.310
Yeah. So I, I, I think I’ll say that I, I, you know, kind of winding all this

00:16:13.310 –> 00:16:17.790
up, I, I can’t think of a business that’s tried a tradition, uh.

00:16:18.310 –> 00:16:21.630
Either knew or had one where I’ve thought, oh

00:16:21.630 –> 00:16:24.990
you know and had a lesser opinion about

00:16:24.990 –> 00:16:27.870
it because of the truth like yeah because that’s what i’m like oh

00:16:27.870 –> 00:16:30.550
they’re doing that that’s that’s just annoying or whatever you know

00:16:30.550 –> 00:16:33.670
i’m like oh good for them you know they’re doing this especially around the

00:16:33.670 –> 00:16:37.710
holidays because i’m just in better cheer and so forth and it’s supposed to

00:16:37.710 –> 00:16:44.250
be cooler uh so i think do you know try these things and break that break the

00:16:44.250 –> 00:16:47.950
habit break get out of the rut try something different spice it up.

00:16:48.070 –> 00:16:49.470
Start a tradition. Start a tradition.

00:16:49.930 –> 00:16:54.170
Start a tradition every year. Do a new one. They show longevity,

00:16:54.170 –> 00:16:56.390
means that we’ve been around.

00:16:56.710 –> 00:17:03.750
They also show that you’re putting effort into your brand, that your business

00:17:03.750 –> 00:17:08.030
is worth thinking about every year.

00:17:08.530 –> 00:17:14.670
And branding, we can kind of associate it with putting on a facade, but it’s not.

00:17:14.890 –> 00:17:20.910
Branding is just saying that when I’m putting my professional face out there,

00:17:21.150 –> 00:17:26.290
I want to lead with value and traditions are quite a great way of doing that.

00:17:29.571 –> 00:17:34.711
That was pretty good. Did you hear something? Is that Ashley? Is she giving out?

00:17:35.511 –> 00:17:39.891
Mine sounded like a chicken getting strangled or something. That’s because the

00:17:39.891 –> 00:17:40.811
voice of reason was there.