Episode · 2026-06-02
Más+ by Messi: No More
Más+ by Messi: No More | Meta's AI Hardware Push | Quince Furniture Pop-Ups??
Rundown
Chris and Colin break down why the Más+ by Messi beverage brand flopped, dig into reports of Meta's push into AI wearables, and react to Quince's surprising expansion into furniture and IRL pop-ups. They also riff on Costco's basket-building gas strategy before guests Addy (a protein bar founder) and Ashley (a live-media/community strategist) join to talk conference networking and building real community versus just an audience.
Takes from this episode
Más+ by Messi failed largely because its branding wasn't distinctive enough and read as a knockoff of Prime rather than something original.
the issue was the branding right out of the gate needed to be super unique, and this was totally not. It was just... kind of just looks like Prime 2.0ish
Quince's expansion into furniture, priced below West Elm but with comparable design quality, is positioned to be a major success.Prediction
I can't imagine this is just not going to be a smashing home run... Yeah, it's very West Elmesque... Without West Elm prices
Quince's decision to run IRL pop-up shops to launch its furniture line is a smart physical distribution move.
they are going on this popup IRL run, which I think is very smart
Costco's rock-bottom gas prices act as a draw that pulls in shoppers who then rack up much larger basket sizes on impulse once inside.
those three or four things turns into like I could get 15 things here... turn a Costco run to 450 in a blink of an eye
Showing up in person at conferences and events is far more effective for building relationships with celebrities and influencers than cold email outreach.
it's too hard to reach these people especially the celebrities and influencers... you have to show up in person. And when you show up in person... with a bar in your hand
Brands often mistake social media engagement for real community; genuine community requires a dedicated space for people to congregate, not just audience interaction.
an audience and a community are two very different things and I think people conflate those quite often