👋 Good morning. There’s a new bizarre food collab. Crumbl released a limited-edition Flamin’ Lime Crunch Cookie inspired by none other than the iconic Flamin' Hot Cheetos. It’s what it sounds like: a lime sugar cookie with cream cheese frosting dusted with spicy cheese crisps. So far, social media is split, with reviews ranging from "I'm going to throw up” to "why is it actually not bad?”.
NEWS FLASH
🚗 Room for one more? Portland startup HitchPiggy wants to turn empty car seats into a rideshare network by letting drivers post about trips they’re already taking and connect with passengers headed the same way. Unlike typical rideshare apps, drivers choose their riders and how much they contribute toward the trip, while passengers can review details like the vehicle, route, pickup spot, timing, and cost before committing. Hope you find someone who appreciates that history audiobook of yours…
☀️ Throwing shade: Four environmental groups are challenging the FCC’s approval of Reflect Orbital’s first test of its giant space mirrors built to beam sunlight onto Earth after dark. The groups argue regulators haven’t adequately considered potential risks to wildlife, astronomy research, and human eyesight. What type of sunglasses do we need to combat a 59-foot-wide space mirror reflecting sunlight across 3.1 miles at night?
🧠 Thoughts for sale: San Francisco startup Conduit is paying people $50-$55 to spend two hours talking, reading, and typing while wearing an electrode helmet. Why? Conduit is gathering the brain data it needs to train AI for its noninvasive “neural headband.” The company’s long-term goal is to let people control AI assistants with their thoughts instead of voice or text, avoiding surgically implanted brain-computer interfaces. Participants can complete up to 32 sessions — a weird way to make $1.6k.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
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Skip the swipe: Ditto uses AI to pair verified college students through iMessage, with users submitting preferences and receiving a new match each week. The startup says 65% of matches turn into dates.
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Congrats for a split second: Peloton, 14 years into its existence, hailed its first full year of net profit — but in the same earnings call, the company also downgraded its sales outlook. Shares plummeted.
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Alarming: Of all the times you don’t want your call answered by an AI agent, dialing 911 has gotta top that list. But dispatchers in New Orleans will rely on an AI tool to help triage incoming calls.
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Yeesh: To comfortably afford a home at the US median price, Americans need to earn ~$110k/year, per a Redfin report. The average US household undershoots that mark by ~$22k/year.
HIRE HARD
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THE BIG IDEA
Connecticut picked a pizza fight with New York — and won
Sometimes picking a fight can be good for business.
Connecticut turned its long-standing pizza rivalry with New York into a tourism campaign, boldly declaring the state home to "the best pizza in the country."
The purposefully provocative pizza campaign paid off.
When the marketing hits your eye like a big pizza pie...
Connecticut's food fight began innocently enough as part of the state's Make It Here campaign, highlighting its entrepreneurial identity. The state is apparently home to the most pizzerias — per 10k people — and has the highest percentage of family-owned or independent pizza joints.
Then came highway signs gently taunting neighboring states, including ones facing New York declaring Connecticut "home to the pizza capital of the world," referring to New Haven's coal-fired apizza that inspires pilgrimages.
Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro later announced her state's pizza supremacy on the House floor.
The campaign also included a "Pizza Trail" map, a pizza mascot, and vanity license plates.
Fuggetaboutit
Ultimately, though, it was the "rage bait" that drove the most attention: trolling billboards in New York with taunts like "there's no shame in 2nd place," inviting passersby to call a hotline or go online to share their reactions.
New Yorkers, proud and opinionated pizza lovers, had some thoughts (which were then used in the campaign).
The plan worked.
Suddenly, everyone was talking about Connecticut pizza — online, on TV, in articles. The food fight even extended to other pizza hot spots like Chicago, Detroit, and New Jersey.
According to Connecticut, the campaign generated:
- ~19B media impressions
- 37% increase in long-distance visitors
- 68% increase in nationwide Google searches for “Connecticut pizza”
For a campaign that cost ~$200k — though some argue more — the state believes it brought an $11-to-$1 ROI for visibility.
Connecticut once conducted a study and found the words people most associated with the state were: “cold,” “boring,” “nothing,” and “traffic."
After the award-winning campaign, the top two hits were “pizza” and “fun.”
Not bad for a food fight.
Especially considering Connecticut’s pizza puts up serious numbers:
- ~$600m/year in sales, contributing $3.5B in overall economic activity
- $45.7m in tax revenue
- New Haven’s coal-fired pizza draws over 2m visitors annually, generating $100m
Some say other states could learn from Connecticut's audacious effort.
Though Rhode Islanders would caution that not all food is as alluring as pizza.
Take giant stuffed clams, for instance. Oof.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
What makes olive oil expensive? And is it a scam? We investigated the actual difference between cheap and expensive brands.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
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Number of Fair Play Method facilitators, who help couples fairly redistribute household responsibilities, in the US, per The New York Times. One is Zach Watson, who started posting advice on social media three years ago and has since made a lucrative business out of raising other people’s husbands.
Today, he charges $75/hour to coach men on the invisible labor that goes into managing a home (e.g., replenishing groceries or managing the kids’ schedules) and how not to add to their partner’s mental load with annoying questions like “Where’s xyz?” before attempting to look.
Not all heroes wear capes — this one wears a shirt that reads “recovering man-child.”
AROUND THE WEB
📅 On this day: In 1793, the Louvre Museum opened in Paris, turning a royal palace into a public museum.
🪐 That’s cool: A space simulator with real gravity.
🌱 Game: Plant in this online community garden.
📍 That’s fun: Find something cool near you.
🐈 Aww: Need help with that slide deck?
SHOWER THOUGHT
We're technically living in a post-apocalyptic world because the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs was an apocalyptic event. SOURCE
Today's email was brought to you by Singdhi Sokpo and Danny Jensen.
Editing by: Sara "Another one bites the crust" Friedman.
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