Name: Why ‘Snapchat Spectacles’ Might Not Be Worth the Hype
Uploaded: 2016-11-17
Duration: 3 min 50 s
Description: Fortune staff discuss.

[ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] So you guys know the rules of the game. We're gonna talk about a couple new business ideas that are making headlines and tell us whether you think they are gonna flop or they're gonna fly. Our first one is SnapChat Spectacles which is they're like sunglasses and they allow you to record a video and then post them on SnapChat. Phil what do you think ?>> Fly because this is how with Pokemon craze earlier this year. People have a lot of time that they feel that they can waste in these troubled times. So sure it will fly All right Matt, what do you think? Flop or fly? My first exposure to Google Glass, which was a two years earlier version of this, was watching somebody wearing Google Glass, walk into a lamp post on West 43rd Street in New York, and lie on the sidewalk until an ambulance came. So, I'm gonna go flop. But, I'm sure the technology will get better, and in six to eight months from now, we'll be flying. Right. All right. I think Fly, I think the company is doing interesting things where they're creating artificial scarcity, you can't really get these. They have vending machines that pop up, and there's long lines for those. So I think the buzz around that is gonna do a lot for it. Who's still playing Pokemon Go, by the way? Absolutely no one, right? Not sure. No one's walked into me lately. Yeah, exactly. Lately. Okay, next one, cosmetic maker Estee Laude has agreed to buy makeup brand Too Faced for about $ 1. 45 billion, in its largest acquisition ever. What to you think, flop or fly? Probably fly. I feel like that segment of the market would benefit from some consolidation. It probably gives them a chance to clean up some of their lines of distribution, and have a bigger marketing presence. Not that L'Oreal isn't already big, but be a bigger footprint in stores and some hipper boutiques, so I'd say fly. Well, I mean, the deal's already happened so whether we think it'll fly or flop is, is irrelevant. But I think it makes a lot of sense for Estee Lauder. When they bought MAC that was, you know, one of the greatest deals that they ever did. It's still one of their biggest, fastest growing brands. And this brand, Two Faced, will allow them to get to millennial shoppers. So it's a little bit like Neiman Marcus and the partnership with Rent the Runway. These old brands for Fifth Avenue ladies, they need to start expanding and getting millennial ladies too. Right, right. If I'm not wrong, Estee Lauder's, their audience is generally 35 and older. Yeah, well it runs the gamut. They have everything from MAC to Estee Lauder itself, and [ UNKNOWN ] and all these very high end brands. But this is Estee Lauder's Biggest deal ever and I think it's gonna be a home run. Alright. And this last one is my favorite one. McDonald's is testing a sriracha flavored big mac at 126 locations in Columbus, Ohio. Phil, what do you think? Flop or fly? Flop, flop, flop. Americans don't like spicy food, and I think also McDonald's every day they put out some press release they're testing something somewhere. I think they're gonna have better odds if they're gonna start messing around with the Big Mac. They're gonna try different sizes of it, I think that will work better than a very spicy version of it. [ LAUGH ] Matt? I'm sort of psyched about the idea of hearing hundreds of thousands of customers and workers try to say sriracha. But I also think it'll be a flop. There have been, as Phil alluded to, there have been a lot of complaints among McDonald's franchisees, about being asked to take, to try too many different menu items. And even condiments, even adding a new condiment can mess up your food supply chain. So, I think franchisees will not be super psyched. McDonald's has had some success lately by reducing the number of things on the menu, so This would be something like the McD LT or something that we're probably not [ CROSSOVER ]- Or their kale salads last year. They tested them and that lasted all of three days. And their sushi? Which wasn't actually a thing. No, no. But I wouldn't put it past them. But it should be. Personally Personally I think this is great, I think Siracha Big Mac sounds fantastic, why not? Why not mix it up and Siracha, delicious. Try and report back to us. [ LAUGH ] All right, deal. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]