It's time for a quick round of Rick and Rick Loaded Questions. This time out: Think digital advertising is seeing the biggest increase in marketing budgets this year? Think again. Meanwhile, is e-commerce up, down, or flat relative to pre-pandemic levels? And who's raking it in if Amazon isn't? Plus: Oscar Mayer's "Meat Fleet" is getting a rebrand. So what are they calling the 87-year-old Wienermobile now?

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IN THIS EPISODE:

📫 What's growing fastest: digital ad spend or…? (at 00:50)

🌭 What do you call an 87-year-old Wienermobile? Cybertruck? (at 03:05)

🏪 Is e-commerce getting old? Or just the online-only variety? (at 04:11)

📊 Are e-commerce sales ⬆️, ⬇️, or ↔️ vs. pre-pandemic levels? (at 04:57)

🛒 Is BOPIS eating the e-commerce giants' lunches? (at 05:18)

Approx. 6 minutes, 30 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

Is that an AI chatbot taking your order at Wendy's? Is that ChatGPT behind Coca-Cola's new "Real Magic" commercial? And is Britney Spears really back on Instagram, or is that a bot, too? The Ricks look at the good, the bad, and the WTF of Generative AI's impact on content creation.

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IN THIS EPISODE

🕵️‍♂️ "The Night Agent" is on the prowl (at 01:32)

🧟‍♂️ Rick W. revisits "The Walking Dead" (at 02:10)

👂🏻 Why we need subtitles in our movies and TV shows these days (at 04:33)

🍔 Are AI chatbots coming to a Wendy's drive thru near you? (at 07:39)

🧠 Beyond the buzz: What exact is "Generative AI?" (at 10:23)

⚠️ The controversy about copyright and Generative AI training sets (at 12:25)

🥤 Coca-Cola finds inspiration in Generative AI for a new commercial (at 17:28)

👨🏽‍💻 … But what about the impact on creative jobs? (at 18:56)

🦿 …But should we regulate or give Generative AI more running room? (at 20:06)

🎤 Is that Britney Spears or a bot on Instagram? So far, Britney has been mum (at 21:12)

Approx. 22 minutes, 25 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

⁉️ It's time for a quick round of Loaded Questions featuring questions about Snapchat's new AR initiative for Men's Wearhouse, consumer confusion over phrases like "Powered by AI" and more.

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IN THIS EPISODE

🥽 Forget cosplay lenses: Snapchat AR is going retail—just in time for prom season (at 00:39)

💸 A $700 million settlement rocks the media world (at 02:40)

🤖 WTF does "powered by AI" mean? Confused consumers want to know (at 04:32)

🪄 Canva's alternative word for "AI" that's pure–we'll, you'll just have to hear for yourself (at 05:45)

Approx. 6 minutes, 44 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

Pepsi rolls out its first new logo in 14 years. Cottonelle Ultra Clean toilet paper gets up close and personal with 'Tales From…Down There.' NASA names the best—and worst—sci-fi movies of all time. Why Bud Light's missteps may have caused March-through-May Madness, plus a whole lot more.

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IN THIS EPISODE

🌏 Where in the world wasn't Rick Wootten? (at 01:02)

🧟‍♂️ Finally catching "The Last of Us" (at 03:07)

🏆 Did 2023's Best Picture really deserve winning Everything, Everywhere? (at 06:04)

👽 Surprises in NASA's Best & Worst Sci-Fi movies of all time (at 08:08)

🥤 Pepsi's new logo: Choice of a new generation? Same-old, same-old? Or both? (at 11:57)

🧨 Why Bud Light's March-to-May Madness went so wrong (at 15:04)

💩 Cottonelle Ultra Clean's "Tales From…Down There" gets the gunk out (at 18:11)

Approx. 20 minutes, 47 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

🎞️ In the conclusion of our Most Anticipated Movies of 2023, the Ricks talk trouble in the MCU, resurging horror movies, and a surprise addition to our annual list. From March 11.

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IN THIS EPISODE

🔬 Bill Murray meets Kang the Conqueror (at 00:39)

🦠 Is the MCU's immunity to industry ills wearing off? (at 02:10)

🪬 Oh, the horror of "The Exorcist," "Saw X" & Beyond (at 03:00)

👻 "Oppenheimer" & "Spider-verse" get "Ghosted" (at 03:30)

🔪 Rick W. finally gets his "Knives Out"(at 05:28)

🐢 Time for "Bat Mandalorian" or a Ninja Turtles revival? (at 06:27)

🦁 Aaron Taylor-Johnson hunts for a new role (at 07:08)

😵‍💫 Who's taking a spin in "Wheel of Fortune," er, "Dial of Destiny"? (at 08:35)

Approx. 9 minutes, 41 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

Is it John Wick or Mr. Jones? In part two of their 2023 Most Anticipated Movies episode, the Ricks talk some of the biggest franchises to get their attention this year—and it's not always the ones they expected.

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IN THIS EPISODE

🐽 Rick W.'s Most Anticipated list includes a sequel with a Spider-Pig (at 0:39)

💥 Rick M's sequel list is ready for a box office "Reckoning" (at 02:30)

✊🏻 Revisiting Henry Cavill's arm-cocking and continuity issues (at 03:08)

🫣 Rick W. has to decide between two favorite action heroes (at 04:24)

😎 Does the "John Wick" franchise take place in the Matrix? Discuss (at 6:05)

🚀 Why "Dial of Destiny" and "Dune 2" didn't make either Rick's Top 3 list (at 08:00)

🌩️ Shazz-itshow ahead? What's the deal with Captain Marvel(s)? (at 08:44)

Approx. 9 minutes, 46 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

From nuclear physics to the Speed Force, the Ricks reveal their most anticipated movies of 2023. In part one: Cillian Murphey and Christopher Nolan revisit the Manhattan Project, while Ezra Miller and Andy Muschietti enter a DC multiverse with multiple Scarlet Speedsters (and a bevy of Batmen). From March 10.

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IN THIS EPISODE

🎬 Ghosted, Dead Reckoning, Indiana Jones & more, coming to a theater near you (at 00:33)

☔️ But first: Why California's real rainy season hasn't even started yet (at 01:10)

🎥 The 2023 movie season: from spoofs to sequel mania (at 02:25)

💣Forget the Scarecrow: Cillian Murphey becomes the Destroyer of Worlds (at 04:50)

⚡️ The Fastest Man Alive meets the Maiden of Might—with a little help from Batman(s) (at 07:03)

Approx. 10 minutes. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

If the trajectory of Whit Hiler's advertising career strikes you as unconventional, that's only because it is. Forget the background in art or copy. Hiler took a different route to becoming an executive creative director—and so far, it's working out pretty darn well for him.

In fact, mere minutes into a conversation with him, two things happen. First, you can't help but like the guy. And second, you start to appreciate the virtue of possessing just the right amount of naïveté to pursue ambitions someone who "knows better" might foolishly dismiss out of hand.

In this Rick and Quick interview, this ECD at Lexington, Kentucky-based ad agency Cornett (teamcornett.com) talks about his evolution from car salesman, to agency new business rep, to award-winning creative chief. Along the way, he shares how this 50-person Ad Age "Small Agency of the Year" (2021) scored a little account called Legoland Resorts—and helped A&W fix a 40-year-old "marketing fail."

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IN THIS EPISODE

🚗 Driving a Modern Don Draper: The evolution as a 21st Century Mad Man (at 0:58)

👕 From retail logos to Legoland Resorts: How hard lessons beget big wins (at 1:24)

👩🏻‍💼 Behind every great ad agency: The wife-slash-boss leading Cornett (at 2:38)

🥊 Joining and jousting A-List agencies for the win—one interlocking plastic brick at a time (at 6:00)

🍔 Helping A&W fix a 40-year-old marketing fail with a little help from "A Beautiful Mind" (at 8:19)

Approx. 11 minutes, 15 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

📺 On February 12, advertisers spent millions to showcase their commercials during one of the year's biggest television broadcasts. But how well do you remember their spots? In an episode recorded on Super Bowl Sunday, the Ricks test your recall and discuss the best—and worst—commercials of Ad Bowl 2023.

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IN THIS EPISODE:

💰 A :30 second spot during this year's Super Bowl will cost you … how much? (at 02:03)

🏰 One man's Super Bowl commercial is another man's Castle Idaho (at 03:02)

🔺 Jack Harlow, Missy Elliott and Elton John push all the angles for this brand (at 03:59)

🚬 Maya Rudolf clams up over her effort to replace M&Ms with … something chewier (at 05:14)

😮‍💨 Jeep 4xe may destroy animal habitats, but at least it won't pollute them (at 06:28)

🐾 What's the best spot from this year's Super Bowl? Our ruff guesses (at 07:29)

🙏🏻 He Gets Us—but do we get Him? Our hot take (at 10:18)

🎭 Ben Stiller and Steve Martin really love Pepsi Zero Sugar … or do they? (at 12:26)

🤐 TurboTax gets footloose–but what is Melissa McCarthy saying in that Booking.com spot? (at 13:42)

💊 The cast of 'Breaking Bad' wants to give you the munchies—will you bite? (at 14:36)

🤣 Rick W. poses a question that has everything—except a correct answer (at 15:52)

Approx. 17 minutes, 7 seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.

🔮 In the conclusion to their 2023 Trend Watch, the Ricks discuss the waning influence of influencers. Brands recommit to experiential marketing. Home automation sees new adoption. And while Rick M. has trouble with pronouncing "2023 Trend Watch" while Rick W. struggles with the name of Pantone's Color of the Year.

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IN THIS EPISODE

🤩 Influencer marketing loses altitude while community gains new clout (at 0:40)

🐣 The rebirth of Experiential Marketing—no consumer devices required (at 2:26)

🛠️ Home automation and its use cases rev up, but we may not even recognize it (at 4:44)

🔕 Memo to brands: easy-to-manage notifications, please (at 8:18)

🫣 Consumer sentiment, ethical AI, and other CMO concerns for 2023 (at 9:41)

🛍️ From Metaverse to AI: What's hot or not to retailers in 2023 (at 11:01)

🎨 And Pantone's Color of the Year is … easy for you to say (at 11:34)

Approx. 13 minutes and six seconds. For US audiences. Review cookie and privacy policies for iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and all other streaming services.