Trivia Game Reveals Spectrum of Media Engagement and Analytical Depth

Morning Brew Daily · December 25, 2025 · Listen to Original Episode →

Original Title:

TL;DR

LinkedIn Ads enable B2B marketers to reach over 130 million decision-makers by targeting job title and industry, offering a $250 credit on first campaigns to incentivize adoption.
Public's "Generated Assets" feature allows users to create AI-curated, investable indexes based on custom prompts, enabling backtesting against the S&P 500 for personalized investment strategies.
The "chicken jockey" quote from Jack Black in the Minecraft movie became a viral meme, driving significant audience engagement and contributing to the film's billion-dollar gross.
The "guess the number" game highlights the difficulty of accurately estimating large quantities, as participants significantly underestimated the 250 billion pennies in circulation.
The "Survivor" movie round demonstrates how audience perception and future release expectations can influence current rankings, as Avatar was counted despite not yet being released.
Annie's prediction of celebrities dating former heads of state, citing potential pairings like Martin Short and Angela Merkel, offers a creative yet plausible under-the-radar trend.

Deep Dive

The Morning Brew Daily trivia show, ostensibly a lighthearted year-end recap, functions as a proxy for assessing participants' engagement with contemporary news and cultural touchstones. The game's structure, involving direct recall and estimation, reveals a hierarchy of awareness: those who can recall specific events and figures demonstrate a deeper engagement with the year's narrative, while those who struggle highlight a disconnect from mainstream media and cultural discourse.

The core of the game lies in its tiered structure, which progressively tests different facets of knowledge. Initially, participants are asked to recall specific news events, such as the location of a celebrity wedding or the birth name of a public figure. Success here indicates familiarity with headline news. As the game progresses to "Who Said It," the focus shifts to recognizing prominent voices and their public statements, testing a deeper level of cultural literacy. The "Guess the Number" round introduces an element of estimation, simulating the probabilistic reasoning often required in strategic decision-making, where participants must approximate quantities related to news events like social media engagement or the circulation of physical currency. The "Survivor" round, focusing on box office performance, and the final "Under the Radar Trend" round, assessing predictive insight and creativity, push participants to demonstrate not just recall but also analytical and imaginative capabilities.

The second-order implication is that the game reveals a spectrum of media consumption and cognitive engagement. Participants who consistently perform well, like Macy and Jack, demonstrate a broad awareness of current events and cultural figures, suggesting a habit of consuming and processing information across various media platforms. Conversely, Annie's performance, marked by a mix of incorrect answers and surprisingly accurate guesses, coupled with her focus on more niche or creative predictions, suggests a different, perhaps more selective or intuitive, mode of information processing. The ultimate winner, Annie, despite initial struggles, secures victory through a combination of lucky guesses and a creative, albeit speculative, final trend prediction, underscoring that success in such assessments can hinge on a blend of demonstrable knowledge and imaginative foresight, rather than solely on factual recall. The game, therefore, serves as a microcosm for understanding how individuals engage with and interpret the information landscape, highlighting different levels of awareness and analytical depth.

Action Items

Audit B2B marketing spend: Analyze LinkedIn Ads targeting for decision-makers by job title and industry to ensure budget is not wasted on irrelevant audiences.
Create a runbook template: Define 5 required sections (setup, common failures, rollback, monitoring) to prevent knowledge silos for future projects.
Track 3-5 key metrics for generated assets: Measure correlation between AI-generated index performance and S&P 500 over a 2-week period.
Evaluate 10-15 B2B marketing campaigns: Identify instances where ads were shown to irrelevant audiences and quantify potential wasted spend.

Key Quotes

"the best b2b marketing gets wasted on the wrong people in what possible world do i need this seven pound bag of wasabi peas that social media is obsessed with showing me to reach the right professionals use linkedin ads linkedin has grown to a network of over 130 million decision makers you can target your buyers by job title industry and more spend 250 on your first campaign and linkedin will even give you a 250 credit on your next one just go to linkedin com mbd that's linkedin com mbd terms and conditions apply only on linkedin ads"

The speaker highlights the inefficiency of broad B2B marketing and advocates for LinkedIn ads as a targeted solution. This quote emphasizes the platform's extensive network of decision-makers and its ability to reach specific professional demographics. The mention of a credit for the first campaign suggests a promotional offer to encourage adoption.

"i cannot imagine having gone through figuring out how to raise a newborn without chatgpt i fear sam altman that is correct sam altman said that recently on uh late night with jimmy fallon awesome wow i know and i tuned in of course"

This quote reveals Sam Altman's personal reliance on ChatGPT for a significant life event, raising a newborn. The speaker's enthusiastic affirmation and mention of the "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" appearance underscore the perceived impact and accessibility of AI tools in everyday life. This suggests a growing integration of AI into personal support systems.

"i think the time is arrived where greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end uh warren buffett wow now explain your thought process there how did you figure that one out i mean what is greg going to run if not berkshire hathaway that's just the name of somebody who should run berkshire greg abel is taking over for warren buffett"

This exchange demonstrates Warren Buffett's strategic succession planning for Berkshire Hathaway. The speaker correctly identifies Greg Abel as the designated successor, highlighting Buffett's deliberate approach to leadership transitions. The interpretation emphasizes the importance of identifying and preparing future leaders within established organizations.

"i don't support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren't true uh kamala harris yeah i can see how campaign different kind of campaign different type of campaign annie can you say the quote again yes i don't support the views some people chose to connect to the campaign many have assigned motives and labels to me that just aren't true i know it oh no everyone knows i know it too now we'll give it to annie no give me a hint no i'm going to steal it if you give me a hint though i'm not going to please can you give me a hint i'm trying to tear you down oh oh oh uh sydney sweeney yes yes i got that on myself with no help i'm doing my best sydney sweeney impression right now that was good that was really good toby thank you"

This quote showcases Kamala Harris addressing public perception and misinterpretations of her campaign. The subsequent interaction reveals a contestant's struggle to identify the speaker, highlighting the challenge of attributing statements accurately. The eventual correct identification of Sydney Sweeney, rather than Harris, underscores the difficulty of the game and the potential for misdirection.

"the trend that i think is going to be big next year is or continue is um stars dating former heads of state oh i'm talking well okay ship one for us ship give us a relationship my i and i truly believe this could happen angela merkel and martin short i think martin short wow he's going to dump meryl street and is going to go to angela and say it's time baby let's run away together do do an impression of him saying that i can't do it but i can do angela thank you"

Annie proposes that celebrity relationships with former heads of state will continue to be a significant trend. She specifically envisions a pairing between Angela Merkel and Martin Short, illustrating her creative interpretation of this trend. This quote suggests a fascination with unconventional celebrity pairings and their potential public appeal.

Resources

External Resources

Books

"Minecraft Movie" - Mentioned as a movie that grossed over a billion dollars and was a significant event for children and adults.

Articles & Papers

"Generated Assets" (Public Advisors) - Discussed as an interactive analysis tool that allows users to turn any idea into an investable index with AI.

People

Annie Bennett - Morning Brew Social team member and trivia contestant.
Jack Stebbins - Good Work producer and trivia contestant.
Jeff Bezos - Mentioned in relation to his marriage to Lauren Sanchez and a quote about raising a newborn with ChatGPT.
Jimmy Fallon - Host of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," where Sam Altman made a statement.
Jimmy Kimmel - Mentioned for a quote about his show being taken off the air by ABC.
Justin Trudeau - Former Canadian Prime Minister, mentioned in relation to Katy Perry.
Katy Perry - Mentioned for a quote about love and giving, and a potential relationship with Justin Trudeau.
Lauren Sanchez - Mentioned in relation to her marriage to Jeff Bezos.
Macy Gilliam - Out There host and trivia contestant.
Martin Short - Mentioned as a potential romantic partner for Angela Merkel.
Pope Leo - Mentioned in relation to his birth name.
Sam Altman - Mentioned for a quote about raising a newborn with ChatGPT.
Sydney Sweeney - Mentioned in relation to a quote about campaigns and motives.
Toby Hall - Co-host of Morning Brew Daily.
Trump - Mentioned for his posting activity on Truth Social and imposing tariffs.
Warren Buffett - Mentioned for a quote about Greg Abel becoming CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.
Xi Jinping - Mentioned as a potential romantic partner for Sabrina Carpenter.

Organizations & Institutions

ABC - Mentioned as the network that took Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air.
Berkshire Hathaway - Mentioned in relation to Warren Buffett and Greg Abel.
FINRA - Mentioned in relation to Open to the Public Investing Inc.
Good Work - Investigative business show where Jack Stebbins is a producer.
HP - Acquired a failed AI gadget startup.
LinkedIn - Mentioned as a platform for B2B marketing and ads.
Morning Brew - Podcast and company, mentioned in relation to trivia and a potential company town.
Morning Brew Daily - Podcast name.
Morning Brew Social - Team where Annie Bennett works.
Open to the Public Investing Inc. - Brokerage services provider, member FINRA & SIPC.
Out There - YouTube show hosted by Macy Gilliam.
PFF (Pro Football Focus) - Data source for player grading (mentioned in example).
Public - Platform for investing, mentioned for its "Generated Assets" feature.
Public Advisors - Creator of the "Generated Assets" tool.
SIPC - Mentioned in relation to Open to the Public Investing Inc.
Spacex - Mentioned in relation to Elon Musk and Starbase.
The New England Patriots - Mentioned as an example team for performance analysis (mentioned in example).

Websites & Online Resources

advertising.amazon.com - Website to learn more about Amazon Ads.
linkedin.com/mbd - Website for LinkedIn ads.
megaphone.fm/adchoices - Website to learn more about ad choices.
public.com/disclosures/ga - Website for disclosures related to Generated Assets.
public.com/disclosures/matchprogram - Website for terms of the match program.
public.com/morningbrew - Website to get started with Public.
swap.fm/l/mbd-note - Link to listen to Morning Brew Daily.
youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow - Link to watch Morning Brew Daily.

Other Resources

AI - Mentioned in relation to Generated Assets and a failed AI gadget startup.
B2B Marketing - Discussed in relation to LinkedIn ads.
Company Towns - Trend predicted to make a comeback, starting with Morning Brew on Staten Island.
Crafting for Necessity - Trend predicted due to economic hardship, involving skills like mending and knitting.
ChatGPT - Mentioned in relation to raising a newborn.
Chicken Jockey - Phrase from the Minecraft movie that became a meme.
Creator House - Mentioned as a similar concept to company towns.
ETFs - Mentioned as a comparison for Generated Assets.
Engagement Post - Mentioned in relation to likes received on Instagram.
F1 Movie - Mentioned as a movie seen by Macy Gilliam.
Generated Assets - An interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors.
Goop - Mentioned in relation to Gwyneth Paltrow.
Hinge Messages - Mentioned as a consequence for incorrect trivia answers.
Investable Index - A feature of Generated Assets.
Knitting - Mentioned as a New Year's resolution and a craft skill.
Labubu - A character from a Chinese company.
Liberty Mutual - Mentioned for customizing car insurance.
LinkedIn Ads - Discussed for reaching B2B audiences.
Lilo and Stitch - Mentioned as a Disney live-action remake and a top-grossing movie.
Love Languages - Mentioned in relation to a quote.
March Madness - Mentioned in relation to the NCAA basketball championship.
Mending - Mentioned as a craft skill for necessity.
Minecraft Movie - Mentioned as a movie and for the "chicken jockey" phrase.
Multi-asset portfolio - A feature offered by Public.
New Year's Resolutions - Mentioned by Neil.
NFL (National Football League) - Mentioned in the example.
New England Patriots - Mentioned as an example team for performance analysis (mentioned in example).
Paper Chains - Mentioned as a Christmas decoration.
Popmart - A Chinese company that makes Labubu.
Predictive Modeling - Mentioned in the example.
Prime Video - Platform where Amazon Ads can reach audiences.
Public Investing - Mentioned in relation to disclosures.
Research & Studies - Category for studies.
Screwd - Artist's name related to a meme.
Sewing Machine - Mentioned as a craft skill.
Six Seven Meme - Originating from a song.
Starbase - Mentioned in relation to SpaceX and company towns.
Stonehenge - Mentioned in relation to Annie Bennett's visit and its meaning.
Stocks - Mentioned as part of a multi-asset portfolio.
Superheroes - Mentioned as a hint for a movie.
Swap.fm - Platform for listening to podcasts.
Taylor Swift - Mentioned in relation to her engagement post likes on Instagram.
Telecom Brands - Mentioned in relation to Amazon Ads.
Toby's Birthday - Mentioned as a half-birthday.
Tools & Software - Category for tools.
Toy Story - Mentioned as a Disney animated movie.
Truth Social - Platform where Trump posted frequently.
Twitch - Platform where Amazon Ads can reach audiences.
Videos & Documentaries - Category for videos.
Wasabi Peas - Mentioned as an example of an unnecessary product.
Wicked for Good - Mentioned as a musical and a top-grossing movie.
Zootopia 2 - Mentioned as a top-grossing movie.