Listen Now: Beanie Babies, A Big Flop or The Best Idea Yet?

The Big Flop

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy, Business

4.6 • 884 Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On The Big Flop, we unpack history’s most fascinating flops, frauds, and fiascos. But The Best Idea Yet brings you the untold stories behind some of the most successful products of all time. So...what happens when both shows cover the same topic? A proper debate!

Listen in as Nick & Jack, the hosts of The Best Idea Yet, join Misha to dive into the fascinating world of Beanie Babies – those unassuming critters with birthdates and bios that took America by storm in the late 90s. They explore how these plushie pals helped launch eBay, why you should never trade your Bucky the Beaver for a cupcake, and the eventual market crash that wiped out millions, all to decide whether they were a success or a flop.

You can listen to the full 'Beanie Babies' episode of The Best Idea Yet right now, on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/TBIY_IFD

The Best Idea Yet explores the most viral products of all time every week, from Birkenstocks to Sriracha, Air Jordans to Super Mario. Come for the products you're obsessed with, stay for the business insights that'll make you the most interesting person at your next brunch.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, it's Misha. Hope you're doing fabulous.
0:05.9	Today, I'm bringing you a little something special.
0:09.5	I'm joined by the incredible hosts of the Wondery Podcast, The Best Idea Yet.
0:15.0	It's Nick Martel and Jacrovici Kramer.
0:17.9	Hello, Misha.
0:19.2	Thank you so much for having us on. Finally. It's so great to have
0:24.4	you here. Can you just give us a quick rundown of what The Best Idea Yet is all about?
0:28.4	Nick and I co-host a show called The Best Idea Yet, where we dive into the untold origin
0:34.2	stories of the most popular and viral products of all time.
0:38.0	Like, the happy meal is only here because of a mother in Guatemala who introduced it to the world.
0:44.0	Wow.
0:44.3	And the Pez dispenser was actually invented to help people stop smoking.
0:48.8	It's half Netflix documentary, half business school case study.
0:52.5	Really fascinating, bright stories of business successes.
0:55.4	Oh, the juicy couture one is just chef's kiss, but it's a story for another pot.
0:59.5	Running straight to that one. But today, we're having an important, crucial debate to settle
1:05.7	something once and for all, Beanie Babies. Yeah. Big flop or best idea yet?
1:11.9	So last year, we did an episode on Beanie Babies where we called them a flop.
1:17.2	But this week on the best idea yet, Nick and Jack are telling the whole tale as a business success story.
1:23.8	Yes.
1:24.1	So, like, what gives?
1:24.9	I mean, we've got to straighten this out.
	...

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