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- Kendrick Lamar's got a second career

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as your new financial planner.

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I'm Jeff Beer, and this is Fast Company's

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Brand Hit or Miss of the Week.

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Now, when's the last time that you thought

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a bank or a financial
company was really cool?

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("Jeopardy" theme song)

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No? Nothing?

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Exactly. Which brings
us to this week's hit:

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Fintech Cash App.

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The platform, owned by Block,
formally known as Square,

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where you can invest, trade stocks,

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and send money to people,

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launched a new ad,
starring Kendrick Lamar.

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In the spot, we find Kendrick
on a sparse apartment balcony

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with a young, small business owner,

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and billionaire hedge funder, Ray Dalio.

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The young man is telling
Kendrick about his idea

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to start a barbershop, how
he saved a bunch of money,

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but then gambled it away throwing dice

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trying to grow it quickly.

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Dalio then advises to take it slower,

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utilize compound growth to
ultimately reach your goals

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and beyond.

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- Basically, bro, what he's saying is,

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"Slow money wins the race."

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You could still have a big upside,

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even if you don't throw
all your chips in the bag.

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- Created with Kendrick's

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new creative services company, pgLang,

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the spot, like everything
Kendrick-related,

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is stylish and effortlessly cool.

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Cash App has taken big
pop cultural strides

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in a very short period of time,

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becoming the money-sending app
of choice in hip-hop culture,

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with thousands of references in lyrics

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from Young Thug to Juice
WRLD and Nick Cannon,

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and many, many more.

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The angle of mixing pop culture
with financial education

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also isn't a new one for Cash App.

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Last year, the brand teamed
with Megan Thee Stallion

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on an education video called
"Investing for Hotties",

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where the artist was giving
away a million dollars of stock

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in companies like Microsoft,
Peloton, and Netflix,

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to random winners in an effort

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to teach her fans about investing.

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This new Kendrick ad is
part of a broader campaign

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called That's Money, that
also includes Serena Williams

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and NFL star, Odell Beckham, Jr.

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Earlier this month,
Williams starred in a short,

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15 second spot where
she pays the babysitter

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with the app after an evening out.

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This pop cultural approach

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is definitely working for Cash App.

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According to a July report
from Data Tracker, Apptopia,

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Cash App is dominating the US market

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in payment app downloads
with 34 million downloads,

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more than twice that of the global leader

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in this space, PayPal.

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What's cool and compelling
about this particular ad

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is obviously the stylish combination

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of one of the world's best rappers

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playing the translator
between an everyday guy

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and the leader of one of the
planet's biggest hedge funds.

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But it's also how Kendrick
here is a metaphor

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for how Cash App sees and
has been positioning itself

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as a brand overall,

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translating money advice
and financial education

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into everyday culture.

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That's it for this week.
Thanks for watching.