Episode 546

full
Published on:

14th Mar 2026

Lightning Round: March Madness, Friday the 13th & Viral Penguins | Fast Five Shorts

This Lightning Round segment of the Omni Talk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, closes out the show with rapid fire takes on nihilist penguins, Friday the 13th superstition, and March Madness predictions.

Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn prove once again that retail conversations always find their way into pop culture and the internet’s strangest trends.

⏩ Tune in for the full episode here.

#LightningRound #RetailFastFive #OmniTalk #RetailPodcast #PopCulture #MarchMadness #InternetCulture



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Transcript
Speaker A:

Let's go to the lightning round.

Speaker A:

Jen, first question.

Speaker A:

St. Patrick's Day is less than one week away.

Speaker A:

What is your favorite St. Patrick's Day memory?

Speaker B:

I know you don't love it when I talk about my alma mater, Michigan State.

Speaker A:

Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker B:

And I don't try to bring this up in every.

Speaker B:

Every episode we do, but it just.

Speaker B:

It just magically happens.

Speaker B:

There's something about St. Patrick's Day and East Lansing that go really well together.

Speaker B:

So I would say my favorite memory would have to be.

Speaker B:

I cannot tell you which year, but it happens to get warm on St. Patrick's Day for the first time, everybody's out and about on campus.

Speaker B:

A lot of green beer, a lot of sort of sunny day drinking, asleep.

Speaker B:

By 5pm in East Lansing.

Speaker B:

That definitely tops the charts for me.

Speaker B:

So your lightning round question.

Speaker B:

Chris, I can't wait to hear your answer on this.

Speaker B:

A penguin wandering away from its colony toward the mountains has gone viral online, and I did look up that meme, and the Internet is calling it the Nihilist Penguin.

Speaker B:

Chris, what in reit, in this retail world, makes you feel like that nihilist penguin?

Speaker A:

Like a nihilist penguin.

Speaker A:

What makes me feel like a penguin?

Speaker A:

Jen?

Speaker A:

That's your question?

Speaker A:

That's what you're asking me?

Speaker A:

What makes me feel like a penguin?

Speaker A:

Oh, my God.

Speaker A:

Off the top of my head, the only thing I can think of is my walk or my general gait.

Speaker A:

As I get older, I feel like I'm walking more like a penguin with each passing year, Jen, I feel like that's.

Speaker A:

That's what's going on for me.

Speaker A:

I'm kind of waddling as I get older, which is not.

Speaker B:

Not if you download the Move app from Dick Sporting Goods.

Speaker A:

Right?

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker A:

Yes, yes, of course.

Speaker A:

That'll hurt my knee.

Speaker A:

And then I'll just be waddling with.

Speaker A:

You know, without any.

Speaker A:

Anything I could do about it, too.

Speaker A:

But.

Speaker A:

But.

Speaker A:

All right, Jen, since you brought up Michigan State, I was going to try to preempt you, but you preempted me.

Speaker A:

So March Madness is coming on very fast here.

Speaker A:

What chances are you giving old Tom Izzo and your Spartans this year?

Speaker B:

It's always hard to count Izzo out in March.

Speaker A:

Yeah, it is, for sure.

Speaker B:

But I did watch that loss to Michigan.

Speaker B:

Was it this weekend?

Speaker B:

This past week, actually.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

That was really, really tough.

Speaker B:

I thought we had them this time.

Speaker B:

Close enough, but not a win.

Speaker B:

So I'll give them a solid chance.

Speaker B:

I'm not going to give it a percentage here.

Speaker B:

I'll put Them in the middle of my bracket as the winner every single time.

Speaker B:

But my husband's a Nebraska fan.

Speaker B:

They are looking pretty, pretty great this year.

Speaker B:

It's been a fun story.

Speaker B:

We're also watching Illinois.

Speaker B:

I'm from Illinois.

Speaker B:

So it'll be a big ten year for basketball, I hope, and I'm going to give is a shot.

Speaker A:

So probability, probability, probably they make the Final Four.

Speaker A:

What are you giving it?

Speaker A:

What are you giving it?

Speaker A:

20%, 50%.

Speaker A:

Oh, come on, Jen.

Speaker B:

Did you say 20?

Speaker A:

Yeah, 20.

Speaker A:

Of course I did.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

They just lost to Michigan.

Speaker B:

Well, whatever.

Speaker B:

March is different.

Speaker B:

We can't lose three times to Michigan.

Speaker B:

Okay, 85.

Speaker A:

85%.

Speaker A:

All right, you heard it here, folks.

Speaker A:

You hear to hear 85%.

Speaker A:

Michigan State is in the Final Four.

Speaker A:

All right.

Speaker B:

I'm loyal from.

Speaker B:

All right.

Speaker B:

Love it.

Speaker B:

So, Chris, Friday.

Speaker B:

This Friday is Friday the 13th.

Speaker B:

Are you superstitious at all or is there one thing you just sort of won't mess with just in case?

Speaker A:

Oh, that's interesting.

Speaker A:

How superstitious am I?

Speaker A:

You know, believe it or not, I am not superstitious about Friday the 13th.

Speaker A:

I've never even seen a Friday the 13th movie.

Speaker A:

Not a single one, if you can believe that, which is surprising given my love of movies.

Speaker A:

But I don't like horror movies at all.

Speaker A:

But I will say this.

Speaker A:

I always knock on wood.

Speaker A:

You know, if somebody says something, I'm always knocking on wood.

Speaker A:

You do the same thing.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I do.

Speaker B:

I do, yes.

Speaker A:

I'm always knocking on wood.

Speaker A:

I don't know why, but.

Speaker A:

So I must be superstitious to some degree, you know, for that reason.

Speaker A:

So produce.

Speaker A:

Ella, how superstitious are you?

Speaker C:

Yeah, I'm pretty superstitious, I'd say.

Speaker C:

Back in my sports days, I was athlete.

Speaker C:

Yes.

Speaker C:

Wearing the same ponytails.

Speaker C:

I was doing my makeup the same way.

Speaker C:

But when it comes to Friday the 13th, I kind of think it's a mindset, like the voodoo, the.

Speaker C:

You know, if you think it's going to be bad, it might be bad.

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About the Podcast

Omni Talk Retail
Omni Talk Retail provides news, analysis, and commentary on the latest trends and issues in the retail industry
Omni Talk Retail provides news, analysis, and commentary on the latest trends and issues in the retail industry. It covers a wide range of topics related to retail, including e-commerce, technology, marketing, and consumer behavior. The podcast regularly features industry experts, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga, as well as retail thought leaders who all share their insights and perspectives on the latest developments in retail.

About your hosts

Anne Mezzenga

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Anne Mezzenga is an entrepreneurial Marketing Executive with nearly 20 years in the retail, experience design, and technology industries.

Currently, she is one of the founders and Co-CEOs of Omni Talk.

Prior to her latest ventures, Anne was most recently the Head of Marketing and Partnerships for Target’s Store of the Future project. Early in her career, Anne worked as a producer for advertising agencies, Martin Williams and Fallon, and as a producer and reporter for news affiliates NBC New York and KMSP Minneapolis.

Anne holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.

When Anne is not busy blogging, podcasting, or sharing her expertise with clients, she loves spending time with her husband and two boys and partaking in all the Minneapolis food scene has to offer.

Chris Walton

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