0:00 Big Soda At Work 2:19 Consumers Wising Up 5:42 Triumph of Science 8:09 Coca-Cola vs. PepsiCo 10:00 The Industry's Reckoning 12:45 The Chosen One 15:51 Long Way Home 18:47 New Players, Same Threats 19:18 A Future of Known Unknowns Viewers may find some clips in this episode to be pixelated and low quality (480p at best or 240p at worst). It was an intentional decision to use pre-2010's footage for certain segments. I felt it would be a more authentic viewing experience to use footage directly from the era that this episode covers - notably the mid 2000's when Internet was dial-up, information was communicated exclusively through magazines or cable news, and Americans were coming to terms for the first time with obesity / nutrition / health / diet. *Topics that didn't make the final cut of this episode to read after watching:* - M&A is truly the tool of corporate America. Pepsi did acquire SodaStream in 2018 for ~$3B in an effort to bring sparkling waters directly into consumers' homes as a few commenters have kindly shared their experience below. To me, SodaStream's at-home sparkling water maker (having a machine that can carbonate your water and consumers mix in the syrups / flavors they want) is eerily similar of Keurig's Kold at-home soda maker. Kold was eventually discontinued due to product issues and too high of a price point at ~$350. SodaStream on the other hand has a significantly more favorable entry point (starting at ~$100). - It's interesting that both SodaStream and Kold have elements of the old HP printer model, where consumers pay for one fixed $$$ cost upfront (machine) but have to regularly spend $-$$ over the lifespan of the product to continue using the product (gas canisters with SodaStream, pods for Kold / normal Keurig, ink cartridges for printers). - To me, the appeal of sparkling water consumption is the opening of the physical aluminum can that's identical to soda. That crack and sip sound is engrained deep and primed in consumer psychology as a satisfying sound. I can't speak for SodaStream or Keurig, but the notion of filling up a mug or Hydroflask with sparkling water without that cracking opening the can feels like it would take away from some of the appeal. - Topo Chico was acquired by Coca-Cola for ~$220M, which has a cult following in Texas. But the strategy Coca-Cola is taking Topo Chico sparkling mineral water these days is less in La Croix / bubly / AHA's direction and more in the alcoholic Truly / WhiteClaw / High Noon hard seltzer market. - In the context of United Airlines only serving bubly comment, I'm fairly confident what's happening with La Croix is that it's losing its seat at the table when it comes to B2B institutional deals, where PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have a much more established sales network and stronger existing relationships with corporate clients. If I put myself in the shoes of a major airline, hotel, restaurant, gas station or any business that sells beverages for $$$, it is far easier for me to procure all my beverages (soft drinks, juice, sparkling water, bottled plain water, diet soda) through 1 single contract with PepsiCo or Coca-Cola. In return, I'll probably get a discount because of my exclusivity with PepsiCo or Coca-Cola so my beverage profit margins are even better + consumers will get what they want. - If I really want La Croix in my business, I have to sign my own contract with National Beverage which adds operational overhead and supply chain complexity when I don't need it - while they can give me a leading sparkling water brand and some juices, I would still need another entirely different supplier to give me my plain bottled water, soft drinks, diet sodas and more. I'm sure the same is playing out in grocery stores where La Croix's shelf-space is being eaten away by Bubly and AHA as Big Soda can easily cut deals with the supermarkets to get the best shelves / aisles / exposures. - Not sure why international expansion is not a strategic investment for National Beverage Corporation. Big Soda has made APAC and EMEA as its most strategic high-growth markets and the demand for sugary soda in those regions has not declined (in some cases, has even gone up) vs. America. As the episode says, sparkling water seems to still be mostly an American phenomenon.

Another hit against La Corix in especially Europe is that the sparkling water market already is saturated. The market is filled with alternatives, even Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have their local brands and partners.

as a diebetic, seeing people say that sugary drinks don’t contribute to blood sugar makes me wanna cry

It's truly disgusting how easy and cheap it is for big companies to buy anybody's opinion. Torturing reality into submission. Just like cigarette, companies

I've been drinking La Croix my whole life, so it was really weird to me how it all of a sudden got popular. I still don't know that I've ever seen a proper ad for it. It used to be generic (cheap) Perrier, which is why we bought it.

Another thing that la croix needs to get on is restaurant sales. I've NEVER seen the option to buy la croix at a restaurant in non-canned form. You can't get it at soda fountains or in your glass at sit down restaurants. For a lot of people I know, these restaurant visits and the ONLY time they have soft drinks. If they can't get a la croix there, they'll never drink it at all.

It never even remotely crossed my mind that soda might be a temporary thing that society eventually outgrows. It's always felt like a staple of society, an immovable, irreplaceable axiom of modern life. The last few decades have shown that it's entirely possible that sugary soda might eventually decline to a specialty item over the next century. To me, that's an odd thing to consider, since "fizzy water with light flavoring" is incredibly unappealing. But that's just me.

Ever fresh is a giant brand. They have orange juice at every gas station in the whole country. Most liquor stores too. It was probably what made the most of their money before Lacroix took off

I was surprised you didn't mention the "sparkling" insurgence into other beverage industries such as beer and alcohol. Brands like White Claw leading the charge that then prompted the rise in other sparkling or seltzers in brands like Bud Light, Dos Equis, as well as non-alcoholic brands like TopoChico

Sparkling water has a long history in Europe, but also flavored sparkling water has been booming at least in Scandinavia for literally decades. It was only a matter of time (~15 years it seems) before America or someone else caught on. Interesting thing about the Scandinavian market is that the brands mostly stay within their country of origin. Like you **can** get the Swedish Ramlösa in Norway (and sometimes even Stenkulla), but the market there is definitely cornered by the Norwegian Farris and their lime/lemongrass and mango/orange flavors

Holy $hit coca cola!! the fact that they could with a straight face suggest that sugary drinks arent correlated to obesity or bad health is INSANE!

Love that clip at the end "that's what parents are for" lol. This is a great channel, your videos are amazing.

During my pregnancy I switched from diet sodas to Bubly or LaCroix, and its definitely made a difference in my consumption towards sodas; the occasion craving hits but I don't actively seek it out anymore. I grew up in a house where diet soda was a constant. I definitely agree that sodas shouldn't be sold in schools, I taught middle school previously and holy shit, my students would crash hard after lunch. It was like pulling teeth to teach after 12pm.

Big credit to the level of research man, where do you find these clips/interviews? It's amazing and really helps tell the story more than just graphs and numbers.

I prefer using soda stream. It's liberating that I don't need to lug around these heavy cases of liquid. If I fizz chilled herbal tea, it tastes better than the store bought soda.

Great video bud, FYI La Croix have been available in New Zealand supermarkets for a few years now, it is getting around. Love the stuff.

Like you briefly mentioned. La Croix is only big in the US really. You can find it in Canada at a good amount of groceries stores now, but not all, and their stock of it isn't huge usually. PepsiCo with the Bubbly brand really took over here, everyone likes it and there is tons of it in every store now. Lots of marketing and they entered the Bubbly brand into Canada while La Croix was still only in a select few high-priced grocery stores. Which is another huge factor, The price for an 8-pack of La Croix is the same as a 12-pack of bubbly in Canada.

While it is true that too few people exercise as much as they should to keep healthy, Big Soda approached this in a way that clearly was not going to work. "Soft drinks do no more to blood sugar than any other food or beverage" is such an absolutely baffling statement. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but that in 2010 I'm sure that was still as bad. With that much invested in sugar-filled drinks, wonder if there could've been a better way to approach this. As Coke or Pepsi, you can't jump out ahead of this before it becomes an issue - you reduce the sugar, people like it less, and buy less ; you reduce container sizes to reduce per unit calories, people complain the container isn't big enough and drink the same, no real changes to health; you release more diet options, but you still have the sugary products as your real money maker. I personally don't drink soda, but did drink nothing but sugary drinks as a kid. I may be biased in seeing a decline in soda here, but it has become infrequent that I meet someone my age who drinks soda. The beverage market for my age group seems to have moved to energy drinks, teas, and flavored sparkling water. Coca cola still gets some money from me for Topo Chico, but even still that's such a simple product that it could possibly be replaced as a staple for me. Coke and Pepsi, simply put, are no longer mainstays for me and people I know.

I gave up soda long ago. My replacement is the occasional water downed ice tea at restaurants. My real go to for that hit of fizz is kombucha. That stuff has few calories and way more interesting flavours.

this is a great channel! Such in-depth fundamental analysis on many big companies. You should have way more subscribers

I'm surprised there was no mention of flavored Shweppes or Polar. I always considered them long-time players in the flavored water market.

Been drinking this stuff off and on since the 80s. Back then there were just a few citrus flavors, and the product came in glass bottles. The brand sure exploded in the years after NBC got a hold of it. Hats off to their marketing team.

I'm happy I found your channel. You produce videos on interesting topics with easy to digest information. Keep up the good work!

4:16 Man, this is why I love the UK, interviewer's just taking zero bullshit

I’m Japanese, so it goes without saying I have never seen a LaCroix in person. But I have seen the Coca-Cola and Pepsi soda brands, so I feel like I can weigh in. I don’t know if most Japanese people feel the same, I consider sodas to be a very heavy, “sometimes” drink that you only get with fast food or at a concession stand. Relatively nutritious and low-calorie food is available from everyday restaurant chains as well as convenience stores. However, I just kind of assumed that LaCroix was an iced tea brand! Sparkling water is not well known in Japan unless you like making cocktails. Our healthy “replacement” for soda is iced tea. Whether it be black tea, green tea, or oolong tea, we have bottles and cans of tea in every vending machine. Oh, and our tea is usually unsweetened, and we quite like it that way. I guess the point is that I find flavored sparkling water to be an odd choice of beverage to replace soda. I would feel a discomforting void in my mouth if I felt the aggressively bubbly energy of soda without none of the equally aggressive syrupy sweetness.

"That's a terrible business practice" to "that's what parents are for" my God that guys double speak is strong.

one of the best channels on KZfaq. always a pleasure to watch your videos.

As someone who was diagnosed with Diabetes in 2019, I needed an alternative to Coke. I chose to drink sparkling water though I have not taken to the brand mentioned due to its higher cost compared to store branded flavored seltzer water. As I weaned myself off of sugar, I found the taste of seltzer water to be refreshing and not as startling as it was at first. Now almost four years later, I drink seltzer water exclusively changing up on the flavor and when a flavor I like goes on sale that is not a house brand, I treat myself to that. Over the course of nearly 4 years I've dropped and kept off 30 pounds and can assure you that Coke and other such beverages is essentially a death sentence on a long delayed fuse. These are damaging drinks and that doesn't even consider the harm of high fructose corn syrup on your liver (fatty liver).

I know that you don't get a lot of views from these videos (yet) but I just want to say that I really enjoy them. I hope you continue

Used to make fun of La Croix until I realized how awful soda is for you (still love soda, just stopped drinking it) and what a good substitute it is. I've recently switched to the Kirkland sparkling water though.

Good video, but I have a question. How much of the decline in sales of big soda can be attributed to energy drinks (red bull, monster etc) being popular with younger costumers?

I pretty much kicked soft drinks to the curb at least a decade ago, and started drinking only club soda, seltzer water, or distilled water. I found it was the bubbles that I liked, not all the flavorings and chemicals. Plus, they give me my daily water quota without having to resort so soda AND water. I'll have a Diet Coke every now and then, or add a squeeze of lemon or lime to my seltzer, but soda is no longer the first thing that I reach for to quench my thirst. As well, I've noticed that the quality of Coke/Pepsi has taken a major nosedive recently. Used to have a LOT of flavor/syrup, and be dark brown in color, but no more. It;s the color of tea. Yuck.

As someone who like soda, less consumption of soda is definitely a nice trend. It's not a huge problem for me(not not a problem, I am slightly overweight, but not a huge one) as it's pretty much my only form of sugar intake--I don't really eat snacks nor deserts. The next highest source of sugar is probably from the bread/dough of subs and pizzas I eat. Soda company is sort of right in saying that it is an overall life style issue, you will probably be fine if you only have one "vice", but most people have many. It is totally bullshit to say soda is not a significant contributor though, all of the vices contribute, soda more than most. I find it... problematic for you to only post % growth charts and not volume growth charts. For all I know, the sub 1% growth that Coke have could be more volume than the 25% of La Croix etc due to the huge base volume they ship. As it were, coke and pepsi have long reached a certain degree of market saturation such lack of growth isn't even a problem, their only fear is significant drop in consumption or market share.

Recently found this channel and binged all your videos. This is really excellent content and I appreciate all the work that goes into the history & analysis of companies & industries. Just a thought for the future: I think it would also be valuable if there was content where you gave insight into your process in making these videos and/or walked us through how you go about doing the analysis. After all, your channel is called Modern MBA. That’s something I would even pay for!

All calories are not equal. Calories from a can of coke are pretty much all from sugar. So the comparison to a cappuccino is not equivalent.

Great video! Need all these past interviews which most people no longer remember as KZfaq shorts.

Yay, I've subscribed yesterday and there's a new video today already! Your content is excellent, can't wait for more!

I’ve actually started drinking a lot more zero sugar mineral waters and I’m drinking coke and pepsi less than ever… they’re just so good and don’t overwhelm the pallet

As somebody who grew up in MN I never knew that La Croix got super popular. I knew just as many people who drank it in 2010 as I did now and in 2016

Your channel will be huge in a year keep up the content i promise it will be worth it

Awesome man! Love content like this, thank you and I hope you start earning good money soon!

This must be a very US thing because I live in Southwestern Ontario, Canada and have never heard of Le Croix. Seltzer or sparkling water has become marginally more popular in the last 5 -ish years but I wouldn't say it's going to edge out sodas anytime soon. People are drinking noticeably less soda and artificially sweetened drinks. I've also noticed smaller portions being a trend.

I think La Croix is holding its ground, but I'd argue a classical MBA-style question: Is La Croix truly a fad, or a fashionista? And how can we determine this? You hint at this through La Croix's market fit, but lack of intl. presence. I'd argue there's actually a better indicator of this: Will Nat. Bev successfully enter the fountain beverage market? This is a huge source of pepsico/coca-cola sales, and I'd argue more valuable from a longitudinal standpoint than retail because you contract (i.e. require) businesses to exclusively carry your drinks at restaurants, theaters, and theme parks. You'll often see just coca-cola, or just pepsico, and then additionally Snapple/Dr. Pepper occasionally as a third party. If La Croix entered fountain and held its ground as an addtl option, I'd argue they succeeded past the "fad" phase. You can also consider "bubbly" in the same way and whether Pepsi moves it beyond cans/retail and into fountain. I also think there are other brands you didn't mention like Hint water which are also very fad-like right now and it's unclear if flavored "water" or "carbonated/drinks" is the future. I find it interesting almost a third of the video was focused on the "sugary" soda hype of the mid 2000s and early 2010s but without mentioning other trends like keto diet. I think both had compounding effects given many brands still produce drinks which are NOT low calorie but still very popular (i.e. high in protein or sugar sourced from natural fruit smoothies/blends with special additives). FB/IG is full of ads for these DTC brands Last interesting note: There is hardly any attention on the "natural flavors" bit. It's actually not natural and often includes chemical additives in order to mix into water (glycols and such). There isn't' a lot of transparency on this and I think it will eventually blow up in brands' faces.

Poland here. We don't seem to have La Croix sold here, but every major polish water/drinks company (Maspex owning Tymbark, Danone owning Żywiec Zdrój etc.) are lauching products like that. So yeah, seltzers do seems to be getting on popularity worldwide.

To be fair to Coke's former European president, what would you expect him to say in that situation. Obviously Coca Cola plans to stay in business and changing the formula to reduce the amount of sugar will make their customers angry (new coke was a massive failure). Coke has in fact made many alternatives with lower sugar (Coke life, Coke Zero, Coke no Sugar) and consumers are well aware that Soda isn't healthy.

I feel like one of La Croix's big challenges will be getting into restaurants. I absolutely love a La Croix with my meal, but I've found exactly 0 places that serve it.

Everfresh is actually a widely distributed national brand. You can find it in almost every gas station in the juice section. And I loved Clear Fruit as a kid (the closest thing is probably CapriSun) it isn’t popular though

The gentleman is correct about the amount of sugar in the cups if they are full of Coke. However We all know they are over 50% ice which has no sugar. I can't believe someone that's a CEO sat there and let that happen.

This was incredibly detailed and interesting. Thanks for sharing with us man! God bless you :)

It’s great that people drink slightly flavoured sparkling water instead of soda/pop but even as a guy who was never habitually drinking pop I’ve tried these drinks like La Croix, Bubbly, etc and they’re just so underwhelming. In no way do they replace the odd craving for a coke or sprite.

I don't even drink soda from big soda brands when I do drink soda (not counting corporate buyouts of said companies.. because I don't know everything about every small brand I've had). There's soo much small soda companies that are fun to try when I want to have soda (which is rare but... hand me some cream, root beer..etc.. instead of coke or pepsi.. That said- I'm obviously watching this because I like your videos :)

Awesome video, thank you for all the wonderful information. Definitely going to give sparkling seltzers a try.

Keep it up man these videos are really cool and insightful into different industries

Another great video. So excited to see this channel grow. Keen to see future topics! Constructive feedback if you would like it: Felt this one at the start and the airbnb one ran a bit too long regarding the interviews, instead of you summarising points and showing highlights like your McDonalds video

I didn't realize the UK didn't see LaCroix in stores. I feel like it's one of the more well known sparkling water brands in the US. It's not necessarily marketing that makes it well known as much as its price in the US. Especially when we compare it to other brands of sparkling water.

As someone with a lifelong habbit of driinking soft drinks I stopped going for the sugary stuff the moment I started becoming more sedentary and noticed the weight counting up. FFW a few years and I find it hard to drink any of it since it feels sickeningly sweet any time I take a taste. As much as we like to blame companies this is definitely a case of personal choice and discipline. Nobody is forcing you to drink Coke or Pepsi and nobody is forcing you to drink LeCroix for that matter. Water works just as fine, make a decision like an adult and pay the price.

Sparkling water has always been popular in Europe. But we prefer it straight and rely on a good spring or mineral water. The flavored sparkling water was a fad that never really took on. Maybe it's more available in the UK.

In many parts of the world, it's cheaper to buy soda than clean drinking water. It's predatory.

Lmao, at 10:20 right after asking what company could replace big soda I got an ad for whiskey

To be fair, what Big Soda says is technically true. Soft drinks don't contribute to obesity uniquely, and it's a matter of how much calories you consume vs how much you burn. A person leading an active lifestyle can drink cola daily and not get fat. The problem is that soft drinks are basically sugar that is easier to consume than in any other form. So they make it very easy to ingest more calories than you spend.

It’s always on sale at Publix and I get 6 cases. I get Waterloo and Aha too. Waterloo has a stronger and less tv static taste.

I personally Love Zevia. Naturally flavored and naturally sweetened with stevia. A bit of an acquired taste, given how different stevia tastes from sugar, but I’m in love with the Cream Soda, Cherry Soda and Root beer flavors. It’s a shame that it’s so darn expensive and only comes in cans :/ I remember once tasting a Virgil’s soda that was sweetened with monkfruit extract and I was like “this is the future!” But have never found that brand ever again in my country :’(((

I personally am deadset on choosing lacroix when buying seltzer water. They're one of the few brands where the revenue doesn't go to the big companies that are known for immoral practices

"thats very interesting i should probably drink less soda" i say to myself as i sip my can of cola

Soda, sweet tea, juice, etc. have always been too saccharine for my tastes, but all these various "fizzy waters" somehow manage to taste blander than regular old H2O. Maybe I'm just picky, but I've always been content merely drinking water when I'm thirsty.

I love how in all these charts sales just tank in 2020 and we all know why sales so badly went down, it really tells us how badly impacted everyone around the globe was by the pandemic.

Never heard of Lacroix at all before as a European I think the biggest brand in Europe that isn't just local I would say is San Pellegrino followed by Perrier and Selters. Maybe Vichy Catalan not sure how wide spread it is but i've seen it all over southern Europe.

My soda consumption went down 90% during the pandemic because I almost exclusively drink soda (with alcohol) when I am out.

I have strongly disliked any sparkling water I've ever tried. But I also am just generally not fond of carbonated beverages in general but interesting to see how much it blew up.

I will never get people’s obsession with drinking anything and everything except water. People’s fear of drinking water is worrying. I’m so glad that I was not conditioned as a kid to have a fizzy drink with every one of my meal. I know it’s going to be hard but people should really learn to be content with drinking water, your wallet and health will thank you for it.

The only reason I drink LaCroix is to bother my friends who think it tastes awful.

Crazy to think that I could drink a whole soda in an hour in a half to 2 hours watching a movie in a theater, just few years a go. Thinking about that makes me 🤢

Diet sodas are also correlated to obesity and death. Drink unflavored water with food. Food must be used a healthy drug, otherwise pleasure foods may act as an unhealthy drug.

Dryer sheet tea would taste better than Lacroix

Great channel. Good through analysis and concise but engaging delivery and subjects chosen. Subscribed 👍

In Sweden We’ve had a very large selection of flavored sparkling water for as long as I can remember. It will probably be hard for Lacroix to expands to Europe since we already have many established brands.

Rip It is an energy drink brand and surprisingly has a cult following among US veterans of the wars/operations in the middle east since it was available for free at the chow halls

I’d rather have soda than La croix

As someone living in Paris, I’ve never drank La Croix once in my life…

Funny, I am sipping a La Croix as I watch. Great analysis- its very interesting!

That interview at the start really annoyed me. I wanted the Coke guy to flip the conversation around and ask what exactly Mr TV Man would like them to do about the sugar in Coke? "You want to make people aware of the sugar content? It's clearly displayed on all of our labels. You want smaller portions at movie theaters? We don't control them. You want less sugar in the product? We have a full lineup of sugar-free Diet and Zero options that anyone can choose, as well as non-soda options like Dasani and Minute Maid. If customers still prefer the taste of the classic product, that is their choice." Now that said, the so-called researchers paid to deny that full-sugar soda leads to obesity and diabetes? That was completely scummy.

Omg!!! I love lacroix and my friends and family know I always have one in hand. Hahaha even right now in my apartment I probably have 50 cans and about 10-12 in the fridge right now. It has majorly helped me leave soda in the past.

Great video thank youuu!

2 episodes in 1… Thanks ❤️

I work for pepsi, and I love how how pepsi tells us that their naked drink is healthy. The green machine has 53 grams of sugar in that tiny bottle. A gram is a cube of sugar, and there is 53 cubes in the green machine lol

Those lawyers are the biggest traders to humanity. They don't know what they've done.

great video although as an avid seltzer drinker I can say that many of us DO have preferences as to which brand we're drinking. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of la croix because I find their bubbles too weak.

Great video! Very engaging and interesting always learning about things I never even thought to dig into. I was wondering, Have you considered doing a video about Shark Tank? I don't know why but when I watch your stuff it seems like this would be a topic you'd be interested and do it justice. I'm not sure what the angle would be I was always curious to see if the "Shark Factor" they boast on the show is actually as powerful as they claim. Regardless, thanks for all this valuable information and keep the content coming.

MF Doom briefly appears at 8:40

Danny Gonzalez is proud

I did also start drinking flavored Sparkly water (lemon) and it helped me replace Soda and beer with a healthy alternative. I actually even dropped the flavored sparkly water to regular sparkly water, as we usually drink soda to water down our food, but sparkly water does it just as well. I lost a TON of weight... I usually have a dozen sparkly water in my fridge, but yesterday I ran out of it and it felt awful...I might be addicted to it.. But well, it is not a bad addiction, is it? It is carbonated water...

Here in Canada, Bubly (by PepsiCo) is advertised by Canadian singer Michael Bublé. His last name sounds like the drink name and he plays on it, calling it "Bublé" while people around him try to correct him

Soda is so bad for you and hard to quit drinking. I haven’t drank soda in almost 2 years and I still get cravings for it all the time.

Maybe this goes beyond the scope of this video, but I would've liked to hear about what the carbonated water space looked like before LaCroix's explosion. Personally, I remember as a kid my dad would buy these tall bottles of San Pellegrino to drink at dinner so that we felt fancier than we actually were lol

I would have more respect for these companies if they just blatantly admitted that "Yes our product can contribute to obesity and diabetes; that's why you should only consume it in moderation."

Legislation and taxation against soda consumption is kept at a local level? Good. Keep it that way. I don't want america to turn into a nanny state like my country has

I wonder why no big soda brand has invested in natural sweeteners like stevia, allulose, erythritol, or monkfruit. I’d be their biggest customer lol.

As somebody who mostly drinks water from the tap, hearing people talk about drinking multiple cans of La Croix in a single day blows my fucking mind

I love sparkling water. Unfortunately companies are seeing that people do and are starting to really raise their prices.

First time I heard an someone from the US talk about this brand I didn't know what he was talking about. But when he wrote it down I went "ooh!". They pronounce it Lacro-y, while I always pronounced it French (the cross) La-cro-a.