MrBeast is the Future of Gen Z Influencer Marketing
MrBeast, the Youtube moniker of North Carolina native Jimmy Donaldson, has had one of the fastest growing Youtube channels in the last year. Jimmy had been posting Youtube videos since he was 13, but started the channel MrBeast when he was 17 performing stunts in his room. The channel grew slowly until taking off in 2018, and growing exponentially since 2019. His videos have centered around challenges posed to his friends, subscribers, and other prominent Youtubers with large cash prizes, as well as enormous acts of philanthropy, all funded by selling apparel, and sponsors like Honey and Raid Shadow Legends. What makes MrBeast’s channel unprecedented is how Jimmy reinvested the channel earnings, and will crucial to understand for brands wishing to market to Gen Z.
How MrBeast Went Viral
Jimmy Donaldson, of Greenville, NC, posted his first video to Youtube in 2013, a “stupid little video about Minecraft.” His Minecraft channel never got traction, but he persevered. In January of 2017, he posted the above video, and it went viral. He continued to post simple stunts like this, and his channel quickly grew.
Youtube content creators, or “Youtubers”, have the option of having paid sponsorships, in return for mentioning the sponsor brand in their videos. Jimmy took this one step further, and instead of keeping the earnings of his sponsors, he gave it to a homeless man.
This was enormously successful, earning nearly 8 million views, and his channel has adhered to the format of either performing stunts or competitions for money or donating money.
How MrBeast Cracked the Youtube Algorithm
The Youtube algorithm is shrouded in mystery, but it is speculated that videos that are watched in entirety are promoted to the front page. This would make sense, given that Youtube advertises at the beginning and end of videos as well as in between, and a video watched in full maximizes the advertising time. It is also speculated a similar algorithm is used on TikTok.
MrBeast has mastered the art of what’s known as “Jenga Storytelling”, a format that gives viewers a glimpse of what will come at the video’s resolution, but by adding increasingly higher stakes as the narrative continues, retain viewers.
This engaging format is crucial for making entertaining content that is treated favorably by Youtube, and is a key component to the future of MrBeast’s brand success.
What does MrBeast and Bombas have in common?
MrBeast has inadvertently adopted a business model that has proven successful, but with limited brand awareness.
Tom’s Shoes is a for-profit apparel company that pioneered the one-for-one model, where the company would donate a pair of shoes to someone in need in a developing country upon each sale in the developed world. This model was met with criticism, but led to several businesses imitating this model, including Warby Parker, which donates eyeglasses, Ruby Cup, donating menstrual cups, and Bombas, which donates socks to homeless shelters.
Unfortunately, this model doesn’t permit much elbow room in the budget for advertising. Tom’s, Ruby Cup, and Bombas have largely relied on word-of-mouth marketing.
What Jimmy and the gang of MrBeast have changed is the nature of this advertising strategy. MrBeast’s merchandise store is no different from Tom’s or Bombas, in that purchase of the brand apparel fund philanthropic efforts on the channel. In attaching an entertainment component to this business model, MrBeast/Jimmy has created the first viral social impact business, and allowed other brands to associate themselves with philanthropic efforts by association. Raid Shadow Legends is a mobile game, deriving revenue from in-app purchases. Mobile games are a flooded market, and the average player has no reason to spend money in one game vs another. By attaching their brand to MrBeast’s, Raid Shadow Legends has turned their in-app purchases into a form of indirect philanthropy. Same with Honey. Honey is free to use, making money from affiliate commissions that it earns for every coupon that is redeemed via its extension. Given their low barriers to adoption, Honey could have marketed a variety of ways. By being such a core sponsor of MrBeast however, Honey has effectively reached a demographic tech companies rarely successfully market to: kids.
However, both Honey and Raid Shadow Legends are free to download, and derive revenue from usage of their respective platforms. This plays an enormous part in how effective influencer marketing is. People spend money on incredibly odd things, but in a flooded market of options, they are also quick to tighten their purse-strings. Alternative revenue models will go a long way toward a brand’s adoption. Anything that allows less upfront payment will be more likely to retain usage and engagement, and benefit more from influencer marketing.
So not every brand should seek influencers. Those that do should keep signup and adoption simple and free, and if not, back influencers that put a face on philanthropy.
In the meantime, Jimmy and MrBeast will continue to grow in influence and spread. There are already many copycats, attesting to the popularity of the format, but having more philanthropists cannot be a bad thing.
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