Logan Paul – Multi-Faceted Marketing Genius
Depending on your age and use of various social media platforms, you may have heard of Logan Paul, the internet now mainstream sensation from Ohio. He’s a polarising character, to say the least, and he certainly divides opinion, but how far off is he to his self-set goal to be the greatest entertainer on the planet?
If you have heard of Logan Paul, it could genuinely be from around five or six (at least) different avenues or platforms, this is what makes his career and indeed his marketing tools so impressive. He first gained popularity on Vine, which was a free mobile application that enables users to record and share an unlimited number of short, looping video clips with a maximum length of six seconds. He posted a series of stupid and playful videos with his brother who certainly is more negatively viewed – and the teenage sensations certainly got themselves a large audience.
Like most content creators his age at that time, Logan Paul made the move over to YouTube. He was one of the most popular ‘daily vloggers’ at the time, he used viral marketing to grow his channel to over 20 million subscribers where it sits now. He did plenty of crazy stunts and videos in an attempt to blow up, it was perfect for his audience that at the time consisted of pre-teens and younger teenagers.
His biggest scandal came as a result of taking these attempts to get viral clips and content too far and ended up turning his life upside down in a matter of minutes. Without going into too much detail and people already knowing, Logan shot a video in a forest in Japan which was notorious for people ending their life and tried to create a viral clip to impress his naïve and impressionable audience, he poked fun and made jokes about a man who had ended his life right there. But there was an element of the star still being young himself, not being aware of his actions and being surrounded by ‘yes men’. He has since admitted that this was the case and that he felt almost invincible. This was a PR disaster for him, he was essentially banned from YouTube and other social media platforms, was ‘cancelled’ and struck out from any work or popularity he once had. There was a definite need for a whole lot of personal development and maturity to regain his respect and popularity.
After attempting various content outlets such as different styles of videos and music, he was given his shot at redemption by English YouTube sensation KSI, as he was challenged to a boxing match. Their first bout ended in a draw at a sold-out Manchester Arena in August 2019, and this gave them the perfect marketing and money-making opportunity for the pair. They paired up with boxing-promoting juggernaut Eddie Hearn, who is responsible for promoting stars such as Canelo Alvarez and Anthony Joshua, the pair then sold out the Staples Centre in LA in November 2019, as KSI came out victorious, but Logan Paul was on the beginning of his journey of redemption and building his legacy, especially with all of the mainstream press and media attention, as Sky Sports covered the event in the UK, and DAZN did in the US.
His boxing endeavours did not stop there, as he had an exhibition bout in 2021 with arguably the greatest boxer of all time, Floyd Mayweather. This was marketing genius, as the press conferences certainly caused a stir with his out-there outfits, general demeanour, entrances, and insults to one of the best ‘trash talkers’ of all time. It was bold as he had never won a boxing fight, going up against a fighter with a 50-0 record, and clever as it was an exhibition fight, with no official winner and a low chance of a knockout due to his size advantages, he essentially made lots of money and got some viral clips of him punching one of the greatest athletes ever.
Logan has made a change in his main source of content, instead of the short-form daily vlogs from his past, which he revisited in the lockdowns of 2020, he runs his podcast called ‘IMPAULSIVE’ with two of his closest friends. He has 329 episodes out on the official channel and has had celebrity guests such as Arnold Schwarzenegger Snoop Dogg, and Mike Tyson plus people who are sure to get viral content, such as Liver King, Dana White and once rival KSI. This podcast has been an extremely successful venture for Paul and has found him getting an older audience of around 18-25 rather than his old pre-teen audience, he has essentially scaled his audience as his fans have grown up.
One of his most recent ventures was PRIME hydration, a beverage company with once rival KSI, but we have a blog entirely devoted to this brand, so check that out… in short, it's doing bloody well.
Logan’s magnum opus is his most recent business endeavour, ’99 Originals’. This has been his journey around the world, in the form of 99 Polaroid images which he auctions off as NFTs with unique perks, such as featuring as a guest on his podcast, which sold for over 300,000 dollars. It is an amazing way to monetise his life journey and especially moving into web 3, it is one to look out for content creators doing similar if it carries on its astonishing success. His marketing of the idea by clipping it up to post on TikTok and Instagram Reels is another example of his knowledge of the industry as that is a foolproof marketing plan in this day in age.
He has been extremely active in his business and creative manoeuvres, so much so his endeavours with WWE and Pokemon cards with Gary Vee have gone under the radar, not least to mention the fact he has claimed he will be running for President in 2032… yeah, he’s either miswired or a genius, or are they the same thing?
