My 13 year old son showed me marketing’s future.
Have you heard of Mr. Beast? I had not, until Sasha showed me his latest release.
MrBeast is one of YouTube’s biggest stars, with over 50 million subscribers. He is known for big stunts that are simultaneously audacious and charitable: he donated 100 cars to people in need, raised over $22 million to plant 20 million trees, etc.
His latest stunt is a modern marketing masterpiece, bringing ingredients and assets together that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.
MrBeast Burger is a 300 location virtual restaurant chain that popped up literally overnight. MrBeastBurger brings needed revenue to local restaurateurs - who will cook real burgers and sell them via one of the many food delivery apps. People are going ape-shit for them!
He’s ticking off an enviable list of marketing goals and KPIs in one shot: delighting his followers and giving them a real-world means to engage with the brand (and each other), building his brand and reputation beyond that core, using earned and owned media in a really impactful and efficient manner, and he’s got the social-good part nailed in a non-trivial way that actually makes a difference in people’s finances - providing a lifeline of financial support to hundreds of local businesses. And he is doing it all by leveraging infrastructure that already existed - the food delivery apps, the “ghost kitchens”, the YouTube platform itself.
This is an influencer slash media platform slash restauranteur slash creative slash social capitalist.
Why I am sharing this?
Well first off I am humbled by my ignorance about this massively influential creator and what he’s he accomplished.
I am surprised that my son (and all his friends) know him and his fellow creators so well.
I am impressed by the marketing savvy that not only came up with the idea, but understood which players to bring together and how to organize that ecosystem to pull this off.
With all the emphasis these days on 1-1 personalized marketing, this strikes me as a powerful reminder that 1-to-many marketing still works. We just have to re-imagine the tools we use to reach the masses.
