Wow, what a weekend. Did you catch the fight between boxing pro Floyd Mayweather and YouTuber Logan Paul 👀? NFT artist Beeple even chimed in with his homage to the historic fight. Today Alice dives into why attention is the most valuable asset in the world and the creators who are capturing it. As always, hit us up at @ColinandSamir with stories you’d like us to cover in the next edition. Enjoy ✌🏻✌🏽.

In Today’s Issue 💬

→ Will Logan Paul become YouTube’s first billionaire? 

→ The NELK Boys launch their own hard seltzer 

→ Why The White House is doubling down on its influencer strategy

Logan Paul Goes The Distance Against Floyd Mayweather

The YouTuber vs. boxing legend match that took the internet by storm

This weekend, Logan Paul fought boxing pro Floyd Mayweather in an exhibition match where there was no official winner. Despite the lack of a knockout victory, both parties walked away with heavy pockets in what Mayweather called “legalized bank robbery”. With more than 2 million viewers tuning in live for Logan’s 2018 fight against KSI, we anticipate Sunday’s match will smash those numbers...which might explain why Showtime’s servers went down.

• Money Talks →  Mayweather reported last week that he expected to earn up to $100m from the fight, with Paul allegedly guaranteed $250,000 and a 10% cut of the pay-per-view (PPV) earnings. And did you spot Floyd’s OnlyFans hat? Not even Jake could snatch that one. Logan also leveraged the limelight to launch an offshoot of his existing apparel brand, Maverick, with MAV™ athletics. Not to mention the fact he walked into the ring with a 1 of 3 Charizard Pokemon card around his neck, worth a very cool $1m.

• Love To Hate → Whether you were rooting for the underdog or hoping for a Mayweather knockout, you’re paying either way. Boxing is one of the few industries where you can monetize being loved and hated. And with Mayweather stating Logan was “better than I thought he was” after failing to knock him out, it’s about to pay off for both in a big way.

Our Take

YouTube’s diss culture has shifted to the boxing ring and Logan Paul’s entrance into the sport has given him a fresh narrative. Off the heels of Jake Paul announcing his own boxing promotion company, our prediction for the future is that Jake and Logan launch a joint promotion company, sign fighters and become promoters – essentially curating the right fighters and building media around them. Overall, no matter what industry you’re in - attention is the most valuable currency in the world and these guys know how to manufacture it.

The NELK Boys Launch “Happy Dad” Hard Seltzer

YouTube’s professional partiers expand their growing business empire

With a combined 50 million followers across all platforms and 10 years of content creation in the bag, YouTube’s NELK Boys, notorious for their scandalous pranks, have been quietly building an alcohol brand behind-the-scenes. Now, after a year in development, they’re adding another string to their creator bow with the launch of Happy Dad hard seltzer, which promises to rival competitor brands with “No More Skinny Can Bullshit”. 

So, how did they do it?

• Fan Led Movement → The NELK Boys have one of the most dedicated audiences on the internet, they even describe their fanbase as “a movement”. The strength of their engaged community has allowed them to build several successful businesses alongside their content, including sell-out FULL SEND merch and Send Club, a members only club for the “die hard NELK fans”. Support from their fanbase is all the more necessary for Nelk, considering their roster of scandals which resulted in the demonetization of their channel.

• In It For The Long Haul → Careful to distance themselves from another get rich quick celebrity brand, NELK decided to ditch their brand name in favor of Happy Dad, a name that they anticipate with “live on past us” – just like Travis Scott’s own hard seltzer, CACTI. The team behind Happy Dad are creating a product that will scale beyond their videos.

Our Take 

Hard Seltzer is really having its moment – with a 270% jump in sales in 2020 and sales predicted to reach $14.5 billion by 2027. Looks like the NELK Boys are getting in on the action just in time, but will they be able to disrupt established brands? We think the NELK Boys could give some industry players a serious run for their money with their product, which couldn’t be a better market fit for creators who have built content around partying, pranks and alcohol-fuelled antics over the past decade. 

Next Up: Influencers In The White House 

The White House holds its first ever social media briefing

Just last week The White House announced its partnership with Snapchat to encourage vaccination uptake for young Americans, featuring an AR lens. Then on Thursday, The White House held its first ever social media briefing hosted on YouTube, featuring an array of influencers – including comedian Benito Skinner; lifestyle vlogger Brittany Xavier, Buzzfeed’s Curly Velasquez and TikTok’s Amelie Zilber, among others. The creators were drafted in to discuss America’s Family Plan, jobs and the economy. 

• No Internet, Just Stars → The White House announcement introduced the briefing’s creators as “internet stars”, but as Mother Jones writer Lil Kalish stated, “internet stars are just stars...if you’re big, you’re big”. This illustrates the continuing shift as lines blur between creator, celebrity and politician. 

Our Take 

In 2020, “how to be an ally” was searched more times than “how to be an influencer”, but who says you can’t be both? With increasing expectations on creators to be politically engaged and represent the values of their growing audiences, the first social media briefing is just one example of creators using their platforms to instigate conversations that could have a real impact. Despite this, the briefing drew disappointing viewership on YouTube with just 28K views. Compare that, however, with 19-year-old Amelie Zilber, who uploaded her segment to TikTok to 1.8m views and found an additional half a million views on Instagram’s Reels. The White House leveraged creators to find distribution for their messaging and it worked. Looks like the podium may not be the biggest platform anymore.

🔥 In Other News

• YouTube paid over $4 billion to musicians last year 

• Frenemies podcast opens an advice line

• Colin and Samir enter the Metaverse

• Olivia Rodrigo is selling her clothes on depop

• The adult swim trend on TikTok, Explained