Anything that can go wrong will go wrong?

Logan Alexander Paul a notorious American youtuber who as of February 2022 now has 22.2 million followers on Instagram and an approximated net worth of tens of millions.

Logan Paul is the social media influencer who gained popularity through his career on Vine . But the passage of time since the demise of vine has resulted in the creation, debatably, of this generation’s biggest showman. The 26-year-old now boasts his own brand of merchandise, a boxing career, multiple start-ups and mass platform followings across the range, but this was not a smooth sail.

YouTube:

The start of Logan’s career on YouTube was not that transformative, he replies when asked about what happened after his first video to Jordan Belfort in his “The Wolf’s Den” podcast, “ nothing, literally eight years of failure” . Citing that the reason was that the quality of videos wasn’t great adding that it was an extremely “devolved” version of the content he creates now. But one could argue that it was due to his early slapstick type comedy videos that he was able to build his loyal fan base, that have stuck with him and grown alongside him.

After this Logan was met with quite a few scandals, most notably his video documenting a blurred dead body whilst visiting the Japanese forest, Aokigahara, which he followed with apology videos. Logan’s situation demonstrated that while the online platform can give you a pedestal it has a greater power to take-away the stardom. Not only did he loose a lot of his own following but also started a debate on the reliability and reputation of all influencers and the risk collaborating businesses should take into account.

Impaulsive Podcast and collaboration:

Perhaps it was his age of self-reflection that served him well in redemption, since it shows a change in his attitude. The authenticity he brought to the podcast ,where he has conversations with all types of guests from rappers to boxers, brought audiences to him that would otherwise have never known him and vice versa for the guest attending.

Logan’s seemingly erratic business decisions resonate with an audience who live off of spontaneity. The unpredictability of his decisions make his audience hooked onto what it is he plans to do next, and thus the underlying principle of his success in marketing is partly his ability to seize opportunities and wow the viewers with something they could not predict. A recent example illustrating this is his new start-up of a drinks company called ‘prime’, with another influencer KSI, whose full name is Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYEwx-Qup

Prior to this release KSI was involved with Logan as an opponent in a series of boxing matches. In the run-up to the announcement of the drink’s partnership Logan posted an image on his Instagram page that almost looked like a poster for a boxing rematch, with his now business partner, KSI.

Logan is well aware of the power of his collaborations. With the wide spread popularity of figures who are seen as antiheroes, main characters who lack the traditional trope of a hero, Logan’s working with controversial figures or even his own previous ‘rivals’ seeks to take aspects of such a character for himself. Something that is in sync with his audience’s wishes.