Brands Do Not Care About You
Inside Mr. Beast's Guide to Success, Tucker Carlson's Zyn Competitor, a party at Bernie's, Flamingo Estates Skincare, and i-D's new hire.
Good morning everyone. Free letter today.
In Today’s Newsletter
Inside Mr. Beast’s guide to success
Tucker Carlson is launching a zyn competitor
Flamingo Estate is entering skincare
SSENSE’s creative director makes a move
Last night (under a full moon) I went to a photo book launch at Greenpoint’s hottest restaurant: Bernie’s.
Mathew Sprout, who shot Sabrina Carpenter for Variety this year, launched his debut solo project: One of One. The book is absolutely massive, like an Interview Magazine on steroids, and is filled with black and white photos of life in New York City.
The photos are truly incredible I highly recommend checking it out. Here are a few photos I particularly enjoy (sorry if I’m not allowed to share these LOL)
Mr. Beast’s Guide to Success
The worst part of starting a new job is reading a massive array of internal documents on company culture, expectations, and rules (boooo)
But occasionally, when you work for a new brand, a bold founder, or a viral internet creator— those internal docs can actually be filled with some gems.
A leaked document from within Mr. Beast’s production company hit the web, titled ‘How to Succeed at Mr. Beast Productions’ and it provides an interesting perspective into what its like to work for the number one channel on YouTube.
For context, Mr. Beast’s videos, which often feature outlandish, game show style challenges, get a TON of views. 3.8 BILLION in July of this year.
He basically studied how to go viral with precision and has developed a formula for viral success that works every time. Look at this chart to get a sense at how Mr. Beast has grown since 2020—
And this internal doc meant to guide new hires has a lot of gems any creator or content producer can keep in mind, as well as good practices for any high functioning startup—
Idc how traditional media does things
Pardon the bluntness but this is not Hollywood and I do not want to be
Hollywood. And if that sentence is a turn off to you then you’re probably at the
wrong job. I genuinely mean that. Youtube is the future and I believe with every
fiber of my body it’s going to keep growing year over year and in 5 years Youtube will be bigger than anyone will have ever imagined and I want this channel to be at the top. Which is why I say we are not Hollywood. 99% of movies or tv shows would flop on Youtube. On top of that they'd be wildly unprofitable, have no flexibility, and long lead times that can’t adapt to trends. We aren’t here to make a small movie once or twice a year, I want to make one a week lol. Which is why you need to be nimble and produce content OUR way, not the way you were taught before.
What is your goal here?
Your goal here is to make the best YOUTUBE videos possible. That’s the
number one goal of this production company. It’s not to make the best produced videos. Not to make the funniest videos. Not to make the best looking videos. Not the highest quality videos.. It’s to make the best YOUTUBE videos possible. Everything we want will come if we strive for that. Sounds obvious but after 6 months in the weeds a lot of people tend to forget what we are actually trying to achieve here.
USE CONSULTANTS
Consultants are literally cheat codes. Need to make the world's largest
slice of cake? Start off by calling the person who made the previous world’s
largest slice of cake lol. He’s already done countless tests and can save you
weeks worth of work. I really want to drill this point home because I’m a massive believer in consultants. Because I've spent almost a decade of my life hyper obsessing over youtube, I can show a brand new creator how to go from 100 subscribers to 10,000 in a month. On their own it would take them years to do it. Consults are a gift from god, please take advantage of them. In every single freakin task assigned to you, always always always ask yourself first if you can find a consultant to help you. This is so important that I am demanding you repeat this three times in your head “I will always check for consultants when i’m assigned a task”
Tucker Carlson is Launching a Zyn Competitor
It really is the year of the Zyn. Phillip Morris estimates 580M cans will be sold this year.
And as the nicotine pouch has soared in popularity: its become a cultural signifier of type-A obsessives and ‘locking in’
I was recently at a friends startup office and they literally were building a massive mountain of empty Zyn cans. For context, they work 80+ hour weeks.
And perhaps the biggest celebrity Zyn user was ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who is a self-identified nicotine addict.
But in a new video, it appears Carlson is done with Zyn, claiming to dump them due to Phillip Morris’ campaign contributions to Kamala Harris.
He is launching a competitor called ‘Alp’ launching in November.
and at a Trump rally last week, the Nelk Boys took the stage to decry Tim Walz’s Minnesota tax on Zyn.
The politicization of brands is nothing new: we saw it last year when Bud Light’s marketing campaign with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, caught the ire of right wing media and led to a boycott, sending the brand spiraling down the beer charts to #3 and inspiring Ultra Right beer, a conservative competitor.
But as much as political actors and companies on both sides signal their stances and beliefs, it really does come down to one thing: money.
For example, post-2020 every major company in the world began embracing (and marketing) their new DEI programs, only for them to largely sacked when the economy got tougher.
These brands and influencers do not actually care about anything besides making a profit.
Flamingo Estate Launches Skincare
The popular luxury DTC apothecary brand’s first skincare product is a ‘Manuka Rich Cream’
Their founder, Richard Christiansen, said—
A few years later my dad began selling his Manuka Honey. He’d often tell me to dab some of my face if I was tired, sunburned, or red. Manuka Honey draws moisture into the skin and helps retain it (during the bushfires in California they covered the paws of burned animals with Manuka to speed up the recovery). Our Rich Cream is a combination of what my parents instinctively knew, and what our Flamingo product team now know: THIS CREAM WORKS.
I am very curious to try this (hopefully I’m on the seeding list LOL) and I’m a big fan of Flamingo Estate.
They’ve crafted a strong brand ethos around their product line being naturally sourced and ethically created.
The sheer breadth of their lineup (fragrances, soap, candles, etc.) creates a cohesive consumer experience where if a consumer likes one thing, they’re more than likely willing to try another Flamingo Estate creation because of their loyalty to the brand.
And them entering the skincare market is no surprise and should have competitors worried.
SSENSE’s Creative Director Goes to i-D Magazine
Thom Betteridge, the creative genius behind SSENSE’s viral social media and brand campaigns, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief and Chief Brand Officer at i-D Magazine.
The Karlie Kloss owned publication has been revamped and is set to his newsstands early ‘25.
Kloss said—
“No one embodies the future of i-D more than Thom. His creative instinct and cultural fluency make him the ideal person to chart the magazine’s next chapter. I trust in Thom’s vision and know the magazine is poised to leave yet another indelible mark on the world under his leadership,”
Under Betteridge, SSENSE has gone viral for its ironic, shareable social media presence—
Can he bring the same magic to a revived print magazine? We’ll see!
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Jake Bell is a content marketing, creative strategist, designer, and writer based in NYC. He specializes in brand building, content strategy, creative direction, business development, and making things cool.
Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio
I sent the Mr Beast doc to my boyfriend and he is texting me his real-time reactions. Thank you for providing my day's entertainment.