I must admit, reading the title here makes me scratch my head in disbelief as someone who has viewed Logan Paul and KSI’s content over the last decade. But credit where it’s due: KSI and Logan Paul have shown us the power of a modern marketing strategy, think of playing 5D chess while your competitors are playing checkers.
PRIME Hydration – a modern marketing strategy and masterclass. Source – PRIME’s official website
Before exploring the brand-building and marketing efforts of KSI and Logan Paul to understand what makes them successful, it is important to know the individuals.
Who is KSI?
Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji first started producing content for his YouTube channel in 2009 focusing on video game content related to the FIFA series.
His content evolved to include vlogging and later branched out to other content types, growing his audience with millions of subscribers by the end of 2022 (across multiple channels).
From the screen to the ring, to the pеn, to the king
As referenced in lyrics from his latest song titled “Thick Of It”, KSI has had a diverse selection of successes under his belt including boxing, rapping, and co-owning PRIME Hydration. Here’s a list of KSI’s main achievements.
- Founder of YouTube group “The Sidemen”
- Co-owner of PRIME Hydration
- Professional boxer
- Social media influencer
- Rapper
Other business ventures include restaurant chains and Lunchly, which he co-founded with Mr Beast and Logan Paul. He also appeared at WrestleMania 39 as part of a run with WWE which eventually resulted in a partnership with PRIME Hydration.
Who is Logan Paul?
Logan Paul first gained popularity in 2013 via the micro-video site Vine where he built a dedicated following. Later that same year he moved to YouTube, creating vlogs and viral videos that frequently featured his brother Jake Paul.
Logan Paul became a huge success on the platform over the years, becoming one of the most popular content creators. Much like KSI, Logan Paul began to branch out, pursuing multiple business endeavours across many industries.
Similar to KSI, Logan Paul has diversified his business ventures throughout the years, not shying away from trying something new resulting in many big successes. However, It has not been without controversy with Paul coming under fire in 2017 and into 2018 for the infamous Japan suicide video, which lost him fans and the respect of many viewers who regularly followed his content on YouTube.
Despite the turbulence in Logan Paul’s career over the years, he has managed to effectively rebuild his image and redeem himself after his various missteps – winning back the respect of old fans while making new ones and being considered a valuable asset to multiple businesses spanning multiple industries. Here are some of Logan Paul’s top achievements to date.
- Co-owner of PRIME Hydration
- WWE Superstar (United States Champion 2023-2024)
- Professional boxer
- Social media influencer
- Co-founder of snack brand Lunchly
- Professional actor (Baywatch, The Thinning)
How are KSI and Logan Paul connected?
KSI and Logan Paul are business partners who initially faced off in a boxing match in August 2018 resulting in a draw. The two faced off again a year later with KSI taking the victory, and later, becoming business partners founding PRIME Hydration. After the continued success of PRIME, KSI and Logan Paul became partners again for Lunchly.
A modern marketing masterclass
What makes KSI and Logan Paul successful is their approach to marketing and the type of audience they have cultivated as individuals through vlogging and content creation.
As both Logan and KSI were vloggers, the nature of the content regularly provided authentic insight into their personal lives, and it helped to create a sense of trust between them and their audience. This type of audience following paired with regular interactions with their audience via YouTube comments and Twitch streams allows for their fan base to be participants rather than spectators in the content that they create.
You can’t buy this type of trust – particularly at a time when the public is increasingly jaded by inauthenticity and faceless brands that are trapped in a conventional marketing cycle that only appeals to an older demographic more familiar with the mediums and styles used to sell a product or service.
This type of connection to their audience allows for new business ventures to have a head start as, as long as the product is applicable, their audience will follow the duo from venture to venture.
Forged in rivalry, fueled by PRIME
PRIME came to fruition as a result of a rivalry between KSI and Paul which resulted in hugely popular boxing matches. This rivalry wasn’t just a boxing/sports rivalry, it was personal. Lots of trash talk and viral content was generated as a result of this rivalry leading to more exposure for their channels and the upcoming fight.
It is worth noting that a common question many people have is just how authentic the rivalry was, and how much was planned. Influencer rivalries have since become all the rage with many creators teaming up with other influencers to create fake “beef” to generate curiosity and views.
This type of thing isn’t particularly new, as WWE has been successfully doing this for decades and even has a term – Kayfabe. Outside of the professional wrestling arena, nobody comes close to KSI and Logan Paul though who leave their fans and audiences wondering how much of this reality-blurring rivalry is real. Perhaps leaving people guessing keeps them coming back for more, leaving a perpetual curiosity and feeling that anything could happen.
Tensions were high throughout the lead-up to both boxing events, and a lot of media coverage was generated along the way resulting in a lot of eyes on both KSI and Paul. At the time, the boxing audience was keeping an eye on both competitors to see what the hype was about while wondering if this clash was personal, or perfect marketing.
It is fitting that their boxing rivalry spawned their PRIME partnership as the product would be later marketed and promoted by leaders in the sports industry. PRIME managed to secure business partnerships and advertising deals with brands such as the UFC, WWE, and many more.
Scarcity creates value
From the moment PRIME launched, it was difficult to get hold of making it highly sought after for many children and young adults that are fans and followers of the two influencers’ new product. It seems strange to say that the product here is a drink – not typically something to get excited about, but it just illustrates the power of strategic marketing, and how it can transform even a sports drink into a cultural phenomenon.
Demand became so extreme that supermarkets began to enforce limits on how many each customer could buy. Whether the shortages and scarcity were due to supply chains is uncertain, but created a frenzy that everybody was talking about across social media nevertheless.
Must-have items quickly sell out. Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
The ensuing scramble to obtain a bottle of the drink was also captured on TikTok which has a primary demographic that aligns well with that of Logan Paul and KSI – further securing valuable impressions from an applicable target audience.
Capitalising on criticism to fuel success
Among KSI’s numerous business ventures is his music career. In October 2024, a song titled “Thick Of It” was released. This song received a largely negative reception with many popular influencers being quick to post reaction videos slating the track to which KSI would frequently reply and respond.
Ironically, this resulted in more attention, impressions, and hits making it technically more successful than it otherwise would be – not necessarily due to the quality of the song, but due to curiosity and the meme surrounding the release.
It quickly became an online consensus that KSI’s new single was “terrible”, but people engaged and viewed the release while KSI fueled engagement by releasing a video of his reaction to popular memes targeting the song. This incentivised more people to comment and create content around the song due to having a chance to interact with and be featured by KSI.
The way KSI handled the negativity effectively encouraged critics, boosting views of the content and resulting in boosted exposure, sales, and impressions. This reminded me of Patagonia’s “Don’t buy this jacket” campaign with an element of reverse psychology that ended up resulting in more sales and general success despite the actual surface-level message.
Using reverse psychology as a marketing strategy “Don’t buy this jacket”. Source – Patagonia
These types of outside-the-box methods of marketing generate interest, buzz, and curiosity in audiences both new and familiar with KSI’s content. There are also lessons to be learned regarding authenticity and being self-aware which are both traits that are valued by modern audiences.
Logan Paul – From scandal to strategy
As we touched on earlier, back in 2017 Logan Paul came under fire for filming at Aokigahara Forest which is often referred to as the “Suicide Forest”. At the time of filming, Logan Paul included some partial footage of a dead body. This led to many connections such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson requesting all images and videos where they appear together be removed.
The backlash didn’t stop there as YouTube removed Paul from their preferred advertising program, and various other brands and big names distanced themselves from Logan Paul.
The rebirth and rebrand
To recover and rebuild his image, Paul started by issuing an apology, continued to acknowledge the controversy fully committed to self-improvement, and pledged $1 million to various charities involved in suicide prevention and mental health awareness. Paul’s rebrand started taking shape during his foray into boxing, perhaps with many disgruntled viewers hoping to live vicariously through his opponent’s actions in the ring.
Paul was discounted and rejected by many boxing veterans and fans, with many feeling that such fights including social media influencers trivialise and weaken the sport. Despite the backlash and unwelcome response from boxing fans, Paul fully committed to training and proving the naysayers wrong.
Logan Paul – a rebranding and social media marketing masterclass. Photo by Julian Christ on Unsplash
A similar thing happened when Paul joined the WWE in 2022 with many fans righting off Paul from the very start due to this persona and history. Yet again, Paul fully committed to training and won fans over after some fantastic performances that surpassed even the most optimistic expectations.
Through his boxing and WWE appearances, Paul managed to win back old fans and new ones in his new industry due to showing commitment and dedication. A PRIME crossover began eventually with the self-promotion of PRIME becoming a part of his wrestling persona later resulting in the WWE and PRIME partnership as mentioned earlier.
Logan Paul has managed to shift the narrative and push forward in terms of business ventures and emotional growth into a multifaceted and mature version of himself.
Marketing strategy lessons for businesses
There are valuable marketing strategy lessons here for businesses and individuals looking to harness effective marketing to boost your product or service. Many businesses are victims of marketing myopia. It’s easy to stay on a tried and tested short-term marketing strategy along with your competition, but it becomes incredibly difficult to stand out from the crowd.
It’s easy to get caught up in the product or service itself rather than focusing attention on the message and emotional connection involved.
Dare to think differently with a modern marketing strategy. Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash
KSI and Logan Paul truly understand their audience which creates a strong connection with their demographic. Their target audience and fanbase are largely interchangeable which creates a type of brand loyalty hard to replicate elsewhere.
The message here to businesses is to stand out and distinguish yourself from your competitors, you need to go beyond the product or service itself. A commitment to engaging, interacting, and understanding the wants and needs of your audience is essential to achieve the type of success seen with PRIME hydration.
Embrace and capitalise on controversy and don’t be afraid of well-thought-out unconventional and unorthodox approaches that set you apart.
If you have any thoughts about Logan Paul, KSI, or any of their business ventures, let us know in the comments. We always enjoy hearing the opinions of others on the subjects that we cover.
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