In this episode of Brand2Brand, Thomas and Veronica dive into the world of influencer marketing. The Jenners (Kendall &amp; Kylie) and the Pauls (Logan &amp; Jake) have each built a massive following, giving them a platform to ignite trends and drive brand engagement. Despite the trail of controversies scattered along their path to purchasing power, these sets of siblings have proven that popularity can generate revenue.&nbsp;

core/paragraph

core/button

core/buttons

TRANSCRIPTION FROM AUDIO PODCAST:

core/heading

You're listening to Brand2Brand. A B2B Marketing Show that’s safe enough for work but not safe enough to be on the radio. With your host, Thomas Stirling.

What's up everyone today on the show we're talking about the power of influencer marketing. We're taking a look at the Pauls and the Jenners to discuss social media and its ability to drive brand engagement and ignite trends in the marketplace. Alright, let's kick things off, we're back in the studio again. Today we are talking about influencers. Influencers make you feel old V, huh?&nbsp;

Yeah. Wow. Did anybody hear the shots that were just fired in the studio?

I meant the royal "we." I mean, we're talking about something today that I think doesn't necessarily make a heck of a lot of sense. People are building whole careers off of videos and the interweb.

I'm seeing so many people mentioned on Snapchat and magazines and I'm like, "Who the hell is this?" and it's some rich person who has a lot of followers on social media and they're hot. I'm like, "That's a celebrity now?" They used to at least have a little bit of talent or be actors or singers, now it's just like anyone who's good at taking photos of their food.

This is a multi-billion dollar industry, okay, so before you start shooting fireworks off…

Before I sound like a curmudgeon? Because I'm hearing myself, don't worry.

This is the future! This is where everything goes. This is almost a PSA for our listeners, we've talked about this on the show enough times but now is the time giddy-up and go. You've got to figure out how to hit your brand wagon to some of these influencers because this is where the future is headed.

I mean first of all, we're technically all influencers if you think about it. Word of mouth is the oldest form of marketing. You're an influencer, you just maybe don't have a lot of strangers you're influencing, but you're influencing your own network.&nbsp;

That's true, I don't know who's on the other side of the camera.

We're influencers right now. Drink water, hydrate, doing good. But today we're going to talk about two very famous sets of siblings, which is interesting. The Pauls and the Jenners who have very different rises to fame, but both definitely ignite some trends in the market.

And with that, let's get into it. All right, which trend-setting dynamic family are you going to take, the Paul brothers or the Jenners?

Keeping Up With The Kardashians. I love it.&nbsp;

Oh, you love that I'm now Keeping us Up With The Kardashians.

Thank you so much. If one of us had to watch it, I'm glad that it's you.

That leaves you with the Pauls, just so you know.

Yes, I'm ready to fight. Let's go. Sign me up UFC, I'm coming atcha.

We are going to now put on an exhibition fight between you and the Pauls.

That's right. We're gonna tear this studio up. What's happening? Why the Jenners?

You know, tough decision. I, if you couldn't tell from the opening, am not really a fan of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, but their influence and dominance for Kylie Jenner at least in the makeup area is hard to ignore. So that is definitely something to be respected. Kylie and Kendall Jenner. Everyone I'm assuming is familiar with them. These two younger siblings slowly over time through the show have just grown these incredible social media followings, Kylie most famously, I think is recognized for not being recognizable in terms of how different she looks from when she was a child.

All of the sisters have changed dramatically.&nbsp;

They have had a lot of work done, which is why one of my favorite memes on the internet or things on the internet around this - it's a before and after picture of Kylie, usually specifically, and it says, "You're not ugly, just broke." And I think we actually have a clip that we can play that sells the story.&nbsp;

Kylie Jenner didn't always look like that. She used to look like this. A nice normal girl. And what she's done is convinced other nice normal girls that she made her face go from this to this via a lipstick, that only she sells. Just to let you in on something, I'm wearing that lipstick right now.

It's so good. Oh, that's so true. They've done so many different things with their looks. And they've in some ways created some of this social expectation around having everything look perfect. And they don't own the work that they've had done, they say they haven't, which is the most bizarre because it's so obvious.

That's part of it and they're always getting in trouble for photoshopping their photos! Like you already had the work done, you're already arguably some of the hottest people?

They're only hot because of all the Photoshop.

It's just crazy, not sending the best message.

I mean they're thinking that they're only hot with Photoshop, you know what I'm saying?&nbsp; They're in their own sort of glass chamber, or echo chamber of "I need to look better, I need to look better, everything has to be perfect." Even the show sort of focuses on safe spaces. You notice Kanye never made it into the show, he stayed 400 feet away.

A couple sneak appearances. Why are you taking the Pauls?

Honestly, the Paul brothers are a very interesting story. They started their - what is now an empire - on the Vine video app, which RIP Vine. I wish Vine came back. Such a great platform, unbelievable, ahead of its time. So sad to see it go, but they started there and they have grown. Jake Paul currently has more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube and continues to grow. He actually got his first career role when he was on the Disney Channel in 2018, on a show called, I'm not even going to try to say the show…

Bizaardvark? I stopped watching Disney by that time so cannot help you out.&nbsp;

You definitely don't want to watch Disney if that's where you got to start. Later it was revealed he was fired from Disney. And honestly, his whole brand revolves around this millennial / Gen Z kind of targeted "Get rich quick" mantra. He's got a podcast, they're constant out there, launched an educational platform and program in 2018 called Ed Fluence, where for $7 fans can learn more about his social media influences.&nbsp;

This was so bad, it was a scam. It was $7. And then once you get past that initial, you know pay gate, everything costs more money, like $57 to unlock the rest of his videos, which were a joke. It was to the level of, "Hey, if you like makeup, do makeup tutorials."

And apparently, he was sort of saying, "Because I'm sick of our education system and how it's teaching kids zero life skills, I've basically come out here to help people secure their future." You know, he's like, "I'm gonna teach you how to be successful." Because this is where things are going. Whether you like it or don't like it, watching the meteoric rise of these two brothers just shows you the change in landscape.

And I think we can say they started off as shitheads like, that was their thing. A lot of people hate them. But what's interesting is, the Jenners almost experienced the same thing. Kendall Jenner launched a tequila brand called, I don't know if it's "8 hundred and 18 or 818 Tequila," or how she would prefer I would say it but I don't care. She's come under fire for it. But the negative press is still causing that tequila to sell out. So it's almost like they are fueled by people who love them, and also people who are bewildered by the fact they're famous and don't like them. It doesn't matter. It's the "All press is good press," all over again.

Exactly. I want to play a clip from Inside Edition. And I think the sublime for this would be, "Neighbors from Hell."&nbsp;

Neighbor from Hell. Disney Channel star Jake Paul is accused of making life miserable for his neighbors in fancy West Hollywood. We've done a lot of dumb things. This is the dumbest thing we've ever done. Residents in the upscale neighborhood call it "A living hell" and a "warzone." The LAPD tells us they've been responding to complaints about groups of people gathered outside Jake's House about once a day for the last few weeks.

What a pompous asshole. Just absolutely destroying that neighborhood's sense of security, but doing it all for the laugh and making funny, silly videos that people are responding to that are getting engagement.

It's really fascinating because these people are influencers and they're not influencers because they embody great values and they're going to influence society. They're influencing some cultural shifts maybe, or some trends but it's not always positive. And it's insane how much money they are earning. I think in the case of the Pauls I'm pretty sure there was a Forbes article where the brothers are said to earn a million dollars monthly. That's $12 million each.

I believe it. These YouTube contributors that are at the very top of their game are making a ton of money. I don't think people realize how much money they're making by people just simply watching their videos. Jake Paul, in his own words, "I've always been the class clown. That's why I nicknamed myself the problem child. I ruffle people's feathers. You either love me or you hate me. Now with boxing, I'm leaning more into it. I can turn it on and turn it off. I have a good heart, anyone around me knows that. It's all a game. It's showbusiness. There's a way to play it. Bloomberg."

That is fascinating. And that is his name. When he fought Ben Askren - who was actually in the UFC, but was I think more of a wrestler so it was weird that it was a boxing fight - but he wanted to prove he could beat someone in the UFC, which he did. He knocked him out in the first round. They both made a lot of money after that fight with "the problem child." Logan Paul is also a boxer, they've now both become really good boxers. And I can say really good because Logan Paul went all rounds with Floyd Mayweather. There is a point in the video where it looks like Floyd maybe knocked him out, and people were mad that he's maybe holding him up. The reason that if Floyd was even doing that, it was because he made $100 million on that exhibition fight.

Unbelievable. And it just shows you how I went to a comedy show the other day, and in that comedy show the comedy show was literally the main event, the main person, the top billing was a guy that has made his start on Instagram and Tiktok. This guy has tried to break into the comedy scene for decades and decades. And now in his 60s, he is an absolute local internet star. Boston, "Be a man, be a man."

Interrupts your podcast host when he's talking, "Be a man!" Sorry, you were saying?

"Go to the grocery store without a shopping list - Be a man. If your wife tells you to do marriage counseling, respectfully agree, then don't show up - Be a man." It's hilarious, really poor humor. And to be honest with you to see the success of people like this, it just shows you there's a lot of opportunity on these platforms. And I think bringing it all for circle, there's a lot of opportunity for brands on these platforms. And that doesn't mean you should align yourself with the Pauls.

That's true. It also doesn't mean you should trust what every influencer is selling because Jenner's have gotten in trouble for selling fake Apple products. Fake air pods, like air pods that link you through to some shitty knockoff link from some factory in China.&nbsp;

THE JENNERS VS. THE PAULS: Influencer Marketing