Stephon Marbury, Kourtney Kardashian and Dave Portnoy
(Photo Credit: Starbury
It was 2006. My favorite basketball player was Stephon Marbury (don't judge me). He just announced his new basketball shoe, The Starbury. I couldn't tell you anything about the shoe except that Stephon Marbury made it. That was the point. I wasn't buying the shoe, I was buying Stephon Marbury.
Over the past decade, we've seen companies built and led by influencers. You aren't only buying the product, you are buying into a community. You want to feel a part of it. It's the reason why Kylie Jenner scaled her cosmetic company from ZERO to $900MM in three years. More impressive? She spent ZERO dollars on paid traffic. That wouldn't have been possible without her social following. But don't confuse audience with community. The best influencers leverage their audience to create a community. Kylie created a community among her followers. Once you have a community, the actual product isn’t as important, people want it to be a part of something. Building a community takes time. Even more important is relevancy. Stephon Marbury was one of the world's most popular athletes in the mid-2000s. If you ask today’s, Gen Z's, most won't know who he is. That is what always impressed me about the Kardashians. Their ability to stay relevant for more than 15 years across different age groups.
But now a new generation of influencers and creators are popping up. Driven by the popular social media app TikTok. And two partnerships have emerged that interest me.
Brands need to stay cool. They need to stay relevant. The same applies to influencers. Stephon Marbury was cool in 2006. He isn't cool in 2020. Starbury was cool in 2006 but not in 2020.
Dave Portnoy and Kourtney Kardashian know the same fate can apply to them. Dave Portnoy is a fixture among the 18-30 male crowd. He's built a community that calls themselves Stoolies. It's also made him rich. He sold Barstool for $440M. Barstool is now a lead-generation machine for its parent company Penn Gaming. Penn is a gaming company with a sports betting arm. Penn bought Barstool to convert Barstool's audience into Penn customers. It's beginning to see initial success, but its success depends on staying relevant to the next generation of consumers.
This is no different for Kourtney Kardashian. Kourtney is 41. She has a loyal following, but similar to Portnoy, she needs to stay relevant. So what did they do? They "partnered" with a next-generation influencer.
Dave Portnoy started a podcast titled "BFF" with Josh Richards. Josh is a TikTok star with 22.5M followers. Josh's following is primarily Gen-Zs. Kourtney Kardashian has become "BFFs" with Addison Rae, another TikTok influencer. She has 65M followers on TikTok. From the outside, it seems strange. Two individuals in their 40's hanging out with people 20 years younger than them.
From a business point of view, it makes a lot of sense. Josh and Addison gain access to Dave and Kourtney’s business acumen and relationships. While Dave and Kourtney will have acquired a new audience including the next generation.
For most people reading this, they might be thinking, well how does this affect us? And I'm glad you asked. Even if your brand is at peak popularity, it can be quickly disrupted. Consumer social is changing. You can't just pay money for paid traffic and watch the customers come in. Consumers, especially Gen-Zs value community. That’s why a recent Piper Sandler study found that teens value trend and brand over price and quality. You can’t rest on your laurels alone. As Don Draper said, "What is happiness? A moment before you need more happiness?"
The generation of the future is here building their culture on platforms like TikTok. Where do you want your brand to be? Do you want to be Stephon Marbury... or Dave Portnoy and Kourtney Kardashian?