- My name is Alex Berman,
and you're watching Selling Breakdowns.
Today, we're gonna talk
about social media icon Logan Paul.
Paul became a superstar in 2014
about a year after Vine was introduced.
Starting out by making six second viral videos clips,
the 22-year old has a net worth today
of around 7 million dollars.
Originally, he and brother Jake shot Vines
to entertain friends with no clue
that eventually millions of viewers
would be following their work.
- Paul is known to be accident prone.
(whimpers)
This was shot because buddies razzed him
about not working out his lower body
after a surgery.
Interestingly, he credits the injury
for his amazing flexibility.
Since he couldn't life with his legs for part
of his wrestling all-star career,
he spent his time stretching.
(Paul laughs excitedly)
One of the things that makes Paul's vlog
so insanely popular is his athletic prowess.
He also has the moves of a Hollywood stuntman
and the Grecian good looks of a demigod.
Although no one can say
for certain what makes a vlog go viral,
these are a few of the principles
that social media experts agree upon
using Logan Paul as our subject.
It's estimated that vlogs have
about five seconds to grab a viewer's attention
and most digital ad executives warn you
that it's more like three.
Paul has shown that he understands the concept
of grabbing viewers off-guard.
- [Paul] I got your back.
- [Friend] Yeah! He gots my back! What are you gonna do?!
- And even freaking them out a little.
(cars honk)
But he's dedicated to his process.
For a street performer, the object of the game
is to catch people completely by surprise.
- [Paul] Mom, check out that cutie.
- [Mom] She is really cute.
You gonna smash?
- [Narrator] Then mesmerize them.
- [Paul] Um.
- [Mom] You know.
- [Girl] What?
- [Narrator] Social media has brought the practice
of street performing to the web
and the stand-outs are beloved by their fans.
It's a new art-form that is quickly becoming
one of the world's most popular.
You may laugh at the idea
but the Museum of Modern Art once did an exhibit
on the Jackass movie franchise.
The point being, art evolves.
- By ten, Logan and brother Jake Paul had a video camera
and had been perfecting the art of slapstick
all while performing stunts
on a YouTube channel that they called Zoosh
when Vine first debuted in 2013.
To this day Logan can't remember why the two called it that,
but they do remember falling in love
with the simplicity of Vine.
At first, they competed for views but it didn't last long.
It was pretty clear the two worked better as a team.
The brothers had a brief falling out in 2017*
but had a very public make-up
at their mother's behest.
- [Mom] Hey sweetie, I'm really concerned
about the situation with you and your brother Logan.
(Paul brothers rap)
- [Narrator] Of course, Logan Paul's media team
touts his data stats at every turn,
yet, "no one's up on his own data more than Paul himself"
said Forbes writer Evan Smith in 2015.
- [Logan] Guys, while we're talking numbers
I'm just gonna spit some more stuff off at you.
We hit six million! I'm sorry, I haven't adjusted yet.
Bro, six million YouTube subscribers
in like nine months.
Am I out here?
- [Friend] That's unheard of.
- [Narrator] Logan Paul was a full-ride scholarship
at Ohio State.
He had a 4.0 and was majoring in engineering
when his Vine account started to gain attention.
- [Logan] I don't know.
My mind thinks so weird, so differently.
I think in terms of Vine now.
- [Narrator] After trying to maintain both aspects
of his life, he finally decided to take a break from college
and pursue his entertainment career.
- [Logan] Siri, take my to some restaurants close by.
- [Siri] I found four Mexican restaurants.
- [Logan] No, we don't want any Mexican.
- [Siri] Then you should get rid of your friend.
- [Logan] What?
- [Siri] He's coming.
- [Friend] Who's coming?
- [Siri] Donald Trump.
- [Narrator] He had the foresight to move
into an L.A. apartment building with several other
Vine stars including list-topping King Bach.
Their cross-streets? Hollywood and Vine.
This was one of their first collaborations.
- [King Bach] Ah, son of a --
- [Logan] Looks like a we got ourselves an X-Men fan.
- [Narrator] An X-Men satire that got more than
six million views.
- Oh shit, that's supposed to be voice-over.
- [Voiceover] In the real world, people die.
- [Backseat passenger] Logan.
- I don't wanna talk about it.
- [Narrator] When Paul appeared on NBC's Law and Order
playing a cyber-villain,
the show saw a 20% increase in viewership
among 18 to 34 year old adults.
- Okay.
- [Ice T] I'll say it again! Drop that gun!
- Okay, okay. You got it.
- [Narrator] "He's very methodical
and he's motivated by accomplishment",
explains his manager Jeff Levin.
"He knows there are so many other people
in this industry fighting to get where he wants to go.
What separates Logan is his work ethic."
- I'm here let the savagery begin.
For those of you who know me,
I'm a food-eater, I like food.
- After a 40-minute meeting you see him slowly
pushing himself to his limits.
- Hopefully, please, for the love of Logan's life,
can I eat.
- Simply watching his vlogs you don't always
realize that this is a part of his daily life
and it's not always great timing.
- Your excitement is making me so hungry.
So hungry.
- Later he confesses,
- I'm not gonna lie to you guys, this vlog life is
so difficult but I'm doing it.
- Then adding,
- So much stuff, but the important thing is to stay grounded
- [Narrator] Part of Logan Paul's success
is the sheer volume of content that he produces.
But his content distribution is what truly separates him
from the average vlog star.
He has 15 and a half million followers on Facebook
and around the same number of Likes.
As we mentioned earlier, Logan Paul started transitioning
from Vine to Facebook about a year before Vine's closure
and now he spreads his content across multiple platforms.
Here, he has 1.5 million followers and you'll notice
the cross-promotion of his brand Maverick
with a link to his shop.
Maverick is Paul's parrot and traveling buddy.
This clip of him sneaking Maverick onto a plane
got more than 3.2 million views on YouTube alone.
- I've flown with him before --
(Maverick squawks)
- I made it past security
which is incredible.
- [Narrator] Paul is always proud to point out
that Maverick's Instagram has more than a million followers.
The Maverick socks are a giant promotional item
and a fan group that Paul has dubbed his
"Logang" will actually hang out
in front of his building
waiting for him to toss them free socks.
- I'm gonna give you guys some socks!
- [Crowd] Yeah!
- [Narrator] On this particular day Paul decides
to stage an epic publicity stunt.
So like the smart boy I am,
I posted this to my Instagram story.
Apparently, there's a crazed maniac in our building.
(crowd screams)
(shot fired)
(crowd exclaims)
- [Narrator] It was short lived with him
bouncing back up in a matter of seconds.
- I'm okay!
(crowd cheers)
- [Narrator] But it ended up
with more than nine million views.
Again, that's just YouTube.
Paul also knows how to use celebrity influence
as you can see from this vlog of him
with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, one of his idols.
(hand crunches)
(The Rock laughs)
- [Narrator] Check out the 86 million views
on his Facebook page.
Endorsement is one of the real money makers
for viral video stars
and Paul is able to pull product placement off
better than most ad execs.
- (Woman) Really Logan?
- Really Logan?
- (Offscreen) Honestly, honey I think it's time
you find a new man --
- [Narrator] Logan always adds his own brand of humor
to a project as well.
He knows his fan base.
- That's illegal.
- [Driver] Do you want some my friend?
- Okay, I put the address in.
(driver yells threats) (both scream)
(Logan slaps friend)
- [Narrator] Bic endorsed a few of these vlogs
after the first success.
When this aired, it was one of Paul's biggest ad pay days.
- [Reporter] We watched him making a Dunkin' Donuts
ad in Central Park.
When he posted the ad,
it was viewed more than seven million times.
And Dunkin' Donuts told us this spot
had the same reach as a prime-time TV ad.
For one day's work,
Logan Paul was paid almost 200,000 dollars.
- [Narrator] When Vine was dissolved by Twitter in 2016,
Paul told CNBC, "Honestly, it's sad but I can't
say I didn't see it coming."
- [Narrator] Logan Paul had been building his
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts
for more than a year before Vine's closing was announced.
- [Man] I'm no more. I am no more.
- [Friend] I wouldn't know,
I haven't had the app for like a year now.
- [Narrator] In reality, most of the Vine stars
saw it coming too.
- [Woman] I guess I have no choice
but to either kill myself
or fall back on my two degrees.
- [Narrator] Most recently, Logan Paul is waiting
for the released of his new screenplay
adult-comedy Airplane Mode.
Somebody called it American Pie for Generation Z
and Logan Paul himself describes it as,
"Expendables with internet stars."
Logan's set his sights on movie-making
and he has a few to his credit
including The Thinning --
- Boys and girls got to live here.
- [Man] There are those who say the thinning is barbaric.
- [Narrator] And Foursome.
- [Girl] My brother has made it completely impossible
for me to get any play until I graduate.
The movie business is a dream he's been nurturing
for some time now and if his past is any indicator,
then we'll be seeing more of Logan Paul in the future.
Wanna learn more about business theory and pop culture?
Be sure to like and subscribe to be notified
of our next segment.