Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 6 months, you’ve undoubtedly seen a bald-headed, misogynistic guy wearing dark sunglasses and driving a Bugatti dominating your feed.
Take a look at this Google Trend chart, which shows all the global searches for “Andrew Tate”. It appears he came out of nowhere in March 2022 and quickly become one of the most talked about figures on the planet.
How did he do it?
It seems everyone, including me, is talking about him.
I believe Andrew Tate is highly strategic about his online presence. Everything is well planned out and executed, making his success no accident. Some of the things we can replicate, others, we cannot.
So let’s dive into it.
Who is Andrew Tate?
Andrew Tate was a professional kickboxer with a record 43 wins and 9 losses. Fighting out of Bucharest, Romania, where he currently resides, he held the ISKA Full Contact Cruiserweight and Light Heavyweight championships.
One of Tate’s key characteristics (and undoubtedly a contributing factor for gaining global attention so quickly) is his apparent wealth. I’m by no means an Andrew Tate expert, but from what I can tell, Tate has 4 main revenue streams:
- Co-owns casinos in Romania
- Runs TateSpeech – a YouTube channel featuring lifestyle vlog and podcast content
- Co-owns and manages models / webcam girls on OnlyFans
- Owns a marketing university called Hustler’s University
Borrowing a phrase from Rob Dyrdek, we say marketing is a combination of art, science, and magic. Naturally, when we see someone having unprecedented success on social media, we put on our lab coats and try to deconstruct his virality, understand it, and hope to replicate it for ourselves or our clients.
Unfortunately, much of what he is doing is not replicable for you or me, or your brand.
Again, not claiming to be an Andrew Tate expert, but from what I can tell, here are 5 reasons why Andrew Tate has blown up in the past 6 months and has everyone talking about him.
1. He's controversial
One of the ways Tate strikes a cord with people is because he is polarizing. He routinely takes controversial stances on subjects such as women, dating, America, rights … and blasts that message out to as many people as he can.
People who oppose him become riled up and try to attack or cancel him. His loyal supporters come to his defense and vehemently clash with the opposition. This politically and emotionally charged back-and-forth exchange has people in a frenzy. This is great for Andrew Tate. But most brands will not dare take on such polarizing positions.
In a world where people are afraid to speak their mind for fear of repercussions, Tate is charging forward into the wind, being a champion for the silenced voices. He is able to cut through the noise of sameness and stand out.
For this, he’s a content-generating machine.
What brands can learn from this is that being conservative and boring generally doesn’t get people excited or engaged. So don’t be boring. Create content that taps into or challenges a person’s core beliefs or values, and get them emotionally invested.
- Coca-Cola doesn’t sell sugar drinks, they sell happiness and togetherness (share a Coke)
- Nike doesn’t sell athletic apparel, they sell a healthy and fun lifestyle
- Apple doesn’t sell electronics, they sell innovation
- Rolex doesn’t sell watches, they sell status and exclusivity
2. He's omnipresent
In content marketing, we talk about two things:
- Content creation; and
- Content distribution
One without the other is less effective. Tate knows this. Controversy without amplification is like shouting into the wind. He recognizes he needs amplifiers.
Tate’s content is everywhere (and there’s a lot of it). It gets chopped up and distributed on various platforms where it gets liked, commented, shared, and repurposed over and over and over.
I don’t interact, or even watch his content, but it seems every third video on my TikTok feed is about Andrew Tate.
Here’s the genius bit, the videos are not even from his account.
While I cannot confirm this, many people are claiming that Tate has a legion of loyal supporters who post his content for him. He claims to not even have his own TikTok account.
So who are all these people, and why are they posting about Andrew Tate?
My guess is that they are incentivized in someway, either a direct payment, or an indirect kickback through an affiliate program (i.e. Hustle’s University), or they benefit in some other way such as views and engagement.
Another strategy he deploys is to leverage other people’s platforms to help him gain more awareness. He does this by appearing on popular podcasts such as Full Send (at the time of this writing has over 8,000,000 views), Your Mum’s House (at the time of this writing has over 3,000,000 views), and others.
This seems to be part of a deliberate strategy, and one that brands can definitely (and should) take advantage of. We call this influencer marketing and it can be highly effective. Presumably Tate has the budget to afford him to pay to play.
3. He's authentic
I don’t believe Tate is playing a character per se. Although, he may be exaggerating certain characteristics, or strategically cherry-picking his stances on subjects that he knows will be controversial, and not talking about the values and points of view that are more widely accepted.
People seek authenticity and can smell phoniness a mile away. Tate just so happens to have a personality that is divisive and holds strong opinions, which works great in his favour. If you try to fake it, it generally won’t work. Conor McGregor is another example of this.
I’m reminded of Andrew Silverstein, a comedian who had mediocre success. One part of his act was the Dice Man – a controversial, misogynistic figure that was very polarizing, and audiences loved it.
In fact, Silverstein eventually changed his entire act, scrapping all the parts that weren’t working, and becoming the Dice Man full-time. He even changed his name to Andrew Dice Clay. His success skyrocketed and very quickly became the most popular comedian on the planet, selling out Madison Square Garden. Although Silverstein “faked” it, he was a comedian and everyone was in on it.
Tate also has some other gifts that make him admirable among men and women. The self-proclaimed “Top G” has swagger, charisma, confidence (alpha energy and leadership), intelligence, wealth (famously drives a bronze Bugatti), height (he’s 6’4”), athleticism and accolades (kickboxing world champion), and is reasonably handsome.
Unless you have traits that are desirable or admired by people, then it will be tougher to replicate his success.
4. He's mysterious
If you’re reading this post, then chances are you are looking to have some questions or curiosities satisfied. The point is, Andrew Tate is mysterious. He has people asking questions such as:
- Is he Romanian?
- Is he American?
- Where did he come from?
- Why is he so famous?
- What does he do?
- How did he get so rich?
- What is his net worth?
- Who is he dating?
- How did he become the person he is…
5. He has a clear offer
Lastly, and I’ll close with this, he has a clear offer – he wants people to sign up for his Hustler’s University course. For a small fee, you too can learn the secrets of Andrew Tate’s business and marketing success.
This is something that brands can adopt. Be clear about your offer and the benefits, have social proof (logos and testimonials), and be priced commensurate to the value the recipient is likely to receive.
