The Evolution of Joe Fazer

Hey - Rory here.

Quick question:

What the hell happened to Joe Fazer?

What started as a channel focused on bulking up as a skinny kid, has now turned into a travel and food channel.

Why did he do this?

And why is it working?

Let’s take a look.

The Innovative Video

If you don’t know who Joe Fazer is, let me give you a quick brief:

He’s a fitness influencer from the UK who’s channel focused on building muscle as a skinny kid.

And his channel did well.

By the end of 2021, he had grown to over 500,000 subscribers.

But he knew there was a problem.

There’s only so many “skinny to bulking” videos you can make. The Total Addressable Market (TAM) for that content is only so big.

He knew he had to pivot his content if he wanted to continue growing.

And he tried different types:

But none of them seemed to be working.

They were too saturated, too boring, and too different from his other videos.

However, instead of giving up, he went back to the drawing board.

And that was when he came up with this video:

4.5 million views.

1/10 by almost 2 million views.

Let’s take a look at why this video performed so well:

1. Still targets his niche (health/fitness related)

2. Excellent thumbnail & title (will dive more into that later on)

3. Used the Innovate Method

What do you mean by “Innovate Method?”

Glad you asked.

Look at this video:

People are so used to seeing videos on the “most” of something that by creating one on the “least” it’s refreshing.

Joe recognised this.

So he wanted to apply this idea to his own niche (health/fitness).

And what’s something people are obsessed with in the health industry?

Obesity.

Now, he could’ve created a “travelling to the most obese country” video but that would be too boring. The viewer would automatically think of the USA, so wouldn’t bother clicking.

Instead he applied what he’d learnt from the Yes Theory video to create his own version.

Turned out to be a wise decision.

And once he saw that this video did well, he knew he’d found a style that hadn’t been capitalised on.

Packaging Breakdown

Let’s breakdown why this thumbnail and title is so good:

• Juxtaposition - There is a big contrast between Joe (big & muscular) and the man standing next to him (skinny). Our eyes are immediately drawn to this and make us want to ask questions.

• Recognisability - For his core audience members, they recognise Joe and automatically click on the video even though it isn’t his normal style of video. This is why it’s important to build a relationship with your audience through your thumbnails so that no matter what you post, they will always click.

• Superlative - The use of the world “least” in the title draws your attention. Our minds are automatically drawn to superlatives because they are highlighting the extremes of something.

• Vignette - Using a vignette is a very subtle but powerful way of forcing you to focus your attention on a subject. In this case, the vignette is drawing your attention to Joe and the man in the centre of the frame.

• Simplicity - There’s no unnecessary text in the thumbnail or title. There doesn’t need to be. Remember: less is more.

• Curiosity Gap - You’re given enough context to understand what the videos about, but he has withhold the information you want to know about most. “Where is it?” “Who is that man?” “Why is it the least obese?” These are all questions that can only be answered by clicking on the video.

Joe Fazer is a great example of how you’re never “trapped” in your niche.

There are always ways to innovate. You just need to do the research.

That’s the challenge of going from a channel with 100,000 to 1,000,000+ subscribers.

But it’s always possible.

Thanks for reading,

Rory.