5 marketing stunts Logan Paul used to promote his energy drink, which sold out within hours of launching

YouTuber Logan Paul announced he was launching his own sports drink in a YouTube video on January 4, 2022, alongside his former YouTube rival KSI, whose real name is Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji.

The pair announced in an Instagram livestream that they were now business partners, teaming up to launch PRIME, a "hydration drink" that comes in five flavors. The PRIME website states that it took Paul and Olatunji just under a year and a "multi-hundred person team" to create the product.

Logan Paul, who has 23 million YouTube subscribers, has a history of controversy, most notably receiving widespread backlash for filming a purported dead body in Japan's so-called "suicide forest" in 2017. Following criticism, he apologized and became involved in boxing, as well as launching a successful podcast called "Impaulsive."

When PRIME became available to buy on January 8, it was an instant success. Paul tweeted later that day saying it had sold out within a matter of hours.

To promote the product, Paul released a series of dramatic advertising videos, and was met with accusations that he faked a stunt involving a monkey to sell the drink, which he denied.

Here is a timeline of the marketing stunts Paul uploaded to promote PRIME, all within the space of a single month.

News of a business partnership between Paul and Olatunji came as a shock to fans, who have known the pair as YouTube rivals since 2018.

Paul and Olatunji competed against one another in a YouTuber boxing match in August 2018, and then fought again at a rematch in November 2019. In the lead-up to both fights, an apparent feud between the influencers, who both posted diss tracks and antagonistic tweets about who was going to win, was widely covered in the press.

On December 22, 2021, Paul uploaded an image on Instagram that appeared to be a promotional poster for a boxing match, with pictures of himself and Olatunji next to a title that read, "The Final Chapter." The post included details of an event with the two influencers that would take place on January 4 on Instagram Live.

Fans were excited at the prospect of a third fight between the pair. One top comment with 1,400 likes said, "Is this about to be the first IG live fight ever?"

However, during the livestream, the pair shocked their audience by embracing and announcing they had ended their feud to release PRIME together. In a separate Instagram post, Paul wrote that he wanted to show what happened "when rivals come together as brothers and business partners."

Most commenters under Paul's post were glad to see the pair collaborating, saying they were excited to buy the drink.

On January 19, when PRIME was already sold out online, Paul uploaded a promotional Instagram video of himself in a helicopter that shocked viewers.

In the video, Paul was seen on a helicopter, and his friend Johnni DiJulius, who is known for his parachute stunts, was clinging onto the landing gear. Paul then poured PRIME onto DiJulius' face, and DiJulius shouted "Drink Prime" before letting go of the landing gear and releasing his parachute as he fell. The video ended before DiJulius could be seen landing on the ground.

Viewers seemed stunned by the video, with many noting that DiJulius appeared to be quite close to the ground before releasing his parachute. Top comments on the video said, "broo is he alive?" and "Does he make it?"

DiJulius has since posted a number of Instagram videos where he appears unharmed.

Paul did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

A day later, on January 20, Paul posted a video on his YouTube channel titled "KSI and Logan Paul go undercover at Walmart."

Paul claimed in the video that PRIME had been released in 4,500 Walmart stores across America, and that to celebrate, he and KSI were going to dress up as PRIME employees and pretend that they had been hired to promote the drink at Walmart.

The video showed the duo in a Walmart, appearing to struggle with commanding attention from customers who walked past.

When they set up a table to offer free samples, they eventually seemed to impress some people with their product, and even filmed someone chugging the drink out of their own shoe.

Having posted advertising videos on his YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, Paul posted a TikTok promotional video on January 25, in which he acted out a scene where he was living on a desert island in need of a drink.

The TikTok, which has 7.4 million views, showed Paul topless with a beard sitting on a rock by a beach with the caption that read, "POV: you've been on an abandoned island for five years and you're mad thirsty but you launched a hydration drink w/your rival now turned business partner so you're always quenched."

A subsequent TikTok shows Paul wearing orange face paint and a fake beard for the video.

Commenters were shocked by the level of Paul's transformation, with one top comment that has 41,000 likes, saying, "Bro looks older than his mom," and another saying "When I tell you I gasped."

The following week, on January 30, Paul uploaded a video to Instagram and Twitter of a monkey appearing to spontaneously steal a bottle of PRIME from his bag in South Africa.

The video began with Paul standing in a parking lot, screaming "What do I do?" as a monkey rifled through his bag. Paul can then be seen running away from a second monkey on top of a car who chased him for a short time, and when the camera panned back to the first monkey, it appeared to run away with a bottle of the sports drink. Paul then screamed, "The monkey has PRIME!"

Commenters were impressed by the video, but suggested it was a scripted stunt. One top Instagram comment with 9,800 likes, said, "well if that's not the best marketing video that could've happened." A top comment on Twitter with 5,000 likes said, "logan I swear if this was planned for some viral marketing you're a fucking genius."

Paul denied scripting the video on an episode of the "BFFs" podcast, saying, "I did not set it up," but "the moment he took the Prime out of the bag, I knew this was gonna be the best video on the fucking planet."

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.