Hey everyone,

I'm not sure about you, but it's starting to feel just a bit like spring where I am. I always take signs of spring as signs of hope, especially after the last couple weeks of weather that some of us have had. I wonder what you're looking forward to, and what helps you to hope. On to this week's idea:

Why Kevin from The Office made $1M on Cameo 🤑

Last December we were trying to figure out what to get my mother-in-law for her birthday. We were stuck, but then I thought of Cameo.

Cameo, a platform which has been around for ~4 years, allows you to request a personalized video message from one of a host of (mostly) minor celebrities by paying anywhere from $20 to $1,000. We scrolled through our options and selected Marin Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion. I have to say, Marin did a great job–my MIL (who loves watching tennis) was beside herself trying to figure out how this Croatian tennis player knew so much about her.

On its face, Cameo sounds like a bit of a fun novelty, and it is. But what if I told you that Brian Baumgartner (i.e. Kevin from The Office) made a million dollars on the platform in 2020?

Now things start getting interesting. How does an actor who played a third-tier TV character (albeit on one of the best shows of all time) make a cool mil for what is likely a few hours per month of work? This is a case study in the creator economy and illustrates what Facebook, Google and the rest already know: right now, eyeballs are more valuable than money itself.

That's right. Because of the prevalence of online advertising and the rise of influencers (hate that word, but you know what I mean), having an audience that loves you is everything right now. Which is why places like Twitter are buying newsletter companies and allowing users to charge for tweets, and why Spotify is on a spending spree to acquire podcasts. There's currently a gold rush around building and monetizing an audience, or buying a pre-established one.

Which brings us back to Brian. He's no Michael Scott, but he can tap into the love and nostalgia that people have for The Office. And in 2021, that's more than good enough.

Pete's Picks ✅

1. What I'm Watching: I started watching The Investigation on HBO last week and basically haven't been able to stop. This series portrays the real-life murder of a Swedish journalist while onboard a homemade submarine. If that sounds weird, it's because it is. But super worth watching.
2. App I'm Using: I found Typefully.app this week and am never going back. Typefully gives you a beautiful and minimal interface for composing Twitter threads. As someone that's trying to share longer ideas with some consistency on Twitter, I can tell that this tool will be a core part of my workflow.

This Week's Video 📹

Do I Use My College Degree as a Software Engineer?

Tweet of the Week 🐦

Cheers,

Peter