MARK ZUCKERBERG: THE GREAT REBRAND

Breaking Down The Strategy

In March 2022, a popular English MMA fighter by the name of Paddy Pimblett quickly summited his opponent under the bright lights of the 02 Arena in London.

A massive moment for him.

On the mic after the fight he was asked who he wanted to fight next.

His response:

Yep, he called out Mark Zuckerberg.

And as he did… the whole crowd cheered.

Straight after the event the clip went viral all over social media as people dragged Zuckerberg and called him a “Lizard”.

I remember watching this unfold in real time and wondering why everyone hated Zuckerberg so much - he seemed like a reasonable guy?

But I suppose it was an easy time to hate Zuckerberg:

• Facebook were getting fined over privacy concerns

• The news about him was all negative

• As well as him being a billionaire

(No one likes billionaires.)

This negativity surrounded him for a while.

Until recently when I realised that A LOT of people had begun shouting about him on social media.

• He was posing with MMA stars

• Talking about fighting Elon Musk

• And doing a lot of podcasts

So I decided to go down the Mark Zuckerberg rabbit hole and spent the last 4 hours researching what I believe is one of the best rebrands of the decade.

And now it’s time to share what I learnt.

So here’s the 4 key steps Zuck took to go from hated tech guy, to loved MMA fan.

(Plus how you can apply them to yourself)

Step 1: Show The “Real” You

On September 7th, 2018, Elon Musk stepped on the set of the Joe Rogan Experience for the first time ever.

On the pod, he talked about flying cars, aliens, going to Mars and infamously smoked a blunt with Joe.

To say the podcast went viral is an understatement (it currently has 68 million views on YouTube).

But while the podcast resulted in Tesla’s stock plummeting, it also led to Elon’s popularity skyrocketing.

Why?

Because the podcast humanised him and made him seem like a normal guy.

He showed the real Elon Musk and not just the corporate version that speaks about Tesla’s financials.

This podcast was the start of the uprising of Elon Musk and him becoming (arguably) the most popular billionaire on the planet.

He now has a HUGE following and millions of people who love him.

But let’s get back to the topic of Zuckerberg.

Because at the time that Elon was popping off everywhere, Zuck was still acting like a corporate robot.

And the hate was mounting up.

Then in 2022, Zuckerberg jumped on his friend – Lex Fridman’s – podcast and things began to change.

Since then he has been on:

• The Lex Fridman Podcast 3 times.

• Joe Rogan’s podcast once

• And Andrew Huberman’s once too

Those 3 podcasts are some of the most popular podcasts in the world and all 3 have HUGE die-hard audiences.

With each episode Zuck has been on, his popularity grew.

Why?

Because just like Elon, it allowed people to see a different side of him, a human side.

And the more human he became, the more people were able to relate to him.

Step 2: Hang Out With The Cool Kids

The podcast appearances made huge strides for people’s perception of Zuck.

But it wasn’t just the fact he went on podcast’s that helped him, it was the people he has been on podcast’s with.

• Joe Rogan

• Lex Fridman

• Andrew Huberman

These are people that A LOT of people love and idolise.

So when they see those people having positive interactions and being friends with Zuck, it’s tough for them to hate him.

Then you start seeing him with UFC champions Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya.

And again, the positivity towards him grows.

But not just that, the perception starts to change too.

If all these cool & famous people are hanging out with him… maybe he isn’t the nerdy tech guy we thought was taking over the world?

Step 3: Tie Your Name To Something New

Which brings me perfectly on to my next point…

Zuck tying himself to something completely outside of what he’s always been known for.

For years, he was just “The guy who built Facebook”.

So when anyone had a problem with Facebook they’d hate him for it.

Then Zuck got into MMA and well, that’s all I hear about him now.

In just the last 12 months, I’ve seen him go viral for:

• Winning a Jiujitsu tournament

  

• Sparring Alexander Volkanovski in the metaverse

  

• And of course, the infamous rumoured fight between him and Elon Musk

  

Notice a common theme with all of these major Mark Zuckerberg moments?

Not one of them is about Facebook, free speech, or any of the other bullsh*t he used to talk about 24/7.

They’re about a completely unrelated topic - MMA.

Now, when I think of Zuck I think of “MMA Zuck” and not “Tech Zuck” - and I’m not alone in that perception.

Step 4: Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously

Just last week, while Zuck was training for his upcoming MMA fight, he tore his ACL.

A brutal injury.

Yet, since then he’s been posting memes about him being injured.

Like this one:

zuck

View more on Instagram

The video shows him:

• Playing Xbox

• Getting thrown around

• Getting punched in the face

As well as joking about him being beat up on his couch.

It’s nothing much.

But it’s also means everything at the same time.

10 years ago, we would’ve never seen something like this from Zuck. Today, he’s posting it and making light of the situation.

It’s these simple moments over the last year that have helped drag him off the robot tech guy pedestal that people saw him on and make him seem, well… just like all of us - normal.

And with every step he’s taken to humanise himself, more and more people have begun to take to him.

It’s safe to say that Zuck still isn’t the most loved man on the planet. But compared to where he was a few years back… he’s made huge amounts of progress.

I hope you found this breakdown as interesting as I did.

I always prefer it when it’s relevant and something that I’ve seen play out with my own eyes!

Maybe I’ll do more like this going forward? What do you think? Shoot me a reply back and let me know!

Until next Sunday.

— Niall

This has been a breakdown of Zuck’s rebrand strategy. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!

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