The Super Bowl "Class War"

📔 Jeff’s Diary (yes, I’ll let you read it)

If people can’t do their job, fire them. It’s like that great Yoda quote from Star Wars “Do, or do not. There is no try.”

I’ve found that the best people I’ve worked with, for and have hired, all have this singular trait. They’ll just figure it out. Jeff Goldblum famously said in Jurassic Park “life finds a way” - and I get that same feeling when I talk to a founder who has that sparkle in their eye and a chip on their shoulder.

Having talked over a 1000 founders in the last year, these two movie quotes live rent free in my head, constantly reigniting neurons when I hear trigger words like “we’ll figure it out” or “do you know someone who can help there”.

Having the capacity to understand what you do and do not know and seeing your glass is always half full, not half empty, are leadership qualities that will simply out compete those without it.

I don’t care if it’s an employee or an advisor or a co-founder, if these two mantras do not exist in your vernacular and are not driving forces in your daily decision matrix, you will lose to someone who dies by them.

Because at the end of the day, someone will always have more resources, more money, more time…. They’ll be smarter and bigger and faster…. But if you never let them outwork you, if losing feels like it’s simply not an option…. If the stakes you set in your heart are bigger than what someone else can tolerate in their head….

Then there is no failure. There is only learning to get back up and try again.

– Jeff

📆 WHAT WE WILL HIT ON THIS WEEK:

→ Every Founder Must Know: The $10M Super Bowl spots are for vanity; the "Ground Game" is for conversion. Why smart brands are skipping the broadcast to win the second screen.

→ The Hijack: MrBeast isn't buying a Super Bowl ad. He is giving away $1M on Whatnot during the game to steal the audience.

→ The "Farm League": Netflix just signed its biggest creator deal yet. Ted Sarandos finally admits that YouTube is where the real IP lives.

⚔️ The Super Bowl "Class War"

There is a war happening in marketing right now, and the Super Bowl just exposed the battle lines. On one side, you have the "Air War": Legacy brands paying $10M for 30 seconds of TV time to show you a celebrity (Tom Brady, J.Lo) holding a beer. On the other side, you have the "Ground Game": Modern brands hiring 50 creators to infiltrate the actual event, host the parties, and dominate the "Second Screen" (your phone).

The News: 
A new report from Digiday confirms the split: 2026 Super Bowl ad spots are almost exclusively dominated by A-List celebrities. Why? Because CMOs are scared. When you spend $10M, you don't take a risk on a YouTuber; you hire a movie star so you don't get fired. But the real money is moving to the "Ground Game." Brands are spending equal budgets to have creators like Alix Earle and Druski live-stream from the sidelines, host tailgates, and react to the halftime show.

Why It Matters: 
We are seeing a bifurcation of trust.

• TV = Awareness (Low Trust). You see the ad, you know it's fake, you ignore it.

• Social = Intimacy (High Trust). You see your favorite creator at the game, you feel like you are at the game.

The "Air War" buys you eyeballs. The "Ground Game" buys you cultural relevance. While the Boomers are watching the TV commercials, the Gen Z/Millennial consumers (who actually have the purchasing power) are scrolling TikTok to see what the creators are doing at the Super Bowl.

The Lesson for Founders: 
Do not envy the brands on TV. They are paying a "Vanity Tax." If you have a marketing budget, don't try to buy "Reach." Buy "Share of Voice." You can hire 20 niche creators to flood the feed for the price of one second of Super Bowl airtime. The legacy brands are renting attention; the operators are building an army.

Our Take: 
This is exactly why we built our Creator Discovery Tool. We identify the creators who can execute a "Ground Game" strategy—the ones who can host events, interview customers, and create actual content, not just post a selfie with a product.

🏴‍☠️ The $1M Counter-Programming

The News: 
While Pepsi and Budweiser burn cash on 30-second spots, MrBeast is partnering with the live-shopping platform Whatnot to give away $1M in prizes during the Super Bowl.

The Operator Take: 
This is a "Hostile Takeover" of attention. MrBeast knows that during the commercials (and the boring parts of the game), people look at their phones. He isn't paying the NFL a dime. He is siphoning their audience to a different platform entirely.

The Play: 
Stop trying to compete within the event. Create a "Second Venue." If you can offer immediate value (cash, prizes, exclusive drops) on a second screen while the main event is happening, you can hijack the audience for a fraction of the sponsorship cost.

Hijack > Rent.

🍿 Netflix Admits It Can't Build IP Anymore

The News: 
Netflix just signed its biggest creator deal to date, locking in YouTube stars Jordan and Salish Matter (35M subscribers) for an exclusive development deal covering scripted, unscripted, and consumer products.

The Context: 
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently called YouTube a "farm league." He isn't wrong, but he is revealing his hand. Netflix has realized it cannot create culture from scratch effectively anymore. Instead, they are letting the YouTube algorithm do the R&D, finding the winners (like Salish, Ms. Rachel, and Mark Rober), and then writing a check to acquire the distribution.

The Operator Take: 
If you are a creative, stop pitching "Pilots" to Hollywood. Hollywood doesn't buy ideas anymore; they buy De-risked Audiences. Build the channel first. Prove the concept on YouTube. Once you have the leverage, the check will come to you.

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