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In the midst of training for his fight against Mike Tyson, influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul does not have time to buy his own deodorant. Though usually a task often reserved for his assistant, Paul took a rare trip to CVS about a year ago that would do far more than freshen his pits: It would change the course of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look in the aisles, and I\u2019m like, How does Axe and Old Spice still have 16 feet of shelf space, and are still like the only products available?\u201d Paul told Fortune<\/em>. \u201cThis aisle looks the same from when I was literally eight years old, buying my first Axe body spray.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n If his laundry list of scandals and controversies<\/a> is any indication, Paul considers himself a \u201cdisruptor\u201d and carries those intentions into his foray into consumer packaged goods: The 27-year-old just launched his personal-care brand W, a collection of deodorants, body spray, and body wash, available in 3,900 Walmart<\/a> locations. In August, W will expand further, introducing soap, hair gel, and a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner. It will also broaden its presence to 4,300 Walmart locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n The W brand, intended for Gen Z men, contains no parabens\u2014cosmetic preservatives some have associated with breast cancer<\/a>\u2014but rather additional vitamins to appeal to the young generation\u2019s health-conscious attitudes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Paul, of course, has not been known for self care. To some, he\u2019s known as an up-and-coming boxer, or at least the guy hoping to knock-out 57-year-old Mike Tyson in the ring later this year. To others, Paul is a former Vine star, Disney<\/a> actor, and pioneer of the YouTube-infamous<\/a> content house Team 10, which has scored him 47 million followers across YouTube<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> over the past decade.<\/p>\n But for the young entrepreneur, his new W brand is less about building a hygiene empire and more about cementing himself as a force to be reckoned with\u2014not just in the ring, but in the world of business. Aware of the controversies and career pivots that have given him a complicated legacy, Paul sees his soaps and deodorant as a clean slate.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really just a testament of 1,000 failures beforehand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n W, backed by venture capital firm Anti Fund<\/a>, is a testament to Paul\u2019s own career perseverance, as well as his boxing record<\/a> of nine wins and one loss. It\u2019s also an homage to popular Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang, with Twitch streamers asking viewers to put their \u201cW\u2019s in the chat\u201d following a victory.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just wild to me that a brand has never been built around winning, or just like being a winner in general,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n But his embrace of online slang aligns with his vision of success for the budding company, a rejection of conventional business in exchange for a series of products Paul really cares about.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s 60-year-old CEOs trying to make products for growth and margins and reporting to their boards. And they just learned looking at spreadsheets versus having their finger on the pulse of what\u2019s going on,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThis is a brand built by me. It\u2019s my idea; I came up with everything\u2014pretty much the name down to the category, down to strategies. This is from my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n While Paul is the brand\u2019s founder, Woodie Hillyard, who has worked with celebrities like Kris Jenner on their own consumer brands, is W\u2019s CEO. He told Fortune <\/em>Paul\u2019s passion is what will catapult W to success.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat really excited me about starting this brand with Jake is it just felt so authentic, and there\u2019s just a clear need in this category,\u201d Hillyard said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t Jake wanting to start another alcohol brand or start another energy drink brand or clothing brand.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s authenticity extends to his own relationship with his past failures, including his idea for a social-media site called \u201cLocker Room,\u201d which segregated users by gender, creating a platform for just boys and just girls to interact on the app. The site got only 500 downloads, and Paul soon gave up on the idea.<\/p>\n Though he talks smack about boxing opponent Tyson ahead of their November 15 match, Paul draws on Tyson\u2019s wisdom of, \u201cYou only lose when you quit.\u201d For a guy who\u2019s made a career of getting up after being knocked down, Paul has internalized the same idea in all aspects of his life.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to go through those moments where you lose money, your idea isn\u2019t as good as you thought it was,\u201d he said. \u201cThose are the things that make you in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s brand may carry the promise of a massive Walmart deal and a built-in fan-following, but he\u2019s hardly the first content creator to launch a consumer brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cContent creators, or celebrities in general, think it\u2019s a free money grab,\u201d Geoffrey Woo, Anti Fund\u2019s co-founder, told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In some ways, celebrities really do have a leg-up on competition in the consumer goods space, according to Amanda Russell, marketing consultant and author of The Influencer Code: How to Unlock the Power of Influencer Marketing<\/em>. In such a crowded field, having a built-in audience and emotional connection to a person behind a product is a real asset to brands.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s harder and harder for brands to break through,\u201d Russell told Fortune<\/em>. \u201cEverything is a commodity now unless consumers have a connection with the product. People don\u2019t really resonate with brands; they resonate with people.\u201d<\/p>\n While celebrity brands often have a head start breaking through the noise, they often swifty return to earth after their meteoric rise. Sometimes, the business has trouble scaling; other times, it can\u2019t churn out enough content to sustain relevancy to their target audiences of mostly young people, who have a tendency to quickly outgrow and shed brands.<\/p>\n Paul needs not look further than his older brother Logan, who launched his Prime energy drinks<\/a> in 2022 alongside boxer KSI, racking up $250 million in sales in its first year, only for the drink to gather dust on Tesco<\/a> sales shelves in the U.K. just over a year later. In April, the company was hit with a lawsuit alleging it contained \u201cforever chemicals\u201d and more caffeine than the label indicated.<\/p>\n W has taken measures to avoid this outcome, according to Hillyard. Paul is the face behind the brand, but you won\u2019t find his name plastered by its logo. He\u2019s just a guy who wears deodorant and understands that other members of his Gen Z cohort want personal care products that are affordable and branded as better-for-you.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal is to really start creating cultural moments with the brand that will authentically resonate with the consumer, so it can sustain itself,\u201d Hillyard said.<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s business is complicated by his own reputation. In addition to allegations of sexual assault<\/a> (which he denied), use of racial slurs in old YouTube videos, and throwing raucous parties at the height of the pandemic, Paul has real baggage attached to his past ventures. He launched online platform Edfluence<\/a> in 2018 as a series of instructional videos on successfully becoming an influencer. Users paid $7 to unlock the videos, but instead found just a few video previews. Users then had to pay an additional $57 to unlock all videos. In March 2023, he paid a $400,000 fee to the SEC<\/a> for promoting an alleged cryptocurrency scam.<\/p>\n But Paul has shrugged off scrutiny and criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re doing something amazing, everyone\u2019s going to try and stop you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Paul isn\u2019t all bluster or bravado, as it may appear on social media sometimes: He\u2019s advocated for closing the gender pay gap in boxing<\/a>, co-founded a company to help discover young female boxers, and founded another initiative to help instill confidence and leadership skills in young people through the sport.<\/p>\n For Paul, the noise associated with his personal brand and venture capital firm hasn\u2019t hurt his business ventures; if anything, it\u2019s kept him relevant, and may have even helped him.<\/p>\n \u201cNowadays content is king,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThe most important thing is eyeballs and marketing and exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n Russell isn\u2019t surprised by Paul\u2019s reaction to his own controversy. The aphorism of \u201call press is good press\u201d is context-dependent, she said, but continuing to share a consistent message, even if it alienates some fans, is helpful in preserving a strong brand.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more you stand for something, the more that you create a cult-like following,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Paul certainly checks the box of standing for something. He calls himself a \u201crealistic role model,\u201d eschewing people-pleasers. Everyone makes mistakes, he argued, and he just happened to make them in the public eye.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t personally think I\u2019m controversial. I tell the truth and people don\u2019t like the truth in today\u2019s world because the truth hurts,\u201d Paul said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t never afraid to ruffle any feathers or speak what\u2019s on my mind.\u201d<\/p>\nA \u2018winning\u2019 mentality<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Against the odds<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The truth hurts<\/strong><\/h2>\n