đż IG#32: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Athletic Greens
How a brilliant marketing ploy gets thousands of people to consume a drink that tastes like taking a bite out of a soccer field.
If youâve listened to a podcast in the last twelve months, youâve heard this line:
âThis podcast is brought to you by Athletic Greens. Itâs my one-stop-shop for all my nutritional needs that ensures I cover all my bases. [âŚ]â
Andrew Huberman.
Tim Ferriss.
Steven Bartlett.
Chris Williamson.
All my favourite podcasters promote it.
And thereâs a good reason why.
(Hint: itâs not the product.)
In this post, I want to take a deeper look at the absolute masterclass Athletic Greens is doing in marketing, and how it plays to our deepest desires.
Letâs dive in. đ¤ż
[1] Whatâs AG1?
AG1 is the product made by Athletic Greens: a green powder that contains 70+ ingredients. Itâs supposed to increase mental fitness, give you energy, heal your cells (what does that even mean?), and improve your immune system.
Iâve tried it a few times, without a noticeable difference.
Kind of tastes like taking a bite out of a soccer field, and makes your stomach feel funky.
Thatâs all the context you need.
Iâm not a nutritional or fitness expert, so I wonât review whether AG1 works or not.
There are plenty of people on YouTube who can do this better than I can.
What Iâm interested in is the marketing behind AG1. âŹď¸
[2] Athletic Greensâ secret business sauce
AG1 comes at the apparently âinexpensiveâ price of âonlyâ $2.49 per serving.
âLess than a cup of coffee.â
Yeah, fuck that logic.
AG1 is a whopping $99 (âŹ87) for a 360g pouch of green powder!
That renews every single month!
Why do thousands of people still buy it?
Brilliant Marketing
Psychology
At this price point, you have a ton of money left over for promotion.
Athletic Greens is a D2C company. You canât buy their stuff on Amazon, at the store, or elsewhere - just on their own website.
They ensure people get there by using affiliate marketing.
I looked into their commission schemes for affiliates. Results range from 20% - 50% lifetime commission. [1, 2, 3]
On Every. Single. Sale.
Letâs take Tim Ferriss. Heâs been promoting AG1 for ages, with his podcast ranked #1 on many occasions. He may have crossed the 1B downloads threshold already.
This probably puts him at the high end of the commission range, so 50%.
Tim guarantees his advertisers 750k downloads per episode (according to this highly questionable source on Quora, but letâs roll with it).
Now, even if only 0.1% of these downloads convert to AG1, this means that 750 people buy AG1 through his affiliate link.
Which would earn him: 750 * $50 = $37.500 in commissions.
Every. Single. Month.
Now, Tim releases 1-2 episodes per week.
So by promoting AG1, he can make 4 * $37.5k = $150k in monthly recurring revenue every single month!
SaaS startups dream of these kind of numbers.
And remember, this is just from promoting AG1, not taking into account any other sponsorships.
Tim is incentivised to promote AG1 like crazy.
AG1 can afford to incentivise him - and all the other podcasters - like that because of their equally crazy margins.
So that now, we hear about AG1 everywhere.
If Tim Ferriss AND Andrew Huberman AND Chris Williamson AND Steven Bartlett use it, it must be good - right?
Not necessarily - theyâre just incentivised like crazy to promote it.
But thatâs what we think.
Hereâs what happens next:
We hear about AG1 over and over again
Curious, we buy it - the price seems hefty, but there must be something to it if everybody is promoting and using it
(I mean, câmon, Andrew Huberman, the self-optimisation PhD uses it!)
We buy a tiny 360g pouch of green powder for $99
Since we just dropped an unreasonable amount of money on this, we convince ourselves that it indeed feels good
If our friends ask about it, we - of course - tell them that it works
(After all, would you really want to admit that you just dropped $99 on green powder thatâs simply placebo? Youâd look hella stupid)
Our friends see all their friends using it and saying good things, so they start using it too
And our favourite podcasters and Athletic Greens benefit from it
Is this our newest pyramid scheme?
Kind of.
But more so, it reminds me of the tale of the Emperorâs New Clothes.
Everybody pretends to like AG1, because they donât want to look stupid.
Depending on how long theyâve been using it, it may even have become a part of their identity.
If AG1 has become part of their identity, expect biased advice.
Donât ask a barber if you need a haircut.
Fortunately, there are plenty of people out there calling out AG1 for what it is - a fitness supplement that you likely wouldnât need if you âate real foodâ.
(One of them is James Smith, whose video inspired this post.)
This newsletter is brought to you by ⌠Athletic Greens!
Click this link to get a FIVE FREE TRAVEL PACKS, A FREE YEARâS SUPPLY OF VITAMIN D, AND A SHAKER.
(just kidding - although I wouldnât mind a cool extra $37.5k per month per newsletter)
[3] đ The Magic Pill
Besides its brilliant marketing strategy, AG1 also plays to our deepest desire: the âmagic pillâ that you take, and youâll instantly be healthier.
The magic pill doesnât exist. There are no biological free lunches.
While AG1 may certainly have benefits, youâd likely get similar benefits from eating a well-balanced diet.
AG1 might even have an adverse effect: if you take it daily, you might think that since youâve already had your greens, you donât need to eat your vegetables anymore.
But whole food > processed food, any day of the week.
The only use case that I see is while traveling: when you donât have access to healthy food (eg. At airports or at conferences), AG1 might be a solid supplement. Daily? Iâd much rather just drink my smoothies and eat my fruits and veggies.
AG1 goes to show how much weâd be willing to pay for said magic pill: $99 per month.
Thatâs insane. For this kind of money, you could:
Get a high-end gym membership (this is what you get for $99 in Berlin)
Get a personal training session
Save for 12 months and buy a premium mattress
Get a massage or physiotherapy twice a month
Buy most of my sports tool stack and still have money left over
So take AG1 for what it is: a supplement that probably wonât hurt you, and in some scenarios might help you.
But at what cost?
Iâd much rather spend that money elsewhere.
Who are you going to be?
(A) The best version of yourself?
(B) Or yet another victim to a brilliant marketing ploy promising a magic pill?
To unlocking our potential. đ
LFG đ¤
Dominik
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