Daniel mainly designs things and was yet to build his designs himself. This all changed when MrBeast himself commented on the video saying, “Now can you build it and send it to me?” That comment alone got over 300 thousand likes and 500 replies. The pressure was on and Daniel would not disappoint. 

Daniel Krafft’s 13-minute YouTube video, “I Surprised MrBeast With Custom 50 Million Playbutton!” was published on March 2021. Now, it has over 12 million views. While the video itself is not that long, it actually took Daniel three months and $15,000 to create a custom play button for MrBeast for reaching 50 million subscribers, which was what the video was about. In it, he takes his viewers through the process of building the play button, narrating how he and the people he worked with went “unbelievably nuts” with the project. 

How This Insane Project Started

MrBeast is a YouTuber who has been able to use his influence and channel to donate millions of dollars to charity. He has opened food banks and started philanthropic causes. Daniel thought that now that MrBeast has reached 50 million subscribers, it would be a good way to support his cause by designing a custom play button for him. 

“Now can you build it and send it to me?”

Daniel didn’t think that MrBeast would actually see his design, and on top of that, comment on the video asking him to build the custom play button and send it to him. That’s where Daniel decided to go all out on building it, using aluminum, titanium, gold, padauk wood, damascus steel, titanium damascus, and so much more. 

The process of building the custom play button presented so many challenges but along the way, Daniel learned how to do things himself just so the play button could be made. Some of the things he learned were CNC milling, water jet cutting, plasma cutting, and other really complicated and dangerous processes involving huge industrial machinery. 

From Design to the Real Thing

There were several individuals who shared their expertise with Daniel to make his design a reality. One of them includes Tristan Dare from Arizona who specializes in metal works. Drew English and the rest of the team of Social Hinge, a full-service influencer marketing agency, was able to get a sponsor for Daniel’s video, Wondershare Filmora. 

Drew shared how it was a different kind of sponsorship altogether because instead of a 60-second spot, the entire sponsorship was spread throughout the whole video. Daniel did this incredibly well by editing the entire video within the software of Wondershare Filmora and shouted them out. 

Buying a Plane Ticket for the Play Button

With a sponsor on board, all Daniel had to do was to build the thing. But it was his first time building an actual tangible product. He even delivered it in person to MrBeast in North Carolina because it was too heavy to be shipped, over a hundred pounds. Daniel actually had to buy a plane ticket for the play button! The video even shows how it had to wear a seatbelt on the plane. 

Before all that, Daniel had to face so many challenges. He didn’t have the equipment to build the play button. Being based in Idaho, he had to bounce around in different places. He worked with Tristan in Arizona where they found someone with the machine they needed. It’s a good thing that since working with Social Hinge, Daniel now has his own machine which the agency bought so he could do similar projects in the future. 

The 12 Million Views Says It All

Initially, the plan was to deliver the play button in January this year but it got pushed back in February, and then again in March. Daniel and Social Hinge have planned the project to get everything filmed and approved. But it was just inevitable that this project would be delayed because he had lots of bumps on the road since it’s his first time building his design. But in the end, everything fell into place. The 12 million views on that video alone show that it was indeed a success.

What Brands Can Learn from Daniel’s Project

The sponsor, Wondershare Filmora, definitely got so much exposure from Daniel’s video. Brands can learn something from this, and that’s to allow content creators to have more creative control over how they advertise certain products. 

Many influencers are very talented at integrating sponsorships so well in their videos that they seemed very authentic and genuine and almost entertaining. This is is certainly what Daniel was also able to achieve with his 13-minute video. 

Campaigns are more effective when it does not seem like it’s an advertisement or that people actually enjoy watching it. The results will be so much better and the conversions will also be better because it just seems a lot more genuine, not the usual 60-second spot where the influencer says what they’re required to say. 

Takeaway

If content creators have a little bit more creative control to do their spin on a campaign, it will be a lot more authentic and their viewers will react more positively towards it. This is something that brands can take away from Wondershare Filmora’s partnership with Daniel Krafft in creating MrBeast’s 50 million YouTube play button and gaining 12 million views with just one video.