So, I’ve been meaning to share this one for a while. It’s about the time I got really into looking at “young Sean O’Malley,” not as the big star he is now, but way back when he was just this colorful kid on the rise. And it wasn’t really about the fighting for me, not at first.
My Old Gig and the Stone Age
See, I was working at this place, real old school. Think paper memos and a website that looked like it was made in 1998. I was trying to drag their marketing into the 21st century. Kept saying, “Guys, we gotta look at how these new personalities are building followings from scratch!” It was like yelling into the void, mostly.
That’s when I stumbled onto O’Malley. He was perfect. The look, the talk, the way he used social media even before he was a household name. So, I started what I internally called my “Young Sean O’Malley Project.” My goal? To use him as a case study to show these fossils what modern branding looked like.
The Grind: Trying to Teach an Old Dog
Man, I put some hours into that. I wasn’t training MMA, mind you. I was dissecting his early interviews, his first few viral moments, how he built that whole “Suga Show” persona. I compiled data, made charts. I even tried to learn some basic video editing to mock up what our campaigns could look like, inspired by that energy. Spent ages on YouTube tutorials, feeling like a total dinosaur myself trying to make flashy little clips. It was a real hands-on effort, let me tell you.
- Watched hours of his early content.
- Tried to map his fan engagement growth.
- Built a whole presentation around it.
- Even storyboarded some sample ads for our boring products, but with that O’Malley flair.
I was actually pretty proud of what I’d pulled together. Thought it was a slam dunk.
The Big “Nope”
So, the day comes, I present my “Young Sean O’Malley” findings. Showed them the potential, the new ways to connect. And the head honcho, this guy who probably still thought TikTok was a clock, he just stares at me. After I’m all done, he goes, “So, this is about some… flamboyant fighter? We sell financial services.” He completely missed the point. It was all about the fighter’s aesthetic to him, not the underlying principles of brand building and audience connection I was trying to demonstrate.
It was so frustrating. All that practical work, all those hours trying to translate this new-wave appeal into something they could understand, and it just went whoosh, right over their heads. Felt like I was trying to explain color to someone born blind. That was the moment I kind of knew I wouldn’t be there much longer.
Lessons Learned, I Guess
It really drove home a point for me. Some places, they just don’t want to change. They’ll say they do, they’ll talk about “innovation,” but what they really mean is “do the same old thing, just make it look a tiny bit different, and don’t cost us any money or effort.” It reminds me of another job I had, years ago, where they bought this super expensive new software, and then nobody used it because they were all too comfortable with their ancient spreadsheets. Millions down the drain.
So, yeah, my “young Sean O’Malley” deep dive didn’t revolutionize that company. But it did teach me a lot about recognizing when you’re hitting a brick wall. And it pushed me to find a place that actually values looking forward. Funny enough, at my current gig, we actually had a chat about personalities like O’Malley and how they build their brands. People were actually interested! Go figure.
Sometimes the “practice” isn’t about succeeding in the way you initially thought. Sometimes it’s about learning what doesn’t work, and who doesn’t work with. And that’s a valuable record to keep, I reckon.
