When President Obama addresses the nation, we take note. But when the Kid President gives us a pep talk, we stop, watch, share, and then dance. And that's lucky for Rainn Wilson's SoulPancake, which took the No. 1 spot on Ad Age's YouTube Original Channel Tracker this week, unseating stalwarts like Mondo and The Warner Sound.
Kid President Is Blowing Up Rainn Wilson's YouTube Channel, SoulPancake
The channel garnered 8.45 million views last week -- up 5,944% from the week prior.
SoulPancake owes almost all of this growth, which more than doubled the channel's all-time views, to one video: "A Pep Talk from Kid President to You." The video took Facebook and Twitter by storm last week and this morning had more than 8 million views on SoulPancake's YouTube channel.
The video stars a young man known as Kid President dressed in a suit and red power tie, urging all of us to do something meaningful with our lives. "In high school, what if [Michael Jordan] had quit if he didn't make the [basketball] team?" he says. "He would have never made Space Jam. And I love Space Jam. What would be your Space Jam? What would you create that would make the world awesome? Nothin' if you keep sitting there."
A new Kid President video is released each week on SoulPancake, a channel dedicated to big topics that involve spirituality, philosophy, and creativity. Usually filmed at his desk in front of a hand drawn presidential seal, Kid President likes to conduct interviews with friends (like Dave Coulier of "Full House") over a tin can telephone. He often ends his broadcasts by dancing, something he thinks we should all do more of.
Kid President also has a website where he blogs and shares nuggets of wisdom like, "Don't be in a party. Be a party." He also maintains a Twitter account where he interacts with some of his more famous fans like Josh Groban and Jessica Biel.
The Jackson Sun has identified Kid President as 9-year-old Robbie Novak, a third-grader from Tennessee. And while SoulPancake distributes the series, the article also notes that the videos are produced by Robbie's brother-in-law, who manages the social media for Freed-Hardeman University.
SoulPancake was founded in 2008 by Wilson of The Office and friends Joshua Homnick and Devon Gundry. What was then a concept for a video series called "Metaphysical Milkshake" expanded into a full website by 2010. The same year, it signed with OWN to develop a series of SoulPancake-themed short interstitials. SoulPancake launched its YouTube Original Channel last July.