Fictional Character Generates Millions in Pipeline

Marketing School - Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Tips

Eric Siu and Neil Patel

Careers, Business, Marketing

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Eric and Neil break down how parody personas are becoming a secret growth engine for B2B brands. They analyze CompAI’s fictional character “Henrik Johansson,” how the account generated millions of impressions in days, and why entertainment-driven content can outperform traditional marketing. They also discuss the viral resurfacing of Peter Thiel’s 2020 email, how economic pressure shapes voter behavior, and what marketers can learn from shifting generational sentiment and online narratives. Key takeaways ● Parody accounts can drive real pipeline through high-engagement storytelling ● Viral narratives amplify brand awareness when aligned with product value ● Economic sentiment influences content performance and audience behavior TIMESTAMPS (00:00) How CompAI used a parody account to get 10M+ impressions (04:30) Why humor accelerates B2B brand awareness (08:10) Breaking down Peter Thiel’s resurfaced email (12:45) Generational economics and shifting voter behavior (17:20) Marketing lessons from viral political and cultural moments 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗟 Welcome to Marketing School, one of the top business podcasts with over 61 million downloads. Each episode delivers actionable marketing tips and strategies from two entrepreneurs who truly practice what they preach. The show is hosted by Eric Siu, founder of Leveling Up and Single Grain, and Neil Patel, co-founder of Neil Patel Digital and recognized by Forbes as a Top 10 Marketer. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HOSTS Eric Siu – Leveling Up: https://www.youtube.com/@LevelingUpOfficial Neil Patel: https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel FREE RESOURCES Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Ubersuggest: https://www.ubersuggest.com/ Answer The Public: https://www.answerthepublic.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@neilpatel

Transcript

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0:00.0	Basically, he created a fictional character.
0:03.4	This company has a fictional character that generates millions in pipeline.
0:07.4	So here, I'm going to share my screen over here.
0:10.2	You happen to be in Europe.
0:12.0	So I'm going to, this is about this European startup over here.
0:14.8	You see this?
0:17.1	Okay.
0:17.8	So those of you that can't see the screen, this guy, Andrea Bousani, tweets this. This startup got 10 million impressions in 15 days using a parody. Okay. So those of you that can't see the screen, this guy, Andrea Bosani, tweets this. This startup got 10 million impressions in 15 days using a parody account. Henrik, this is a guy, doesn't exist. He's a fictional character of comp AI. We'll go to comp AI in a second. But the brand awareness he drives is very real. He posts hilarious content about rules, regulations, and the EU's obsession with
0:38.5	them. Not coincidentally, there's a strong correlation between the content and the product,
0:43.2	an AI tool that handles compliance, right, comp AI. The founder told me they believe it added
0:48.6	millions of dollars to their pipeline. So here's an example of a post, right? So this guy,
0:52.3	Henrik Johansen. So this is a parody account.
0:55.7	Attended a European hacker event last night.
0:58.1	I asked the founder what was going on or what he's working on.
1:00.7	But then I caught myself.
1:02.1	I had just violated GDPR by soliciting sensitive information from a third party without proper consent and pre-approval.
1:08.4	I promptly departed the event and turned myself into the police. It was a grave mistake, and I profusely apologize to the community. This will never happen again. But this post alone, 50,000 views or so, and I can see how this generates pipeline because this is a comp, like, this is a comp AI logo over here. Yeah. It's entertaining. Yeah. And this guy actually has a lot of followers.
1:29.3	Like if I, if I click through to it, this Henrik, I guess this is just screenshot, right?
1:35.1	So here, let's just take a look at this guy's account real quick.
1:38.4	Oh, there we go.
1:39.6	Dude, as you're looking that up, I was, GoPro, actually pulled up.
1:43.7	So, okay, this guy's tweeting, look, so I was, GoPro, I actually pulled up. So, okay,
	...

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