Alex Cooper's Not Unwell

We’ve always imagined a world where creators borrow from the franchise playbook to extend their reach or, as discussed last week, to provide a service in lieu of a physical product. A few months ago, we wrote:

“Top creators can offer knowledge, operational expertise, and a larger brand platform to smaller creators in exchange for their “local” audiences and a small percent of revenue. Whereas the larger creator stands to benefit from low-cost acquisition through new audience pools, the smaller creators enjoy the platform’s visibility and don’t have to stand up operations from scratch. This model becomes even more compelling in a world where a creator’s CAC advantage may inevitably plateau.”

So when Alex Cooper announced the launch of The Unwell Network, a Gen-Z focused podcast network, we were excited and impressed. Not necessarily by the podcast network itself, which is an avenue many creators have pursued, but by her go-to-market. She announced the project in concert with signing Alix Earle, a wildly popular TikToker and recent UMiami graduate, and Madeline Argy, a 23-year-old, UK-based YouTuber / TikToker – strategic choices who will allow her to tap into new audience pools and their revenue generating opportunities.

Cooper herself has moved past the post-college content that catapulted her to fame; her podcast, Call Her Daddy, has transitioned largely to celebrity interviews and covers more weighty topics, such as mental health, careers, and marriage. But in authentically maturing alongside her "Daddy Gang," she is naturally catering less and less to the early 20s cohort. So, she “franchised.”

Earle is, in some ways, Cooper 6 years ago (Alex / Alix irony noted). Directly out of school and trendsetting on a national stage, Earle is the Gen Z It girl. She represents an American collegiate and post-grad experience (and audience) that was once Cooper’s bread-and-butter. Argy, on the other hand, embodies Cooper’s candor (with a Gen Z twist), and introduces a UK audience.

While we don’t have the exact details of the deals, and can’t speak to Cooper’s financial incentives, we do know she has masterfully expanded both demographically and geographically. She has offered Earle and Argy the playbook she wrote, and a distribution platform — remarking, “I feel honored to be at a place in my career where I can pass along knowledge and advice for a new generation of creators to flourish” – and has buoyed her own relevance by association with two of the biggest names on TikTok.

Cooper’s efforts were deeply intentional and, so far, have been extremely well-executed. She is approaching her network from a business-first angle; her first hire was the senior operator Moorea Mongelli, who was previously Senior Director of Podcast Operations at Studio71. And her network’s effective rollout strategy leveraged the significant audiences of her initial creators, who offered a natural path for distribution.

While the first inning of The Unwell Network might look like that of its peers (e.g., Dear Media), we suspect podcasting is only Cooper’s entry point. Her recently founded parent media company, Trending, and experienced team (including Mongelli and Cooper’s fiancé, Matt Kaplan of ACE Entertainment) suggest she has much bigger plans. We could imagine her building an agency and / or creator conglomerate, with her notability and business savvy as major selling points. And considering the wealth of opportunities Cooper has created for herself, we’d wager she’s anything but unwell.