The Industry Pivot: How Network Marketing’s Viral Facelift Attracted A New Generation Of Social Entrepreneurs

The network marketing industry is nearly a century old now, and although some dispute its exact birth year, many agree that its origins are sometime in the 1920s or 30s, and point to the California Vitamin Company (later renamed “Nutrilite”) or California Perfume Company (later named “Avon Products”) as some of the original companies. And for many of those decades, network marketing (also referenced as “multi-level marketing,” “MLM,” “direct selling”) thrived, died and revived while staying grounded in their traditional in-person business model.

Door knocking and phone calling were the go-to’s for connecting with prospective customers and the presenting of new kinds of products. The business model proved successful for a long time, producing industry household names like Avon and Mary Kay. Tupperware parties became “a thing.” People could buy luxury or coveted items from the comfort of their own or a friend’s home—a novel idea at that time!

But then in the late 1990s, social media happened. People could connect with others through the Internet. While a lot of businesses in different industries aggressively learned how to capitalize on social media coming into the 21 st Century, a majority of network marketing companies did not. And, that’s when Blake Mallen and Nick Sarnicola, young lifestyle entrepreneurs at the time, discovered a way to revolutionize network marketing by giving it a much-needed social facelift.

The Aha! moment came in the MySpace era when Mallen and his partners recognized the similarities between the emerging social network business model, and that of the old-school network marketing companies. “Both used ‘word of mouth’ to grow networks of people, and both moved products and services to those networks,” Mallen explains. “Emerging social networking platforms (Friendster and MySpace at the time, and then later Facebook) were becoming much more efficient at building connections (exposure), while the older network marketing model still proved to be much more effective at monetizing community (conversion). The big difference: In one model, profits went only to the company, while in the other, profits were shared with those building the network.”

Meanwhile, Mallen and Sarnicola had invested in a technology company focused on building private social networks for famous athletes and large celebrities. When Facebook emerged, Mallen immediately saw how to leverage the business potential and became an early adopter.

“I started training Facebook as a business tool back when people mostly saw it as a social college platform,” says Mallen. “I remember always starting my training events by saying that Facebook isn’t just for college students; you can utilize it to build a business, and here’s how.”

Transition to today where social networking is a way of life. In 2005, Mallen and Sarnicola co-founded Vi and made the ‘Body by Vi Challenge’ a household name by leveraging social platforms to revolutionize the network marketing industry and grow a social media community around it. Mallen’s “Challenge Marketing” strategy innovation not only propelled the company to billions of dollars in cumulative revenue, it also inspired a community movement both on and offline.

“Social media is an amazing way to connect; however, I always felt that real connection gets created in person and is strengthened through shared experience,” says Mallen. “Put both together in the right way, and it’s possible to create a massive community movement. And once you have that kind of momentum, anything is possible.”

One fun example of what “anything” can mean: Mallen recalls when “flash mobs” first started popping up and hearing the news about people suddenly breaking out into groups and dancing at random places. Mallen took the idea to a whole new level with a vision to mobilize tens of thousands of people across nearly every state simultaneously to do the exact same dance, at the exact same time to raise brand awareness in a radically social and viral way. This vision led to a world’s first: the ‘World’s Largest Simultaneous Flash Mob’ featuring celebrity, Alfonso Ribeiro and the now (in)famous ‘Carlton Dance. “That single idea created millions of media impressions across virtually every state, got us a World Record—and created a whole lot of fun! And it cost us almost nothing,” Mallen explains. “It’s just one example of what combining the power of community with today’s social media tools can create.”

Having proved the lucrative power of social marketing on the network marketing model, Mallen and Sarnicola set out to prove it again across Europe and Latin America with Vi, and in their latest venture: Liv, a global lifestyle platform that is taking the power of community to a whole new level to help people turn their Bucket List into a Liv List.

“For years, we’ve all seen how people use social platforms to market their lifestyle, and the most successful influencers and bloggers have learned how to monetize their social following,” says Mallen. “Nick and I wanted to inspire the masses to stop waiting for ‘someday’ to go on those incredible life experiences, and instead live them out ‘today’. So, we created a new kind of lifestyle platform designed to do just that, while also giving aspiring entrepreneurs an opportunity to generate part-time to full-time income along the way.”

Connect with Blake directly at BlakeMallen.com and Instagram @BlakeMallen