Why Yungblud is a marketing genius: Hard mentality theory

Yungblud (Dom) is known for his loyal fanbase. With over 7.5 million followers on Instagram, his supporters show up with a fierce passion and deep emotional investment.

He builds a community of loyal followers, rather than through hit singles. Fans don’t just like him, they recognise themselves in him.

What might surprise you, is that despite his large and dedicated following, Yungblud hasn’t yet had a number one single.

So, how is Yungblud able attract such a hard core fan base, despite no number one single?

Now don’t get me wrong, the music is good, especially the new stuff. But he hasn’t yet produced the universally nostalgic, cross-generational hit, the kind your dad puts on after a few drinks when he wants to go back to “the good old days” (although Zombie comes close).

The answer, Yungblud, knowingly or not (probably not), uses a marketing theory called “Herd Mentality”, or more accurately, social identity theory, to attract his fan base.

A number one single requires mass, often passive, consumption. Including radio plays and playlist placements.

A number one album requires intent. People have to show up deliberately and stream repeatedly. In contract, being physically engage as a group, is a collective behaviour, and that’s exactly where Yungblud excels. The audience isn’t broad, but it is deeply mobilised.

The most compelling part of this story is that none of it feels manufactured.

Yungblud hasn’t sat around a corporate boardroom (I don’t think) applying marketing theory or building go-to-market strategies. He is, by all accounts, fiercely passionate about music and about people. He creates authentic connections with fans he genuinely cares about, and he’s said himself that many of his ideas come from sitting around a table with his mates. That authenticity is what makes the “strategy” work.

I attended Yungblud’s first festival, Bludfest. He’s known for his bold, emotional speeches on stage, bringing fans together and openly selling a sense of belonging.

He repeatedly told the crowd: you belong here. That this is a safe space for people society has labelled as “outsiders”.

Particularly for younger audiences navigating identity, mental health and self-expression, that message carries real weight.

Two lads standing in front of me were crying. It was a powerful reminder of the impact one person, someone you’ve never met, can have on how you feel about yourself. I don’t know if Yungblud will ever fully understand what he’s created for his community.

Bludfest even had a “make a friend” tent.

From a pure marketing lens, you could argue this lowers barriers to attendance and increases ticket sales. But to his fans, especially those who might otherwise struggle to show up alone,  it gives confidence, reassurance, and a reason to be there.

That’s the difference between targeting an audience and caring about one.

Most mainstream artists are engineered for scale first and identity second. Their sound, image and messaging are optimised to offend as few people as possible. Yungblud has taken the opposite route.

He positions himself as an unapologetic outsider: emotionally raw, anti-polish, values-led, and unafraid to use his voice to speak up about what matters to him.

That’s classic social identity theory at work. People aren’t attached to the “product”, but to what the product signals about who they are. The music becomes the badge. The community becomes the value.

People don’t follow Yungblud because every track is a radio masterpiece. They follow him because he creates a space where they feel seen.

That’s not herd mentality in the dismissive sense, it’s community formation. And it’s one of the hardest things to engineer authentically.

In contrast, Ed Sheeran is a textbook case of an artist engineered for scale first. His music blends pop, folk, acoustic and light hip-hop influences in a way that’s deliberately genre-agnostic. His success comes from maximum accessibility and minimum resistance.

We often mistake ubiquity for brilliance. But some of the strongest brands in the world aren’t built on universal appeal, they’re built on emotional resonance with a very specific group.

Yungblud understands this instinctively. He hasn’t engineered hits for everyone. He’s built a platform for someone.

And the fact that his audience shows up in force for albums (three consecutive UK no1 albums), not just singles, tells us everything we need to know.

In a world chasing attention, Yungblud has built allegiance. That’s not just good marketing. That’s exceptional brand strategy, and I bet money the words “brand strategy” have never come out of his mouth.

Brands like YETI do this brilliantly in the business world, with a sharp focus on community engagement.

So my advice to business leaders? Stop obsessing over how you’re going to acquire new customers, and start thinking about how you build a community people want to belong to.

The revenue will follow.