Alex Martyn created the rap-loving Lil Mayo brand on Instagram after converting his meme account ... [+]
In 2014, four years after Instagram first launched, Alex Martyn started a page that shared funny memes about aliens coming to Earth.
“I would search deep into the internet for alien photos to make dank, spicy memes with until I literally used all the meme-worthy photos of aliens on the internet,” Martyn told me. “I figured if I had my own alien I would be able to produce infinite content for the page.”
With that, Martyn expanded his brand, reaching about 20,000 followers, to include an ex-movie prop alien that he named Lil Mayo.
Lil Mayo is a muted olive-green, 3-foot alien with big, round black eyes, slim limbs, and long fingers, but his lifestyle is anything but typical.
Martyn often features Lil Mayo in racy content featuring trap music with smoke-filled, fast cars, scantily-clad women and daredevil stunts that would injure anyone other than a fake-alien doll. In January 2018, his account grew in popularity after partying with Rihanna for New Years. As of publication, Martyn has grown the account to attract more than 2.1 million followers.
With the buzz of the Area 51 raid, which has attracted more than 3.4 million people interested or going to the Facebook event, Martyn is thrilled of the buzz generated. "I love it. Great for Mayo content, great for business. God bless the internet," Martyn told me. The news of the raid attracted more than 300,000 followers to the Lil Mayo account.
"At the end of the day, it’s just a viral meme that caught wildfire and will most likely die out. Hats off to the man who created the Facebook page. I don’t know who he is but Lil Mayo owes him a pat on the back. All Lil Mayo jokes and memes aside, raiders beware," he told me.
With many of his videos showing Lil Mayo being thrown off balconies and jumping through basketball hoops, the original prop has been sent to alien retirement. “Mayo has been to Mars and back,” Martyn told me. “Right now I’m on my third one. Throwing him around for the videos and hard-partying eventually caught up with him. Very shortly after making the initial purchase, it was no question that I had to start looking for a replacement.”
Despite the humor behind seeing an alien living the “trap life,” Martyn has made the account into his business and main source of income for the past three years. Before creating the Lil Mayo account, Martyn was working at his father’s casework and millwork company out of his hometown of Gloucester, Mass. around the Boston area. Martyn has since moved to Los Angeles, grown the Lil Mayo brand to include a clothing line named SUCC International, which is short for successful, and Lil Mayo is making rap music.
“I never thought in a million years I’d ever live in LA, let alone visit it. Mayo’s brought me countless opportunities, rare friendships and broadened my creativity,” Martyn told me. “Fast forward three years and I still wake up everyday thankful that I went with my gut feeling and made the move.”
According to Martyn, he plans to continue growing the SUCC brand, which are stocked in Zumiez stores, create music and make "lit videos." Oh, and promote Mayo for President 2020.
