6 Marketing Tips from Mr Beast’s $500,000 Disneyland Date

Early in June 2025 Jimmy “Mr Beast” Donaldson paid Disneyland California Adventure half a million dollars for an exclusive night in the park, rolled in with thirty friends, and published the video $1 vs $500,000 Romantic Date. Two weeks later the counter on YouTube sat at around 91 million views.

Run the numbers and the stunt starts looking positively thrifty. A 500 grand bill divided by 91 million impressions works out to roughly $5.50 per thousand views. Average Facebook CPM for advertisers hovers just under nine dollars, so in pure media-buy terms the empty-park date actually undercuts the world’s biggest social network. Traditional press piled on as well; People and CinemaBlend both jumped on the story, which means even more reach at no extra cost.

Look, you’re probably not about to write Disneyland a six-figure check. But you can borrow the same playbook on a budget under $1,000 and get the ball rolling in just a couple weeks. Here’s how.

Tip 1: Turn Ad Spend into Spectacle

What Happens Onscreen

Mr Beast labels the entire half-million as a production cost. The money buys both the jaw-dropping experience and the audience who will binge it later.

How to Adapt It

Imagine a neighbourhood café setting aside the month’s Instagram ad budget and instead setting up a pop-up shop, or even renting a vintage ice-cream truck for Saturday morning outside the local fun-run. Free espresso cones flow, phones come out, and the barista with the moustache becomes TikTok gold. One event, one bill, endless clips. Line up permits a week in advance, add a chalkboard that screams “Race Fuel on Us,” and hand two staffers phones so vertical and horizontal shots land in the edit room the same afternoon.

Tip 2: Do the CPM Test Before Calling Anything “Too Expensive”

What Happens Onscreen

As soon as the $500,000 price tag flashes, the comments explode with people calculating value. That discussion itself pushes the video higher in the algorithm.

How to Adapt It

Take the reach from your last three best-performing posts, add a modest bump if a local newspaper or a partner brand will share, then plug the total into this formula: cost divided by impressions times one thousand. If the answer comes in at or below the CPM you usually pay Meta, the idea is at least worth exploring. Any extra press quotes or backlinks you land push the real CPM even lower.

Tip 3: Squeeze One Day for a Month of Content

What Happens Onscreen

Lightsaber builds, an empty Ferris wheel, a private parade, Madison Beer casually riding Space Mountain. Every tiny moment turns into its own thumbnail or YouTube Short.

How to Adapt It

Sketch a content map before showtime. Plan a same-day teaser for Stories, a 45-second highlight reel for Reels and Shorts within twenty-four hours, a photo carousel two days later, and a behind-the-scenes blog post at the end of the week. If you shoot both portrait and landscape on the day, you will never need a reshoot and you will have creative ready to drip out for a month.

Tip 4: Use Scarcity to Spark FOMO

What Happens Onscreen

Viewers stare at queue-free rides they have waited hours to board. The impossibility of the moment drives sharing. This is called scarcity marketing, and it’s a lot easier to pull off than you’d think.

How to Adapt It

Close your shop an hour early next Tuesday and host a twenty-seat, ticket-only session. A bookshop could stage candle-lit poetry, a gym could run a kettlebell clinic, a florist could offer a midnight bouquet bar. Film the empty aisles, the velvet rope, the undivided attention each guest receives. Post the recap the same night and promise newsletter readers first dibs on the next slot.

Tip 5: Borrow Someone Else’s Halo

What Happens Onscreen

Disneyland’s family-friendly aura scrubs any odour of tasteless excess. Parents share the video with kids, mainstream writers cover it, advertisers feel safe.

How to Adapt It

Partner with a local institution everybody already loves, perhaps the heritage bakery that has been on Main Street since 1954 or the microbrewery sponsoring the Sunday farmers’ market. Pitch them a joint event, offer professional-quality photos in exchange for access, and publish to both audiences at the same time. Trust is contagious.

Tip 6: Build a Ladder That Keeps Climbing

What Happens Onscreen

Mr Beast kicks things off with a $1 Ferris-wheel picnic, upgrades to a $10,000 dinner cooked by Gordon Ramsay, jumps again to a $50,000 private-island getaway, and finally tops out with the $500,000 Disneyland takeover. Each step is a cliff-hanger that makes viewers stick around for the next reveal.

How to Adapt It

Map out a seven-day campaign that climbs in clear, exciting stages. Start with a free sample for everyone who walks in on day one. On day three, offer a fifty-dollar bundle at a steep discount. Day five goes live on Instagram with a $500 prize draw. Finish on day seven by announcing one lucky customer who wins a makeover or VIP package worth a few thousand. Every step gives you fresh video, new stories to post, and another angle for local press to cover.

Closing Thoughts

Spectacle. Smart CPM math. A thirty-day content flywheel from a single afternoon. Visible scarcity. Trusted partnerships. A narrative that climbs step by step. Twist any one of these dials and you can pull surprisingly large attention with a modest budget. Pick the tactic that fits your brand, block ninety minutes this week to outline the plan, hit record on every moment, and watch what happens when your marketing budget doubles as the main attraction.