\n<\/p>\n
He was the propelling force behind a massive ad campaign that garnered billions of organic views. Now Alvaro Gellings<\/a>, a serial entrepreneur born and raised in Spain, is revealing his growth secrets.<\/p>\n Gellings recently spoke at the OOAK Mastermind conference in Castelfalfi, Italy. He talked about his business ventures and how he created multi-million dollar companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before becoming deeply involved in the creator economy, Gellings built and scaled a gaming company that grew through paid advertising. It\u2019s a concept familiar to many of the founders who were in the room. \u201cThat\u2019s all I knew,\u201d he says. \u201cBuying reach and selling the product.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, in 2021, he sold that company and moved into an apartment in Hamburg, Germany. By chance, he lived above a Twitch creator. At the creator\u2019s birthday party, he had a conversation with a popular streamer that shifted his understanding of marketing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to buy your reach,\u201d the streamer told him, according to Gellings. \u201cI have the reach.\u201d<\/p>\n That difference became the basis of Gellings\u2019 next chapter. He began asking why brands were willing to pay creators so much, concluding that their influence must have substantial commercial value. He ended up founding a fashion business, Ama Studios<\/a>, with two of Germany\u2019s most popular online personalities, Trymacs<\/a> and Amar<\/a>. By collaborating with them, he learned just how powerful a creator-led launch could be.<\/p>\n Gellings planned the launch of Ama Studios in three months in 2021. In its first hour, Gellings says the business generated \u20ac1.2 million<\/a> (about $1.4 million) in sales.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018Wow, that\u2019s insane,\u2019\u201d he recalls thinking as he sat at his laptop.<\/p>\n Ama Studios continued launching collections. The experience gave Gellings a new conviction: Creators could be much more than paid media channels. They could become the narrative engine behind a brand, especially in categories where consumers are not urgently searching for a product.<\/p>\n That belief later shaped Day One<\/a>, the sportswear company Gellings launched with German creator and endurance athlete Arda Saat\u00e7i<\/a>. Gellings knew that in sportswear, a product alone is rarely enough.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody\u2019s looking for the next gym tank to buy,\u201d he says. \u201cNobody\u2019s in urgent need of the next T-shirt, the next socks, the next shoes. You have to create a story.\u201d<\/p>\n Gellings had a background in clothing and understood product development, but he was looking for a way to test more ambitious growth and launch ideas. Sportswear was the obvious fit. He was passionate about the category and had been developing concepts for campaigns that could produce a broader cultural impact than conventional advertising.<\/p>\n He met Saat\u00e7i while discussing a possible investment in a sports-teaching app in 2024. At the time, Saat\u00e7i had about 100,000 followers, far lower than the 2.9 million he would later accumulate, but Gellings saw unusual potential. \u201cHe\u2019s a superstar,\u201d Gellings recalls thinking. \u201cHe\u2019s super good in front of the camera, and he\u2019s crazy in terms of sports.\u201d<\/p>\n Within 48 hours, Gellings had put together a complete pitch: a deck, samples, models and a film illustrating the potential brand. His pitch to Saat\u00e7i was not primarily about equity or a traditional influencer partnership. It was about visibility.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I learned about being in constant contact with creators and influencers and celebrities,\u201d Gellings says, \u201cthe one thing that they like more than money is audience and reach and being even more famous.\u201d<\/p>\n His proposal was intentionally extreme: Saat\u00e7i would run from Berlin to New York, and the team would document the journey, turn it into long-form video content and then distribute clips across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts and other channels. Once he reached New York, Day One would launch.<\/p>\n The Berlin-to-New York concept established the creative logic that defined the business. The brand wanted to build a high-stakes story around a real athletic feat, let audiences follow it in public and attach itself to the journey rather than interrupting the audience with a conventional sales message.<\/p>\nA new resolve<\/h2>\n
From paid reach to gathering attention<\/h2>\n
The Cyborg Season campaign<\/h2>\n