The Disguised Ad
Make the sponsored piece so good people forget it was an ad.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 86%
Brand deals were Casale's main income for years — so well-disguised that viewers, and even a podcast host who runs an influencer network, assumed he didn't do them at all. His rule: make the ad genuinely fun to watch even if you don't care about the brand at all. It's product placement, not a shoutout. He compares it to eating peanut M&Ms in an Adam Sandler movie — you notice, but you're also having a great time. The strategic insight is that other creators normalised blatant end-of-video shoutouts for products they don't believe in, which set the bar so low that a genuinely good sponsored piece stands out enormously.
Origin
About six months after Snakes Have Legs, Casale got his first brand deal from a website domain company. The money wasn't a fortune but the realisation was: he was being paid to draw. Rather than deliver a shoutout, he built a whole series about aliens who crash-landed on Earth, needed to raise money to fix their spaceship, started a rock band, and used the sponsor's domain service to promote the band. That set the template.
Core principles
- 01The ad must be genuinely fun to watch even if the viewer doesn't care about the brand.
- 02Treat sponsorship like product placement in a movie, not a call-to-action at the end.
- 03Only take deals with brands you genuinely believe in — audiences detect the rest.
- 04A payday for a bad video has no longevity and won't grow with you.
- 05Most creators set the bar low with blatant end-of-video shoutouts; that's your opening.
How to run it
- 1
Filter for genuine belief
Only work with brands you actually love and respect, where you could genuinely do cool stuff together.
Watch out 'If you just take like a payday and you make like a mad video shouting out some brand that you don't really believe in... there's no longevity there.'
- 2
Build a story the brand fits inside
Don't insert the brand into your format — build a narrative where the product's function is naturally load-bearing.
Pro tip Aliens who need a website to promote their rock band is a story that requires a domain company.
- 3
Apply the movie test
Would someone who doesn't care about this brand at all still enjoy watching this? If no, rebuild it.
Pro tip The Adam Sandler peanut M&Ms standard — you notice the product, but you're there for the movie.
- 4
Cut the in-your-face CTA
No 'go buy this,' no end-card shoutout. The disguise is the whole mechanism.
Watch out This will conflict with briefs that demand measurable CTAs. Negotiate that upfront or decline the deal.
- 5
Optimise for the best possible end product
Whether it's a sponsored video, a hoodie, or a book — the commonality is that you want the best possible end product, because that's what grows with you.
In the wild
For an internet domain company, Casale made a whole series about aliens who crash-land on Earth, need money to fix their spaceship, start a rock band, and use the sponsor's domain service to spread the word about the band.
→ The series has millions of views and was genuinely fun to watch even for viewers who didn't care about the company at all — it worked as content first, ad second.
Hala Taha, who runs a podcast network representing 20 shows and influencers, looked at Casale's channels and concluded he didn't do brand deals — despite him having worked with Samsung for two years and running deals as his primary income stream.
→ Confirmation the disguise works: a professional in influencer marketing couldn't spot his sponsored content.
Common mistakes
Taking the payday for a brand you don't believe in
The video will be mad, the audience will feel it, and there's no longevity. It won't grow with you into something truly great — it's a one-time transaction that costs trust.
Bolting a shoutout onto the end
The blatant end-of-video plug is what creators normalised and it set the bar low. It converts the piece from content into an ad in the viewer's mind, and they discount everything that follows.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators with a narrative or character-driven format and enough leverage to shape the brief.
Not ideal for
Direct-response campaigns where the brand needs measurable clicks, codes, and explicit CTAs.
From the transcript
“I really make sure it's like such a disguised ad that it's enjoyable to watch you know it's like oh wow I didn't even realize…”
“It's almost like product placement in a movie... you watch like an adam sandler movie and he's like eating like peanut m&ms you're like i…”
“If you just take like a payday and you make like a mad video you know shouting out some brand that you don't really believe…”
From the episode
Danny Casale: Authenticity is the Key to Success
Danny Casale