Mario Parent, a Saint-Laurent man with a colorful language, went viral this summer in Quebec. With more than 12,000 followers on Instagram, he has now become a “micro-influencer,” despite himself, at 53 years old. He even collaborated with host Pierre-Yves Lord for a promotional video for the upcoming Gémeaux gala.
Since the summer, Mario Parent has been recognized in the street and has received all kinds of partnership proposals. He has been invited to restaurants and offered microbrewery beer. “It’s just weird. I’m not a rock star,” the person concerned says with a laugh.
Did he ever think he would become so famous on social media? “Honestly, no. It really wasn’t the goal. I was just doing it for fun,” he says. The airline warehouse worker started making videos to showcase beers about ten years ago when he was a convenience store owner. “I didn’t have a lot of followers, it was family, friends and a few customers of our convenience store,” he recalls.
It was just before the summer that his popularity skyrocketed, thanks in part to a video that reached 20,000 views, showing him going about his daily life. His subsequent videos, in which he films himself on a family trip to China, camping, at baseball games, and often while enjoying a beer, have continued to be a hit, with several having exceeded hundreds of thousands of views.
Pierre-Yves Lord discovered “his Mario” by chance on social media and he felt like he had discovered a gem. “These are people who manage to touch the world, there is no staging, it is not polished,” says the man who likes to consume more “slow” content that takes him out of the usual “hubbub” of social media.
“A member of the family”
“When you see his appearance, when you hear him speak, and when you see the topics he discusses, everything aligns with the image of a good Quebec jack,” explains Roxane Nadeau, digital communications strategist at Les Débrouillards. “Even if he’s a stranger on the internet, he’s a bit like a family member or a friend.”
“People like to watch someone who is simple and I am always smiling,” says Mario Parent about the reasons for his popularity. The 53-year-old also expresses himself colorfully, starting his videos with “action” in English – his expression dates back to a video taken during a trip to China in the late 1990s, he says – and punctuating his sentences with swear words.
“I add a little spice when I speak, I don’t speak the same way all the time,” he said. “I do it to make it fun and enjoyable.”
Spontaneously, he took codes that are very catchy. He has a certain lack of moderation, it can be refreshing.
Roxane Nadeau, digital communications strategist at Les Débrouillards
Mario Parent has created a community on Instagram. Many young people follow him and have elevated him to the rank of a popular culture figure in Quebec. He has even been called the “GOAT” (“the best of all time”) by Internet users.
The new influencer doesn’t know all the codes of social networks and he accepts it. “When I make a video, I don’t have a script, it’s live, it’s spontaneous, I’m having fun.” He still fulfills the “codes of authenticity,” says Roxane Nadeau, an asset highly sought after by companies looking for influencers.
Mario Parent is also aware that his popularity may be fleeting. “It will last a few weeks, a few months, maybe a few years,” he says. “I have no idea, but we’re going to live in the moment.” Some might worry about his beer consumption, but he wants to reassure his subscribers: he drinks one or two beers a week and that’s when he takes out his cellphone and films himself, much to the delight of his fans.
Check out Mario Parent’s Instagram page