Content Marketing Turns Into Content Business for Father-Son ‘Costco Guys’

Entrepreneur: A.J. and Eric “Big Justice” Befumo

Biz: Costco Guys

Tilt: Boom and Doom ratings on food and more

Scene: YouTube (153K), TikTok (1.9M), link-in-bio, Cameo ($150 per video)

Snack Bites: 

• A.J., a former professional wrestler, started a YouTube channel to promote his mortgage lending work. His son, Eric, asked to be in a video, and together, they created a successful content business.
• They rate the food and other products with a “Boom” or a “Doom” and have expanded their videos to college campus dining halls at their audience’s request.
• The duo are now represented by Night Media, and A.J. left the mortgage business in June.

Why We Stan: This duo listens to their audience as they create new content. They also are big believers in positive content, something that social media needs more of.

The Story of A.J. and Eric “Big Justice” Befumo

A.J. Befumo was a professional wrestler – the American Powerchild Eric Justice – until 2005. He ended up as a regional manager for a mortgage company and turned to content marketing to promote his business.

As A.J. tells Rolling Stone, he assumed a wrestling persona around mortgages and filmed YouTube videos. When he hit around 10K followers, his son (named after his dad’s pro wrestling persona) asked to be in a video.

His dad said yes, and within a couple of years, the duo turned into the Costco Guys and had a big hit of the summer on TikTok – We Bring the BOOM! (That’s one reason Rolling Stone chose to interview them.) Earlier in 2024, they went viral with a video of A.J. weightlifting two jugs of milk and Eric dancing with a package of Premio sausages. 

By June, A.J. had left his day job, Night Media signed the duo, and now Eric’s mom works full time in the business, too.

Tubefilter shares that the duo became the top creators on Cameo, the personalized video service. They currently charge at least $150 for a video and keep their tilt on the “Boom” (thumbs up) and “Doom” content.

A.J. explains to Tubefilter, “The thing is we learned somewhere along the way what our audience wants, and we give it to them every day. We call it the Boom. It’s happiness. It’s laughter.

They also understand the power of engaging an audience. Instead of just filming their Costco trips, they develop curiosity factors to keep viewers watching. In one trip, the catch, they tell Tubefilter, was whether they would be over or under $350. “We got so many guesses, and everyone stuck around to the end to see,” A.J. says.

By the way, Costco knows about them and has given their OK, though A.J. declined to share with Rolling Stone if they had a financial relationship with the brand.

And they’re not just sticking to Costco’s aisles. Audience demand led them to Florida universities to give the Boom or Doom ratings to the food in their dining halls.

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