Frank Kern
Internet Marketing Pioneer and Course Creator
Frank Kern is one of the original figures in the internet marketing industry, having been active in the online product sales space since the early 2000s. He is credited with developing and popularizing several techniques now standard in digital marketing, including the "product launch formula" — a structured approach to releasing products that uses pre-launch content, email sequences, and coordinated affiliate promotion to maximize sales during a defined window. He presents himself with a laid-back California surfer persona and has built a substantial following among entrepreneurs and online marketers.
Kern's earlier ventures attracted Federal Trade Commission attention in the early 2000s, when he was involved in information product businesses that regulators examined. He subsequently shifted into the internet marketing education space and became one of its more prominent figures. In 2012, The Verge published a substantial investigation into the internet marketing industry titled "Scam World," which featured Kern as a central figure in a network of marketers who promoted each other's products through coordinated launches, creating what critics described as manufactured social proof. The investigation raised questions about whether the mutual promotion among this network of gurus constituted independent endorsement or a coordinated commercial arrangement.
The products Kern and his contemporaries sold were largely focused on teaching people how to sell online — a recursive model where the primary case study for the techniques being taught was the sale of the course itself. Critics argue this creates an inherently limited value proposition for students who want to apply marketing skills to an underlying business. Kern's supporters note he has genuinely innovated in digital marketing and that his techniques are widely used effectively.
No active regulatory proceedings relate to Kern's current business activities, and the concerns about his work are primarily in the category of inflated promises and marketing practices rather than fraud.