Australian breakdancer Raygun to become instant millionaire

The world is suddenly Rachael Gunn’s oyster ... and experts and Australian Olympians agree.

Marketing gurus have predicted Australia’s 36-year-old breakdancer to make millions after her viral moment at the Olympics.

Branding and advertising expert Dee Madigan says Raygun has rapidly gone from “cultural cringe to cultural icon” and her future is looking pretty rosy.

While famous marketing authority Max Markson says popular global companies will come for her with big-dollar offers.

Even Australia’s gold medal champion Emily Seebohm predicts big things for the dancer.

“The Aussie break dancing Raygun now has more follows than me and I went to four Olympics,” Seebohm said on X (formerly Twitter).

“I think she’s going to be just fine!”

Madigan said Raygun would forever be championed in Australia because “we love, love, love an underdog”.

“I foresee a very lucrative career on the speaking circuit, and at least one reality TV show – my money would be on Dancing With The Stars (on Channel 7),” Madigan wrote on The Guardian.

“There will also be a couple of brands lining up to get her in an ad. Obviously bananas, Make those bodies sing, would be an obvious one.

“Or maybe a beer: You can get it shaking, You can get it breaking, You can get it any old how ...”

Madigan compared Raygun to other Olympic flops who had become household names ... and forged successful careers in the aftermath.

There was Eric the Eel from Equatorial Guinea (who went viral during the Sydney Olympics for setting the slowest time ever in the 100m freestyle) and Brit Eddie the Eagle (who had a movie made about him following his 1988 Winter Olympics debut).

“Eddie laughed all the way to the bank,” Madigan said.

“As well as appearing on four reality TV shows and numerous ads, he also released a book and a video called On the Piste, while a movie of his life was the highest grossing British film of 2016.

“And most impressively, he recorded a single in Finnish despite the fact that he doesn’t actually speak Finnish. The song reached No.2 on the charts. And no, I’m not taking the piste!”

Markson said Raygun’s brand was already “enormous”.

“Her reputation in Australia isn’t that great, but she is famous across the world,” he told the Daily Mail Australia.

“I don’t think everyone else in other countries is conscious of how Australians feel about her.

“I think Australian marketers will be avoiding her for that reason, but there will be somebody in this country who will go for it.

“She will get international offers from sports shoe brands, like adidas or Puma, food companies like McDonald’s or KFC, electric cars like BYD, and she will get a phone company like Telstra or Optus or Vodafone.

“There will be other international companies that want her as well.”

Markson said new talent would typically do deals with 3-5 big brands and the going rate for a big company such as McDonald’s was about $500,000 (US).

If that should happen, as expected, Raygun stands to make at least $1.5 million, but could top $2.5 million.

It should happen quickly, too, with big brands usually striking while the iron is hot.

Some fast facts on Raygun’s viral Olympics*

- 47 per cent of Aussies watched breaking just for Raygun.

- While there were many moves to see, 36 per cent of Aussies called out the kangaroo hop as their favourite Raygun moment with 18-34-year-olds the biggest fans (47 per cent) of the move.

- Queenslanders were the biggest fans of the kangaroo hop (45 per cent) followed by NSW and ACT (41 per cent).

- 42 per cent of young Aussies aged 18-34 said they’re proud of Raygun.

- Most Aussies heard about Raygun through the news and online stories (40 per cent) or on social media (33 per cent).

- A whopping 59 per cent of young Aussies aged 18-34 know about Raygun thanks to social media.

- Some of the top words used to describe Raygun are brave (10 per cent), unique (8 per cent), inspiring (6 per cent), courageous (5 per cent), and fun (5 per cent).

*all stats provided by insights platform Ideally