A REASON TO
KEEP WATCHING.
Conflict, tension or the suggestion something had gone wrong gave the opening seconds an actual job.
TIKTOK / AWARENESS CAMPAIGN / CREATIVE / CONTENT
SEA DIGITAL
NÉE REEL HUMANS
52 FOLLOWERS. ONE VERY QUESTIONABLE DEAL WITH MY BOSS.
THE START
Before it became part of Sea Digital, Reel Humans launched as a UGC agency connecting brands with creators.
The slight issue was that almost nobody knew it existed.
When I started working on the account as a Social Media Coordinator, it had 52 followers and a fairly straightforward objective: awareness. We did not need to explain every service, generate leads from every post or make every TikTok earn its keep further down the funnel.
We needed people to know the name.
THE STRATEGY
I worked closely with Head of Social, Sasha, on the strategy. She led the overarching direction, while I became a lead contributor across the creative development and day-to-day execution of the account.
A brand-new agency is not automatically interesting just because the people who work there think it is. So rather than making Reel Humans the main character, we made the people inside it the reason to follow.
Sasha was the boss. I was the employee routinely testing how much nonsense could reasonably be considered marketing.
THE IDEA
THE AGENCY WAS
THE SETTING.
THE PEOPLE WERE
THE CONTENT.
THE CAMPAIGN
In August 2024, Sasha agreed to pay me $1 for every new TikTok follower we gained that month.
Which, naturally, meant TikTok needed to help me bankrupt my boss.
$1
A FOLLOWER
We posted almost every day, following the campaign in real time. I became the underdog, Sasha became the person holding the company credit card, and every new follower was suddenly part of the plot.
The account started August on 52 followers. By the end of the campaign, it was sitting at roughly 6,000.
52START OF AUGUST
~3KTIME TO “INVEST”
~6KEND OF CAMPAIGN
THINGS ESCALATED
At around 3,000 followers, my investment strategy became a giant neon billboard on Cuba Street asking Wellington to follow Reel Humans.
There was a QR code. There were cardboard signs. There were attempts at campaign merch. There were live updates and, yes, there was content filmed on weekends.
The follower campaign had stopped behaving like a campaign and started behaving like a series.
HOT GIRLS INVEST.
SO I BOUGHT A BILLBOARD.
THE CONTENT ENGINE
Once the campaign finished, we kept the employee-boss dynamic going because people had very clearly told us they wanted more of it.
The opening seconds did most of the heavy lifting.
01
TENSION
An urgent meeting. A confrontation. The vague suggestion somebody may be resigning.
02
KEEPWATCHING
Give people a reason to stay long enough to find out what the problem actually is.
03
THETWIST
The “workplace crisis” turns out to be extremely unserious. The relationship becomes the payoff.
URGENT MEETING / VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS
THE BIG ONE.
1.7M
I booked an urgent Zoom meeting with Sasha about something “important”. The important matter was Hailey Bieber’s seven-part TikTok series.
The agency was barely the subject. That was the point.
127.8KLIKES
408COMMENTS
5,646SAVES
13.1KSHARES
CONFRONTATION.
GONE WRONG.
A confrontation about not being allowed to work from home ended with the revelation that Sasha was simply worried I was too skinny to survive the Wellington wind.
The dramatic setup got the attention. The relationship made the joke work.
203.3KVIEWS
2,525LIKES
WHY IT WORKED
The strongest content usually had two things going for it.
A REASON TO
A RELATIONSHIP
PEOPLE RECOGNISED.
The twist only worked because the dynamic was positive. Over time, people knew the characters well enough to understand the joke before we had even finished making it.
TOP OF FUNNEL.
VERY TOP.
This content was deliberately built for awareness. We were not trying to make people understand every service yet. We were trying to make sure they had heard of us.
THE RESULTS
Entertainment earned the attention. Reel Humans got to come along for the ride.
2.3MVIEWS GENERATED
148KLIKES GENERATED
52→~7KFOLLOWERS OVERALL
A SMALL EPILOGUE
REEL HUMANS → SEA DIGITAL
Reel Humans was later folded into its sister agency, Sea Digital. I stayed involved in the transition and was tasked with developing Sea’s new social media strategy so a new hire could pick it up and execute it.
The account changed names. The useful lesson did not: people rarely follow an agency because they desperately want more agency content.
WHAT I ACTUALLY DID
The overarching strategy was developed collaboratively with Sasha, who led Social. My role was heavily weighted toward turning that direction into actual content.
I developed and pitched concepts, scripted, filmed and edited content, managed the calendar, posted and handled community management, directed Sasha and other staff on camera, and became the face of the campaign itself.
There was strategic thinking. There was also standing in Cuba Street asking strangers to help bankrupt my boss.