What Happens When a Brand’s TikTok Personality Leaves?
Featuring an interview with Izzy Weinberg a.k.a. Raye from the NUGGS TikTok account.
“Lead with personality.”
“Create a character or mascot.”
“Have an employee run the account.”
We talk a lot about brands excelling on TikTok by putting a face to the brand—but we don’t talk about what happens when that person leaves. Recently I’ve seen several brands have to make announcement videos to usher in a new cast or personality. For example, on the LA Times TikTok account there’s a video titled Passing the Baton where we see their popular host V announce there will be a new “crew” running the account. Comments ranged from “But I'm only here to watch you” to “So exciting to see the growth”.
A few months prior, this happened on SIMULATE’S NUGGS TikTok. I had been following (and loving) the videos from Raye, an employee who was trapped? In the basement? Making TikToks? Trying to escape? It was really weird and really good. There was a whole plot line on their TikTok account—she gets stuck in the basement on January 25th, 2021, there’s a three part series on August 18, 2021 of her escaping (extremely cinematic, I might add), and she quits on January 26, 2022. In the video of her quitting there are comments like “wait no this isn’t real” and “I will forever miss you”.
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Then, on March 24th, two months later, we see Marie, the new personality behind NUGGS, “find” a phone that’s logged into the account. The audience is confused at best and mad at worst. For multiple posts after that initial video, the comment section is riddled with things like “Bro why even hire a new social media manager just shut down the company” and “Where did she go tho?”. A few years ago, a new social manager taking over an account would never encounter comments like this. (FWIW I feel for Marie and am a big fan!) But the landscape of what it means to work in social media and how much of yourself is visible is clearly changing.
I think as more and more brands decide to go full Flo from Progressive on TikTok, we’ll continue to see these sorts of tricky personality transitions. Importantly, Flo is allegedly paid upwards of one million a year to be the face of Progressive while many faces of brands on TikTok are actually outsourced creators or social managers who manage other platforms as well. As audiences get more attached to the personalities that are behind many brands’ accounts, it seems important to think about some of the ramifications that can come along with that, especially when they leave and someone new starts.
For today’s newsletter I spoke with Izzy Weinberg a.k.a. Raye from the NUGGS TikTok account. (Yes, it was a pseudonym.) We chat about what it’s like being the face of a brand, the “Raye Cinematic Universe”, and ultimately moving on.
Rachel Karten: Before we get into NUGGS, what previous social media roles (or not) have you had?
Izzy Weinberg: Before SIM (the company that owns NUGGS) I had never officially worked in social media. I went to school for film and TV and was working on set and at production companies!
RK: Can you describe your role at NUGGS? Did you run all of their social or just the TikTok?
IW: I did run all of the socials! I also had a hand in the creative/art direction of the brand. When I started, they were just getting their brand book together and luckily the creative director at the time let me kind of assist him! I also drew out the shapes for the DINO NUGGS they now have. I guess you could say I had my hands in a lot of buckets.
RK: Okay, and let's talk strategy. You were in...every single NUGGS TikTok basically from January of 2021 until you left in January of 2022. Most of them you were "locked in the basement". Can you talk about how you came up with the strategy for the TikTok account?
IW: Haha yes, so I thought that people would relate WAY more to a persona rather than a brand! I believe we were the first brand to really double down and commit to that strategy. Like before the Duolingo owl even. It’s funny to even talk about it like that since it was just my first idea. But to set the record straight, yeah, I think we did it first. Hope that doesn’t make me sound too insufferable!
I basically made this giant presentation presenting the “Raye Cinematic Universe,” or RCU, and had seasons of this story arch written out. I had the details of where this character came from, what she enjoyed, what she hated. All of that!
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RK: What was the approval process like? Were you given a lot of creative liberty?
IW: At the time I first presented this I just needed to get the approval of the COO and CEO. My boss was totally on board from the beginning. I was definitely given full creative liberty, which I really appreciated.
RK: You used a pseudonym (Raye) on the account? Were you playing a character? Or was that to protect your privacy?
IW: So Raye is my middle name! In many ways I was playing a character, because her backstory was something I created. But in the everyday filming of TikToks and using trends I mostly just filmed what I would post on my personal TikTok. I wanted to make things that were funny to me.
RK: Would you ever get recognized in public as the person behind the NUGGS TikTok account?
IW: Haha no but I did get recognized online! No one has said anything to me in public yet, but maybe that’s because I don’t go around wearing the bright red NUGGS sweatshirt anymore. Someone once DMed me that they were going to dress up as Raye for Halloween!
RK: I think a lot about how we've just accepted that brands now have faces on social media apps like TikTok—not dissimilar to Progressive having "Flo". Was it ever weird or uncomfortable being the face of a brand?
IW: Flo was actually a main inspiration for Raye. That woman has her life figured out—I wish I could be like her! I love being in front of the camera, so it was never a scary thing to me!
RK: Did you feel you were compensated properly for being the face of a brand?
IW: This is an interesting question. I think my salary was great for a social media job, but then you see what influencers are being paid for a one minute video and you start thinking…hmm maybe I should just do that haha. But no shade about what I was paid at all.
RK: You left NUGGS in January 2022, what have you been up to since then?
IW: I’ve been working more on the creative direction side of things! I had a taste of it at SIM and absolutely fell in love with that world and really see myself doing it in a bunch of different aspects of my life. I’m also a musician and actor, so that comes into play a lot in those worlds! I’ve been freelancing at brands while playing gigs and filming shorts so it’s been a super creative and busy time.
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RK: Would you ever want to be the face of another brand on social media? Or run another brand's TikTok?
IW: Haha no. I think once you’re behind the curtain of social media it kind of burns you out. I will always be grateful for my time at SIM, but in all honesty I want to stay away from social media as much as I possibly can! And that’s partly why I left SIM to begin with.
RK: In general, are you hopeful about the future of social media?
IW: I’m not sure if hopeful is the right word. I think we’re in a place right now where people feel like they always need to pick a side and defend it with their life. I think we consume so much media that we easily become overwhelmed and don’t know how to help. Everything is oversaturated. I have hope that those aspects of social media will change, but to be honest me being hopeful about the future of social media would be me hoping that we all use less of it. I think it’s an incredible tool that we’ve been running wild with for a little bit now. As our society continues to evolve I hope that we start to use the tool to our advantage instead of trying to change our realities or completely avoid them. Everything in moderation, you know?
RK: Any final thoughts?
IW: I really appreciate all the support and encouragement I’ve gotten about my work at SIM. This field is new, and I think that’s super exciting.
I’d say to people that are hiring for social media jobs, you should hire more people that are unconventional. Hire people that maybe don’t fit the stereotypical “social media” person. That’s what I was, and I think that it can breed more genuine work and also diversifies the digital landscape. People respond to sincerity, or at least that’s what worked for me!
Looking for a job in social media? Check out the Link in Bio job board here!