The 20-year-old behind Kum & Go's viral TikTok
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Kum & Go's kinda weird, kinda cool TikTok has 2.6 million likes.
Driving the news: That's more than some Fortune 500 companies, like Taco Bell and Target. And it's all led by Evelyn Meyer, a 20-year-old internet mastermind.
The state of play: TikTok's idiosyncrasies and its completely bizarre, but also relatable tenor can be tough to break into.
- Even Kris Jenner, the mom of social media, gave up after three posts.
Instead of consulting a roundtable of PR executives, Ariel Rubin, spokesperson for Kum & Go, told us he wanted to give free rein to someone who already understood the platform that's predominantly popular with Gen Z.
- That's where Meyer, who has 200k+ followers, came in.
What they're saying: "We're looking at an audience that’s profoundly savvy, that’s been advertised to their entire lives," said Rubin, who was introduced to Meyer through Iowa Safe School, a nonprofit that helps LGBT students.
How it works: The account is hyper-paced and features cosplay, gas station ASMR, "Kum & Gay Rights" and a running gag acknowledging the weirdness of it all.
For Meyer, there is no set social media plan.
- It's everything Evelyn is interested in, especially creating an LGBT-positive space.
- "It can be cool, it can be beneficial to kids who needed it like me when I was younger," Meyer told us.
And of course, there's inherent internet gold in the company's name:
- "Use that stuff to your advantage because at the end of the day ... it's definitely something a lot of people are thinking about," Meyer said.
This story first appeared in the Axios Des Moines newsletter, designed to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news unfolding in their own backyard.