From April to June, I watched Mixoloshe intern Nicole Wingard smash an aluminum can of the non-alcoholic cocktail on her Instagram page, formerly known as @thebestmarketingstrategyever, every day (more on the handle change later). Her mission? To amass 500,000 followers by June 10, 2024, and prove to her boss, Chief Marketing Officer Mike Chambers, that “smashing [a can of Mixoloshe] was more effective than his entire marketing strategy”—or she’d be fired.
As the former Social Media Editor for my University’s art and culture publication, I’ve seen firsthand how social media management can be undervalued. Her rebellion engrossed me. Positioning herself as an underdog challenging her boss’s resistance to social media, “Nicole the Intern” gained my sympathy. @thebestmarketingstrategyever was a rallying cry for those who have ever had their work overlooked.
But, here’s the thing: @thebestmarketingstrategyever is precisely what its handle suggests: a budgeted, well-planned “marketing strategy,” not an organic campaign to stick it to the man. And Nicole Wingard certainly isn’t an intern. Days before her deadline, Wingard teased that she was leading Mixoloshe’s rebrand. On June 10, the company rebranded to SMASHD, with Wingard proclaiming “so good you’ll think it’s real”—a nod to the mocktail and the company’s too-good-to-be-true marketing strategy. The trademark was registered on April 26, 2024, just 13 days after Wingard began smashing cans of Mixoloshe on Instagram. Since the reveal, Chambers and Wingard have revealed to AdAge that the account was a ploy to capture the internet’s attention, feeding off the all-too-familiar feeling of being dismissed by an authority figure.
From a Pirates of the Caribbean parody to shooting a can Katniss Everdeen-style to using an excavator, Wingard captivated her fast-growing #SmashArmy daily, updating them on her ongoing correspondence with Chambers. Wingard reached 525,000 followers in less than two months—a far cry from the brand’s 91,000 at the time, and an impressive figure in itself.
There’s no denying that the SMASHD rebrand campaign was a raging success. Even as Wingard’s videos became suspiciously elaborate for an intern on thin ice, I wanted to know what would happen when she reached the deadline, and I was happy to entertain the idea that she was, in fact, an intern and not a social media manager in cahoots with her “boss.” However, the growth of both @thebestmarketingstrategy and @drinksmashd, Mixoloshe’s new Instagram handle, has stagnated since the reveal. In fact, @thebestmarketingstrategyever has even lost followers, now sitting at 443,000.
Why? Because Gen-Z loves an underdog, hates the dull, forgettable world of traditional marketing, and thrives on a deadline—and SMASHD just killed all its authenticity. Wingard was so successful because she broke the fourth wall, humanizing the brand. We were never rooting for Mixoloshe. We were rooting for a savvy, underappreciated social media intern like ourselves, invested in the narrative of a young, fresh employee in an uphill battle against her boss. Although she still plays the character on Instagram, “Nicole the Intern” is no longer an intern but an executive with a stake in the company and a played-out marketing campaign to back it. How do we relate to her? Gen-Z loves stakes and Nicole the Intern no longer has any, burying her chance at an evolving narrative. Simultaneously, she announced she played her audience. Wingard walked a fine line between creative license and manipulation—should her audience appreciate her marketing prowess or feel duped? Without a hero, what’ll keep their newfound audience hooked?
Although one of the most successful, SMASHD isn’t the first brand or individual to use the “marketing student and/or intern trying to prove a point” ruse, which has become increasingly popular in 2024. Billy Madison, or @billy_madison_marketing on Instagram, claims to be the “original marketing student trying to prove a point.” In March, he posted a video saying “50 days left to prove to my parents how I was able to get more followers from a simple video than what they teach me in marketing school.” When he hit 50,000 followers in just 26 days, Madison changed his goal to 100,000 followers. However, he met criticism for failing to deliver on his promise to show his parents’ reaction once he met his goal, only achieving 7,000 more followers in the next 24 days. Following the final day, followers such as @tastingthestar speculated in the comments that “[he] didn’t reach [his] other goal bc everyone wanted to see the reaction to the 50,000 but instead [he] upped it so people felt like [he wasn’t] gonna honor [his] word.” Gen-Z is quick to disengage from a fabricated story, and unwilling or unable to follow through, he compromised his credibility. His failure to deliver irreparably harmed his account’s reputation.
On March 30, shortly after Billy Madison’s campaign began, Monke Memes, or @sharpeddressmonkey on Instagram, posted “50 days left to prove to my marketing teacher that this sick monke will gain more followers than his awful marketing course.” After five days, Monke Memes reached its goal, and a commenter joked, “Mass unfollow if there’s no reaction from [the] teacher,” referencing Billy Madison and receiving almost 30,000 likes. Unlike Billy Madison, however, Monke Memes did deliver—within two weeks, they posted their teacher’s response, or what they alleged to be their teacher’s response. However, Monke Memes stopped the countdown with 32 days left. Since then, the account has lost almost 200,000 followers. Again, Monke Memes failed to maintain their momentum, offering no further incentive for its followers—there was no progression in their account beyond a single moment of triumph. The story had ended.
Hawaiian Host Group, a consumer goods and agricultural manufacturing company, has used a similar strategy more successfully. The account, which averaged 30 to 40 likes pre-April, posted “Our boss said he’ll take us to Disneyland if we hit 10K followers in the next 10 days,” featuring three young employees of the Communications Team. Within 2 days, they reached their goal. Like Billy Madison and Monke Memes, they increased their goal to 100,000; however, they added a new incentive: if they reached 100,000, their boss would dress up as a Disney princess of their audience’s choice. Within a week, they achieved over 300,000 followers, a number that has not significantly decreased since May. Part of this is because they have continued to post content from and related to their trip to Disney World—which did happen! From a “Dress Reveal Event” to their “Top 5 Disney Moments,” their consistency helped morph a cliche gimmick into a robust, supportive community.
In the age of TikTok, fast food, and fast fashion, if you want an audience to linger on a brand, you should remain authentic and evolve the narrative—there must be someone or something to root for. The “marketing student and/or intern trying to prove a point” trend not only breaks the fourth wall, bringing the audience into the marketing scheme, but ties a personable, familiar presence to the brand—one of us—who must overcome the adversity of more traditional marketing practices. We aren’t buying a product but supporting a friend on a mission. It’s a clear recipe for rapid success. However, consistent and genuine storytelling is the only way to build and sustain a community as our attention spans only seem to get shorter. Without stakes and a relatable hero, this trend quickly loses its appeal.
Thankfully, ChatterBlast will always have Chomby.
