Max Klymenko is an economics and technology researcher at Accenture. He’s also a TikTok “edutainer” with two million followers, all eager to try out his “simple persuasion tricks to help you get exactly what you want.”
Klymenko knows a lot of consultant’s tricks, and has won fans by offering mini-tutorials on techniques like “pre-emptive gratitude,” the “creativity paradox,” and “how to avoid hard questions,” often with the use of balloons as a visual hook.
So how has this guy amassed two million followers on TikTok? Sam Gormley, founder of content studio Osaka Labs, says that the random nature of success on the platform is something that marketers have to learn to live with.
Gormley said: “TikTok is special because users engage with it in a way you can’t predict. You have to understand it’s a unique platform, it’s got its own cultiness.”
One of Osaka Lab’s clients, Yazoo milkshakes, got two million views for a TikTok featuring a guy reviewing milkshake flavours.
Gormley, who also works with clients including Mars Petfood and Capita consulting, explained: “The reason is that we don’t try and have this one hard end goal. The KPI is secondary, it has to feel right, and it can be hard to convince brands of that. Clients on TikTok need to have an appetite for openness. You can’t just take your YouTube or TV strategy and apply it there.”