In this episode, we sit down with Rohan Kumar, the strategist who led MrBeast’s TikTok to become the fastest-growing account three years in a row. He’s now advising brands and startups on how to break through the noise with moments that actually stick.

Rohan walks us through how he went from a COVID-era college grad pestering Colin & Samir weekly to running content strategy for one of the biggest creators on the planet, what he learned posting hundreds of videos before finding a playbook, and why most brands are still approaching TikTok completely wrong.

We get into the real mechanics of virality: the single image you want stuck in people’s brains, why manufactured moments beat creative briefs, how he pulled off a live 8-hour Kevin from The Office stunt for Ramp, and why giving creators “creative control” is mostly a cop-out.

If you’re a CMO, founder, or marketer trying to figure out what actually works in 2025, this is the playbook.

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Timestamps:

]6:09 — How Rohan got started in the creator economy post-COVID

07:28 — Annoying his way into Colin & Samir (and why it worked)

08:30 — Getting introduced to Jimmy and joining MrBeast

10:17 — Learning TikTok from scratch: 100 videos, run the data, iterate

11:24 — Making Jimmy feel like a TikToker + why brands still aren’t trying right

16:49 — Why brands need to be inside the community, not above it

17:39 — Breaking down the Ramp x Kevin from The Office live activation

22:03 — The “image in the brain” theory: designing content to get clipped

26:37 — Streaming, clipping, UGC: Innovator’s Dilemma for creators

30:00 — Why influencer marketing needs moments, not just creative briefs

33:03 — CMO advice: post daily, nail your hooks, budget reality check

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit playkit.substack.com