Viewers right here in Singapore and throughout the Causeway know her by many names: the vivacious Aunty Siow, bimbotic Michelle, brooding director Jennston, and — in her earlier days on the web — The Best Sales Girl in Malaysia, peddling something from a vacuum cleaner to a automotive.
But 30-12 months-outdated Malaysian influencer Jenn Chia, who is understood for her slapstick antics, admits that she is not a pure comic.
“I do not assume I’m naturally humorous. I feel my content material is curated to be humorous, maybe.”
Well, if that’s the case, then the quantity of effort that goes into curating such a variety of comedic personalities and content material actually paid off as a result of right now, Chia boasts a 785,000-sturdy following on Facebook and over 374,000 Instagram followers.
She additionally counts BMW, Clinique, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Samsung, Grab, and Jo Malone amongst her purchasers. Aunty Siow, Michelle impressed by folks she meets One of Chia’s many abilities is her means to look at and decide out relatable traits in folks and create characters primarily based on them, which then make you go: “Hey! I do know somebody like that!”
Chia’s “Aunty Siow” character, for instance, is a mash-up of her favorite aunt (“She’s all the time the lifetime of the occasion, she’s all the time pleasant, and she or he’s additionally sassy!”) and a center-age “aunty” influencer whom Chia follows.
SOIMJENN/YouTube.
As for “Michelle”, properly, everybody is aware of a bimbo who, in Chia’s phrases, “tries to talk English however tak jadi (actually can’t) however nonetheless need to have accent”.
It’s humorous, as a result of these absurdities are sometimes present in actual life.
Chia had plans to be a psychologist however realised that she needed to pursue a distinct journey whereas producing songs on the web as a aspect hustle throughout her college days.
“So, a few of my associates who listened to the songs stated, ‘Yeah I really feel it’, ‘It’s my anthem’. That feeling, that form of connection, actually means so much to me,” says Chia.
“And from music to proper now, , making foolish movies and content material, simply to see the feedback — particularly some individuals who say that ‘Oh I had a sh*t day after which right now watching your movies made it higher,’ — it brings that means to my work.” Finding inspiration, even when caught at house Chia is most lively on Instagram, posting every little thing from exercise movies to crazy skits (her newest character Jezebel has such plump lips, they’re an entire character by themselves).
But probably the most memorable issues from Chia are her branded content material which makes use of her personal model of comedy to market merchandise in an unconventional manner. Take the skit which her workforce produced to advertise the BMW 2 Gran Coupe final December.
It subverts the standard modern manufacturing one expects in a luxurious automotive commercial, and throws in an excellent dose of hilarious banter between the free-wheeling Aunty Siow and the uptight director Jennston to amp up the snigger issue.
Aunty Siow and Jennston the director. Credit: SoImJenn/YouTube.
Or the fabulously golden (figuratively and actually — Chia and her accomplice seem in full golden physique paint) skit she did to advertise McDonald’s Golden Prosperity Burger earlier this 12 months:
It would possibly look like Chia is a fount of infinite creativity, however the content material producer says that inspiration can hit anyplace from inside half-hour to 3 complete weeks — and that is earlier than she and her workforce begin working on the mission correct.
Producing branded content material as an influencer goes past importing a selfie and pairing it with a nifty #QOTD. Chia spends numerous time on analysis and studying from different content material creators and types.
It’s time-consuming and laborious, however she enjoys the problem tremendously.
“I all the time get very enthusiastic about: How can I clear up this drawback? How can I make this video or this product completely different and — if no one has considered it — to execute it that manner?” Chia additionally realized just lately that she is most inventive when she is constrained, with a chief instance being Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO).
Stuck at house, Chia launched a sequence of every day Instagram Live movies titled “Live’s Too Short” (geddit?) for 50 days overlaying a various vary of subjects, from studying Sabahan, to house decor hacks, to chatting with Xiaxue about social media influencers.
The setup was easy — simply Chia herself in entrance of the telephone digital camera, and generally bringing on a visitor — which was good, since she did not have her manufacturing workforce together with her.
She additionally managed to place collectively a video to advertise Kit Kat Gold ice cream, filming every little thing at house together with her accomplice’s assist, and incorporating crowdsourced clips from her followers.
Facing obstacles in the midst of work is like being a painter who has just a few colors to work with, she says.
“If you’ve got all the colors on the planet, I think about that if there isn’t any readability or route, however in case you’re simply given these few colors, then you definitely begin to combine the colors and attempt to determine out, discover that color that you really want.”
Chia and her workforce. Image courtesy of Jenn Chia.
Saying no to manufacturers: “You can’t buy my opinion” Influencers typically obtain flak for what viewers understand to be an absence of authenticity. For Chia although, being actual is the idea of her work.
“I care so much about being genuine, as a result of in case you’re not credible anymore, you are not standing for something.” An extension of that is, after all, being trustworthy in regards to the merchandise that she options. She does not promote merchandise that she would not imagine in, or that do not match her viewers. After all, viewers are sensible and more and more refined (“They’re capable of sniff the bullshit from a mile away!”).
Once, Chia was approached by a shopper to overview a digital camera. The company who represented the shopper was very explicit about positioning it as the perfect vlogging digital camera on the market.
There was just one drawback: The digital camera’s autofocus was very gradual, which did not make it terribly ultimate for vlogging.
Chia stated that she would want to say the gradual autofocus as a part of a complete overview, however the company stated no.
She instructed utilizing the digital camera to movie her personal vlog in order that her viewers might see the autofocus in motion for themselves; the company stated no once more. It needed to be a overview, with no point out of the autofocus.
“I can’t do that as a result of I’ve been a poor-ass faculty scholar earlier than, so if there is a poor-ass faculty scholar watching my video and say, ‘Oh, that is a terrific vlogging digital camera’ and saves all the cash to buy the digital camera, I can’t stay (with that).” The eventual lack of the job stings to this present day, as a result of it was the most important deal she had ever been provided, on the time. But that have had made Chia conscious that she attracts the road at selling out for cash.
Influencer advertising: “You’re not paying for a billboard” Finding manufacturers that are aligned together with her values and permit her to make use of her model of humour to promote their merchandise is without doubt one of the largest challenges Chia faces as a content material creator.
Thankfully there are purchasers, like BMW and Clinique, who backed her imaginative and prescient and supplied her with the finances to execute it.
It’s fairly probably of venture for these manufacturers — luxurious vehicles and wonder merchandise aren’t usually related to slapstick comedy — however the response appears to repay.
According to Chia, gross sales of Clinique’s Moisture Surge went up throughout the marketing campaign interval. Her BMW 2 Gran Coupe advert has over 422,000 views on Instagram and over 2.5 million views on Facebook, with feedback like:
“One of the only a few adverts that I watch all the way in which until the tip.” “This is not fairly a BMW like we used to know, and I’m offered!” “Now that is known as impactful influencing.”
Featuring Michelle whose solely aim in life is to have hydrated pores and skin on a regular basis, apparently. Credit: SoImJenn/YouTube.
It’s clear that Chia’s work has influence.
“You’re not getting a billboard. You’re getting an actual particular person with actual ideas, values, creativity and in addition, feelings,” says Chia, when requested in regards to the worth that influencers like herself convey to the desk.
Of course, there are influencers who perform like billboards — i.e. they put up something and every little thing that comes their manner. But to Chia, correct influencer advertising relies on integrity, like trusting a good friend to offer a properly-thought of advice; it is just like the social media model of phrase-of-mouth, she provides.
“Nothing is stronger than that. So I imagine in influencer advertising if it is completed proper and it is with some credible individuals who have some form of integrity.” Being open about melancholy, overworking Like many different influencers, Chia posts snippets of her life on social media, even sharing extremely private stuff like her tendency to overwork (she as soon as fainted on her front room ground as a result of she did not get sufficient relaxation).
She additionally delved into her battle with melancholy in 2019, for a marketing campaign with Puma.
Mining one’s private struggles for content material would possibly not sit properly with some, however for Chia, it is all within the identify of protecting it actual for her followers and normalising the struggles that individuals, together with her and her followers undergo sometimes.
“When I open up (on-line), the intention is completely different. It’s not to love rant, however the intention is to share that that is actual, it is occurring to me, and I hope that your self and me, we really feel much less alone going by means of this collectively…I do not share it simply to get consideration, I do not share it simply to get a launch.” So what’s subsequent? Chia’s star is rising. Last 12 months, she launched her personal inventive company Seed. Creatives, and was just lately featured by Tatler Malaysia as one of many high content material creators within the nation.
In 2019, Chia organised a mini carnival/meet-and-greet session for her followers in Genting and truly deliberate to organise one thing comparable in Singapore, which she calls her second house. Unfortunately, that needed to be shelved because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6zsFh_JLe6/Speaking about Singapore, Chia counts native comic Michelle Chong as somebody whom she admires.
“I feel she is so unimaginable in the way in which she emulates sure folks and her mannerisms, her accents, she is the place I need to be.” Chia can be open to collaborating with Benjamin Kheng and Hirzi, the duo behind the BenZi Project. She lets on that their newest episode, “A Ok-Drama Kiss”, impressed her gradual-movement photographs in her video for Somersby.
Well, that is one collaboration we’re undoubtedly wanting ahead to.
Top pictures credit score: Jenn Chia, SOIMJENN/YouTube.
