The Woman Behind Elmo: Exclusive Q&A
Welcome to the Cutting Room Floor, a newsletter where I round up all my personal finance articles, put out exclusive content and interviews, and flag my favorite job listings from around LinkedIn.
The morning of Jan. 29, Christina Vittas thought she was sending out a pretty innocuous tweet.
"Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?"
It was 10:46 am, and the 26-year-old from Hoboken, N.J. -- also known as Elmo's social media manager, for Sesame Workshop -- was settling in for a typical workday. Everybody knows what happened next.
219 million views, 16K reposts, 46K quote tweets, 165K likes. It went around the planet at the speed of light.
The gist of many responses was similar: No, Elmo, we are not okay.
The moment captured lightning in a bottle, and became a case study in human attention and what makes us all tick. In virality -- what causes something to catch fire like that? In branding -- how does any character acquire that kind of social currency, and why do people respond to it so emotionally and honestly? And in mental health -- since we are apparently not okay, why are we not okay?
Lots of very smart people have spent years trying to figure out what makes something go viral like that. In his excellent book Contagious, ç¾Žå›½å®¾å¤•æ³•å°¼äºšå¤§å¦ - 沃顿商å¦é™¢ professor Jonah Berger raises the key question:
"Certain stories are more contagious, and certain rumors are more infectious. Some online content goes viral while other content never gets passed on. Some products get a good deal of word of mouth, while others go unmentioned. Why? What causes certain products, ideas, and behaviors to get talked about more?"
In a similar way, the great Ben Smith in his book Traffic -- a history of folks like Jonah Peretti at BuzzFeed , who tried to take apart this particular puzzle -- talks about how clicks crystallize a lot of different things that are going on in our psyche. Traffic "wasn't merely mechanical," he writes. "Traffic was human emotion, human psychology, desire and curiosity and humor."
As it happens, Christina and I had been chatting even before this viral tweet, about what it's like to be the brand voice of a pop culture icon. What a fascinating job!
There's a lot of responsibility there, and you have to be very thoughtful about anything you say -- because as we have discovered, a whole lot of people are listening. (Like, the whole planet.)
(In fact a few years ago, for Reuters , I wrote about how Sesame Workshop was using its beloved characters to teach kids around the world about money -- check that out here.)
For this newsletter, Christina was kind enough to sit down and tell us what it's like to be Elmo's social media manager.
Q: How did you get this job in the first place??
A: I started at Sesame Workshop as a Marketing Intern. After I graduated from Quinnipiac University, an entry-level freelance position on the Audience Development team opened up and I jumped at the opportunity to join the team. The rest is history from there!?
Q: How do you figure out how you want Elmo's social media presence to come across??
A: When curating Elmo’s social media calendar, I think a lot about my friend Elmo and his world perspective. Thankfully, there are 54 seasons and counting of Sesame Street that I can use for reference to show me what a day in the life of a 3-and-a-half-year-old furry monster might look like. From there, it’s all about translating that to what may resonate with adult fans on social media. As long as the content stays true to Elmo, I feel I am doing him justice.??
?Q: What was it like to have a post go viral like Elmo’s??
A: Elmo’s viral “checking in†moment was a dream come true. I am so proud of the work and everything that came before it to get us to this point of virality. I am grateful that more people discovered Sesame Workshop’s emotional well-being resources and that folks far and wide were reminded by an old pal that it’s important to check in on your friends!?
Q: When something goes supernova like that, how do you keep on top of it all and decide how to respond??
A: When something goes supernova, my teammates and I take an all-hands-on-deck approach. We come together to monitor responses and engagements. We use Talkwalker, which is a great social listening tool to help us along the way. Deciding to respond is a case-by-case basis but I always like to gut-check with the question “does posting a response add anything new or meaningful to the conversation?�
Q: Does it feel like a big responsibility, to be the voice of something that affects millions of people??
A: It is a big responsibility to manage Elmo’s social media, but it is also an honor, a privilege, and a joy! I have found that by focusing on how special this opportunity is and leaning into the joy it brings myself and others, I am able to forget about the pressure and create my best work.??
Q: What has surprised you about this job so far??
A: I continue to be so surprised by the impact Elmo and the Sesame Street characters have on the world. I still get emotional when reading some of the comments that @Elmo receives. They remind me that the world needs Elmo’s joy, kindness, and laughter today more than ever and I am so proud to be just a small part in the work that Sesame Workshop is doing to bring Elmo, Cookie Monster, and all the playful learning the workshop brings to children and families around the world.??
Q: Any advice for other people, who are the public voice of major brands/characters like this??
A: Advice I always give is that if you are going to be a public voice for a character or a major brand, you must do your homework before you get started. Read every inch of your organization’s website and reference materials, read through social media posts from the past, and consume your brand’s content or product with the target market whenever possible. It’s so important to know what came before you and understand how the brand resonates with fans today.??
Q: What do you want people to know about you and/or Elmo??
A: If you like Sesame Street, then you’re going to love Sesame Workshop. So much thought, research, and care goes into the crafting of Sesame Street and its characters and they are making a real impact around the world. My hope is that more people learn about Sesame Workshop and that countless more generations of children can grow up knowing they have friend named Elmo that loves them!
Thanks to Christina -- and to Elmo -- for the chat!
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Fun numerical tidbits from my overflowing inbox
$6,408.39: Average amount owed by those who have a credit-card balance, according to New York Life 's newest Wealth Watch Survey. Boomers with debt are carrying the highest amount, at $7,808.93, followed by Gen X with $7,530.31. On the plus side, among those who have an emergency fund, the average amount saved is $29,741.87. That's good! Ideally you'd have around six months' worth of expenses set aside, for when the shit hits the fan. (The downside is that only 38% of adults have such funds ... but let's take good news where we can get it.)
$1.2 million: The amount that people say they will need in order to retire comfortably, according to the 2024 U.S. Retirement Survey from Schroders . (Keep in mind that's the number cited by those who already have workplace retirement plans -- which many people don't.) Even among those with workplace plans, almost half of people don't expect to get anywhere near that, figuring the final tally will come in less than $500,000. Only 29% expect to hit the million mark.
领英推è
61%: Percentage of Americans who think that rewards programs encourage overspending, according to a new Credit Cards Rewards Survey from WalletHub . Yes they do! I'm glad people are at least self-aware about this. It makes no sense to increase your spending just to get the points -- the better financial strategy is to not spend in the first place. Same with any sales or discounts -- even if you're getting 30% off, you are not really "saving" money, you are still spending 70%. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
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"It Has Never Been Harder, or More Essential, To Have a Work Best Friend," Rachel Dodes-Wortman , The Wall Street Journal
"Millennials Had It Bad Financially, but Gen Z May Have It Worse," Abha Bhattarai and Federica Cocco , The Washington Post
"Would You Clone Your Dog?" Alexandra Horowitz, The New Yorker
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Stay tuned for next week, when we will talk with one of my favorite LinkedIn content creators, Hala Taha , about what I call The 30K Club -- what to do when you start bumping against this platform's connections cap? How big should a network really be, and how can you manage it all thoughtfully?
As always, feel free to get in touch via Twitter (here), or email (christaylornyc@yahoo.com), or by DM on LinkedIn -- to suggest story ideas, or ask money questions, or hire me as a freelancer, or sponsor this newsletter, or broadcast your job opening.
Until next time!
-CT
VP Finance at Raycliff Investments LLC
8 个月Way to go Christina !!! Keep up the great work !!
Senior Vice President, Marketing at Sesame Workshop
8 个月We are so lucky to have Christina Vittas on the team, helping us build and sustain brand relevance among all kinds of adult audiences.
Controller at The Fedcap Group
8 个月Christina and Elmo are doing a great job!!!
Innovative. Consensus builder. Culture focused. Connector. Networker
8 个月Christina Vittas!!! My worlds colliding!
Social Media Manager at Sesame Workshop | @Elmo on the Internet ??
8 个月Thank you for thinking of me and my friend Elmo, Chris!