When Greer Hiltabidle found out that she got a job as a TikTok creator for agency 360i earlier this year, she felt like “the ‘working world’ was finally catching up to new ways of storytelling.” Now a senior TikTok creator at the agency, her feelings about it are largely the same.

“You get to basically be the Swiss Army knife of the agency,” Hiltabidle, who has 83,000 followers on her personal TikTok, told Marketing Brew. “You’re a director; you’re an actor; you’re a filmmaker; you’re a writer. You do wardrobe, set design,” Hiltabidle explained, noting that she’s also integrated with the creative team and works on strategy.

Zoom in: Hiltabidle’s day-to-day work, she told us, is 50% filming TikToks and 50% creative ideation and wearing “different hats.”

• In a recent TikTok for Burger King, she played a Leo who orders “attention,” “praise,” and “compliments” at the drive-thru.
• In another, she nervously runs through her “drive-thru anxiety script.”

She previously not only worked as a TikTok influencer (which she still does on her own time), but also worked at other agencies.

Hiltabidle is not alone: On LinkedIn, there are more than a dozen brands and agencies attempting to hire TikTok creators.

Hope-Elizabeth Sonam, head of talent experience at flexible talent marketplace We Are Rosie, told us a full-time salaried TikTok content creator can make anywhere between $40,000 and $80,000 a year, or $25–$50 an hour if they’re freelance. Others in the industry hiring for these roles said that the average compensation is between $60,000 and $80,000 a year.

Marketers often need to find some way to keep the hungry hungry hippo that is the TikTok content machine fed, so many are crafting both full-time and contract-based jobs to make that happen. Read the full story here.—PB

Walmart is asking the tough questions: Is its annual membership worth more if you throw in a few episodes of The Office? Uh, what about The Mandalorian?

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the retail giant was having discussions with the likes of Paramount, Disney, and Comcast (which owns NBCU and its streaming service, Peacock) about adding a streaming service to its membership program, which costs $98 per year.

• So far, reporting indicates that these relationships are in the “still dating” phase, and nothing has been decided in terms of what a deal might look like.
• Rachel Nipper, Walmart’s director of corporate communications, told us it “will not be commenting on speculation.”

These deals aren’t new: Almost one-fifth of Disney+’s early subscribers came from a partnership with Verizon back in 2019 that provided certain customers a free year of the streamer.

Still, it’s clear that the addition of a streaming platform would make Walmart a more direct copy of competitor to Amazon, which operates Prime Video, a subscription video on-demand service (SVOD), as well as Freevee, its advertising video on-demand (AVOD) offering. (We apologize for the acronyms.)

Walmart has a ton of shopper data that it’s using to bolster its fairly new advertising business.

That data is already being used for targeted online advertising. Partnering with a streamer could potentially give Walmart even more ways to reach its customers, explained Ana Milicevic, a digital marketing consultant and co-founder of Sparrow Advisers.

• If Walmart wanted to close the window between orders, it could serve an ad for a discount or a promotion. Its DSP already includes CTV inventory via The Trade Desk, but a direct deal with a streamer could cut out potential friction, Milicevic said.
• In exchange, the streamer would likely be able to reduce customer-acquisition costs.

Keep reading here.—RB, KM

Future Social is a weekly newsletter on social media, content, and creators from Jack Appleby, a Morning Brew creator who’s worked in social media for 10 years at companies like Beats by Dre, Microsoft, and Twitch. Check out an excerpt from one of his pieces below, and sign up for Future Social here.

Surely you’ve seen the hoopla about Instagram the last few weeks. IG’s seemingly doing a TikTok impersonation these days, making its Reels format (a near-clone of TikTok’s 9:16 short-form videos) one of its primary content types.

I’ve got good news for social media professionals, though: If we agree Instagram is an essential platform, and that you’ve gotta make Reels to succeed on Instagram, and Reels are basically TikToks: your brand can now start TikToking with no effort.

The same content that works on Reels will work on TikTok, and TikTok’s got tremendous benefits, namely its powerful For You Page algorithm. Brands can truly copy/paste their Instagram Reels on TikTok for a free trial to see if they’ll gain significant audience over there.

Read more about taking your Instagram content to TikTok.—JA

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Nudge, nudge: LinkedIn is adding “diversity nudges” to help companies broaden the talent pool during candidate searches.

PRetty please: Here are seven steps to building a “kick-ass digital PR campaign.”

Go organic: Learn how one woman leaned on organic marketing to grow her brand, Eizzy Baby, on IG.

What’s the BOP? One section of the proposed federal privacy law could fundamentally change how consumer privacy is protected and enforced in the US. Read on here.

Reboots, remakes, sequels, and prequels seem to be everywhere on streaming television.

Gain insights from sales execs at NBCUniversal and Paramount into what this content direction means for advertisers. Learn about the differences in linear and streaming TV buying and how these shows can benefit advertisers with in-show integrations and branded content. Check it out.

• The FTC is considering new rules that would “limit how personal info is used for targeted ads.”
• McDonald’s is reopening in some parts of Ukraine after a six-month hiatus.
• Meditation app Calm laid off 20% of its staff, including some employees in its marketing department, and has cut its marketing budget, per the WSJ.
• J&J will stop selling talc baby powder globally next year after thousands of lawsuits alleging the product causes cancer.

Snap poll: Are summer Fridays still a thing at your company?

Yes

No

Sort of?

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is fake?

1. Uber touts its helicopter offering with a jab at Kylie Jenner’s private-jet usage
2. Fancy Feast opening NYC italian restaurant with dishes inspired by the brand’s new cat food
3. Steph Curry’s Subway sandwich-stained jersey is on eBay
4. AriZona celebrates the launch of boozy teas with a totally tubular ’90s pop-up

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Major publishers are buying ads in mobile games like ‘Subway Surfers’ to juice traffic
• Disney plans portfolio-wide price hikes amid its ad-supported push
• Agencies are rolling out reimbursement policies post-Dobbs—but how do they work?