What started as a fun way to pass the time has evolved into a full-time career for creator Ash Xu.
After graduating high school in 2020 during the pandemic, Xu found herself in need of a way to pass the time before starting college at Northwestern University to pursue film.
“I started seeing people on the internet do product commercials from their living room, and I was like, ‘That is such a cool concept,’” she told Marketing Brew.
Cut to 2024, and Xu has built a social media following of more than 1.4 million across TikTok and Instagram by making product videos for brands like Microsoft, Olay, and Lenovo, largely from the comfort of her own home. Most recently, she filmed her first TV commercial for Taco Bell.
We spoke with Xu about how she’s built her career online and what it was like bringing her skills to a TV production set.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Taco Bell was your first TV commercial, but you’ve done a lot of branded work online since 2020. Tell me about how you got to this point.
My first [social] commercial was for a clock and then a coffee company. Smaller businesses would come to me and be like, “Hey, we’ll send you our product and pay you a little bit if you make a commercial for us and then make a little organic piece of content,” and I was like, “Oh, bet. Okay, great.” So that’s how it got started.
The first huge spike was my freshman year of college. I had just moved into my dorm, and we were still completely remote, so I was spending a lot of time in there. At the time, I had a can of Sprite that I brought off the airplane with me, and off the cuff, I was just like, “I’ll make a commercial for this can of Sprite.” It ended up getting 20 million views on TikTok…That’s also when I signed to my management agency and the brand deals started flowing in.
How has having a management agency changed your workflow?
For my first brand deal, I charged like $400, and at the time, I was like, “That’s so incredible! I could pay off college with this $400.”...And then once I actually got in contact with my management, they were like, “Okay, you are so severely low-balling yourself.” They knew the bigger industry and what other people were charging, so they were able to pitch me at much, much higher rates…They’re really good about establishing connections so that I get repeat customers, but I would say most brands and most projects that I work on are direct requests that they drop into my inbox.
I’ve seen the videos where brands comment asking you for a “thirst trap” of their products and you deliver. Tell me about that. Did that essentially start a chain reaction with other brands?
Definitely. I think it increased pretty exponentially because, of course, one brand sees a partnership and [becomes interested]. The commenting was actually something that we did on purpose. So whenever I would reach out to a brand or have a new project going, I would be, like, “Can you comment on this previous video with ‘Make a thirst trap for X, Y, and Z?’” and it keeps that chain going. It’s just a good hook that I use, and brands really resonate with it.
What do you think has been the appeal of doing a thirst-trap video for a brand? What do you think brands are getting out of this when they reach out to you?
When you’re making a thirst trap for a brand, it’s really making a commercial spot for whatever products or service that the brand is trying to promote and then packaging it in a way that appeals more to a Gen Z or TikTok consumer base.
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How did the Taco Bell commercial come together?
Taco Bell started pretty similarly to what I usually do. They dropped in my inbox with a direct request, being like, “Hey, we have this brief. We like your work.” But it deviated a lot in that, obviously, it was my first TV commercial, so it felt like a lot more official right from the jump…This was the first time I was really fleshing out a concept with a pitch deck, and it was more reminiscent of what traditional directors would do in a commercial space.
Did your previous experience producing social videos prepare you well for TV production?
Honestly, yes. It did prepare me pretty well, just because I wasn’t completely blindsided…It honestly shocked me that it was very similar to what I usually do. Of course, when I’m filming by myself in my apartment, there are no stakes; I can go as long as I want. But working with a crew of people and directing them, it just felt like I had more responsibility to be on top of my stuff…There was also a food stylist on set, which I’ve never worked with before, and I also never thought about the fact that commercials have dedicated food stylists.
Since you’re usually the one doing the food styling and production by yourself as a creator, was it helpful having a team around you?
Absolutely. On one end, it was super helpful because I’m not a chef. I don’t know how to cook. So creating the food on camera is an added thing to juggle. But on the flip side, it was a little bit daunting at first for me to start directing 30-year-old marketing people with so much expertise. It was a bit surreal. Like, “Why are you guys listening to me?”
What do you think is the perk for brands in working with creators as producers or directors?
Practically and logically, it’s advantageous for them because it’s just us being a one-man band creating a commercial for them, except there is no huge production studio…The turnaround is a lot quicker, so it’s easier for them to get the project out faster. And of course, it’s a smaller budget because it is just one person that they’re hiring.
Looking at your behind-the-scenes videos, do you feel like they add to the value of working with a creator like you because brands are not only getting a commercial, but also the social content showing how it was made?
Absolutely. The interesting thing that a lot of people don’t really think about is that the behind-the-scenes is actually more important than the commercial on short-form content because people really like to attach themselves to a storyline and see how something’s made…With short-form, the behind-the-scenes is actually the part that carries the video and makes people want to stay for the final result.
You really hook people by starting videos saying, “I’m a 22-year-old, and this brand reached out to me instead of an ad agency.” That seems to add to the narrative about brands taking a chance on you as a creator.
Definitely. There was also one time where I was making a commercial for Microsoft, and my apartment had a gas leak, so I incorporated that into the storytelling of the behind-the-scenes. People really latched onto it, because it’s an insane story. Luckily for me, Microsoft was super open to me, being like, “Yeah, I almost died making this commercial, but here it is,” and it worked.
Any brands you’re dying to make a commercial for, thirst trap or otherwise?
I’ve always, always wanted to work with Apple. I know that they’re very, very selective about who they work with, so if I were to be on their roster one day, that would be the greatest honor.