With more than 10 million followers on TikTok, the actor already has campaigns for Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Pluto TV, Bis in his portfolio, among others.
Comedy and family. This is how Vittor Fernando defines himself as a brand. Currently, with more than 10 million followers on TikTok, Fernando has become one of the best-known Brazilian names on the platform and has campaigns for Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Pluto TV, Bis in his portfolio, among others.
With two years venturing into content production, the actor managed by Play9 was invited to produce a short to compete for a Lion at the Cannes Festival, in the first year of the #TikTokShortFilm category.
@vittorfernando VIRAL #TikTokShortFilm
The participants were evaluated by a specialized jury in three categories, Grand Pix, Best Screenplay and Best Editing. In addition to the trip, the winners would also win a cash prize.
“TikTok contacted me, asking if I would like to participate and I was super happy. I love to create and any challenge that comes up, I delight,” said Fernando.
The award for Best Screenplay went to creator Claudia Cochet, from France, with the short film “Modern Princess” and the Best Editing award to Tim Hamilton, from New Zealand, with “Zero Gravity”. The Grand Pix was divided between two winners: Matej Rimanic, from Slovenia, with “Love in sight” and Mabuta Motoki, from Japan, with “Is it ok to cut trees?”.
To PROPMARKVittor Fernando tells how his influencer career began and how he deals with the “advertising world”.
You became a TikTok hit. How and why did you decide to enter and produce content on the platform?
I started recording for TikTok in the pandemic, the platform was still growing in Brazil, it was a little bit before it really broke. I’ve always been an actor, I’ve always worked with art and I saw a way to create on the internet, but I confess that I didn’t intend to reach so many people, I didn’t even understand how it worked. It was happening. I decided to join the platform to distract myself, play and only later I started to understand it as a profession and started working with it.
Did you expect your videos to take on the proportions they did?
I never imagined that my videos would have this aspect ratio. It was funny when it started happening because I joined the platform to distract myself from the pandemic, to consume. When it started to go viral, I didn’t understand what was happening.
You produced a video to compete for Cannes. How did the invitation and the idea for the video come about?
TikTok contacted me asking if I would like to participate and I was super happy. I wanted to do something different, I invited a lot of artist friends and we produced the short with a review, but with comedy. It was super fun and rushed to do, because we had a short deadline, but it was really cool. I love to create and any challenge that comes along, I delight in. The idea for the video came up with a friend of mine, after the invitation. I had an idea and we stopped to talk and develop it.
How do brands come to you? Do they look for you directly or do they go to Play9?
Brands arrive by email, in partnership with Play9. They end up having contact first with Play9 and then with me. I like to be aware of the brands I’m going to work with, I end up approving in the end because I like working with brands that I really believe in and not just thinking about money, you know? I work with products that I like, that I believe in because that way I know I’ll be able to have a good, cool idea for modern advertising.
How is your way of doing advertising?
The ideal way for me is when I manage to have a meeting with the client and he explains what he is thinking, because then we can talk. I think this is a very new market, recent, right? This bet of brands on the internet has always existed, but now there is a big bet on creators, influencers and they are understanding how to do this type of internet advertising in an organic way. It happens a lot that the customer arrives with an idea that looks like a television, but that doesn’t work for the internet. So, it’s cool when we can talk to the client and transform his idea into our language, to what we believe in, because we know the public and the internet, so we can include the product within the advertising of an organic form.
Do you produce everything yourself or do you have someone help?
Today, I have the help of Play9. As there is a great demand, I continue to produce the videos, work as an actor and do many things, I have their help for advertising and we develop the scripts together. Nowadays, I don’t do the advertising alone, but I do my organic content, because I like to keep it the way I started. I started out alone in the room, so I like to keep that essence.
Has it ever happened that you scripted a campaign and the client didn’t like it?
Yes, it happens to everyone. There are some products that require a more series and form language, such as those of the pharmaceutical industry. I understand when it has to be something different, but I always like to add a little bit of my content. I believe that if the client came to me, it’s because of what I already represent on the internet, with the things I do. So I always like to put my language there. But it has happened that the client doesn’t like a little thing or another and we adjust, understand what he wants and manage to bring it to my language.
How was it for you to enter this world of advertising?
For me it’s an adventure because I really see it as a world, the world of advertising. Working with this, even more developing the scripts, with the characters, makes me need to understand how this will work, not only in terms of engagement and humor, but also in terms of the audience understanding and paying attention to the product, which is the main thing. I had never worked with advertising before, but as I like this creative side, today I have more experience and I have fun.
What do you consider when starting a partnership or advertising with a brand/company?
What I take most into account is being a brand that I really believe in, like and that represents me. That’s the main thing. I don’t like to do anything I don’t believe in, because I don’t think it’s fair to the people who are going to watch it. I enjoy working with brands that I will be happy to be talking about that product.
Do you have a brand that you dream of advertising and haven’t done yet?
Look, I don’t know if there’s any. To be quite honest, in this time of pandemic, brands bet a lot on the internet, so I worked with almost all brands and many that I always wanted, like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and several other huge ones, like banks. But I think, if I think about it, I would like to make clothing brands, I already did, but I wanted to do more for the big brands.
What would be the best definition of the Vittor Fernando brand?
I define the Vittor Fernando brand by the videos, by the content I make. So I believe it’s a comedy brand, but it brings family, everyday situations, friendship… It’s a family and funny brand. I like to talk about everything, I don’t have restrictions, I think everything can be said depending on the way and if it’s to do good.
