Chanty Beluga wants a brand deal with Drano

I talked to the viral star about sponsored posts, marketing advice, and more.

Good morning! If you were online this weekend, it’s fair to assume you came across Chanty Beluga. Maybe it was through a quote tweet. A create mode meme. Or the head of Threads pleading for her to join the platform.

If I were to oversimplify here, Chanty Beluga is a character from the mind of comedian Courtney O’Donnell. The set up for the posts is always “A woman named ‘Chanty Beluga’ [insert activity]”. You’ll find her introducing herself at a pool party and ordering a coffee. The bit is mostly around the name “Chanty Beluga”, with each skit bringing in a small nugget of lore. She just got served court papers, for example, but we don’t know what for. Don’t worry, the audience will come up with something.

For those of you who hadn’t yet heard of Chanty Beluga, I can sense your confusion. That’s the whole thing? Yes, and that’s sort of the point. What’s harder to explain is how Chanty Beluga is the desire for discovery on algorithms that have commoditized it. The feeling like you found something niche and wanting the social capital of being the first to tell a friend about it. Chanty Beluga is shared humor on feeds that feel more alienating than ever. Chanty Beluga is just mysterious enough that everyone else can fill in her story. I could compare Chanty Beluga to Backrooms but I’ll spare you.

Longtime readers of this newsletter might remember Courtney O’Donnell from this send in 2023 about comedians who work in social media. At the time, Courtney was the the Social Media Creative Lead for McDonald’s at Wieden+Kennedy. She’s one of the funniest people I know.

Courtney was kind enough to let me interview Chanty Beluga. I wanted to learn more about how she thinks about marketing and the brands she’d like to work with.

Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:

• My interview with Chanty Beluga

• The marketing pattern I picked up on from listening to Q2 earnings calls

• Five post formats to try this week

• A fintech brand created an accountant influencer that gained 1.3M followers

• The social role we’re going to see more of

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Chanty Beluga wants a brand deal with Drano

Rachel Karten: Why do you think people relate to Chanty Beluga?

Chanty Beluga: I think they relate to me because of my common name, Chanty Beluga. It’s all so wild. My friends have always told me I’m funny and that I should start posting on social media. And when my videos started to take off, I was like “what!“.

Rachel Karten: Have you been approached for any brand deals yet? Are there any brands you’d love to work with?

Chanty Beluga: I reached out to Vagisil to partner with them, which would’ve been a dream collab, but they passed. A few other brands I love that I hope reach out: Drano, Sharpie, and Ziprecruiter.

Rachel Karten: You clearly know how to get attention online. What advice would you give marketers reading this newsletter?

Chanty Beluga: Lean into the things that make you special. I was bullied as a kid for my name. Now, it’s the thing that makes me stand out. Also, maybe use the color pink in your marketing ideas! It’s the cutest color.

Rachel Karten: What can we expect from Chanty Beluga next? I hear there’s a contest?

Chanty Beluga: There is a Chanty Beluga contest on Friday Aug 21 at 5pm at Grand Army Plaza in New York. It is not a lookalike contest, everyone has to say their best “Hi I’m Chanty Beluga”. After that, who knows. I probably want to take a vacation to Turks and Caicos.

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The marketing theme I picked up on in Q2 earnings calls

You can learn a lot about marketing by reading earnings call transcripts. What are CEOs saying about social media? What value did that viral campaign really drive? While looking at the Q2 reports, I noticed an interesting pattern emerge. It’s an important warning for brands right now.