Plus: Duolingo CEO continues to explain AI gaffe; snack companies hope celebs can turn around sales.
If you scrolled onto an episode of “Roomies” during your Instagram or TikTok ramblings, you wouldn’t clock it immediately as an ad. It’s a 2-minute short comedy series filmed in the mockumentary style of “The Office.” It follows Ellie, a 25-year-old who moves from Ohio to New York City and gets into hijinks finding her place in the city.
@roomiesroomiesroomiesEllie from Ohio has 3 weeks to make it in NYC
There are no product mentions, unless you count the off-brand Times Square Spiderman who steals her phone in the first episode.
But it is, in fact, a marketing effort from Bilt, a financial startup most known for its credit card with which you can pay rent in exchange for rewards. But even after nine episodes that have racked up millions of views, Bilt’s name still hasn’t been mentioned.
“Audiences are so adept at spotting advertising,” Zoe Oz, chief marketing officer at Bilt, told the Wall Street Journal. “How do we start to get people to pay attention, to engage with us without us having to, you know, throw it in their face?”
Of course, Bilt will be featured eventually. The roommates in the series might, for example, use their Bilt rewards to get a free shake at Barry’s gym. But so far, the company is playing the long game. They built “Roomies” with entirely fresh social media accounts named after the series, amassing more than 150,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, rather than mixing in the content with their more traditional marketing messages that can be found on the Bilt account. And that growth is entirely organic, according to Oz.
Why it matters: Nobody likes an ad. They’re a punishment on streaming platforms and something to scroll through as quickly as possible on social media apps. Finding a way to get people to actually pay attention to your ad in 2025 is no small thing, unless you have Super Bowl money.
But this isn’t exactly an ad. It’s somewhere between product placement, influencer relations and organic social media. It’s earning the right to sell to the viewer by providing free entertainment, indistinguishable from other short-form social media videos.
Of course, going nine episodes without any product mentions is likely to make most CMOs or CCOs blanche. Oz said the series “doesn’t cost Bilt much,” though she declined to attach any numbers to that statement.
While this may be an extreme case, both organic social media and advertising is changing. They both need to be more entertaining than ever – and be willing to take their time to draw in audiences before pushing the hard sell.
Editor’s Top Reads:
- In another sign of the changing tides of advertisements and celebrity spokespeople, snack food companies are turning to traditional celebrities over influencers in new campaigns designed to get people munching Oreos and Doritos again as prices continue to rise and cash-strapped consumers cut back on fun purchases. CNN reports that Ritz is expanding its partnership with Bad Bunny, sponsoring his residency in Puerto Rico. Oreo is teaming up with Selena Gomez to create an horchata Oreo. Both are owned by Mondelēz. These collabs also demonstrate the growing importance of the Hispanic market in the United States. But will audiences want well-paid celebrities to sell them snacks when they may feel the need to watch their own spending? Oreo said the Gomez collab was one of its top three launches of all-time, so it appears it’s working, But it’s something to keep an eye on.
- Duolingo’s CEO continues to make the rounds doing damage cleanup on his statements about AI replacing contractors within the language learning app. We covered Duolingo’s earnings report last week, which found that despite the social media outcry, Duolingo increased active users 40% YOY. This week, CEO Luis von Ahn gave an interview with the New York Times further clarifying his statements that caused such furor on the internet. Von Ahn continued to take full responsibility for the memo. “This was on me. I did not give enough context. Internally, this was not controversial,” he told the Times. “Externally, as a publicly traded company some people assume that it’s just for profit. Or that we’re trying to lay off humans. And that was not the intent at all.” He also clarified that while Duolingo has not laid off any full-time employees and its contractor use goes “up and down depending on needs.” While Duolingo’s business remain strong, there is still a perception problem. Von Ahn continues to address these fully and transparently, not blaming his audience for misunderstanding but on himself for not helping people understand. That’s good PR.
- In an era of highly fragmented media spheres, there’s one star who has the ability to cut through all the noise and turn social media on its head: Taylor Swift. After her album announcement, other brands fell all over themselves to latch onto the internet frenzy. From Walmart to NHL teams to Lasik, companies jumped on the orange color scheme of her new album to brand mentions in her interview on her boyfriend’s podcast. And they racked in tons of engagement doing so. While it doesn’t always pay to be a trend follower, the excitement about Swift is so high, brands that were able to act quickly and decisively reaped dividends, particularly if their audiences are predominantly female.
Allison Carter is editorial director of PR Daily and Ragan.com. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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