With over 2.6 million followers and known for creating highly effective collaborations with popular, female-centric brands such as Le Labo and Bumble, social media sensation Overheard, popped up virtually overnight on the Instagram scene in 2015 by “poking fun at people’s pretensions.”
It all started after founder Jesse Margolis overheard two women “having the most absurd conversation at the health store he’d ever heard.” He posted it on his newly minted Instagram account (overheard LA) and “got, say, 30 likes instead of his usual 13.” Inspired, Margolis tried it a few more times using things he heard from around LA from “bizarre characters.”
Days later, the inspiration for the business quickly progressed after a long weekend in a locked room. Margolis strategized about how to shape the account into a viable business platform while giving it a distinctive brand personality.
Margolis outlined details such as never using hashtags to gain followers, only using humor to avoid personally calling out or embarrassing specific individuals, choosing comedy over gossip, and avoiding politics and religion as much as possible. One rule was to include the location where the conversation was overheard and a signature color for the brand identity.
Within 6-8 months after launching, Overheard began to see some real traction, but the initial intent was both as a creative outlet and to create a place where people could have a laugh, and maybe reflect on their priorities and daily behaviors.
[“source=forbes]
