 The big thing, especially with social media content marketing, like I've just come to learn that there really is just like, there's three pillars to it, right? It's entertainment, informative, and emotional, right? Welcome to the Smarter Building Materials Marketing Podcast, helping you find better ways to grow leads, sales, and outperform your competition. All right, everybody. Welcome to Smarter Building Materials Marketing, where we believe your online presence should be your best salesperson. I am Zach Williams, alongside my co-host, Beth Papikilov, who are excited about today's show. We get to do something that we don't always get to do. So we tell tons of stories here. We tell tons of marketing stories, and we've got examples. And sometimes you guys believe us and sometimes you don't. But today, we actually were able to bring on Tony Pilisino. He is the infamous paint mixer of TikTok. That and Tony, we've talked about your story a ton. So we're really excited. He's now the official full-time owner and CEO of Tonester Paints and has got an incredible story to share from the first point of view. Tony, thanks so much for your time. Thanks for joining us. No, thank you guys for having me out. I'm super stoked to tell you what I do and all the kind of cool stuff about Tonester Paints and what I do for the paint industry and all that kind of stuff. So I alluded to it a little bit, Tony, but we've like, spoiler alert for you. You've told your story a little bit on the podcast and it's pretty infamous in the marketing world for sure, but definitely in the Venvio office. It was a pretty big deal to us. But for our listeners who may not know, can you just take us back to the very beginning? You know, you were an employee at a paint manufacturer. Just kind of give us your little origin story and background. Sure, definitely. So I've been involved working retail in the paint industry for about six years now. I started at one of the bigger manufacturers around the United States and the world, just as a retail sales associate. And during my time there, I really developed a passion and enjoyment for paint. You know, just the color aspect of things, just all things about paint. I really enjoyed it. I wanted to develop a career through it. So I started to develop TikTok content when TikTok initially first came out. I believe it was December of 2019 is when TikTok started gaining some traction, started getting a lot of people on the app. So I thought a cool way to kind of show what it's like to work in the paint business in the retail shop was creating paint mixing videos, showing the different pigments to achieve certain paint colors, just simple kind of stuff like that at first. And then I developed it into a marketing strategy to kind of benefit the paint manufacturer that I was working for. But the kind of goal was to develop brand awareness and show the cool process of paint mixing to a younger demographic that may not be familiar with the industry, the products, how it all works. So I thought it was just kind of a cool intro to show this. And the content that I was making was getting a lot of traction on the internet, me being a marketing student at Ohio University at the time. I just figured there had to be some sort of benefit to creating TikTok content of paint, the products, all that kind of stuff. It's a pretty unique idea. It is. It's unique. I remember following this story a little bit. My biggest question was like, did you go into this knowing like, this is going to be super... This is going to go gang bastards. This is like, people are going to love this or like, I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm just jumping on TikTok because it's kind of new and I like paint and maybe other people like it. Or was it like, hey, I know that this is going to be really, really popular? Thinking back to like when I first like made my first few videos, right? So I was working at a store in Athens, Ohio at the time. Athens, Ohio, if you guys aren't familiar with it, not really like the most happening area, a very rural town. So the Sherwin Williams, the Sherwin I was working at, you know, there were some periods throughout the day where I would have free time, right? Where I was either doing homework, just had a little bit of downtime. So like I said, just hopped on the app, just like everyone else. And no, I actually didn't know what the reaction was going to be at first. I just thought it would be a cool kind of creative expression at first, you know, basically what I'm doing day to day, just putting that through video content and sharing that with other people. I didn't know how people were going to react at first. Was it was a really popular overnight or was it like, hey, I was posting one or two times a day, then all of a sudden, boom. People really like to see me mix paint. So it was it was pretty relatively quick. It was probably, I think my six video hit like a million views, right? And oh, that's really fast. Yeah, it was just it was video number six. And the videos prior just kind of me messing around. I always thought it was cool. Like TikTok incorporated music into the app. So kind of just fast paced video style, upbeat music. And after six videos, it just kind of took off from there. OK, so when you hit a million views, like, what did you do? You're like, oh, my gosh, let me lean this more. Or you're like, shoot, I got all these people messaging me. Like talk me through how did you react? And then like, what were some of the things people do? People message you or do they say stuff like where people come to the store, what kind of I quote, quote, marketing that's what you all care about results? Like what kind of results did you see from it? So at first it wasn't really there was no strategy really put behind it, right? It was just me kind of making the videos. The video got the video started getting a lot of traction. And I wanted to keep the momentum going just because I thought it was cool that these videos were reaching such a large amount of people. People were reacting in the sense that it was almost like informative content, right? Like people didn't know that this was actually how paint colors were created, which is, you know, the increment of different pigments, specific pigments to achieve certain colors, which I thought was cool. So people were responding in that sense is like they were learning something out of it. People hadn't been coming into the stores or anything yet. Weren't calling, but they were just gaining value from that content, right? Just in a small way. And it wasn't even intentional at first. So how I reacted was I started doing research on social media content you know, to keep the momentum going, how to build an audience, a following. Just because I thought it was cool that this was kind of my way because it was almost like I developed a niche on accident, right? Which everyone that's their goal, you know, getting people to watch content that you are passionate about. I just thought that was cool. So I started doing research on social media content. But the thing was that TikTok, like I said, being so brand new, there wasn't a lot of information out there yet on, you know, developing that audience or how the algorithm works. So I kind of did what I could, kept making the videos, being consistent with it and kind of just kept going from there. So you just kind of you caught the algorithm at the right time, like right moment, right time, not that your content wouldn't be popular today, but jumped on early, had something relatively compelling and people said, wow, was there a moment where you realized that there was monetization and or opportunity for the business you're working at or whatever you were doing is say, hey, there's something beyond just posting videos that people watch here. Yeah, there was definitely a turning point, actually. After I kept making the content, videos were still getting a lot of attention. Like I said, when I was in marketing school at the College of Business at Ohio University, there was a point where I was like, all right, there has to be some sort of value that I can bring to the company that I'm working for through this content. I mean, it was just reaching so many people. I mean, and the thing is about the paint industry is that, you know, no one had really found a way to grab attention on paint products before through social media content. So that was something that I realized. I actually developed a pitch deck with the some of my College of Business professors at Ohio University, just kind of explaining the idea of, you know, how this can develop brand awareness to, you know, a younger demographic, future paint buyers. Because one thing that I always learned throughout the retail paint business is that at some point in everybody's life, they're going to have to, they're going to be involved with paint in some way, right, whether that's purchasing paint, picking paint colors, hiring someone to paint, as long as things are being built in people, own houses, apartments, they're going to be involved with paint. So from my perspective, I thought, you know, it doesn't matter what type of people are on TikTok, this can be a way to strengthen the brand. So I made that pitch deck to initially bring to the marketing department. And, you know, after a few tries trying to get a hold of people from the marketing department, didn't really work out, never really heard from them. But yeah, that was more of the turning point when I realized that there was some sort of actual value to the content that I was creating. All right. So Tony, you were, you're making viral videos. You put together this pitch deck to try to get the marketing teams buy in to bring some awareness, maybe on their part to all of this great awareness that you're growing. Talk to us about how you became to no longer be employed at this manufacturer. Sure. Um, so right, I developed that pitch deck just trying to, you know, get the idea out there to the company about, uh, utilizing TikTok content, maybe my account, um, just usually utilizing the platform within itself. So develop that pitch deck, tried having a meeting with the director of marketing at Sher Williams. Uh, I just kind of went up the chain through people that I knew within the company to get the contact, reach out through email, LinkedIn, phone, just didn't hear back from them. Um, so after I didn't hear back, I obviously wanted to keep creating the content and keep, uh, growing the channel further, right? As every content creator wants to do. Um, so I started expanding into different ideas with the paint mixing videos. So a few ideas that I had were using, um, you know, I like to call them natural pigments after doing some research on paint products and how paints used to be made, a lot of berries, dyes, roots, just kind of natural, um, organic material, right. Uh, so what, like, for example, the big, the big controversial video was the blueberries in the paint, right? I know that video that video actually came about for me researching, like, like I said, just like how they used to make paint using like the natural pigments from natural materials and berries was one of those things. So me thought it'd be a cool idea to, um, you know, put blueberries in the paint and act as if the blueberries tinted paint, um, or created the pigments to tint paint like they used to. Uh, so that was the big one. So like just creating content like that, I guess like I, you would call it like out of the box, um, more creative type of videos. Um, I started creating some videos like that. And then that's when I got a call from the lost prevention department of Sherwin Williams and, um, said that they were getting complaints about like, uh, my videos from customers saying that I was putting blueberries in paint, just kind of that kind of stuff, whatever the reasons were, where they called me. Um, they did an investigation. They wanted to make sure that I wasn't, you know, stealing product, um, uh, you know, when I was doing it, just gather all the information that they needed. Mind you that the videos where I was doing the blueberries in the paint, that kind of stuff, that was product that was, I was actually purchasing, which was, uh, I think that they were expired gallons. So they were just kind of sitting in the warehouse, um, bought them at a low cost just to make the content. So I was doing it for those kind of videos. So they ran their investigation. Um, and then they ended up firing me for gross misconduct, basically doing stuff on the clock that I shouldn't have been doing, even though I told them, uh, you know, like, Hey, I tried bringing this as like a marketing opportunity, all that kind of stuff. And they still made that initial decision to let me go. So this is when everyone heard about what went down because this moment you've got millions of views. You've got a ton of followers and you got let go. What did you do from here? Did people just start reaching out to you or like, Oh, shoot, how am I going to keep this, this channel going? Cause I bet you that people like, Oh, well, like you've got fired. Like, does that mean there's no more paint? Like, So listen to this, this is actually how it played out. So after I got fired in mid-July of 2020, like you said, I wanted to keep the channel going. I, I still liked creating the content. Still wanted to be involved with paint. Um, I was in a mindset where I wasn't going to let that kind of stop me from, you know, doing what I enjoyed showing people, uh, what I was passionate about, just kind of cool content in general. Like I didn't want to let my audience down. So, um, from July to like November of 2020, I set up a studio in my friend's unfinished basement, got myself a light box, took whatever leftover money I had, um, to buy, you know, mist-tinted paint, just whatever extra paint product that could buy within like the whole Southeast Ohio region, um, gathered up supplies and I just kept making the content. Um, nope, just kept being consistent with it. I wasn't going to let, let that stop me from doing what I wanted to do. Um, but yeah, so I kept doing that, uh, for six or seven months, um, in the basement, um, at my friend's house. And then in November of 2020 was kind of like when I explained on TikTok, uh, to my audience, like about the whole thing with Sherwin Williams, like how I was like go basically the whole, um, idea with that video was just kind of to develop an emotional connection with my, uh, audience, right? Like kind of give them a reason for why I do what I do, right? Like kind of the story of how it happened. Um, just being, just being honest, being open, developing that attachment. And then that's when that video took off and, you know, the media had gotten ahold of it, all the other paint companies in the industry got ahold of it. I mean, you'd, I'll, I'll just tell you from like our perspective, just to like affirm in you the insanity that you were seeing. So like as marketers, this was, there's a couple of moments that have happened since like, since I've been working at venue that I'm like, this must be what people who like sports like feel like on their, like on the Superbowl or like during the draft or something. When like I wake up on a Monday and there's like seven emails in my inbox, all pointing to like the same news week article. Like, did you see this guy? Because your video where you talked about getting fired, then becomes your most watched video, like overnight and like everything else has millions of views and then suddenly this has like seven million views. And I did not expect it to blow up like that. I mean, you know, that video came from doing research, right? Like, um, I wanted to continue to build like in a, an audience build a following, you know. So I was really just letting people know, like what I was passionate about the story behind everything, just being honest. Um, and yeah, it did blow up overnight. I think total that specific video on TikTok got like, you know, 40 million views. 40 million views. And then YouTube, I think YouTube, I think it's up there, I way under shop that. Good job. Sorry. Don't mean to insult 40 million. No, you're good. Um, and then on YouTube, I'm checking right now. I think it's in like the same kind of thing. Maybe like 20 million views. It just took off. Um, I love that you were doing strategic marketing. You were, because your brand is so organic and like unassuming years. Like, I don't know. Like in my mind from an outsider's perspective, I'm like, look at this guy. He doesn't know. He's just working at Sherwin Williams, just mixing up some paint. And now we're talking to you and you're like, I don't know. I was just doing research and I read that you make an emotional connection. Like marketing fricking works. This is so cool. It does. Um, and you know, who knew, who knew like the big thing, especially with social media content marketing, um, like I've just come to learn that there really is just like, there's three pillars to it, right? It's, um, entertainment, informative and emotional, right? It's simple as that. Any piece of content that you watch, even if it's on Instagram, Facebook, even on TV, movies, there's, um, it just falls into those three pillars and that specific video was on the emotional side of things. It really kind of resonated with people. Um, and it was kind of like the classic, like David and Goliath story, right? Uh, you know, big company, small worker, trying to, you know, do something good. And it just, that's, I think that that's how people perceived it. So this video comes out. Yeah. Yeah. So that video came out, um, obviously broke the internet. The media got ahold of it. Did a bunch of interviews, articles. So that's when, uh, the job offers started coming in, um, to kind of do content and social media marketing for paint companies in the industry. A lot of big names came out, um, uh, you know, wanting me to kind of do the same thing that I was going to try to do for sure when just for their companies. But Florida paints is ultimately the company that I decided to work with. They're a smaller paint manufacturer in Orlando, Florida have about 25 stores across the state, um, family run business. The reason that I chose to work with them is because they said that they would help me, um, build tones or paints as its own startup, uh, paint brand, right? Uh, to help me develop the online shop, um, just kind of, um, make the, make it an actual brand or like an actual product, a physical product. Um, so I ultimately chose to work with them, uh, for them to manufacture my product, um, kind of help me get started with things. I, from my perspective, I just thought if I'm going to continue to market paint products, I would rather just do it for myself, market my own product, my own colors, um, which I thought was the coolest route for me to take. And, uh, that's how I ultimately got down here to Orlando. So from totally unassuming downtime during the pandemic to fired unemployed, to being headhunted, you've got to be one of the first part-time paint employees to be headhunted, maybe in the history of paint. I'm going out on a limb. Anybody's welcome to email and tell me about an instance that they can, that, a story that happened to them to tell me that I'm wrong. But I feel like it's probably the only time that's happened. I love that I love the Florida paints was like, yeah, definitely one of the few things. I love the Florida paints was like, Hey, we see you and we want to help you do what you want to do. Like what a cool place to land. What a cool partnership for them to not just want to benefit, but want to partner with you and like help you realize a dream. I love that. Yeah. And you know, they're like, it's a smaller company. Um, so they kind of have, uh, you know, more insight. I guess they're more open-minded in a sense. Um, they didn't just see it as an opportunity to promote their own product. They just thought it'd be another avenue to develop for, um, their brand, my brand, just kind of, you know, benefit the paint industry as a whole, which I love to just from like the small guy aspect. I mean, you said it. We've said it. It's hard to stand out in the paint product category. Well, what you're doing is you're selling something that isn't just the color or the finish or the end product. You said this earlier, Tony, which is it, it's about entertainment. It's about information. It's about emotion and so many people where they struggle is the emotional part because that's the thing we remember. Like content should always be thought through in the lens of, of what's the emotion I'm trying to, you know, create or what's the emotion I'm trying to invoke more than information. That's where a lot of manufacturers get wrong. Cause they try to think about like, oh, I want to make sure they understand this feature. I want to make sure they understand this thing so much more about what am I trying to make somebody feel. And paint marketing typically sits in like highly tactical feature benefit. Matt wipes off one coat, whatever, like for the contractor, pro or highly inspirational, really beautiful, super designed, highly styled rooms. And like, these are your options that you can choose from in marketing. And then for Tony to come in and be like, what if this was interesting? Right. Exactly. What if this was entertaining instead of just factual even inspirational is still factual in a sense. So I think that's I just love that that ended up at a small brand and then like brought really cool awareness to a very small brand in the category. Tony, one thing I'm sure a lot of manufacturers who are listening are wondering is like, wow, this is really incredible. I want somebody on my team to be like Tony and create content on TikTok or whatever it might be. But maybe they have that person, maybe they don't. But what I'm what I'm really curious to hear is like, how are you using this audience to now sell product? Because if you've got an audience, there's obvious opportunity to create, you know, value and create, you know, transactions. How are you leveraging like, are you just literally posting the same videos of your colors and then what kind of results are you seeing from that? So how I kind of play it out now, now that the foundation is set, I have my audience built up, I've been posting videos for some time. Now I am more focused on getting this color that I'm showing people and, you know, showing them through content. My biggest goal right now is just humanizing the brand, right? Make because one thing that I've also learned too is that especially consumers, consumers who are buying products online, they want to feel like they're buying it from another person rather than a brand, right? Which is a big thing. So my big goal is just trying to humanize the brand. So, you know, when I developed my color line, which I think I've been working on it now for about two years, I have about 50 colors. A gold mine is like to have a story behind each one of my paint colors. So that's kind of the avenue that I take when making my content is just telling the story behind the color that I'm showing you just in quick content formed like I always have been. And that ends up translating into sales because that is allowing the consumer to feel like they're buying a piece of that story rather than just go into Home Depot or another paint store and buying a paint color and repainting their room. It almost gives them it's more of like an experience, I guess you would say. I think that's important because you relate. I'm going to remember the experience. The experience is going to stay with me. And I love how you're pushing digital to be memorable, digital to be experiential. And that's we talk about that a lot, but especially if you're in a commoditized product category, which a lot of manufacturers are marketing is what's going to make the difference because that's I mean, that's what makes you memorable. That's what makes you sticky. Right. So Tony, what's next? What's next for tones or paints? What is next? Well, right now I really would like to expand, you know, really right now it's just kind of myself creating the content shipping pain orders, just running the whole start of doing all the operations, doing all the marketing, all the sales, all that kind of stuff. So it keeps my playful for sure. But now looking into the future and looking into 2023, I obviously want to expand into retail settings with Florida paints and maybe start growing the team a little bit more. Like I said, the start of the tones or paints has only been in operation for I think it's been like a year and two months, like the actual product being made and shipped out to people. So I still have a lot of work to do, but expanding the team is definitely one. I definitely want to, you know, get into those retail settings. And, you know, for a start of company, it's a lot of playing it day by day, seeing what opportunities come and seeing which ones go and then from there kind of navigating which path you want to take. What I've learned. That's great. Tony, man, thank you so much for coming on the show. We're definitely going to make sure we link to your website, obviously linked to you on Tiktok and YouTube. If someone else wants to connect with you in another way, what's the best way for them to do that? I would say Instagram messages at tones or paints on Instagram and Facebook. Those are the messages that I usually get in contact best with for, you know, my audience. So on there is probably the best that's great. And for listeners, if you enjoyed this content, make sure you go to venue.com slash podcast to subscribe and get more. Until next time, I'm Zach Williams alongside that body glove.