As a ‘90s kid, I used to dream of winning the Nickelodeon Super Toy Run — five minutes to fill a Toys R Us shopping cart with anything I liked. I had my route all planned out: stacks of video games, a few choice Lego sets, and then a fill-up at the Nerf aisle.
Nerf is hiring a chief TikTok officer, and my inner teen is drooling
Dream job (though not for long)
Dream job (though not for long)
is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
The world is very different right now, of course, but Nerf may have just announced a modern, grown-up version of the dream: it’s hiring a chief TikTok officer to dream up the company’s marketing for three months, giving one lucky influencer $30,000 and “a massive amount of Nerf products” in exchange for helping Hasbro figure out how to entice Gen Z.
Oh yeah, this is definitely a marketing stunt. But it’s also a real job on the company’s real career site, and you’ll have to submit a real job application and interview for the role if Hasbro likes what you’ve got. You’ll be expected to create 10–12 TikTok videos per month, meet weekly with Nerf’s marketing team, and — sadly — be 18 or older to get hired.
It’s also completely remote, so you’ll be interfacing through Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or what have you instead of getting a tour of the Nerf labs or archives. Not as fun as could be!
But still, pretty fun. Here’s hoping this goes to a new face, not an established influencer! If you’re chosen, we’d love to hear what it was like afterward. My DMs are open.
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