Be YouNick (real moniker: Nikunj Lotia) is one of India’s leading content creator and boasts of around 7 million followers across digital platforms and over 1.2 billion online video views. He also represented India at the Vidcon US 2019 and in an exclusive interview with The Playknox, Nikunj talks about his journey, brands and life in quarantine.
Tell us about your journey till now
My journey – well it’s the hustle of getting out from a small city – Republic of Dombivali as we call it to currently being in this lockdown mode and staying put back in Dombivali I’ve been a funny guy, most of my childhood only so that I could blend in in the college and school groups. I wasn’t great at studies and all, but that realisation that I’d be good at something which I actually like doing, came early in life.
So I picked up bartending, there was this brief overlapping time while I was doing my bartending and just about going viral. But when I turned 25 I decided I would never work in a job as such and moved full time to YouTube.
What has been the brand building process been for you like?
It’s still a process, there’s a long way to go. But if I were to sum the process in one line then I’d say just be you and relentlessly pursuit what you like doing, because at the end of the day we all are unique!
How do you narrow down on brands you want to endorse or promote on your channel?
So mostly brands reach out to us, we select brands that fit in our content ideas and run with them. There are times when we come up with an idea for a brand placement and sometimes the brand doesn’t think the idea would work, but we still end up doing it, even if it were without the brand and made from out of our pocket expenses. Those videos have clocked millions of views. So the thumb rule for us is how well does it fit in what should quintessentially be “Good” content.
What are some other collaborations coming up for you?
I’d like to talk about it later. But yes there’s a few things we are chalking which has been stuck for now but you will know soon.
Tell is about pros and cons of your work
Well you need to be self motivated to do this work. It’s like hitting the gym. When you think you have hit your health goal – one may tend to ease up and have more cheat meals and all. Then there are others who pursuit it relentlessly That’s exactly how this works. When our first set of videos went viral – we dropped that format altogether and experimented. Failed miserably but bounced back. So the pros and cons are the same. You have to be real, believable, funny all at the same time. All the time.
What do you think is the brand world like right now amidst COVID19 and what do you think will be like post corona?
We are already seeing agile brands gear up for more in home advertising, figuring workarounds to maintain adequate business or minimise damage. The legacy brands which can’t shape shift are taking a toll. Then ofcourse there are opportunistic brands who want to capitalise at this moment. To each their own.
For a lot of us, brands included it’s just a good time to go back to the basics – figure life from this moment onwards and rebuild yourselves bit by bit. Most of us believe in a celebration after the grind. So be it a weekend plan or an annual vacation. This is that grind phase – when this is all over, am sure we will catch up and party hard. So gear up for the party may be.
Your message for readers of The Playknox
Stay home, stay safe, read this interview atleast twice. Turn off that ad blocker. Let the website earn a bit from the ads. Believe in yourself. Don’t believe me. Turn off the ads! Ciao.
