Engaging Conversations with… Molly Mitchell

Last August, Time.com named Molly Mitchell one of the “first viral stars of Snapchat,” along with social media sensations Shonduras and Jerome Jarre. Her snaps and Instagram posts, which typically revolve around her relationship with her “very real” boyfriend George, have allowed her to achieve both a global fandom and sponsors like Tampax and Hamm’s. Mitchell was kind enough to answer our questions from her Los Angeles office (in addition to her responsibilities as a Snapchat star, she is also Director of Marketing at Bohemi+Chic).

Name: Molly Mitchell
Job Title: Snapchat Personality and Director of Marketing at Bohemi+Chic
Location: Los Angeles
Snapchat: @biggie_molls
Instagram: @meandmyboifriend and @mahmitchell

What do you primarily use Snapchat for?
Bragging about my very real love life and the international broadcast of good hair days.

Molly and George. He is “very real”.

I read in Time (wow!) that you work in marketing—and at one time worked for the men’s hipster shorts company Chubbies. How have you used Snapchat to promote the companies you’ve worked for? 

Funnily enough, during the time I was working at Chubbies (radical shorts for men) I was still promoting “me and my boyfriend” just as a sort of joke and way to connect with friends and fans, to make them and me laugh. It was still personal, not professional, for me. Now, I love to rep friends’ brands, other creatives and, of course, my sponsor Tampax and partial-sponsor Hamm’s.

What’s been your most successful snap so far?

Off the top of my head, my most successful snaps have been of “me and my boyfriend” getting in date night fights & make-ups and snaps of my mom and dad.

Why do you think they were so successful?

I think it’s pretty evident that their successes can be chalked up to 1. My fans being complete sickos, delighted by the volatility of true love, and 2. The eminent awesomeness of Wendy and Howard (my parents) in comparison to my own levels of cool*.

*For proof of cool please, see: @howmanstyle and @therealwendolicious on Instagram

How is Snapchat changing the way people interact?

A positive way in which I’d like to think Snapchat is affecting interaction is its emphasis on “play” as a popular means of connection. Snapchat is silly and playful and, in that way, it offers the opportunity for exchange that is rich in levity… and selfies. Rich in levity and selfies—what more could the digital world want? As a big believer that “life is a lot less serious than we make it”, I appreciated the way that Snapchat is positioned, socially.

How do you see Snapchat and marketing working together, now and in the future?

A great challenge for brands and marketers is to find new ways to surprise and delight their consumers. One way that I see Snapchat as being in service to marketing is that it’s inherently playful—the platform, the presentation. That’s a value prop right there. As for formal forays into branded content, I suspect they will continue to grow their partnership page, aggressively. I’m not sure how they would feel about this comparison but I can envision a strategic move to build a “Buzzfeed-like” experience, in-app.

Who do you follow on Snapchat?

When it comes to following—I try to show love, abundantly. A few of my favorites are the LACMA (lacma_museum), Geohsnap, and Nicolas Nelly (nicklenell).

How would you describe the difference between Instagram and Snapchat to an old person?

Snapchat is what you see when you’re looking through the viewfinder. Instagrams are the prints you get back from Mel’s Photo Express—except both are in amazing technicolor, just like the moving picture shows! Now, Grandpa, if you don’t put some pants on you’re going to make us real late for bingo.

What public figure most inspires you?

I’m a big RBG fan (of the Supreme 9.) [Editor’s note: We Googled it too, and it was completely worth it.]

Fill in the blanks….

1. I should have called my mom yesterday.

2. I wish that I could adequately convince my future children that their mom was, in fact, “hip and cool.”

3. In 10 years, the world will be like, “Damn, I guess that was DiGiorno”.