E-Bike Upstart Super73 CMO Talks Social Media

Michael Cannavo, the founder and chief marketing officer of Irvine electric bike maker Super73, has a finger on the pulse of where social media is going—and it’s a content creator’s market now and in the future.
Cannavo, who got his start on the video sharing platform Vine and amassed 35,000 followers while there, said the impact of Gen Zers on the corporate marketing world is already being felt.
“Gen Z is the first generation that was raised on the internet and so you’re seeing these ideas and collaborations,” Cannavo said.
He recently paid a couple of teenagers to spearhead an advertising campaign, giving them no parimeters and what he said will be no feedback from himself once the content is completed.
“That’s a very interesting move to trust kids with your product, but if we’re marketing to that audience, why would I not?” he said.
The younger generation of content creators appears more empowered and emboldened to handle their own business than ever before, with an understanding of the power and value in their follower counts than when social media was a still relatively new concept.
“I remember being on Vine and every Viner that had more than 150,000 followers had a manager, an agency, and I remember these agencies were hunting for this talent,” Cannavo said. “I look around now and nobody has agencies, nobody has managers, and you still see the commercialization of the young TikTokers. But these really powerful, explosive players in the space, they’re doing it themselves.
“It’s the gamification of business in that younger kids have an audience. They have money. They have influence, and so they’re getting into business themselves.”
To that end, Cannavo said the future for TikTok and YouTube stars will be what he said are “a lot more personal deals.”