Tony Piloseno was an Ohio University senior in 2019-2020 who had a part-time job at Sherwin-Williams (the paint and coating solutions company) where he worked in the paint mixing department. He started posting TikTok videos in December 2019 where he'd mix colors into paint cans. His TikTok channel quickly went viral and he gained over 1 million followers.
For months starting in March or April 2020, Piloseno had been pitching to Sherwin-Williams that his viral account was an example of social media marketing the company could do to build brand awareness with a younger audience. He got as far as getting in contact with someone in the company's marketing division, but was essentially told that there weren't any promotions happening at the time, so there was no need for Piloseno to pitch his idea further.
Eventually, in late July 2020, instead of Sherwin-Williams capitalizing on this influencer marketing opportunity, the company investigated Piloseno's TikTok account and fired him for making "these videos during [his] working hours" and wasting company equipment and properties - "gross misconduct". To Sherwin-Williams, Piloseno's videos were an embarrassment.
From Piloseno's point of view, he was already mixing the paints for customers when he filmed, and as his TikTok page grew, he purchased paint cans with his employee discount to film with when business was slow. He was not stealing materials as the company accused him of, but Piloseno never got a chance to tell his side of the story to management to try and save his job.
At this point, Piloseno had amassed 1.2 million followers. After his firing, he continued to film his paint mixing videos in his friend's basement. While Sherwin-Williams missed out on this huge opportunity to build brand awareness and expand their customer base through social media, Piloseno can take advantage as he develops his own company to sell his own merchandise and his own paint colors. He's already got a huge audience to start with.
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