ESCP ALUMNI magazine - #196 - Hiver 2021 - 62

Campus ❙ Rencontre d'un étudiant
Joshua Bach:
« We're entering
the world of social commerce »
Joshua Bach is 20 years old. He is also one of the oldest members of PlaytheHype, the Hamburgbased
" Gen Z marketing agency " he co-founded in September of 2020. A year later, the company
has won multiple marketing awards, generated 7-digit revenues, and is now home to more than
20 employees - or " family members " , as the founding team sees them. The student, who's currently in
his second year at ESCP Europe, tells us what it takes to stand out today and connect with Gen Z,
and how TikTok and other platforms will shape the future of marketing and advertising.
Joshua BACH
co-Founder @PlayTheHype
Could you introduce yourself? And
sum up your journey so far?
My journey starts with me attending
a French-German High School. After
moving from the US back to Germany in
2013, my parents decided to place me in
a French-German High School. It was at
this school that I really fell in love with the
language and the culture. After completing
an exchange year in Paris, I decided to go
graduate with the Abibac; the Bac Français,
and the German Abitur, which was a dual
diploma that I could obtain at my high
school. This is what really shaped me as
a person - I started having a lot of French
friends and decided to really commit to learning
their language. And then, at the end of
my high school degree, I wanted to continue
studying in a French environment, but, in a
European scope. That's why I looked for the
universities that suited my profile the best
62 ❙
and discovered ESCP, which seemed like the
perfect choice for me. In the meantime, I also
started developing this passion for entrepreneurship
that eventually led to PlaytheHype.
It's not the first startup that I've founded,
it's actually my third attempt at creating a
successful, scalable startup. My first try was
back in 2018, where I co-founded a web
agency in Germany, in my hometown, Bonn,
to be precise. We offered web design services,
search engine optimization, hosting
- anything that would help small businesses
like barbers, cafes or restaurants get more
visibility online. When I left that start-up to
pursue PlayTheHype, we had around 30 or
40 paying customers. In 2019, I was also
involved in scaling an online fashion startup
- it was a fashion label that I had founded
with some friends from school. We tried to
bring colorful African designs and prints to
the streetwear scene, specializing in trendy
products like fanny packs, carrying bags,
and tote bags...These are the two business
ventures that marked the beginning of my
professional experience. They didn't really
work out, but I see these experiences as part
of my learning curve in life. In either case,
the third time is the charm, as they say.
How did you come up with the
project PlaytheHype? When did
you get the idea?
First of all, PlayTheHype wasn't my idea. I
knew that I wanted to consult brands on
ESCP Alumni Magazine numéro 196 ❙ HIVER 2021
how to do TikTok, I just needed some more
manpower to get it done. I looked all over
LinkedIn Germany for possible co-founders,
until I met the perfect match: Neil, Bela,
and Jakob, three boys from Hamburg, that
were looking to do the same thing as me
and had already gotten started on a project
called " PlayTheHype " . I started reaching out
to them on LinkedIn and after a couple of
months, I was part of the team. In order to
understand why I chose TikTok and marketing,
I need to rewind a couple of years.
I've been a content creator since I was 11.
Back in 2012, I started uploading YouTube
videos of me doing backflips or basketball
trick shots. I really thought I was going to
be the next big YouTuber with my 11 years of
life experience. Obviously, that didn't work
out, so fast forward a couple of years to 2019.
During my first summer after graduation, my
dad came up to me one day and said: « Hey
Josh, you have to check out this app. You
might remember it as " musical.ly " , but it has
become the newest social-media sensation
that you have to try out. Content creators
can generate amazing reach and high engagement
rates - just download it and convince
yourself! » So, I decided to download TikTok.
After immediately getting hooked, I started
looking at TikTok trends from the USA and
decided to adapt them into German, with
the intention of testing the platform from
a creator perspective. I found that making
simple videos which were entertaining,

ESCP ALUMNI magazine - #196 - Hiver 2021

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