Allan Gregorio on Building Video People Can Use, Not Just Watch
Allan Gregorio is a digital artist and creative technologist known for interactive camera effects across TikTok and Snapchat. His work has generated more than 85 billion views, including collaborations with Nike, HBO Max, TikTok, and Doja Cat. A filter he created for TECNO Mobile set a Guinness World Record in 2024.
This conversation mattered because Gregorio did not frame video as a feed of clips. He treated it like a set of tools people pick up and use. That lens shifts how brands plan, measure, and resource video.
Across the interview, he traced his shift from short‑life posts to long‑life products. A single effect that kept earning views for years pushed him to build libraries, not one‑off uploads. He laid out mistakes he sees in brand video, from passive formats to overreliance on views, and he explained the metrics he actually tracks.
Gregorio also discussed timing and platforms. He looks for early signals before trends peak, builds for each platform instead of exporting one file everywhere, and places many small bets on a steady schedule. On operations, he runs a lean studio with automation handling repeatable tasks, then puts human time into taste and ideas. He cautioned that platforms can disappear and urged teams to spread risk and own their audience relationship outside any single app.
Participation, Not Passive Viewing
Gregorio described a basic shift in the medium. On TikTok and Snapchat, audiences did not just watch his effects, they opened them, tried them, posted with them, and shared them. As he put it, “When someone puts your work on their face and shares it with their friends, you are no longer buying reach.” The brand’s role moves from broadcaster to toolmaker.
He tracks the gap between tries and posts as a core signal. Out of 100 people who open one of his effects, roughly 8 go on to post a video with it, and shares often outnumber posts. That is a practical way to measure behavior, not just exposure. For video teams, the broader lesson is to define what use looks like for the format and score that, not just views.
Build for Years, Not Weeks
A TikTok effect Gregorio released years ago still earns views. He contrasted content that fades from a feed within days with a mechanic that remains fun well past a campaign window. He now asks a simple question before he creates: can this still be fun in three years. He cited ANGEL OR DEVIL, which sits at 8.8 billion views and continues to run.
This is not about stretching every asset. It is about building repeatable formats that invite ongoing participation. Gregorio also tied longevity to volume and tolerance for misses. Most of his ideas do not land. He publishes through the duds, then extends what the audience adopts.
Make Platform‑Native Work and Watch Early Signals
Gregorio advised brands to go where people already open the camera and to read each platform on its own terms. TikTok accounts for 82.5 billion of his views and Snapchat 3.2 billion, and they move on different jokes and behaviors at different speeds. He builds for the platform instead of exporting the same file everywhere.
He also looks for early signals. Formats that are about to move, not those already labeled a trend. Once something is officially a trend, you are late. This is a research and timing habit as much as a creative one. It affects when to publish, which mechanics to use, and where to test.
Automate the Repeatable, Invest Human Time in Taste
Gregorio runs a studio of two with around 30 automated jobs handling research, drafts, and routine production steps. He described the tools as no longer the barrier. The hard part is deciding what is worth making. He uses AI daily, from Blender and ComfyUI to Kling, and framed AI as a canvas, not a shortcut.
Looking ahead, he expects production costs to keep dropping as AI fills the tools teams already use. When output gets cheaper, judgment becomes the scarce resource. That means training teams to recognize formats with utility, timing, and staying power, then deploying automation to free up hours for that work.
Practical Application: Turning These Lessons Into Video Marketing Decisions
Design formats that people can use. In consumer work, this might be duet or stitch prompts, effect templates, or sound templates that invite viewers to place themselves in the story. In B2B, it can be a repeatable demo format that customers replicate with their own workflow or a challenge that asks users to show a setup using your product. Score success by actions you expect, such as remixes, template uses, or submissions, not just reach.
Plan for lifespan. Build a library of utilities and series that can run for months, then expand the sets that earn steady pickup. A tutorial template that teams can personalize, a monthly diagnostic checklist on camera, or a feature walkthrough that viewers can mirror are simple ways to create ongoing use. Kill frequency myths that cause you to end efforts after three weeks if the mechanic is still being used.
Treat platforms as different stages. Edit and package each idea to the norms of where it lives. That can mean adjusting duration, caption density, on‑screen prompts, and the first two seconds. Assign someone to scout early behaviors each week and feed that back into production. Place many small bets across formats and measure which idea deserves a sequel.
Balance risk and ownership. Spread work across multiple platforms and maintain a direct line to your audience through channels you control, like email or a community hub. Gregorio’s note about third‑party Instagram and Facebook effects being deleted in 2025 is a reminder that rented space can vanish. Keep assets, templates, and contact lists in systems you own so formats that work can survive platform changes.
Team Beverly Boy's Takeaway
We hear a clear call to build video that does something for the viewer and with the viewer. Gregorio’s try‑to‑post ratio is a simple, useful north star. It pushes teams to move past passive formats and to define a visible action that proves value.
We also like the operational split. Automate the repeatable, then spend human attention on taste, timing, and the few ideas that earn a sequel. That aligns with how we see video functioning inside a business, where the win is a format that keeps working rather than a one‑time spike.
Conclusion
Gregorio’s interview repositions video as a utility that people pick up and use. That perspective changes planning, metrics, production cadence, and risk management. It is a practical way to build a video strategy that holds up after the first week.
This article is based on an interview originally published by Authority Magazine. Read the full interview here.
