Give our fake Diplo a very real, verified Twitter account: @_diplo_

We set up the account and arranged for its verification with Twitter. We hired Jack Wagner, a popular and talented social media personality (@versace_tamagtochi on Instagram) to run the account. We gave him the directive to tweet as the exaggerated Diplo character from WHAT WOULD DIPLO DO? But gave him free reign to use his experience with music, social media, and celebrity culture to inhabit the character. Everything appeared to look like the real Diplo’s account except it was a picture of James van der Beek in character as “Diplo.”

People were confused and amused as to whether this was the real Diplo which was compounded when the real Diplo also changed his Twitter profile picture to James van der Beek of his own accord.

55.7M impressions worth over $220K in media value

Over 4M visits to the fake Diplo profile

Over 48k followers over a 4 month campaign

Dozens of press hits from outlets like Billboard, NME, and AV Club.

A Twitter feud with...@DennysDiner, the notoriously try-hard Twitter account for the chain restaurant.

A fan-created online game that asks users to identify the source of 10 randomly-selected and unattributed tweets: the real or fake Diplo: whichdiplo.com