Renegade. Renegade. Renegade. Do you hear that? It may be the hottest trending track on TikTok of all time but to me, it is the sound of success. In a world where trending and digital marketing go hand in hand, TikTok is changing the game. Whether it be music, fashion, D.I.Y. videos, TikTok has managed to monopolize the legacy Vine left behind, all while allowing brands to relentlessly promote themselves in a new interactive way. The genius behind the platform’s success is focused on the opportunity to go viral, and with TikTok, almost anyone can get their 5 minutes of fame.
With fame, comes influencers and one thing the short-form mobile video app has been able to do is to transform influencer marketing in a way no other social platform has been able to yet. Michael Gruen, the vice president of TalentX refers to the GenZ influencers of Tik Tok as the “next generation of YouTubers, like it or not.” Commenting on their success, he explains how ahead of the game his company is in utilizing this period of time, “When you put a video with their name in the headlines, they're going to get 100,000 views. It's a phenomenon that no one's taking advantage of." (Source) However, outside of talent managing and influencer marketing, there are a plethora of brands honing in and taking advantage of TikTok’s easy to use interface and algorithm for success.
Some of the more successful examples of brands making the switch include Mountain Dew, Hyundai, and Dolls Kill. Mountain Dew is approaching TikTok with a collaboration with Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining.’ Similar to Snapchat and Instagram, TikTok uses filters with their interface allowing users to add artistic effects to their videos. Mountain Dew encourages users to use a “branded effect” that renders a twin of the person in the video, similar to the classic movie scene. In their campaign, they accompanied the filter with an originally produced track and a choreographed dance. Nothing screams virality more than an easily replicable and catchy TikTok dance (Source).
Hyundai is the first brand to utilize TikTok as a media platform. Using the star of their Superbowl commercial Rachel Dratch, the spot jokes about Boston accents referring to the car’s new “smart park” feature. Tapping into a TikTok meme “one day after,” the video shows how a Bostonian’s accent thickened after returning to Boston, the day after. Their approach utilized an existing popular trend on the platform which resonated strongly with their audience (source).
A brand who is owning the world of TikTok is the individualistic punk rock, goth, glam yet fashion-forward brand Dolls Kill. Dolls Kill has successfully become the revered brand of the TikTok E-Girl. What is an E-Girl you ask? Well, as one of the most interesting trends even to the most versed TikTokker, an E-Girl is a less polished and posed version of an everyday Instagram fashion influencer. Their content includes unedited, raw footage while their style reflects the opposite of an influencer. Sporting neon hair and heavy winged eyeliner, the E-Girl is the anti-influencer, changing the relationship between the Gen-Zs and the fashion industry. Their fashion is versatile, and so is Dolls Kill (Source).
With a love for thrifting and getting as much as you can for as cheap as possible, Dolls Kill has been able to combine the demand for affordable clothes while encouraging self-expression. The “I don’t give a fuck” attitude is trending and Dolls Kill has untapped the secret behind that style. The brand is very current jumping on the body positivity trend, utilizing 6 model figures, or ‘dolls’ of all shapes and sizes to showcase the clothing on their website and social channels.
Big changes are expected in 2020. After surpassing over 1.5 billion downloads, the app has gained so much unexpected traction that advertisers are concerned. The app is expected to roll out a ‘self-serve ad model’ that would simplify the process for marketers. As of now, marketers work directly with the platform sales team. Optimistically, this change will allow brands and agencies to track conversions and to target niche audiences more efficiently. However, some are concerned that TikTok will be unable to meet the needs of advertisers without diluting its creative appeal to users. What makes TikTok great is the authenticity it generates on the platform. The opening of the flood gates might cause the purity of the current platform to get watered down by too much inventory.
The solution? Creativity. Just as Mountain Dew, Hyundai, and Dolls Kill have been able to do, advertise creatively. Create brand awareness innovatively and most importantly, preserve the genius that is TikTok and sustain the profitability of memes. But the real question, from the eyes of an experience seeker, what does Tik Tok mean for the culture? Are our real-life experiences encouraged by motives tied in video recording and hashtagging? Do people really love concerts, festivals, & events, or similar to the Instagram epidemic, does content influence our actions directly? That is the beauty of apps like Tik Tok, but it can also be the scariest part.
For experiential companies, such as Ideaison, we create events and experiences around interests or being a part of a community. Depending on the event, this can go one of two ways. We’ll either encourage you to put your phone down, live in the moment and allow the experience to speak for itself -OR- we’ll create a fascinating, other-worldly experience that you just can’t help but take a picture or video to attempt to share with your friends. This is where Tik Tok comes into the picture. The app is designed to allow users to capture an experience in an expedient manner. Photos have influence, but video invokes feelings. As experiential curators, Tik Tok may just be the perfect secret weapon in relaying those feelings. We dream up an idea, make it come to life, and encourage others to be impressionable amplifying it. Create. Experience. Share. Repeat.