From Clinique To Kraft, How TikTok Became A Kingmaker Of Brands For Gen Z

Source: Fast Company, John Kell
Photo: Clinique, Kraft (MY/iStock/Getty Images)

“TikTok made me buy it” is the new mantra for marketers going into 2024. Do they risk sapping the platform of the authenticity that made it popular to begin with?

In the summer of 2021, TikTok user Shannon Johnson posted a short video where she applied Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in Black Honey on her lips, telling her followers it was the shade worn by Liv Tyler while filming Lord of the Rings.

Black Honey was a color that Clinique had launched in 1972. It enjoyed another burst of popularity in 1989, but remained fairly dormant ever since. Today, “it is one of the most important products in our portfolio,” says Jess Burns, Clinique’s vice president of global consumer engagement.

As the virality of Black Honey expanded across TikTok, Clinique savvily sent products to content creators to amplify interest in the shade, worked with retailers and the cosmetics brand’s supply-chain team to ensure enough product was on shelves as sales started to soar, and eventually created new Black Honey product extensions to capitalize on the beauty trend.

“It started with a viral moment and figuring out ways to extend that viral moment,” says Burns. “I would say that’s a tried-and-true strategy for any brand that wants to continue to be a big part of the conversation on TikTok.”

FROM FYP TO DTC

“TikTok Made Me Buy It” has become a catchphrase for viral content that influences sales, a trend that’s especially prominent for beauty and fashion. And while Instagram still drives more direct sales, experts say TikTok is becoming a key social platform for focus groups, data and insights, marketing, and even the development of new products that users are asking for.

“TikTok is the cultural space where conversations are happening,” says Ellyn Briggs, a brands analyst for Morning Consult. “They are happening fast and they are driving purchases.”

Morning Consult recently published an annual ranking of the fastest-growing brands of 2023, based on the number of consumers who say they would consider buying something from those brands over the course of the year. Brands that have gone viral on TikTok are seeing success among Gen Z consumers. Clinique ranked sixth, and it wasn’t the only decades-old brand finding success among Gen Zers. Dollar General, Pottery Barn, Victoria’s Secret, and Abercrombie & Fitch all performed well.

“Our research into Gen Z shows they have an appetite for nostalgia,” says Briggs.

Kraft ranked first among Gen Zers. Its parent company, Kraft Heinz, has evolved century-old brands like Heinz, Oscar Mayer, and Jell-O to make them less dusty in the social media era. Kraft has also evolved on how it views TikTok, initially thinking of it as yet another social channel where creative assets could be displayed.

But today, Kraft’s TikTok content is intentionally less polished. One popular video of a holiday recipe for Philadelphia Cream Cheese was in response to a user comment. It has also weighed in on the different forks that can be used to eat Kraft Mac & Cheese. Users have created a popular TikTok recipe “hack” that advises skipping Kraft’s cooking instructions and cooking all the mac and cheese ingredients into a pot at the same time.

Morning Consult

“We hope that we look like a brand that is living on the platform,” says Jess Vultaggio, vice president of brands and creativity at Kraft Heinz. More than 60% of the work Kraft does on TikTok is in response to the cultural conversation that’s happening naturally on the platform.

TikTok can be alluring to food giants like Kraft, which are introducing brands to a demographic that’s aging into adulthood and starting to establish their own grocery store purchasing patterns for the first time. Kraft’s brands, says Vultaggio, make “food more accessible, whether it is through ease of use or familiar flavors.”

SEARCH AND DISCOVERY

Gen Z is using TikTok as a search engine, says Vickie Segar, founder of influencer marketing agency Village Marketing. And this past holiday season was the first one where brands and content creators could leverage TikTok Shop, a new e-commerce feature that launched in September.

“We are writing strategies now around how we can have content creators answer questions that we are seeing in search, so that our brands show up,” says Segar. She says brands need to think differently about the sphere of influence on TikTok. It isn’t just about paying content creators, but supporting those who post about their love of a product organically.

“Consumers are looking for trusted commentary and the further you get away from the brand, and the less incentivized that person is, the more believable they are,” says Segar.

Johnson, who kicked off the Almost Honey craze, has fewer than 5,600 followers on TikTok. But as a sign of the democratization of influence on the platform, the #BlackHoney hashtag has generated more than 552 million views on the channel.

“TikTok is now becoming a demand retailer,” says Amy Lanzi, CEO of Publicis agency Digitas. “They can make commerce happen in places where most brands aren’t expecting.”

Lanzi says more brands are beginning to pilot what they are willing to sell through TikTok Shop and how much content creation power they are willing to cede to influencers on the channel. She says brands must first figure out an authentic organic social strategy before paying for ads. “You can’t spend your way into TikTok to win,” says Lanzi.

To help clients like Sephora and DiGiorno pizza create more precise content on TikTok, Digitas launched a new service called SWAT, which stands for Share Worthy and Trending.

“If TikTok is the epicenter of culture for Gen Z, that is such rich intelligence that we need to be paying attention to in a really strategic way,” says Christina Goswiller, head of social marketing for Digitas. One way Digitas is mining that information is by feeding hashtags and phrases into a proprietary artificial intelligence model to create a virtual “It girl” that can be asked about the most popular TikTok trends that may also resonate with consumers.

“Think of the amount of hours of research we are saving ourselves and how much of a better, richer, and fully formed understanding we can have around a specific audience or subculture based on some of these dialogues with AI,” says Goswiller.

OKAY, BUT HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

While experts say brands will continue to invest in TikTok, they should also be wary not to dilute the user experience that’s focused on entertainment and discovery. “There’s a discourse that I’ve been seeing that it’s kind of just turning the TikTok feed into a QVC hellscape,” says Briggs.

Clinique, which has a long history of working with dermatologists to educate consumers about skincare, seemingly agrees. It views TikTok as the modern makeup counter, a space to answer questions about skincare tips and share information about product ingredients.

“Gen Z can smell ads a mile away,” says Burns. “They are the first generation that really wants brands and creators to authentically speak to them. And what does that mean? You don’t create an ad. You create content that they would want to engage with.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91002043/tiktok-brand-success-stories-viral-marketing-clinique-kraft