A picture taken of the TikTok page The Xavierite
I’ve noticed something different about the way companies are marketing themselves recently. Remember when brands would most likely just rely on television commercials as their marketing strategy?
Although some commercials could be very entertaining and creative, television ads have been the standard approach for decades. They are scripted commercials, not the kind of thing that we’re seeing companies focus on producing on TikTok nowadays. That being said, over the past few years, there has definitely been a change.
Last week, I was scrolling through TikTok where I saw a video from Duolingo. Duo the Owl, their mascot, was dressed in a bikini and dancing to “Nasty” by Tinashe. It wasn’t the strangest TikTok I’ve seen from them, but it did gain 1.1 million likes. This made me wonder: is this the new way of marketing?
Companies are no longer just advertising; they’re creating content that feels like something an influencer would post. Companies have understood that traditional ads can no longer get the job done, so they are finding new ways to reach the younger audience.
Duolingo isn’t the only company that’s doing this. Streaming platforms in particular have begun to incorporate marketing with entertainment. They aren’t simply promoting their shows anymore – they’re engaging with fans more through social media in a way that seems actually organic.
For instance, streaming services such as HBO Max and Netflix will take their shows and create TikTok edits of them in the same way that fans do. These edits are created for fandoms and receive millions of views and likes. This approach makes official marketing feel more fan-made.
An example of this is when Lionsgate posted a TikTok edit of Twilight. In the video, Lionsgate put together many clips of Jacob, a character from the movie, and wrote the caption “idk what Bella was thinking, I need him so bad.”
In this case, Lionsgate’s post wasn’t necessarily advertising Twilight directly, rather they were interacting with the fandom and ensuring the movie was still being talked about. It’s a pretty simple video, and it was designed that way – to look like something a fan might have posted.
Lionsgate knew what the fanbase would relate with, and that made it feel like they were a part of the fandom and less like another company.
Companies also seem to not only be engaging with fandoms but also in trends, marketing their content with memes, trending audios, challenges, and viral edits to attract the younger audience.
Streaming services have pretty much figured out how to use social media trends to keep their shows and films relevant. Rather than just hoping fans will create viral content, they also join in on the trends themselves. Netflix, for example, has used popular TikTok sounds to promote their films and has joined viral trends.
An example of this is when Duolingo partnered with Squid Game’s Pink Guard to promote learning the Korean language. The music team at Netflix created a K-Pop remix of the Squid Game song, “Pink Guards,” and released it on Spotify and YouTube under the name “Korean or Get Eaten.” They also decided to release a music video of the same song, with Duo the Owl as a Pink Guard, promoting the tagline “Learn Korean or Else.”
The same day, I also got a notification from Duolingo, telling me to keep up with my Korean lessons, or else. This strategy helped because many people started to learn Korean. The post on TikTok got 46.3 million views and 6 million likes. If you’ve ever been on TikTok, you know that type of engagement is huge.
However, while I believe this strategy is very creative, it does come with some risk. Sometimes these content and messages can feel very forced, and the younger audiences they are trying to reach can know when a brand is trying too hard.
For instance, A few years ago, Burger King UK tweeted, “Women belong in the kitchen,” followed by another tweet below it explaining what they actually meant. People on Twitter were very unhappy. They used it as an attention grabber for engagement, but it backfired completely.
This brings up the question of whether brands will continue making these kinds of bold marketing choices, and whether the younger audiences they are trying to relate to will eventually start tuning them out.
When done right, though, joining trends can make a brand feel more relatable and increase engagement. There are a few times I’ve seen companies join trends, and it feels like a fan-made video; sometimes I wouldn’t even realize it’s made by a company until I read the comments.
One thing I would recommend companies do is not to try too hard, or misread the tone, because most of the time it can lead to a lot of backlash.
The most important step is trying to relate to the audience without coming off as cringey.
As more companies take on the role of content creators, it will be very interesting to see how far they’re willing to push these strategies and whether the younger generation will continue to engage or start to tune them out.