Back in February, we conducted one of our content deep dives on Poppi’s PR disaster. The up and coming drinks brand received heavy pushback after it shipped $25k vending machines for top-of-the-pyramid influencers to enjoy during the Super Bowl. Viewers’ exasperated comments made one thing clear: brands are increasingly expected to diversify who they work with (“why do the same people always get the free stuff?”), and give a voice to less privileged groups.
Fast forward a few months, and one now finds a growing range of brands getting rewarded for sensing the zeitgeist and taking risks:
After struggling to adjust to TikTok’s new emotion-led content playbook, Sephora has been producing a few gems of late. Their best ever TikTok to date arrived in April, when they featured Tanner, a creator with autism, buying beauty products for his family. (Post and analysis here) The post exceeded 1m engagement and landed reactions like these:
A couple of months ago, Urban Decay took another gamble when it featured adult entertainer Ari Kytsya and captured over 2m owned engagements TikTok alone over a string of posts. While some consumers were “disappointed” by this decision, the majority sentiment was, once again, gratitude for giving otherwise marginalised groups a voice. (watch the post and read our analysis here)
Numbers represent likes-on-comments
Our 3rd example doesn’t stage an underdog, but instead features Lady Gaga, an artist defined by transformation and spectacle, revealing herself in a close-up without any makeup. (watch post and read our analysis here).
Its commonality with the other 2 posts is that the protagonist exposes their vulnerability. Time and again engagement data shows consumers crave these portraits and moments just as much as they do the opportunity to express their empathy and admiration in the comments.
These types of posts prove so compelling they draw large rewatch rates and extensive comment discussions that suck the time and oxygen away from the other 95%+ branded posts that play it safe.
Haus Labs’s largest TikTok to date (over 700k engagements)
Showing vulnerability and featuring the underprivileged are just 2 of many tactics savvy brands use to inject ‘realness’ and authenticity in their content. Doing so is increasingly important for 2 reasons: (i) it helps fend off the cynicism brand and formulaic influencer content faces; and (2) more importantly also grows trust in the products showcased.
