A review and analysis of eight influencer marketing campaigns leveraged through TikTok.

TikTok, designed as a short video-sharing platform, is the ideal place to attract customers. The short video format eases the content creation process for the creators and viewers. The nature of the content entices them to view the whole video and possibly even going beyond that. 

With its rapid growth and popularity, brands are now accepting TikTok as the new marketing tool. Now let’s take a look at 8 Influencer marketing TikTok examples:

MUCINEX

Mucinex, a pharmaceutical brand, initiated its Halloween-inspired campaign in 2019 in an attempt to market its medicine through TikTok. The campaign was themed around a hashtag TooSickToBeSick, which embodied how the use of their medicine made them “so sick” or fit to enjoy Halloween. In the videos, the partner TikTok influencers were dressed as zombies, and by taking the medicine, they were extremely energized to enjoy the party. This was the first time TikTok collaborated with a pharmaceutical brand. A lot of care has been taken to ensure the creators do not violate any laws regarding the promotion of medicinal products.

CHIPOTLE

Chipotle has done many challenges on TikTok during 2019. One of them was the #ChipotleLidFlip which originated when Frederick Teen, who recorded a video as he flipped the lid of a bowl in style. That video became viral and turned into the #ChipotleLidFlip challenge, which millions of people watched and tried themselves.

Another notable campaign was the #Boorito challenge during Halloween, where customers wearing spooky outfits could enjoy food at lower cost. This enticed people to record their Halloween outfits and get their reward. The top five posts with the most likes would be given free burritos for one year. With the help of TikTok influencers, Chipotle was able to muster a whopping 3.6 million views thanks to the ‘boorito’ hashtag. 

RED BULL

Red Bull collaborated with Keeoh, an e-sport gamer, to promote their energy drink. The influencer posted a clip where he would share a demonstration using Red Bull. As he began pouring the drink into a cup placed on the table, he revealed that there was nothing in it. Confused, as you might be, one of his friends who was hiding at the back of the table jumps out. That is when we know that his friend actually consumed the drink. Red Bull was following the trend of tricking the audience into emptying a drink elsewhere than expected.

GYMSHARK

Gymshark is a fitness-clothing brand from the UK that is well acquainted with influencer marketing. With a massive 2.9 million followers on Instagram, they experimented with TikTok. On January 1st, 2019, they started their life transformation challenge spanning a total of 66 days, where users had to choose a goal and try to achieve it by March 8^th. By taking before and after pictures of their progress, Gymshark would supply their products for one year to the winner.

They collaborated with six TikTok influencers with a combined following of 19.8 million. Not just that, their hashtag #gymshark66 helped them garner nearly forty-five million views.

CALVIN KLEIN

Calvin Klein, the clothing brand, also decided to try out TikTok. They joined in 2019 and created their official account to post promotional videos. Modern brands do not do this, but they managed to gain a lot of attention through their partnerships with big celebrities. The initial 22 videos they produced used the tag #MyCalvins featuring stars like A$AP Rocky, Shawn Mendes, and Kendall Jenner. They were interviewed while wearing Calvin Klein clothes. They managed to establish a following of 5.1K, but if they continue to focus on modern marketing skills, they can amplify their campaign. Collaborating with famous YouTubers, athletes, and influencers is a better approach to attract larger audiences.

KOOL-AID

Kool-Aid, an American beverage brand, ran its first TikTok challenge in 2019. Using the tag #OhYEAHChristmas, users had to post videos of them enjoying the holiday season. They offered $10,000 as the winner’s incentive. They began their campaign with rapper Lil Jon and mascot Kool-Aid Man and posted three videos under their official TikTok account. The campaign was successful as there were over 10,000 video submissions on the platform for this challenge.

EA SPORTS

EA Sports did various partnerships with influencers to promote their games on TikTok. As EA Sports and TikTok have a young user base, their campaigns were set to flourish. Indeed, when they hired Brent Rivera, a YouTuber, he helped promote their game Apex Legends through a comedy skit of him playing. That skit got 700K likes from his 17 million followers. Similarly, Gil Croes, a famous TikTok influencer, also made a skit of him playing EA Sport’s Plants vs. Zombies, which generated 505.1K likes and 1.9K comments.

TOO FACED

Too Faced could be one of the first, if not the first cosmetic brand to market themselves on TikTok. Even before they knew TikTok existed, much of their products, especially their new lip product, were sold out, which had been in their product range for six years. The reason for the sudden sales was a TikTok trend,in which users have posted pictures of using lip gloss..

Seeing that overwhelming response, Too Faced decided to collaborate with TikTok influencers. One of them was Kristen Hancher, who used their upcoming product, the ‘Damn Girl mascara.’ In the post under the #TFDamnGirl, Hancher was bare-faced lip-synching, then transitioned into wearing the mascara. This campaign was quite successful as it mustered 821,000,000 views under the #TFDamnGirl tag.
These were some of the few Influencer marketing TikTok examples we have seen over the years. This shows the immense power TikTok holds in the marketing realm.