Less demure, less mindful: Is there still a need for a TikTok marketing rulebook?

You have undoubtedly seen brat summer quickly turn to the antidote aesthetic and mindset: very demure, very mindful. 

For those who have been living offline, the tongue-in-cheek phrase was coined by TikTok creator Jools Lebron, who described how she gets ready for work in a “demure, modest and respectful” manner. 

While all things demure have since taken over our feeds, a brand’s TikTok strategy doesn’t need to follow suit. TikTok is a place for bold creativity, chaos, and connection, and brands that embrace a less timid, less mindful approach than traditional marketing efforts will come out on top.

A new creative renaissance 

According to the platform's research tool, 70% of TikTok creators agree that other users inspire them to create. TikTok has revolutionised how we produce and consume content. Consumers are now prosumers. 

They’re not just consuming content; they’re producing it, which gives them enormous influence. This new wave of entertainment provides the means for brands to transcend the usual storytelling boundaries, seamlessly co-create with audiences, and engage with them on an unattainable level.

Carefully planned and over-curated craft is no longer the way to win

Whether it's Kamala HQ changing its X backdrop to ‘brat green’ following an endorsement from Charli XCX or Chipotle partnering with ‘Corn Kid’ Tariq after discovering he regularly visits his local Chipotle, embracing relevant trends can quickly align a brand with cultural conversations. 

This spontaneity helps to humanise and, in turn, it works more favourably with the algorithm to build reach. For marketers, it means ditching overly perfect, high production value creatives for quick and dirty lo-fi, fit-for-platform content. 

Now, that doesn’t mean creativity is no longer queen. According to TikTok, 75% of a campaign’s success comes down to the nature of the creative. Marc Jacobs knows this only too well. 

The luxury brand has won the hearts of Gen Z by trading in its stylised polished posts for a blend of humour and high fashion via niche content creators. It's messy and weird, but it works for a brand that goes against the grain.

Disruption not only plays a role in culture, it creates it

While jumping on the viral bandwagon can give you a dose of culture cred, brands should harness the power of disruption to cut through and drive growth truly.

Hilton teamed up with TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York to break the convention of short-form videos by debuting a 10-minute TikTok video in partnership with Paris Hilton and seven other influencers. To prove that 'It Matters Where You Stay', the hotel group wanted to pioneer a new type of social asset rewarding people for staying with Hilton. 

People were challenged to stay and watch the entire TikTok video—all 10 minutes. And it paid off. ‘The Ad You Stay In’ received 86 times more views than the average brand on the platform. Within 24 hours of launch, it gained over two million views, achieving a positive brand sentiment of 93.5%.

The balancing act: spontaneity with brand authenticity

While we encourage brands to be reactive, spontaneous, and disruptive, marketers must maintain brand authenticity with a clear link to their strategy. Telstra is one brand doing this particularly well in Australia at the moment. 

Their content is entirely at odds with how you’d expect a 100-year-old brand to show up, yet it's working. Telstra set out to build engagement and brand affinity with a younger audience and, since joining TikTok, has built and fostered a big following with its whacky Gen Z-coded content. 

Its first risky move, ‘The Nokia Tortilla’—a burrito whole of old Nokias and cheese in a sandwich press—signalled to its audience from day one that they wouldn’t be showing up as a typical large corporation. Since its TikTok debut, the telco has embraced the brave and the bold, with its content clocking up over 275 million views.

Ultimately, brands should embrace the platform’s fun, chaotic and light-hearted nature by daring to step away from more mindful and demure marketing ‘best practices’. It’s not just about fitting in by jumping on the latest trends; it’s about standing out through disruptive and authentic experiences that resonate on a deeper level.

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Eliza Smith is client partner at Eleven.