10 Foods Brands Crushing It On TikTok In 2023
Social media continues to be a powerful tool in digital marketing for food brands. In more recent years, the rise of TikTok has shifted how businesses market and the audience they target. What is the reason for this? A growing population of individuals online with shorter attention spans.
With the growing trends on TikTok, brands are targeting all age demographics. For example, 67% of TikTok users are of the Gen Z population, but the numbers aged up during the pandemic and have continued to rise. The average TikTok consumer has an attention span of 8 seconds.
The US has the largest TikTok audience, and the numbers are growing for all ages on the platform. In 2022, 47% of the users were under 30 years old. Although this platform tends to market to Gen Zers, the app has aged up significantly for ages 31-49. This group has jumped to 42%. As more age groups dive into TikTok, there are exponential growth opportunities.
Businesses have 8 seconds to “wow” a user or the consumer will move on to the next visually appealing piece of content. When the pandemic started, food trends sky-rocketed on TikTok. Even Gordon Ramsey hopped on board!
While millennials are generally called the “me generation,” Gen Z is the “true gen,” meaning expressing individual truth. In addition, this generation is the first of the “digital natives” Not only has this generation been brought up with an abundance of technology at their disposal, but they grew up in the health and wellness era.
With several generations constantly online, always on the go, and health-conscious, it’s raised a challenge for food marketing strategies. Thriving brands on TikTok have noticed this and have taken digital marketing to the next level.
What are these brands doing that makes them so successful? Let’s take a look.
Oreos: Mondelez International
The company that owns some of the most popular snack brands in the world, like Oreos, created its TikTok account in September 2020. One year later, the company started direct-to-consumer relationships with its audience through the platform. Mondelez’s most popular brand, Oreos, now has around 1.4 million followers. The company’s revenue did increase by 2.8% in 2020.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
This business, as a whole, takes into account “short” and “fun” videos. For example, Oreos, the classic cookie brand, pairs its familiar products with young personalities. The videos Oreo creates on their TikTok remind fans of their childhood through short, snappy recipe videos that keep the audience entertained. Oreos also pairs DIY recipe videos with more professional ones, creating a more personable social media grid.
Along with this strategy, the company also runs vast integrated marketing campaigns to encourage customers to engage and potentially win giveaways. But, of course, nothing screams Gen Z more than, “win this for free!”
Taco Bell
With 1.7 million followers on TikTok, Taco Bell is well-known for its fun and personable videos. Taco Bell knows most of us won’t click on tedious or repetitive ads, so they’ve gone the alternative route. Instead, they find ways to incorporate TikTok trends such as short songs, creative artists, and funny influencers into their videos about Taco Bell’s products.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
They make it simple with TikTok videos that are short, fun, and relatable. In addition, Taco Bell knows how to engage with its audience. They use TikTok videos to incentivize users to sign up as a new rewards member on the app and, in return, win a free food item.
Taco Bell joined the TikTok creative exchange to launch its digital marketing strategy. This exchange helps advertisers connect with creative experts to create short brand videos for TikTok specifically. The company was paired with two influencers for the initial campaign and received 4.5 million impressions. This boost in visibility gave Taco Bell a gain in followers and the ability to connect with its audience directly.
A poll by the younger users on the platform over the past six months verified that 43% have purchased a Taco Bell item and continue to frequent the restaurant chain.
Dunkin
The infamous Dunkin opened their TikTok account in October 2019. The company now has 3.1 million followers and 23.2 million likes on TikTok. To ensure their account was a success, they teamed up with a well-known influencer of Gen Z, Charli D’Amelio, in 2020. Within the first five days of the campaign launch, there was a 57 % increase in app downloads and a 65% increase in overall sales.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
Influencer marketing helps brands improve their social media presence and boost sales. Today the company pairs with several TikTok influencers to gain more traction and, in return, the business benefits. They currently work with a long list of influencers to create more personalized experiences with the TikTok audience.
Their TikTok marketing strategy includes paying employees at work to film short videos, and it has gained much traction. Along with pairing highly followed influencers, the brand promotes proper hashtags and integrates their message within the hottest TikTok trends.
Through influencer partnerships, Dunkin holds the top seat for the world’s largest coffee and donut shop.
Chipotle
Chipotle strives to cultivate a better world by serving responsibly sourced food with wholesome ingredients. The American chain combines healthy, fast, and casual in its restaurants. They launched their TikTok account in 2018 and gained 1.3 million followers and 19.1 million likes. Chipotle promotes its social campaigns to engage Gen Zers. 50% of Chipotle’s TikTok followers are zoomers.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
The brand has a more casual tone on TikTok. The company keeps the social content down-to-earth and relatable. Like many large brands, Chipotle partnered with Gen Z influencers to implement branded challenges that engage the audience. For example, the #ChipotleLidFlip challenge created by a Chipotle employee went viral and boosted the brand’s audience.
When metaverse launched, Chipotle launched a campaign game on Roblox that encouraged followers to play by offering a free burrito to the first 100,000 gamers. This example shares how the brand pairs online and offline promotions incredibly well.
Furthermore, they market on TikTok in a humorous and light-hearted manner. They implement this strategy through comedy sketches and reposting goofy fan videos, like using a Chipotle burrito as a dumbbell for an “arm day.” The company also does a great job sharing behind-the-scenes of Chipotle’s kitchens and employees.
Chipotle is an excellent example of how taking the humorous and fun route in digital marketing can reap massive benefits; reach and awareness. The brand shows us that leveraging a business account to grow brand existence can be both fun for the community and successful for the company.
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut has utilized TikTok effectively by collaborating with influencers and creating innovative challenges related to their products. Their #PizzaHutRapChallenge received immense popularity, with users composing their own rap verses about Pizza Hut and showcasing their love for the brand. Pizza Hut has taken full advantage of TikTok’s viral nature and engaging features to create a strong presence on the platform.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
Creative Collaborations: Pizza Hut has successfully collaborated with popular TikTok creators and influencers to create engaging content. By partnering with influencers who have a huge following, Pizza Hut ensures that their content reaches a wider audience and has a higher chance of going viral.
Innovative Challenges: Pizza Hut has consistently come up with innovative challenges related to their products. For instance, their #PizzaHutRapChallenge gained significant traction, wherein TikTok users were encouraged to create their own rap verses about Pizza Hut. This challenge not only generated user-generated content for Pizza Hut but also increased brand awareness and engagement.
Humor and Entertainment: Pizza Hut understands the importance of humor and entertainment on TikTok. They create engaging and entertaining videos featuring employees, behind-the-scenes footage, and skits that resonate with their target audience. By incorporating humor into their content, Pizza Hut ensures that users are entertained while being exposed to their brand.
Overall, Pizza Hut’s success on TikTok can be attributed to their creative collaborations, innovative challenges, humor-filled content, timely relevance, effective product showcase, and genuine user interaction. These factors have allowed Pizza Hut to create a strong digital marketing strategy on TikTok, reaching and captivating a large and diverse audience on the platform.
Wendy’s
Known for its witty social media presence, Wendy’s has extended its digital marketing strategy to TikTok. They engage users through hilarious skits, challenges, and behind-the-scenes videos. By leveraging their brand personality on TikTok, Wendy’s has successfully strengthened their connection with their target audience. Wendy’s has become a popular brand on TikTok with its snarky, relatable, and humorous content that resonates with the younger demographic.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
National Roast Day on TikTok: Wendy’s National Roast Day has been a huge success on TikTok. This event started as a Twitter-only event, but Wendy’s moved it to TikTok in 2021, and it has since grown into a three-day event. Users post videos asking Wendy’s to “roast” them, and Wendy’s replies with snarky comments from its animated mascot, Wendy. Wendy’s clever use of video responses helped to generate over 15.4 million views in 2021.
Interactive Advertising: Wendy’s has found success with interactive advertising on TikTok by incorporating challenges that promote user-generated content. For example, their “Doja Cat Meal” challenge encouraged users to create their original dance to a song about the meal item. Wendy’s also partnered with three popular TikTok creators, resulting in over 3 million views to help promote their Jalapeño Popper Chicken Sandwich.
Humor and Entertainment: Wendy’s has a unique voice that stands out and resonates with younger audiences. The brand injects humor into its content, making the company more approachable and relatable to TikTok users. Wendy’s use of humor helps to increase engagement levels and has helped the company acquire over 1.7 million followers as of August 2023 on TikTok.
Marketing Collaborations: Wendy’s has collaborated with several TikTok influencers and creators, increasing its reach and impact. The partnerships helped the brand to have relevant and entertaining content that helps to keep users engaged and grow its audience base.
Overall, Wendy’s has found significant success on TikTok by incorporating humor, interactive advertising, smart partnerships, and strategic marketing collaborations. These tactics helped Wendy’s to establish a strong and relatable digital marketing strategy on TikTok.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has embraced TikTok’s creative features by launching interactive campaigns. For example, they partnered with popular TikTok creators to promote their Coke Energy Drink, encouraging users to share videos of them recharging and taking on new challenges. Coca-Cola has effectively leveraged the platform to connect with the younger audience and showcase their products in a fun and engaging way.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
Collaborating with Creators: Coca-Cola has partnered with TikTok creators to engage with their audience and promote their brand. They launched the #ShareTheMagic challenge, inviting creators to showcase their personal expressions of Coca-Cola’s “Real Magic” platform.
TikTok Challenges: Coca-Cola has launched TikTok challenges to encourage user participation and engagement. They introduced the #ShareTheMagic challenge, featuring a new song from Khalid, which garnered over 11.9 billion views and led to the creation of 1.7 million original videos by nearly 1 million creators.
Highlighting BIPOC Creators: Coca-Cola’s TikTok debut with the #ShareTheMagic challenge aimed to give BIPOC creators more visibility and recognition. By featuring and promoting the work of BIPOC creators, Coca-Cola showcased its commitment to diversity and inclusivity, resonating with a wider audience and generating positive brand sentiment.
Integrating TV Series: Coca-Cola partnered with the popular ’80s-themed Netflix series “Stranger Things” to create a takeover-style approach on social media, including the reintroduction of New Coke.
These strategies have allowed Coca-Cola to effectively engage with TikTok’s massive user base and create a strong brand presence on the platform.
Pringles
Pringles has capitalized on TikTok trends and challenges to engage users and promote their products. Their “Pringle Stack” challenge became a hit, with users showcasing their creative stacking techniques. This campaign allowed Pringles to tap into the user-generated content trend and generate massive brand exposure on TikTok.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
Pringles has found great success on TikTok, primarily through their Branded Hashtag Challenge, #PlayWithPringles. The challenge was designed to engage the TikTok community and create a surge in brand awareness. Pringles ran the challenge in three European markets, Germany, Italy, and France, with spectacular results.
The #PlayWithPringles challenge encouraged users to show their creativity and joy, resulting in over 4.7 billion views on TikTok and creating a fun, playful and engaging experience for the audience. One of the keys to the challenge’s success was the simplistic nature of the content, which was designed to encourage user engagement, so they had fun using the product and felt encouraged to create something unique. This content resonated with Pringles’ younger target audience and helped embed the brand in the hearts and minds of its viewers.
On top of the hashtag challenge, Pringles’ official TikTok channel plays a role in the brand’s TikTok success. With 700.9k followers and 7.2 million likes, Pringles uses its TikTok presence to collaborate with other creators and push their brand to the forefront of the minds of its TikTok audience. Pringles utilized TikTok marketing to imbue their brand with a sense of fun and levity, which has led to an increase in brand awareness and has been a significant marketing success.
Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s has successfully used TikTok’s platform to promote their social activism initiatives. They have collaborated with influencers and created videos that educate users about various social issues while showcasing their delicious ice cream creations. Ben & Jerry’s strategic approach to digital marketing on TikTok has helped them connect with socially conscious consumers and promote their brand values.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
Ben & Jerry’s has found tremendous success on TikTok by employing a social media strategy that leverages its global and local accounts. The brand’s global accounts on Instagram and TikTok feature a mixed content strategy of social activism and product promotion. Meanwhile, the local accounts on TikTok focus on integrating humor into the brand’s videos to connect with its audience.
As for its TikTok presence, Ben & Jerry’s posted content that presented its products with humorous, irreverent, and relatable scenarios that resonated with its youthful audience. The brand also ran a #PhishFoodFunk contest on TikTok to increase engagement with its audience, which was a huge success. Through this contest, Ben & Jerry’s was able to foster bonds with their target consumers and elevate the brand’s social media standing.
Overall, Ben & Jerry’s success on TikTok comes from a well-executed social media strategy that leverages content that aligns with its values, takes a stance on social issues, and provides an engaging and relatable experience for its audience.
Red Bull
Red Bull has long been known for its marketing prowess, and TikTok is no exception. They have successfully capitalized on TikTok’s high-energy nature by sharing extreme sports videos, behind-the-scenes content, and collaborating with athletes. Red Bull’s engaging and adrenaline-pumping content has resonated well with TikTok users, allowing them to maintain a strong brand presence on the platform.
How are they crushing it on TikTok?
Red Bull has found great success on TikTok by creating engaging content that speaks to its target audience. Red Bull’s TikTok account features content that showcases its brand values and products while also highlighting some of the exciting events the brand is involved in, such as motorsports, extreme sports, and music festivals.
One of the reasons for Red Bull’s success on TikTok is their focus on collaborating with popular creators in the platform. Red Bull works with creators who have a large following and are relevant to their brand to create content that resonates with their audience. These collaborations have resulted in some of the most popular videos on the Red Bull TikTok channel.
Another key to Red Bull’s success on TikTok is their storytelling ability. Red Bull’s content on TikTok uses storytelling to highlight the people, events, and activities that make their brand unique. By doing this, Red Bull is able to engage their audience and keep them coming back for more.
Red Bull has been successful on TikTok by creating engaging content that showcases their brand values and products while collaborating with popular creators on the platform and using storytelling to keep their audience engaged.
In conclusion, these 10 food brands have truly crushed their digital marketing strategy on TikTok. By leveraging the platform’s creative features, engaging with users through challenges and collaborations, and staying true to their brand values, they have successfully connected with their target audience and increased their brand awareness. As TikTok continues to grow, it presents a significant opportunity for food brands to engage with their customers and strengthen their digital marketing efforts.
How can you crush it on TikTok like these leading food brands?
Influencer engagement.
All of the companies above utilize the top influencers on the platform to gain followers and more engagement. This is a great way to build brand awareness and relationships with influencers for future marketing.
Trendy content.
They strategize a plan by researching their target audience and digging into what they like, click on, and engage with—creating a relatable campaign that hooks them into wanting to consume more of that content!
Paid Advertising.
The leading food brands on TikTok also pay attention to their paid advertising. Currently, the platform has five options for paid ads.
- Branded Hashtags
- In-feed Ads
- Branded effects
- Top view Ads
- Brand Takeover
TikTok Optimization, a.k.a. Hashtags.
Brands can organically build more awareness by utilizing hashtags such as #socialmediamarketing #B2Btips, and hashtags should be created into the videos with specific content related to the advertisement; that way, when a customer visits a landing page, they see the ad content immediately.
Due to its growing popularity, TikTok is a platform bound to make your business excel with the right tools and strategy.
For more information about food brands and marketing success, check out our ChuckJoe blog on Ben & Jerry’s!
Sources:
https://adage.com/creativity/work/chipotle-mexican-grill-lid-flip-challenge/2252301
https://adage.com/article/marketing-news-strategy/how-food-brands-can-win-tiktok/2442711
https://rightmetric.co/insight-library/how-chipotle-became-the-most-followed-food-brand-on-tiktok
