1. The #Boorito Challenge: Chipotle
Every year, if you wear a costume to get your Chipotle on Halloween, you receive your food at a reduced price. This year, Chipotle brought this movement over to TikTok, creating the #Boorito campaign. Users posted to TikTok their Halloween costume transformation using #Boorito and tagging Chipotle to get the chance to win free burritos for a whole year. To support the campaign, Chipotle sponsored the contest through influencers like Brittany Broski, Zach King, and Jiffpom which resulted in the #Boorito tag reaching 3.6 billion views.
Our take: Chipotle put together two things people love: a giveaway contest and fun Halloween costumes. The choice of TikTok was strategic because of the demographics and vibe of the platform. Overall, the campaign matched perfectly with the tools used to amplify it.
2. #TooSickToBeSick Challenge: Mucinex
Pharmaceutical companies can be tricky to promote. Launching a campaign in this space can run into a variety of challenges; especially with influencers often not wanting to promote medical products. Mucinex overcame this and created their own #TooSickToBeSick challenge. This transformation type video encouraged users to depict themselves going from “too sick” to “so sick”. JaydenCroes, one of four influencers who took part in the campaign, reached 501k likes. Over 889 million views of the hashtag were generated.
Our take: Setting aside the obvious creativity of this campaign, Mucinex was able to jump on the transformation videos trend and capitalize on the concept through a great social media management strategy and influencer activations.
3. Charlie’s Angels: #CharliesAngelsUnite
The remake of the movie Charlie’s Angels premiered digitally this year, and along with it, came #CharliesAngelsUnite. To promote the franchise, Charlie’s Angels challenged users to post their dance moves along with the film's lead soundtrack, Don’t Call Me Angel. 15 influencers took part in the campaign, including Rebecca Zamola, Zoe Laverne, and Lauren Godwin. 129.2k TikTok users joined in using the song, and the hashtag gained over 4.2 billion views.
Our take: The franchise did a great job with going after their target audience. Gen Zers and Millennials make up more than 50% of the current U.S. population, so launching a campaign on TikTok and IG ensures to capture the majority of them. With TikTok, visuals are essential, so incorporating dance and original music makes it a great package. As always, influencers are essential in amplifying the campaign, and going with 15 profiles allowed the brand to truly diversify its reach.
4. Gymshark: #Gymshark66
#Gymshark66 is the hashtag Gymshark launched for their 66 Days: Change your life challenge. The goal was to win a year's supply worth of Gymshark merchandise, and all users had to do to participate was to set a goal for March 8th, document their before and after progress, and show the results. Six influencers pushed the campaign, which received 45.5 million hashtag views.
Our take: Prize giveaways offer a great stepping-stone for any campaign. Whether it’s seeding, one time, or a lifetime prize, it’s fair to say that people enjoy getting free stuff. This campaign played it smart by combining a branded product series giveaway with actual fitness transformation. The influencers were key here, not only to amplify the challenge but also to explain it. Overall it was executed very well.
5. ELF: #EyesLipsFace
The ELF campaign is truly something special. The brand created a TikTok jingle called “Eyes Lips Face '' to launch their presence on the platform and supported the sound, most frequently featured in the background of makeup transformation videos, through influencers and a strong organic presence. The campaign reached over 5.2 Billion views and the sound was eventually turned into a full-length song that is now on Spotify.
Our take: The success of this campaign was both timing and content related. The catchy song performed so well on the platform that it set a standard for many competitors. The organic presence was also solidified by the easy-going content the company produced and the influencers they chose.
6. Red Bull: #GivesYouWings
Red Bull’s digital content is, by now, a golden standard. The brand’s IG page and website are a constant source of inspiration with new challenges, contests, and giveaways taking place almost constantly. Their striking and eye-catching videos often depicting stunts and other daring activities that have gained massive traction and attention from users. #GivesYouWings currently has more than 417 million views on TikTok and seems to have found its place on the platform.
Our take: While this might not qualify as a campaign, it certainly qualifies to be on this list. TikTok has proved to be a great platform for Red Bull because of the video format. With content in extreme sports like diving, racing, skydiving, etc., a video is worth a thousand pictures.
7. Walmart: #DealDropDance
Walmart decided to give last year’s Black Friday a boost by encouraging users to upload their dance on TikTok for a chance to win a $100 gift card. Influencers were used to kick-start the campaign and the hashtag #DealDropDance has reached 3.6 billion views.
Our take: Fall was a strange period for TikTok. It had become a household name but because of the rapid expansion, many brands were still considering using it to promote their message. Walmart took a chance with this campaign but did so in a very clever way. As with many other campaigns on the platform, giveaways seem to be a popular way to engage audiences. The dance and hashtag were both very catchy although the target audience might have been on the younger side.
8. Too Faced: #TooFacePartner
This campaign shows another brand using the transformation video trend to their advantage. Influencers and users were encouraged to share their makeup transformations, from a clean face to the final product, using the hashtag #TooFacePartner. The campaign launched with influencer Kristen Hancher and continued through both users and other influencers like Victoria Lyn, Laurie Elle, Chloe Rose, and Ewa Zawada. The hashtag has 9.4 million views and counting.
Our take: The greatness of this campaign is not in the numbers alone but in the sector. The beauty space on TikTok is fiercely competitive as the platform is the perfect tool to show makeup and other products. When thinking about Too Faced and what they have been able to do, it’s also important to consider the other campaigns that are happening simultaneously from different competitors. For this reason, we believe that getting the numbers they got in this space and time is an accomplishment.