Foreword
If you haven’t heard about ho girl summer this year, you’re not alone and it’s all because of how much the city boys are up. Alongside this, shirts are quickly becoming napkins, users are being borderline waterboarded, and Yung Gravy is after your mom. As a brand these ongoings may seem odd, if not completely incomprehensible, so join us as we explore how brands can integrate, and gain a grasp about the culture, content, and trends going on in the world of TikTok this week!
Audio Based Trends
Most trends are based around sounds. What we mean specifically by audio based trends are trends that pertain to specific lyrics or wording within sound. This is when the action or meaning behind the trend is correlated with the lines spoken. These are usually the most prolific of trends on TikTok so let’s dive in.
Hell cat whipper
82.2k videos on the sound
I’m gonna preface today with the fact that a lot of the trends are somewhat nonsensical, and it starts here. The sound for this format reads, “hell cat whipper, certified dripper” which in Gen Z terminology basically means very cool. This is treated much more in the sarcastic sense, and as such users are simultaneously making fun of and hyping up themselves, or their friends for acting cool. They will show photo series of themselves acting cool in alignment with the audio changing lines.
Brand application: Brands will want to represent their brand in an image slide show, using meme images of employees or brand representatives being sarcastically cool. See examples below for a better idea of the image style.
Examples:
City boysssss
20.6k videos on the sound
Oh boy, where do I even start with this one. You may have already been able to put it together, but city boys this summer are the equivalent to hot girls last summer. Urban dictionary defines them as males who are living their very best life and chasing the bag at all times without letting Hot Girls or any female get in the way. As far as this goes for TikTok, there are a few different formats that center around the trend, but one mashup is superseding them all. Users will start the video with a clip of a guy showcasing city boy tendencies, (i.e. not being pushed around by a girl) and then they will cut to a meme clip mashup of notorious city boys hyping them up.
Brand application: Brands will want to highlight brand moments when they have sold really well, or just generally done something incredibly cool. Within the format they should first display this happening, and then follow it up with the meme mashup shown in the examples.
Examples:
Interactive Trends
This should be somewhat self explanatory but interactive trends are trends that involve users interacting with others to create videos. Often the hilarity or interest generated by working with loved ones or peers creates incredible laughs or simply fun times. Most importantly though, authenticity shows through with interactive trends as most often they are truly authentic.
Can you get me a napkin bro
Not trackable
Every so often, we all spill while we’re eating, but it’s always a better day when a friend can grab you a napkin. This trend depicts this exact interaction, just with a small twist. In videos, users are intentionally spilling an aggressive amount of food on themselves, and then subsequently asking their friend for a napkin. Their friend then will walk up to another peer in the video who is wearing a wife beater (white tank top) and they rip the wife beater off the peers back. Finally the friend will then hand the ripped tank top to the user who spilled as a napkin. The videos are so ridiculous that they ooze hilarity in their own right, but in some cases the peer doesn’t even know the video is happening so the surprise rip of their wife beater is even funnier. Friend groups are hare staying super entertained making the video for this trend and as such the interaction trend continues its dominance this summer.
Brand application: Regular brands should simply recreate the trend with their staff, but food brands and clothing brands should incorporate their products into the spilling and ripping acts of the format.
Examples:
I’m thirsty
174.7k videos on the sound
In the realm of comedy drawn from a ridiculous solution to a small problem, this week we have a second interactive trend that fits the bill. With this format, creators are utilizing the sound where someone says, “I’m thirsty.” While doing this they are laying on the ground facing up, and once the audio reads I’m thirsty, a friend will pour an entire bucket water on their face as they have their mouth open. Finally the audio reads, “refreshing” which the users will lip sync to. If we’re being honest, these videos have also gained more traction do to their salacious nature, as the vast majority of videos are done by girls in bikinis, but the trend is funny regardless and is why we are still seeing it pickup widespread adoption.
Brand application: Here brands will want to simply recreate the trend with recognizable mascots or brand figures.
Examples:
Movement Trends
TikTok virality was founded upon the back of Musically, a platform entirely centered around dance trends. Dance trends have been an essential and prominent part of content on the platform ever since its inception. These trends are very simple as they just involve a common audio with a replicable dance or movement applied to it. Brands can utilize these through simple replication form where brand representatives and mascots will do the dance. They are the most fun but also the most simple!
Gravy train
293.4k videos on the sound
Hopefully you have already heard of Yung Gravy, but if you haven’t, you might want to ask your mom. Gravy started out around 2016 as a meme rapper creating songs like “One Thot Two Thot” a parody on Dr. Suess’s One Fish Two Fish. Not to brag, but I did go to one of his concerts in 2016 with about 50 people there so I can say I’m an OG fan. Since then Gravy has continued to release music, but more importantly he has established himself as the preeminent milf hunter of TikTok by commenting on nearly every milf post you can find on the platform. Now this trend is mainly a trend because of the dance that has been created from it. You can check out examples below to see the simple movement which has gone viral. Yet we highlight this in detail because Gravy himself has become a trend on the platform. Under the same sound many users are asking their mom’s if they think Yung Gravy is attractive over text, often receiving hilarious reactions due to him being so fond of moms. There’s honestly so much more to Gravy that we can’t even describe but we hope you got an idea of the nuclear force that this man has had on the platform in recent weeks.
Brand application: Hire Yung Gravy.
Examples:
Simple Format Trends
This section is a little bit of a catch all for trends that are somewhat nonspecific. They happen on a weekly basis, but with these one generally finds that the trend has a simple audio behind it and creators will utilize a text format on screen to showcase a message. Often these trends tend to be based upon a relatability factor where users will talk about an experience from their own life with extremely relatable undertones that other users can get a good self deprecating laugh at.
I wonder if it would suit me
1.8m videos on the sound (multiple trends on the sound)
TikTok users are extremely creative with showcasing people or things in their life that they love and this trend is the latest example. The format starts with the user proposing that they wonder if a certain physical trait would suit them. The physical trait aligns to a trait that their significant other possesses thus showing that their bf/gf are with them. This is then followed with “it does” and a photo series of said significant other. It’s another cute relationship trend sending the rest of us into deeper despair, but you know, what isn’t on TikTok (for the boomers/millennials that’s a non serious joke).
Brand application: Brands will want to see if certain brand icons would suit them. For example a Chick Fil A employee might joke, “I wonder if a red collard shirt would suit me” and then showcase photos of them working at Chick Fil A.
Examples:
Shooting my shot with
16.4k videos on the sound
We often don’t realize what we are getting into when pursuing a relationship, especially when it comes to the peers of the person we are after. TikTok users have taken this commonly awkward situation, and showcased it in detail through this format. Videos start with the premise of shooting my shot with X type of person. This is then followed by pictures showing X type of persons, friends, family, or other living circumstances that fit their stereotype. The videos are meant to show that X person is surrounded by people that are either that you want to steer clear from, or people that are metaphorically out of your league. Whichever option it may be, users are finding this one extremely relatable and are thus having fun with the trend.
Brand application: Brands will want joke about the type of person that likes their brand with this format. Essentially the video should focus around someone who likes their brand having extremely attractive and intelligent peers, which thus aligns with the type of person that buys that brand.
Examples:
Changing personalities
160.6k videos on the sound
As it turns out, a lot of our styles can be dynamic and users are showing just how many different personalities they can adapt to be on a daily basis. The format is generally under the premise of “if she likes…” or “if he likes…” referring to users changing themselves for a person they are into, but it can be non relationship oriented as well. As the song plays, creators will change outfits and styles to fit certain demographics or stereotypes, and the simple fun changing of style draws a lot of interest for the viewer. As such this trend is naturally picking up quite nicely and we expect to see more of it.
Brand application: Brands will want to show off many different personalities or styles of their customers, thus showcasing the diversity of their audience. There is added benefit for funny renditions here, adding in very odd characters or demos (i.e. circus clowns, etc.)
Examples:
Case Study
Old people doing TikTok perfectly in alignment with the platforms culture usually results in the some of the best content out there and today we have a great example of that for you. North Valley Real Estate Group is seemingly a pretty random real estate group and it is unclear why they are on TikTok, but we aren’t going to question it because these guys know TikTok better than 90% of brands. Last week they posted a video integrating with the “I didn’t know he was chill like that trend” that we highlighted a few weeks ago. They adapted it to instead of just parking in front of somebody’s house, to having one of their realtors trying to sell somebody’s house. While he may have not had permission, because he was chill like that everything was all good. It’s probably the funniest adult integration into TikTok culture that I’ve seen this year and if you as a brand or company can identify creative ways to align with trends like this, you can do really well.
Time Capsule - Prior Week Trends Still Growing
Minions
73.2k videos on the sound
You may have already heard about this trend as it hit the news this week as the new Minions movie coming out. If you are unfamiliar, minions are the little yellow fellows from the Despicable Me movies and as of July 1st, they got their own film. If anything, this movie has become an entire internet meme. The minions are hilarious for all ages, but because they are designed to entertain little kids, there is an inherent comedy to users having an aggressive love for them. As such, users on TikTok started a trend where they took the movie very seriously; showing up to the theaters in large friend groups all dressed in suits. The preparations took time and coordination, but more than anything, the energy these groups brought to theaters was absolutely hilarious. Unfortunately movie theaters have had to ban the trend, as these suited groups have more often than not brought a little too much energy to the theater, even being seen moshing at pivotal moments in the film. But with that being said, the trend has set off a cultural movement for the minions, and suffice it to say it has been incredibly successful for the franchise as they have amassed over $200 million in box office sales opening week.
Brand application: Brands don’t have an exact application for this trend, but they should look towards how the studio advertised this movie and integrated with the culture before
Examples: