Foreword
We’ve been on a little bit of a hiatus for the last week and we apologize for the break. Sometimes even the strongest of wills need a rest. That being said we are back with a passion and are excited to dive into what is now the end of summer break. We’re going to start moving these newsletters to Mondays so you can get your dosage of trends early in the week to get started to without further ado let’s jump in!
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.
Better pizza
56.4k videos on the sound
Growing up we’ve all heard the tagline from the Papa Johns commercials, “Better ingredients, Better pizza, Papa Johns” yet in recent weeks TikTok users have taken this tagline and expanded upon it just a bit. There’s what I’d say is almost a remixed version going around which goes, “Better ingredients, better pizza, better b*tches, better clothes, better money... etc etc.” The joke is that the sound makes this unassuming tagline into a slang filled hype anthem, and users have been applying it to any situation in their life when they are feeling hyped up or as if they are winning in some form.
Brand application: Brands will probably want to stay away from this for vulgarity purposes, but if you’re a cool brand and are willing to utilize this, you should buy into the meme and create a video where you are hyping up an inconsequential element of your product or service to a hyperbolic level.
Examples:
It’s corn
874.6k videos on the sound
Do you remember the Walmart yodeling kid? Well “it’s corn” is the new version of that. Recently a video went viral of a little boy raving about how his favorite food is corn because of a few specific reasons. The video was cute and funny but in classic TikTok fashion, somebody took the clip and remixed a song of the boy saying, “it’s corn, it has the juice” into what has now become an extremely viral audio. The boy is going on talk shows and has received tons of media coverage simply because TikTok users have utilized this sound to show things in their life that they love. The videos are simple and the formats are wide ranging, but as long as they show off something that is held dear to the user, it can use the corn audio.
Brand application: Brands will want to use the sound to show off things they appreciate within the world or workplace. The odder the appreciation, the better the meme value of the video.
Examples:
That’s actually hilarious
24.2k videos on the sound
This audio from a movie with Chris Evans has gone viral for his extremely sarcastic delivery of the line, “that’s actually hilarious.” It’s read as if it’s an extremely immature person reacting to something being funny, when it likely is not funny to someone who is more mature. User on TikTok have thus applied this to extremely immature jokes or things that they find funny which wouldn’t be funny if they grew up, but why would they ever do that???
Brand application: Brands will want to utilize this audio on videos where they represent times in the workplace or situations with customers where the other party makes a stupid mistake.
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.
Water speed bump
untrackable
A few weeks ago we brought to you the trend where users were running through the night holding the most random things they could find, while looking just generally crazy. The trend was funny because of how eclectic it was and in more common slang terms, was what would be defined as shit posting. This week we have a similar style trend with the water speed bump trend. Users and their friends will sit in the back of the car while holding an uncanny amount of waters from fast food restaurants. The driver will go fast over a speed bump causing all of the waters to get spilled over the back row, thus soaking the people holding them. Before going over the bump the people in the back will yell to the driver to slow down, to which they will receive zero reassurance and end up getting launched over the speed bump. It always ends up in a hilarious video and we can’t wait to see more of these.
Brand application: Beverage brands specifically will want to place their drinks as the water in this trend and replicate the trend. Other brands should simply replicate the trend with brand representatives for the general hilarity of it.
Examples:
Hit you with the blick
849.6k videos on the sound
In this trend, at the start of the video users are putting forward a premise that another person has asked them to bring their friends to a function or to specifically leave them at home. Regardless of which angle they come from, the main figure in the video will show off the group of friends that will be there no matter what. Once the audio goes, “hit you with the blick”, they will turn and start walking to the side of the screen while their friend group moves into frame in a line. The trend is meant to allow users to show off their friend groups, often trying to highlight how attractive they all are.
Brand application: Brands will want to have a group of brand representatives recreate the trend under a funny work premise like how the boss put all of them together on the same shift.
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.
Back and forth
132.2k videos on the sound
This week TikTok has reinvented the staring contest with this trend. Basically users are looking deep into each others eyes (and possibly souls). As the sound changes, the camera gets closer and closer to each person and finally when the beat shifts to the dance tone, the users will show each other doing a little dance where they look down and move their arms back and forth. It’s a very simple format to follow and draws a lot of visual interest from its Wes Anderson style so users have loved it this last week.
Brand application: Brands will want to simply replicate the format with brand representatives in the workplace.
Examples:
Time Capsule - Prior Week Trends Still Growing
It’s cool when they did it
359.8k videos on the sound
The audio for this sound reads, “It’s cool when they did it, it’s a problem when I do it.” If you’re familiar with TikTok, you’ll know that most trends stem from users applying their own lived experiences to audios that correlate with the moment in some sort of joking fashion. This trend is the epitome of that and sets up users perfectly with a situation where they can joke about being in the wrong for doing something that others do. For example, it can be cool for a baby to wear a diaper around, but it’s a problem when a teenager is and the joke lies in the contrast between the acceptances of the same action with different demographics.
Brand application: Brands will want to apply this sound to times when they have been in the wrong, but the same situation has been accepted in other places.
Examples:
Tip
42.7k videos on the sound
It’s become a staple in modern purchases that you have to tip for even the most basic of jobs. Many people are annoyed with the fact that basic minimum wage service workers have the request for tip when the job requires little to no effort, so in classic TikTok fashion, users are making fun of it. In this trend users will complete very basic actions around the house or for other people, and will then look to charge them a tip for the action. For example, one’s significant other could get up and grab them water before bed and then after bringing it back, ask for a tip with their phone.
Brand application: Brands will want to apply this to an excessive nature of tipping with their product or service. Essentially bringing tipping to the next level of charging the customer.
Examples: