Joy to the world

Here is a great example of how a brand found white space in a category, while simultaneously making itself culturally relevant:  TikTok.

The article linked above was published by TikTok; nonetheless, it is especially insightful and reveals a surprising amount about the brand’s strategy.

TikTok is trying to “own” the emotion of joy in the social media category.  Someone needs to own this space, because joy has been in short supply the last couple of years.  The headlines have been dominated by COVID, a contentious election, economic fears, racial unrest, and all kinds of horrible things.  Seemingly every aspect of life has been either politicized and/or waylaid by COVID.  People aren’t very happy.

But they’re happy on TikTok.  The brand markets itself as a place where people can be their joyful, authentic selves.  This is in stark contrast to the toxicity that has engulfed Facebook and Twitter and the “fakeness” that many associate with Instagram.

Susan Fournier of Boston University (who received her Master’s degree at Penn State, as a student of Jerry Olson’s) wrote a seminal article in 1998 about how winning brands often latch onto something relevant in the broader culture – and they succeed by either mirroring that cultural trend or serving as a counterpoint.  TikTok seems to have solved that equation perfectly, at least for the time being.