I know you are sick and tired of hearing the words pandemic, health crisis, virus, corona etc.…So for the sake of this article and this article only, let’s refer to it as: The Event.

Ever since The Event, I have been noticing a global and steady growth in a completely new approach to marketing, especially content marketing. As consumers or even as professionals in the field, we have often seen how brands maintained a tone for themselves that was never broken. That changed, and boy was I waiting for it especially that I have advocated for it in numerous articles, two or three years ago.

Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in a having a consistent brand tone and brand image applied to communications and in particular content, however to see that today more and more brands are shedding off the self-made boundaries in exchange for a more real consumer tone is a marvelous sight for me, especially when it comes to TikTok.

First, if you jump on TikTok, you will see that some brands that have once positioned themselves as classy and high end cast off the restraints of that image while keeping its core, and making content very similar to what their consumer would make or enjoy.

Second, the fact that these brands are on TikTok blows my mind. For the longest period, TikTok was construed as a platform for “kids”. But, with the platform growing exponentially in popularity across all age segments, it was only a matter of time before it gained the respect it deserves. It reminds me a lot of the same resistance Instagram faced on its launch.

Third, the fact that these brands, and especially because of The Event, have adopted the tone of the platform also blows my mind. When people were forced into forced solitude, many brands quickly realized, either alone or through their agencies, that people they are reaching out to are now living in a different mindset: Cozy.

Several brands took it upon themselves to break the brand-client barrier and turned themselves into entertainers. Of course, sales is still key, but they did challenges, games, trends, sketches etc. all centered or around the product. And that is in an attempt to be able to penetrate the cozy-at-home barrier people barricaded themselves behind. Yet what pleasantly shocked me, was the fact that these brands decided to jump on the trends of the TikTok app instead of using the same guidelines they apply on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and so on.

It’s like they used the platform as a free pass from their own rules and I kid you not, their results are quite impressive. Luxury or everyday, Fast Moving or Slow Moving, FCMG or Electronics … across the pond all brands are playing the same game on a very well leveled playing field and that makes even more interesting because there is nothing to leverage except how quick you are to pick up on the trend.

Mind you, I am still an advocate of storytelling for brands and I had written an article about brands that short-live others because of their reliance on trends only. But today, I could be standing corrected in general, however the least I am certain of for TikTok, it does work.

And while car manufacturers, watch brands, high end clothing lines have adopted TikTok as their fun channels and are killing it in terms of reach and conversions, we are yet to see others follow. I know it will eventually be the case, just as the Instagram model but there is a key major difference:

While for IG, the “what matters is that you’re here now” ideal worked for brands joining late, I do know for a fact from the way their algorithm works and how the global mass is behaving on the platform, that it wouldn’t work for brands that show up late on TikTok. The app offers a new language for content creators: Short, funny, creative and dense and a super fast lane of information. To join late with and learn it while most have already beat you to it is a high risk and one that could prove more devastating to your business than the event itself that rose the platform to fame.

Time is ticking: TikTok!

George Tarabay is a marketing expert Filmmaker/ Comedian/Podcaster. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud @GeorgeTarabay.  Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash.