Today’s media-savvy teens are great at sniffing out and skipping ads. So when we were challenged to launch Gushers on TikTok we knew we had to think like Gen Z. The result was short, quirky, and entertaining videos that became content driven ads. We set out to create work that couldn’t be missed and definitely wouldn’t be skipped.
We used offbeat, memorable storytelling and also leveraged the power of what was trending on TikTok – tutorials, slo-mo and meme-able content. It was crucial that everything we did felt organic, so we created our work in the same way that teens create their videos on TikTok. That meant footage shot on iPhones, edited with readily available tools. The branded videos put Gushers – and the snack’s signature gush – in the spotlight to overwhelmingly positive results.
Our first wave of content received 12 million organic views in the first four weeks. Along the way we grew the account’s following from just under 200 people to over 150,000 – roughly an 83,000% increase.
Viewer comments were overwhelmingly positive with many teens vocalizing that it wasn’t your typical ad:
“Is this a real ad? They’re starting to understand our humor.” – mincedpps
“Wait but it’s actually so good like THIS IS HOW ADS ARE MADE.” – jordanrenae451
“this is the only ad I’ll watch on here” – imjustanintern
“What is this sorcery?!?!” -tobibemyboi
