Something shifted in 2024. Instead of brands attempting to create one-off viral moments on TikTok, they invested in long-term, ownable strategies by posting consistently and gaining loyal audiences along the way. Through this, brands were able to go from commenting on cultural moments to becoming the cultural moment.
It’s never been more clear how important it is for a brand—whether CPG or B2B—to show up in a big, creative, how-did-they-think-of-this way on TikTok. Here are a few brands that accomplished that in 2024 and what we can learn from their wins.
Nutter Butter made good content worth talking about
If social media is for storytelling, then Nutter Butter has been using its TikTok to write a modern mystery. The cookie’s account is filled with ciphers, ominous warnings and references to someone named Aidan. Viewer comments included “the fact that this is posted by the official nutter butter account is wild” and “nutter butter lore goes crazy,” but what’s so impressive about their strategy this year is how it’s gone from niche fandom to blockbuster hit, with multiple videos reaching over 10M views. The reason is thanks to a phenomenon that really only happens on TikTok: someone made a viral video questioning the campaign, and it led to hundreds of thousands of new people discovering Nutter Butter’s account. It’s a good reminder to make content worth talking about!
Bratz was fluent in online culture
If something culturally big (or even niche) happened this year, the animators behind Bratz would have their take on it posted soon after. The brand’s cartoon dolls begged someone to “Match My Freak,” referenced Spotify Wrapped, and even got in on some Shrek action.
LOEWE proved that high fashion can be fun
We always say brands must meet people where they are at, and the fashion brand LOEWE is a perfect example of doing this well. Instead of posting glossy, high-production videos like most luxury brands do on TikTok, LOEWE instead shot product on iPhones, participated in Gen Z trends and partnered with niche creators. The brand’s TikTok presence doesn’t look like how they show up on other platforms, and that’s the point. Kudos to LOEWE’s CMO Charlie Smith for allowing their social team to take risks.
The Jennifer Hudson Show created a viral subseries
We watch every single one of The Jennifer Hudson Show’s “Spirit Tunnels” videos. The Spirit Tunnel began as a heartfelt way for the staff to celebrate Jennifer Hudson. This infectious energy naturally evolved into a ritual where they create unique cheers to welcome celebrity guests, setting the tone for engaging interviews. The videos consistently get over one million views organically.
Lululemon found clever ways into trends
The internet is a language and it’s important to know how to speak it as though you’re one of the extremely online. Lululemon spent the year finding clever ways to contribute to popular trends, from a “what’s in my bag” video with Olympic gymnast Suni Lee to employee interviews about underrated products to a well-produced riff on the “Man in Finance” song, coupled with an on-the-street work pants giveaway.
tl;dv optimized for shares, not downloads
We’ve all heard that Business to Business brands need to market like “Business to Human,” because it’s still people who decide to purchase a product. That’s why we love how tl;dv, an AI notetaker for meetings, shows up on TikTok. The brand makes funny, relatable skits that people who are in the positions they are targeting (product manager, developer, etc.) would save or share. By leaning into universal industry truths and rarely mentioning their own product—in fact they’ll sometimes get comments like “wait, you make software?”—tl:dv is able to get impressive reach for a B2B brand on TikTok.
immi created a separate account to sell hope—and ramen
The instant ramen company immi has two TikTok accounts: the official brand account, @immieats, and the separate entertainment account, @ramenonthestreet. On this secondary account, which has almost 150K more followers than the brand account, the immi team walks around New York in a ramen costume asking people big life questions. The often-inspirational answers relate back to and support immi’s core product mission of “Ramen that makes you feel good,” a solid marketing technique.
All of these incredible brands used TikTok to build a storyline, experiment with different post formats, and meet audiences where they are at on the platform. This year proved that TikTok isn’t just a platform where a handful of brands go viral—it’s an always-on ecosystem where any brand, no matter the size, can build a truly meaningful audience through engaging, quality content.
