The top 5 brand TikToks you need to know about right now

Ad Age is expanding its "Creativity Top 5" series to include new roundups of our favorite special-interest campaigns and ideas from brands. The latest installment looks at the best TikTok videos posted by brands over the past month, and follows our ranking of the best celebrity brand collaborations and the best brand NFT ideas. Visit our site each Thursday for a new list of campaigns from the past month. Check back next month for another installment of top brand TikToks. This month: Duolingo’s mischievous owl, Kum and Go gets a new meal deal, and brands are still clamoring for Emily Zugay. Subscribe to Ad Age now for award-winning news and insight. No. 5: Dunkin' Dunkin’ took the idea of harnessing user-generated content to a new level. The brand is a well-known favorite of TikTok megastar Charli D’Amelio (and her nearly 130 million followers). Dunkin’ has made D’Amelio’s drink a standard menu item and released a merch line with her. The brand also follows a limited roster of 20 TikTokers who were already organically talking about the coffee chain. Recently, Dunkin' has been promoting its new merchandise line that lets customers indicate their favorite order on a t-shirt. @dunkin The tell me your order without telling me your order collection is HERE on shopdunkin.com 🔥🙌 ##tellmewithouttellingme ##dunkin ##merch ♬ Sunrise - Official Sound Studio No. 4: Starburst Sometimes TikTok finds a way to make what was old new again. That was the case with Starburst, the Mars Wrigley-owned candy, which saw a resurgence in videos related to an early 2000’s commercial for its Berries and Cream flavor. The commercial featured the Little Lad character, a bewigged, bestockinged man-boy wearing pedal pushers and a maniacal smile. The Little Lad, his dance, and the Starburst brand went viral. The hashtag #berriesandcream now has almost 2 billion views, with users doing the dance from the commercial. The virality even caused the original Little Lad actor to get his own TikTok (and 2.2 million followers). @thereallittlelad 1 million ! on TLL day ! WOW! Thank you ##berriesandcream ##littlelad ##dance ♬ original sound - The Little Lad No. 3: Duolingo If you’re a Duolingo user, you might have been subject to the constant notifications from the app to keep up your week-long learning streak. The company, which has 1.7 million followers on TikTok, has leaned into the joke that its owl mascot, Duo, can heavily “guilt-trip” users into finishing their lessons, causing the legal team to intervene. (Even the Duolingo lawyer, aka Legal Steve, has a TikTok.) The brand’s TikTok revolves around Duo participating in the latest trends, including this one in reference to Taylor Swift’s new album. @duolingo wearing red lipstick to help me cope for the full 10 minutes ##redtaylorsversion ##swiftie ##taylornation ##taylorswift ##alltoowell ##Duolingo ♬ All Too Well Taylor Swift - TaylorswiftxFolklore Bonus Legal Steve TikTok: @stephenchen623 The lawsuits are piling up….this is not a drill 😩 ##Duolingo ##helpme ##BigBird ##whatatimetobealive ##DulaPeep ##lawyer ##lawtok ##itsajoke ♬ sound ni grace - BENGBENGMARCOS No. 2: Kum & Go The gas station has started gaining attention after TikToker Kyle Scheele decided to make his own cardboard cutout often found at rest stops. The board, which was over 9-feet tall, featured Scheele with a pizza guitar and says “Kyle Scheele Meal.” Fans showed up to take pictures with the cutout and recorded themselves asking cashiers for the meal. It was later revealed that Kum & Go was in on the stunt and that the Scheele Meale is a reality—two slices of pizza and a Red Bull for $5. Two dollars from every meal will be donated to No Kid Hungry, which aims to end childhood hunger in the U.S. @kylescheele ##ad I’ve never been more excited to be able to use ##sponsored. We did it, you guys! @kumandgo @Red Bull USA @No Kid Hungry ♬ original sound - kylescheele No. 1: Microsoft Windows Brands bow to Emily Zugay. The 24-year-old with a degree in graphic design became highly sought after among brands after posting a series of TikToks where she “redesigned” company logos, including those of Apple, Amazon and McDonald’s. TikTok users loved it, and brands leaned into the new designs, even changing their profile photos to Zugay’s creations. Sponsored posts have started rolling in, and her dry delivery of her alterations keeps her 2 million followers coming back. Zugay recently partnered with Microsoft Windows to upgrade its logo. Microsoft not only made it the brand's TikTok profile picture, but also put it on a physical store. @windows ##stitch with @emilyzugay we went ahead and updated our store signs, let us know what you think 👍 ♬ Windows 11 Beat - Windows

The top 5 brand TikToks you need to know about right now

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