The answers to these questions (and many more) are available once a month in our snack interview, the Kitchen Stories business questionnaire.
Liquid Death is an exceptional FMCG player on social media. Liquid Death sells water in beer cans. According to one investor, Liquid Death is perhaps the fastest-growing non-alcoholic beverage brand of all time. Founded in 2019. It's worth $1.4 billion today. This is also due to social media positioning. On social media, Liquid Death does not see itself as a beverage brand, but as an entertainment company. This results in eye-catching stunts such as your own animated series on Instagram or a limited edition skateboard, where the print was created from the blood of Tony Hawk (the legendary skateboarder). This WTF content is a departure from the norm, inspires fans, meets the basic needs of social media use (just switch off) and spreads like wildfire.
Another very good example of great FMCG brands is Oatly, the Swedish brand for plant-based milk alternatives. Similar to Liquid Death, Oatly doesn't see social media as an advertising poster and doesn't annoy her community with product benefit messages. Instead, Oatly pursues a kind of anti-marketing strategy and contradicts all industry conventions. Oatly's posts are characterized by a large dose of self-irony and sarcasm. They make fun of themselves and the marketing industry, gain sympathy and at the same time differentiate themselves strongly from the competition.
Consistency is definitely a key driver. I myself only ever play 1 single format on my own TikTok account (@mister .marathon) monothematically: Run Until You See. Each video has the same 1:1 structure. This creates a kind of expectation among the community and has developed my profile into one of the biggest running accounts in DACH.
Of course, consistency alone isn't enough; creators need a unique personality that results in differentiating content. @herranwalt, for example, is known for his 1-minute law videos. He has been playing this format consistently for years, has almost shaped his own aesthetic and thus built up a certain special feature that is difficult to copy.
Would you say that TikTok is more suitable for personal content, or is there also space for brand companies there?
Strong brands are where people are. TikTok is not only the fastest growing platform in terms of user figures, but is also considered a cultural tastemaker. If you're not a brand on TikTok, you're no longer Talk of Town.
TikTok — as well as other social media platforms — has the guiding principle for brands: Blending in while standing out. Brands must adapt to the platform's culture, aesthetics, and language. It is important not to blindly follow every trend like lemming, but to develop your own signature that fits the brand narrative and can be represented authentically.
I believe that social media doesn't work top-down, but bottom-up. As in old mainstream media, you can't sit down on TikTok, Instagram and Co. and call into the platform like on a one-way street. Social media thrives on reciprocity. We often say that brands are even co-created on social media. This also applies to language: brands must find a style that suits the community on the platform. Otherwise, brands look like tourists and not locals. However, it is immensely important that the brand chooses a tonality that matches its values and image — and not just follows trends or best practices.
That is a very exciting question that I can only answer hypothetically. A TikTok ban in the USA could also lead to skepticism and a certain TikTok reluctance in this country — at least on the corporate side. Because for users, TikTok will still be the place to be for entertainment. TikTok could then in turn increase its marketing efforts and investments in less restrictive markets, such as Europe. Of course, this then creates new growth opportunities for brands. However, it is very difficult to look into the crystal ball here and we recommend that companies closely monitor the current situation and development and act accordingly.
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