There are countless videos across many online platforms catering to a wide range of interests. It’s fascinating how certain videos go viral and become widely viewed by millions of people across the globe, but it’s difficult to predict what makes a video successful. Creative company Viral Growth specializes in TikTok and has devised a formula to help create content that sticks for each of its clients’ specialties.

Viral Growth is a marketing agency that focuses on growing businesses organically. It creates innovative strategies, engaging videos and manages accounts to keep up engagement until leads are converted into revenue across apps, video games and SaaS.

In this episode of Young Influentials, ADWEEK digital editor and host Colin Daniels sits down with co-founder Kazi Sharar as he shares how the company assists creators and entrepreneurs in identifying their niche and developing content that is distinctive, memorable and has the potential to go viral.

Stream the new episode below, or listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora or iHeartRadio.

Use code “adweek” for a 10% discount on your plan at checkout or when booking a call.

We live in an attention economy. The ecommerce space is filled with companies not only competing for revenue but also consumer awareness.

And ecommerce giant Temu is giving competitors a run for its advertising budget.

Temu’s strategic takeover of advertising space on Meta, Google and other platforms is impossible to ignore. Reports and industry pros suggest an almost audacious investment from the Chinese ecommerce newcomer, with figures rumored around the $2 billion mark in 2023 alone.

This colossal spend aims at carving a substantial footprint in the U.S. retail space, but the implications, challenges and outcomes of such a move truly impact media buyers every day.

Temu is anything but subtle. If you’ve been scrolling advertising or DTC Twitter, you’ll have seen specific callouts of this sweeping uptick in Temu campaigns. I spoke to marketers in the space who called out the potential damage of the Temu ad avalanche as it continues down the mountainside.

Advertising like a billionaire

Attributed to the umbrella of PDD Holdings from China, Temu surged onto the U.S. scene with a vision of dominating the market, employing a mix of aggressive marketing and low-price allure to draw consumers. This seemingly budgetless ad spend on Meta has propelled Temu to one of its top revenue advertisers in 2023.

What if you could find items you normally purchase at Amazon and other retailers for shockingly low prices? Consumers are ready to throw their credit cards at them, with a reported $3 billion in revenue in the first half of 2023 alone and an expected $6 billion this year.

This aggressive push not only impacts the revenue of any potential competitors but also impacts the efficacy of competitive advertising budgets.

Viral Marketing Stars CEO Katya Varbanova has seen this strategy before. “On my team, we have a phrase that says, ‘Outspend your competition, and you’ll have no competition.’ And it seems like Temu is taking that same approach to their advertising.

“As a result, this increases everyone’s CPA (cost per acquisition) on platforms like Meta and Google because large advertisers like Temu are monopolizing ad inventory and heightening the costs of the advertisers targeting the same audiences.”

The strategy behind the spend

Temu’s campaign is not just about ubiquity; it’s a calculated strike at the heart of consumer desires, merging its “Shop Like a Billionaire” tagline with an inventory that promises bottom-dollar prices. It’s interesting to see an approach where items can be purchased for a few dollars, while over 9,000 active Temu ads are running across platforms.

This approach, which peaked with high-profile campaigns including a Super Bowl ad, has garnered the desired attention. However, it has stirred debate regarding the enterprise’s labor practices and sustainability, as well as fears about data privacy.

After all, these ads are not just an opportunity to influence consumer purchasing habits, but also to gain the data that comes with those interactions.

Mike Ryan, head of insights at Smarter Ecommerce, has been watching Temu’s advertising patterns this year and found that “Temu took a notable step back in their marketing activity across Q1. At first, it seemed related to the Super Bowl, and they ramped back a bit, but then they were very soft again in March.” Ryan observed this in both the EU and U.S., and across both Google and Meta.

“This potentially deserves a mention in the earnings statements of those platforms, because Temu spends so much money. I wouldn’t expect this to hurt in year-over-year terms, but Q/Q could be softer than you would expect from normal seasonality.”

Ecommerce impact

So, what does Temu hope to accomplish?

Ryan believes that Temu’s approach could convert as many consumers as it alienates. “This whole thing is a Trojan horse strategy. Temu’s goal is to poach consumers from these platforms and bring them into its ecosystem. It’s hard for these platforms to stop Temu from doing this and, on a short-term basis, it is very attractive for platform revenue. But in the long term, this [tactic] can alienate both users and advertisers, so I view it as unhealthy for all parties.”

Varbanova worries how this will impact small businesses that will never have a similar ad budget. “How will [Google and Meta] ensure small businesses can remain competitive and reach their goals?’

Future impact

As the conversation around Temu’s marketing push unfolds, the industry is keyed into the ongoing narrative of market adaptation, customer retention and the balancing act of aggressive advertising. The trajectory for Temu, amid scrutiny and speculation, is a subject of interest and debate among consumers and professionals alike.

David Hermann, media buyer and president of Hermann Digital, has advice for other advertising pros experiencing the effects of Temu outspending them. “Be prepared for shifts. These systems (Meta’s auction) are volatile, and businesses should always be prepared to pull back when need be, and have a toolkit of options for where to place their online ad dollars.”

Hermann pointed out other critical factors that could further impact ad inventory. “For 2024, on top of Temu and Shein, we have a presidential election coming. If we think things are high now, it may go even higher.”

In regards to whether or not this type of media saturation is a trend to be concerned about, Hermann doesn’t think so. “Platforms like Temu come along every so often. Wish was the first. Temu is the first company, to my knowledge, to be spending this aggressively. However, is Meta still able to work for the majority of advertisers as a profitable choice of traffic? I still believe so, but it’s not easy and I feel for those in direct competition with a site like Temu.”

With such lofty ad spend, it’s easy to see why companies might be concerned that Meta will play favorites and continue to ensure that Temu spends with them.

Only time will tell as media buyers start work each day ready to fight the tough fight.

As a content creator, Jayde Powell has completely immersed herself in the creative world. In the process, the influencer-writer-speaker has picked up a breadth of expertise, which has led to recognition by trades like ADWEEK, Business Insider and Hashtag Paid.

She’s also built an engaged fanbase that not only understands her brand of humor, but also embraces it. On the latest episode of Yeah, That’s Probably an Ad, community editor Luz Corona sat down with the multi-hyphenate marketer at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week to discuss everything from her personal brand to redefining professionalism.

Powell is the founder of The Em Dash Co, a content and creative development agency. Her LinkedIn series #CreatorTeaTalk brings together players in the creator economy to discuss all things creators, content and culture.

She is also the co-founder of Weed For Black Women, a media, culture and community hub that strives to educate Black women on the power of the cannabis plant.

Stream the new episode below, listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or find it on Spotify.

John Deere is running a celebrity-driven social media campaign for the first time in its 185-year history, as it kicks off a contest to recruit a “chief tractor officer” who will create TikTok content for the brand.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy launches the search alongside fellow player Colton McKivitz. A promotional video for the competition, which opens today (April 16), follows Purdy and McKivitz as they hop into a tractor on a cross-country road trip to find the new face of John Deere’s social media.

Their voyage is delayed by enthusiastic video calls from other athletes and influencers, including Indiana Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton, Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, tennis player Anna Frey, business influencer Natalie Marshall and agriculture content creator Laura Farms.

Candidates can enter the contest through April 29 by submitting a short video to JohnDeereCTO.com that demonstrates their passion, creativity and humor. John Deere is open to applicants who have experience in agriculture or construction, but could also choose someone with little knowledge of the brand who can share their own story of discovering what makes it relevant.

The goal is to change how Gen Z perceives the legacy company, building brand fans, attracting new customers and boosting recruitment.

“We wanted to get outside of ourselves,” John Deere’s global director of strategic public relations and enterprise social media, Jen Hartmann, told ADWEEK. “Deere is a pretty conservative company and we’re hoping that how we show up on TikTok looks vastly different than what people might have expected from Deere in the past.”

The company enlisted Purdy because the Iowa State alum married into a farming family and spent part of a bye week last year harvesting crops, Hartmann explained. The brand chose the other ad’s stars based on their social media reach.

“TikTok is exceptionally good at algorithms and we knew if we just stuck to athletes it would only reach those folks that have a strong interest in sports,” Hartmann said. “We wanted to make sure that we were reaching all the audiences that those influencers represent across the channel.”

Hartmann hopes the winner will find ways to grab attention and tell unexpected stories about the brand’s technology. For example, some people use its equipment to clear snow from stadiums, while its autonomous tractors and herbicide sprayers with built-in cameras can precisely target weeds.

She would also like to see the company collaborate with other brands to showcase their sourcing, such as telling a story about the potato growers supplying McDonald’s. 

“We need to reach those individuals who maybe have choices to go to Google or Apple,” Hartmann said. “We want them to know that there’s purpose-driven work they can do at a company that’s trying to make it easier for farmers to feed the world with less land and less resources in a sustainable way.”

After graduating from the historically Black university Morehouse, DeAndre Brown looked forward to entering the workplace and soon landed internships in both government and corporate settings.

As the youngest employee, he quickly identified the antiquated norms in the workplace (see: bragging wars over long hours) and, as any good Gen Z-er, used the experience as inspiration for TikTok content as a creative outlet to deal with this new chapter.

And that’s how the Corporate Baddie was born.

On the latest episode of Yeah, That’s Probably an Ad, community editor Luz Corona sat down with the content creator at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week for an intimate conversation surrounding Brown’s journey to his Corporate Baddie persona on TikTok.

They discuss generational comment wars, the toll virality can take on mental health, and the pros and cons of working for yourself.

Stream the new episode below, listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or find it on Spotify.

There’s no one path to the chief marketing officer seat, and Taco Bell‘s top U.S. marketer Taylor Montgomery is living proof.

Having cut his teeth working on strategy for brands including Clairol and Always at Procter & Gamble, Montgomery joined Taco Bell in 2016 as senior manager of brand and marketing innovation. Now, several jobs later, he’s CMO for North America, leading buzzy campaigns with talent including Doja Cat and LeBron James.

During a session at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week in New York, Montgomery revealed the secret ingredients to his success: curiosity, flexibility and never being afraid to get in the weeds.

He credited P&G for helping him understand that marketing is the ultimate business driver. “It taught me the mechanics of how business worked, how marketing is a tool and a discipline that can drive business growth,” he said.

When Montgomery jumped ship to Taco Bell, his role in the brand and innovation team, which involved product development, gave him the invaluable experience of getting closer to the brand’s diners.

He credited Taco Bell’s “flat” structure, which gives social and brand teams “a seat at the table,” for driving the creativity and collaborations with which the brand has become synonymous.

When he first started, the social team would knock on his door and suggest new recipes based on social media feedback, like putting Doritos in a Mexican Pizza. “And we’d say, ‘That’s a great idea, let’s go into the kitchen and see if that tastes good.’ [That open structure] keeps the teams connected.”

He added: “There’s a holy trinity between the PR, social and media team at Taco Bell. That’s where the magic really happens.”

His first few years with the business helped him understand how to create products, which was important because “products are the connection point to the customer,” Montgomery said.

Slowly but surely, he started to collect more responsibility for U.S. marketing, before Taco Bell’s then-chief executive threw him a “curve ball:” a role as CMO of the international business.

“That was one of my favorite experiences,” he said, advising ambitious social execs never to discount opportunities, even if they look “smaller by numbers.”

“[Those jobs] are where you have a real opportunity to make a huge impact and where you grow the most,” he said.

Driving growth and driving culture

During his two-year tenure overseeing international marketing, Montgomery worked on campaigns to drive growth in countries including China and Spain. After that, he was promoted to his current position.

Montgomery has been at the center of some of Taco Bell’s biggest campaigns, including recruiting Doja Cat to headline the return of Mexican Pizza, teaming up with LeBron James to fight against the Taco Tuesday trademark, and bringing back the Volcano Menu with the help of Paris Hilton.

His push toward culture marketing is making its mark, and Taco Bell is now one of the jewels in the crown of parent company Yum! Brands. Yum CEO David Gibbs previously described the chain as a “growth engine,” while its Q4 results showed an 11% same-store U.S. sales increase.

Taco Bell CEO Sean Tresvant also traveled a unique road to get to his position, having previously been CMO himself.

For Montgomery, having a brand leader in the corner office has been “a blessing.”

“The great thing about having a boss who’s a marketer is that they can speak shorthand [with the CMO],” he said. “This gives [us] marketers more top cover to take risks.” 

Catch up with all of ADWEEK’s coverage from Social Media Week.

Last year, rapper Lil Yachty made the unusual move of adding his 11.3 million Instagram followers to his Close Friends list on the app. 

His fans were confused, wondering why a globally famous figure had invited them into an intimate circle. Lil Yachty posted on Instagram as if only his closest friends were watching, becoming one of the most talked about phenomena on the internet. 

To this day, many of Lil Yachty’s followers haven’t realized that his strange behavior was part of an Instagram campaign promoting the Close Friends feature to Generation Z. 

In an era when marketers are more aware of the importance of reaching diverse audiences, Instagram’s campaign resonated because it was “rooted in the community,” said Arinze Emeagwali, brand marketing lead at Instagram, at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week in New York on Wednesday. 

“A lot of times in marketing, you’re marketing for yourselves… for awards or leadership. But it’s about always rooting it in the community and the consumer. I’m not too good to ask my 12-year-old nephew what he’s into,” Emeagwali said. “It’s not rocket science, but a lot of times we overthink it. I force myself to make it about the work and to fight for the ideas.”

However, that might be easier said than done, as what makes a good piece of creative work is subjective. 

John “JP” Petty, global creative director at Wieden+Kennedy’s Bodega unit, said to eliminate that subjectivity, his team asks themselves three questions: “Can our people see themselves in this work? Can they make it their own? Does it provide a social currency, if you will?” 

Work like the Lil Yachty stunt, or Nike’s “Yardrunners” program by W+K that celebrates HBCU students, ticks those boxes because it gave the diverse communities for which it was intended for a seat at the table, Petty said. 

Inclusivity may have become a marketing buzzword or fallen down the list of some companies’ priorities, but Petty argued that such campaigns, including “Yardrunners,” continue to see business results. 

Making such inclusive work successful “takes leadership and people in the building willing to advocate for that,” he said. “A commitment to the community is super important. The users remember that—it means everything to them.” 

Younger consumers put a lot of stock in the opinions of their favorite influencers.

That’s become increasingly evident in the era of social commerce, with 73% of Gen Z consumers and 68% of millennials saying they look to creators to inform their purchase decisions, according to a study by Northwestern University and commissioned by LTK.

What’s less clear is how brands can enter into this space authentically, and how creators can leverage their influence in a way that’s economically viable in the long term.

LTK, formerly known as RewardStyle, aims to connect brands, creators and consumers in a way that works for all involved. Onstage at ADWEEK’s Social Media Week, LTK general manager Kristi O’Brien and longtime creator Lucie Fink spoke with ADWEEK chief content officer Zoë Ruderman about what works, what doesn’t, and how to learn from past mistakes.

What works: Good matchmaking

Using a combination of human touch and AI-powered matchmaking, LTK connects brands and creators whose audience goals live within the same niche—ensuring that the brand knows what it’s trying to say and who it’s trying to reach with its message, and then facilitating a relationship with the right creators.

We live in a “nation of niche,” O’Brien explained. A brand message will only work “if it makes sense for the creator as well, because otherwise it’s going to feel fake.”

LTK Match, a new AI-powered tool available on the platform, is able to sift through the 250,000 creators who work with LTK alongside brand, social and sales data.

“When our brands are using LTK Match, they’re getting five times the conversion rate because there’s so much human bias in the selection of creators,” O’Brien said.

What doesn’t work: Micromanaging

Long-term relationships are a winning formula for both brands and creators, the panelists agreed, especially when brands allow creators to engage with their audience on their own terms.

Many of Fink’s fans have been following her for years, and were along for the ride as she got married, got pregnant, birthed her son and navigated postpartum and then toddlerhood. Throughout that entire experience, she was finding products that worked for her and those that didn’t—and she compiled all her favorites in a motherhood “super guide,” a digital product hosted on LTK’s platform, which she has sold to almost 1,000 people.

That guide is “one of my most popular digital products,” Fink said. “Those are just evergreen sales. People that already purchased the product are now buying the products inside of the product.”

Learning from past mistakes

As creators grow and evolve, O’Brien highlighted the importance of staying connected to the core audience. She recounted the story of one creator who, as they found success, began posting links to more expensive items—pricing out their followers and seeing conversion rates plummet.

“It’s all about making sure that you understand your audience, and that your audience evolves over time,” O’Brien said. “What you were doing in 2017 is dramatically different than what it is now.”

As a creator, Fink shared how she’s learned from her followers, even leveraging those learnings into brand partnerships. When she shared that she was teaching her young son American Sign Language (ASL), commenters explained to Fink the problems with a hearing person teaching ASL. Through those interactions, she learned about Lingvano, an app that connects deaf teachers to ASL learners, and became the app’s first hearing influencer.

“My sponsored content for them was me acknowledging that my community had taught me something,” Fink explained. “Now I’m encouraging people to use this app instead of learning from me.”