Brief:

• Ocean Spray teamed with TikTok creator Nathan Apodaca (@420doggface208) to help him recreate a viral video that has taken the platform by storm, per details shared with Mobile Marketer in an email.
• Last month, Apodaca posted a clip of him skateboarding while lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" and sipping from a bottle of Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry. The video, which helped the decades-old song chart again, has over 26 million views.
• To seize the moment, Ocean Spray gifted Apodaca his own cranberry red truck to remake the post that made him internet-famous — and the new post has also gone viral. The move shows the benefits of brands reacting quickly to social media trends.

Insight:

Ocean Spray moved in fast on a social media discussion associated with its product and could reap the rewards in terms of drumming up online chatter and awareness for its brand. Apodaca shared a video of him receiving the cranberry red truck as a surprise and thanking Ocean Spray on Instagram. His recreation of the TikTok "Dreams" video — now with a bigger nod to Ocean Spray — has over 10 million views at press time.

The story speaks to the continued power of TikTok to command the social media spotlight, even as it faces an uncertain future in the U.S. The creator's video, which has resonated with viewers for its peaceful, laid back mood, helped propel "Dreams" — first released as a single in 1977 — to its highest streaming numbers to date in the U.S., The Guardian reported.

Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac's drummer, eventually joined TikTok to offer his own tribute to the post. Ocean Spray CEO Tom Hayes also signed up for the video-sharing app to shout out Apodaca, per Tubefilter.

The response to Apodaca speaks to TikTok's enduring memetic qualities, where other users and even celebrities will re-create or act in concert with popular posts that are boosted by the app's content-recommendation algorithm. Several TikTok features, including duets and hashtag challenges, have become more appealing to brands in this way, but Ocean Spray's effort shows that linking directly with creators on the rise can also have its benefits.

TikTok has positioned its platform as well-suited to amplify the type of feel-good posts represented by Apodaca's account. This pitch to brands has grown in importance during the pandemic, which has resulted in a surge in downloads of the app and growing consumer appetites for uplifting content.

Advertisers continue to flock to TikTok despite the Trump administration pushing to ban the app over national security concerns stemming from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Oracle and Walmart have received tentative approval to partner with TikTok and keep its operations humming in the U.S., although questions linger over what the platform's new ownership structure will look like. If TikTok fails to secure a deal by Nov. 12, new downloads and software updates will be blocked, essentially stoppering its business in a key growth market.