The apparel brand has long worked to build relationships and brand loyalty on the ByteDance owned app through hashtag challenges like its BetterTogetherChallenge 2021 holiday campaign and its GetYourJeansOn fall 2021 campaign, which pulled 9. 8 billion and 8. 8 billion views, respectively, and encouraged viewers to use its sounds on their videos. It also has crafted partnerships with popular creators like Anna Sitar for the 2022 Super Bowl and Emma Chamberlain for its 2022 spring campaig, and those relationships often generate behind the scenes content and opportunities for consumer interactions, like through live streamed chats.
But seemingly essential to its digital strategy, Pacsun counts on its employees and store associates to make non branded content, oftentimes utilizing other viral sounds, effects and trends, like getting “Krissed,” a playful reference to Kris Jenner which rallied nearly a million likes, with the goal of establishing a relatable brand identity that increases loyalty, versus using the app only to promote a specific product or campaign. The motion to participate in those trends represents a gap missed by others: 64% of consumers report they want brands to connect with them, per a SproutSocial report. Further, the company says it has seen a direct correlation between post virality and sales, per the release. The company attributes some of its TikTok success to in app shopping features that pair with its livestream shopping efforts and are timed around product launches and campaigns. Shoppable videos are growing in popularity, with companies like Youtube following in TikTok’s footsteps, and Facebook even opting to ditch its traditional shopping features in favor of its short form reels.
The efforts seem to be taking flight: 40% of advertising executives reporting that shoppable video ads are an integral part of their media mix, according to an Interactive Advertising Bureau study. Further, over 55% of respondents said the method achieves upper funnel objectives like brand awareness and consideration. In 2021, TikTok partnered with Publicis Groupe as its first commerce agency partner in efforts to further position itself as a shopping platform.
