TikTok Shop IRL & Grimace Shake

Welcome back to HotToks. This edition we report on TikTok Shop as brick and mortar stores and the Grimace Shake trend.

TikTok Shop IRL

If you didn’t get enough of TikTok Shop on your phones, no worries. Now, you can get a taste of TikTok Shop off your phones (what are we doing here?). TikTok has recently made its foray into the brick-and-mortar world with its first pop-up shop on Oxford Street in the UK. 

The pop-up went live to prospective merchants and creators from June 30th to July 6th, focusing on the tech, home & living, and book product categories. Merchants and creators hosted live streams at the venue and gathered to discuss how they reached the TikTok community to sell products on the platform. The pop-up experience also featured TikTok experts who shared with creators how to tap into internet niches, like #TechTok and #BookTok, to sell products and generally spoke to the power of social selling.

TikTok has birthed the concept of “community commerce,” which explains how TikTok is a go-to destination for consumers to discover and purchase products spanning all categories (hello, #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt). And it’s now more real than ever with TikTok Shop IRL. 

The Grimace Shake is to Die For

Don’t have the heart to say goodbye without mentioning the McDonald’s Grimace Shake that’s been blowing up on the internet (read: TikTok). We’re beginning to see a rise in life-sized stuffed animals (my biggest fear) in different avenues of marketing, and McDonald’s has just launched its very own in time for Grimace’s “birthday” (serving nostalgic y2k birthday party realness). The furry, purple-hued, life-sized mascot for the Grimace Shake helped the product (and the brand) spiral into internet virality. 

The Grimace Shake was released earlier in June, only for a limited time, to celebrate McDonald’s character, Grimace’s birthday. TikTok creators have been taking matters into their own hands, pretending to die on camera after having the shake poured over them in the new Grimace Shake trend (of which the hashtag #grimaceshake has over 2.3B views on the platform).

With their innovative marketing schemes, McDonald’s has been trying to build cultural credibility and capitalize on virality. The Grimace Shake is the perfect addition to their recent efforts (which include Travis-Scott-approved meals and collaborating with Cactus Plant Flea Market to make adult Happy Meal toys).

While McDonald’s certainly didn’t plan on gaining virality from people pretending to die, if this TikTok virality is proof of anything, it’s that weirdness is often rewarded on social media. As Matthew Prince, an adjunct professor of social media and influencer marketing at Chapman University, says, “What may seem like a negative expression is actually a positive reflection of their ability to connect with a generation” and this is the perfect segue into sales, like how fun is this reaction to the whole trend by Grimace themself.

‍

“What may seem like a negative expression is actually a positive reflection of their ability to connect with a generation."

MATTHEW PRINCE
Adjunct Professor, Chapman University

‍

Thanks for reading!

Viv

‍

-

Want more social media & industry updates? Follow Fohr.co on Instagram. (Just kidding, we're on TikTok too).