A very demure, very cutesy follow-up podcast

Hi,

This week on the podcast we had our first guest!

We invited TikTok expert, and value-led agency founder Sara McCord to chat.

The topic, unsurprisingly, was the very demure, very cutesy, very mindful week we’ve been having.

We get into several big-picture takeaways for brands. We chat about how quickly this trend took off, what that means for teams, how brands successfully worked with the trends and lessons there. And lots more.

A yet, it’s still nice short. Give it a listen.

But here are the cliff notes:

👉 The timeline has compressed

Typically something happens on TikTok, 2 weeks later it’s on other platforms, 1 week later it’s mainstream.

This trend went bananas on every platform almost instantly.

It was filling LinkedIn, X, and not just crossing over onto Insta. All in the space of hours, not even days.

👉 The pendulum always swings

People were ready to move on from BRAT.

What’s on the other end of young, messy and carefree?

Demure.

Whenever you see the pendulum swinging, look the other way.

👉 The winners had speed

Verizon, Synergy, Lyft, and Patrick Ta, all went for it within days. Not weeks.

To do that you need to 1) trust your team’s instincts 2) have fewer ‘guardrails’ in place 3) budget in a a slush fund for of-the-moment content.

👉 Co-creation is better than recreation

All of the brands above worked directly with Jools in some way and the response to the content was great.

Yes, it’s fun and fine to jump on trends but it’s even more impactful to co-create with them.

👉 Fatigue sets in quick

We’re already seeing people feeling ‘over’ brand participation.

More brands are getting better at jumping in. And consequently, fatigue sets in quicker.

Please don’t be posting about this next week unless you’re ready to give us a whole new chapter worth tuning in to.

👉 This is not your grandmother’s demure.

Jools is a trans, person of color. She’s not your pearl-clutching grandmother.

The rate at which she went viral is a testament to how hungry people are for new icons.

👉 We’re here for Jools.

While Jools might look like an overnight success, she is not. She’s been putting in the hard work for years.

Her content is smart and funny, and she knows what works.

Where she wants to take it, only she knows but there could should certainly be many chapters to this story.

That’s all, folx!

-Chris

PS. If you liked the pod, thanks for hitting the little heart below. The algo and I appreciate it.

PSS. Apologies for the video quality, we had some technical difficulties.