Thursday, January 9

📊 Did you know?

Instagram is expected to drive 50% of Meta’s U.S. ad revenue in 2025.

(Bloomberg, 2024)

👀 Campaign to Learn From

In the last few days, ESPN took TikTok by storm…

I’m talking about THE month's campaign already.

🎥 80M+ views

❤️ 1,300+ posts from creators

Let’s recap:

When you think of college football playoffs, you might picture stadiums, mascots, and die-hard fans.

But what about…a “professional mermaid” on TikTok?

ESPN shook up sports marketing with their College Football Playoff National Championship campaign by teaming up with creators from unexpected niches like parenting, lifestyle, and fantasy content.

Here’s how they turned everyday TikTok moments into viral gold👇

The winning strategy:

1️⃣ Diverse Creator Roster
ESPN partnered with creators who had nothing to do with football—like a mermaid, a lifestyle blogger, and a disability advocate.

This broadened their reach to TikTok’s highly diverse audience.

2️⃣ Relatable Content
Creators tied sports commentary to everyday moments like cleaning and makeup tutorials. It felt fun, real, and not like an ad.

📊 Fun fact: 60% of TikTok users seek funny content, making it the platform’s most engaging content type​.

3️⃣ TikTok-Native Trends
Using trending styles, ESPN made the content feel organic, encouraging shares and interaction.

The Results?
🚀 Massive buzz with:

• +80M views from their hashtag challenge.

• +1300 user-generated posts, scaling engagement.

• 50M+ views on individual creator videos, like this one:

@jaylinjamess

#sponsored Catch all the College Football Playoff action on @ESPN #CFPonESPN

But most importantly, positive reactions ALL across the campaign:

Takeaways for your brand:

🤔 Broaden your influencer pool: Partner with creators from unexpected niches.

🙀 Keep it fun: Humor is TikTok’s most engaging content type.

👀 Use trends: Lean into platform-native styles for authentic engagement.

Ready to start with influencers in 2025?

It’s not hard, but it takes time.

You need the right strategy, the right influencers, and expert guidance—but we can help!

→ Book a call with our CEO, Paul.
Paul has led 200+ successful campaigns and was recently featured on Swiss TV, sharing insights on influencer marketing.

🚨 Book now to elevate your 2025 strategy! (Psst, it’s free!)

🔗 Schedule your call

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