• by Larissa Faw , June 4, 2020

With most of the country stuck in lockdown, the Almond Board of California (ABC) achieved viral success with the #AlmondWalk challenge on TikTok that resulted in 1.2 billion views in just over five days.

That’s right, billions. How’d they do it?

For one, ABC’s agency Sterling-Rice Group capitalized on trending topics to hijack some buzz. The agency’s team monitors social media platforms and discovered a TikTok influencer who posted a video showing him “taking his almond on a walk.” This mid-April clip on its own received more than six million views.

With its complementary subject the agency and the Almond Board recognized an opportunity to supplement this video’s organic buzz with an agency-developed hash-tag challenge. The resulting follow-up video challenged users by using the audio from the original video to encourage others to submit their own clips, explains Laurie Tewksbury, senior account manager at SRG.

To maximize the project’s visibility, agency leaders recruited additional influencers and issued a call-to-action for everyone to literally take their almond for a walk.

The challenge ran for three days on the Discover page of TikTok, a paid placement that amplified visibility. All submissions were grouped under one landing page to signal its popularity.

While this campaign may seem like lighting in a bottle, Tewksbury believes one key to success is to create content that’s true to the specific platform. This challenge would not easily translate to Twitter or Facebook or say for a different type of nut. The key was to mimic an authentic TikTok video. 

Moreover, Tewksbury admits “TikTok isn’t for every brand, but making someone’s day a little bit brighter with a fun challenge, while getting them to think about your product in a positive, lighthearted way makes it a great fit.”

Another tip: Stop before the campaign lingers too long. The agency is currently pondering another challenge or custom content integration. “We’ll be keeping our eye on how TikTok continues to evolve and if there’s another cultural moment we feel we could align ourselves with,” says Tewksbury.