Defying Rules Of The First 3 Seconds
A Recent TikTok Case Study Defies The First 3 Seconds Rule It's been widely reported (and put into practice) that to stop a social user in their scroll, you need to hook them within the first 3 seconds. The rise of TikTok has propelled these already challenging creative boundaries for marketers, with a user base that is resistant to overt advertisements and an algorithm that tracks every second of viewership. While many brands have attempted to earn attention by sharing a high volume of short-form content, Hilton did a 180 on this industry best practice with their recent 10 minute-long video created exclusively for TikTok.
"Would you watch a 10 minute long TikTok?" opens the ad, with this challenge issued by Paris Hilton. The video proceeds to cycle through various segments personally crafted by some of the most beloved creators on the platform, including Baron Ryan, Chris Olsen, and Dylan Mulvaney, all channeling their own unique (and beloved) style of content. While this ad creative tapped into known personalities, it simultaneously turned every TikTok best practice on its head, with a mixture of fake Stitches, hidden edits, and more to retain viewers through completion. "OMG!! I watched the whole thing! I’m more loyal to Hilton than my man 😂," said one user.
This idea was inspired by, and is inspiring because, it re-thought what have become very basic, obvious, and already-seen-that creative tropes in social ads for Gen Z. We shared last week that the average TikTok user sees at least over 1,000 videos per day. That is not just a historically high volume of content, but also a historically high variety of content. In this new normal, it's worth considering the importance of throwing out the same 101 social playbook that everyone is using, and exploring how to stand out by subverting some of those overly internet-y tactics. They now just smell like marketing to a generation who has grown up with them. In your next creative brief or social strategy, consider adding a section underneath "Platform Behaviors" that expands with "And How To Bend Them", to inspire social ideation that stops users in their scroll by being irreverent to every other ad that will find the audience in feed that same day.