Latest / Open Tabs / 🎧 Is TikTok becoming one big comment section?

Transcript

🎧 Is TikTok becoming one big comment section? · Open Tabs

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to OpenTabs,
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: our twice-weekly Substack Live,
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: where we talk about the stories taking up space in our tabs,
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: our feeds, and our brains.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Melissa.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Megan.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, story at the top, or interesting story.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: TikTok is going to be making their comments more interactive.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And this means they will be rolling out voice comments.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: So how you can send like a voice memo in iMessage,
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: you'll now be able to do that in TikTok comment sections.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Creators will be able to put up multiple polls in the comment sections of a single video.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And this is interesting.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Photo carousels.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you will be able to post in the comments a photo carousel up
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: to nine different photos in your TikTok comment section
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: or somebody else's TikTok comment section.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And they will also be allowing live photos, which I thought was super interesting.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And caveat, voice comments will only be for 18 plus users on the platform.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, this is rolling out I think in like the next month.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: But they want to make their comment section more interactive as
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: if there isn't enough discourse in TikTok comments already.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it really feels like they're pulling a lot from iMessage.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I know like we've talked about for a while like iMessage and direct DMs are
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: where the real juice is happening on social platforms.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: So this is an interesting way of TikTok getting in on that.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: It is very interesting.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I also think it reflects the reality of content.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's a misconception that everybody is a content creator.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: And in some cases, yes,
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: everybody can create content,
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: but not everybody is A creator that they identify themselves as like,
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: I want to put myself out there and I want to like be the face of a channel.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: But a lot of people interact with social media via the comment section and via sharing that.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like I don't post on TikTok as much as I used to, but I comment on TikTok all the time.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like I would say right now, I'm most prolific on TikTok as a commenter and not like a creator.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: So this is like a huge thing.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean,
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm all for any sort of improvement,
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: elevation, evolution of like higher quality commentary.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think like a mark of a really great account.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: It'll be interesting to see what happens, especially with the audio clips.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think that'll be kind of fascinating.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think we've really seen
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: People engage back and forth in that way with audio.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of like we've talked about like the floating lemon or like that filter
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: where people hide their faces and it really is just their voice.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: They put a filter on to mask their identity.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I wonder if this is like kind of an extension of that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Also makes me think like to your point, Megan,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: like There are users on TikTok who aren't maybe posting videos themselves
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: but are notorious in comment sections.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're like comment influencers, comment celebrities.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorites, if you're a Yellow Jackets fan, you will know Jackie Taylor fan, 77.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Anytime any TikTok posted mentions the character of Jackie Taylor
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: from Yellow Jackets, she, he,
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: they will be the top comment and it just says Jackie,
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: just their username, JackieTaylorFan77.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: They must have Google Alerts set and they're like on it.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Which one?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Which character was Jackie Taylor?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: She is the one.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: She's like the popular one who, spoiler alert.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, in the first guy.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then basically like haunts the narrative for the last video.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like she's so kind of in it, but yeah.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Another thing that I'm thinking about is something that's happening
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: on comment culture right now is like people will comment on someone's,
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: a creator's TikTok saying, do they comment back?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then they'll comment, yes, I do.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: And that's just a way of interacting with your fans, essentially.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I could see someone like a Taylor Swift leaving voice notes in
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: the TikTok comment section and that being a huge thing.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Because if she sees a video and it's just like a voice note of her laughing,
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: That would go crazy.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I think this also has potential as a way for celebrities to deepen
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: the parasocial relationship in a way that isn't giving more of themselves
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: than they have to.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: It can literally just be a one-off voice note that they're doing from their bed
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: and they can knock a few out.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's giving cameo, kind of.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Or sponsors, too.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: You can sponsor a voice note.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is just wild.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's so crazy, like, this world now where, like, there's an unlock of, like, new...
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh,
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: we have now introduced video to a platform and it's,
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: like, now it's advertising runs in, you know what I mean?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it's, like, it's just interesting, like...
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Follow the money also.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: What I say also something that happens is the marketing becomes the product.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: When you actually start to think about it,
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: you'll notice everything that was once the marketing actually becomes the thing
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: that you're actually paying for, like blind boxes, for instance.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like the act of unboxing was marketing and now the act of unboxing is the product.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: So that's also something that continues to happen.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I think something that's interesting with these platforms is
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: when they introduce new tools like this,
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: they have an intended use or a way that it's going to serve a purpose,
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: like I was saying, but it's always interesting to see how people take it.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's also what keeps these platforms interesting and exciting.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll be interesting to see what types of new creators spring up
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: with these new comment features and new ways of interacting in
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: the TikTok comment section.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: Really quickly, before we jump from that, I have a question for you.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like you would know this.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: In Reddit, can you sponsor comments?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Does that exist?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like you see advertising sprinkled throughout a comment thread.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you'll see brands can run ads in specific subreddits,
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: but you won't see a sponsored post on Reddit.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a somebody who's famous in a Reddit sub,
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: like post a sponsored post,
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: like explicit advertising in posts themselves isn't allowed from like users.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: But brands will do a lot of like Q and A's or like ask me any things.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll have like Their CEO or an influencer that they work with that aligns
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: with their brand create a Reddit account.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then in a related subreddit to whatever product they're selling,
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: they'll have them do an AMA.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that's like how they work around it.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was going to say,
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was like wondering if this new,
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: like this TikTok feature is like sort of inspired by Reddit,
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: which it does sound like partially kind of.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's definitely trying to capture.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like that kind of behavior, that user behavior.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like the endless comment threads that like, right.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: And high quality, like that people speak out a comment thread, you know.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: I have to jump,
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: you guys,
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: but one other thing,
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: and I just thought of this,
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: that just to throw it out there and no pressure if you want to discuss on this
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: or not, but I happened to notice our favorite brand ambassador, Kylie Jenner.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Is featured on an aloe yoga pose.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's interesting.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: My friends who,
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: I do the Swell account with,
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: they shared it onto our stories because she obviously looks amazing.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: But my, it was funny because my first reaction was like,
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: hmm, like, do I think of like, She looks fantastic.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: That is undeniable.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: But it is sort of funny to see how people react because it's a fitness company.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then it was funny.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: I saw some commentary that was just like, well, a lot of aloe clothing is made out of plastic.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, I
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: have thoughts on it.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Just because we've talked about Kylie as like, right,
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: like Dunkin' Donuts,
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: like sort of,
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: she's kind of making, she's like on the circuit of like being a brand ambassador.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And this one just like popped up fresh for me.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like, I was like, I wonder what my open tabs gals think of this.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the Kardashian and Jenners have such, like, an interesting relationship with fitness.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if you've seen the memes of, like,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: people take clips of,
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: like, Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, like, working out from keeping up with their trainers.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And they, like, they're—I even know their form is terrible.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And, like, they're, like, lifting, like, two-pound weights like this.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the trainer's, like— Yeah, you got it.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: You go.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: killing it.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think, but my thing is, I don't see Aloe as a fitness brand.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like they, yeah, it's a lifestyle brand.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's definitely something that you can wear to a fitness class,
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: especially something that's not too strenuous, like,
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: or like,
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: You're not moving around too much like Pilates,
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: but it's not durable quality activewear the way like a Lululemon is.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: So Kylie makes all the sense in the world to me because she sits squarely in that space.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: So she's definitely wearing these workout sets and only working out probably 20% of the time.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I say that as someone who's doing the same thing,
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: like I'm wearing activewear as like clothes when I'm not have no plans to work out.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I also like run around L.A. and be a hot girl in.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think Kylie's audience expects her to be using the products
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: that she is hawking, which I think is very interesting.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: So Melissa mentioned Duncan and we had a whole discussion.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: She's not drinking those.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: She definitely threw those away.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: She could barely hide on her face when she was doing the taste test on TikTok
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: that she didn't enjoy how they tasted.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: But people in the comments were saying, I'm going to go get this.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I think her audience is very much...
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: I saw Regina George wearing Army of Hansen flip-flops,
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: so I bought Army of Hansen flip-flops, and it's working for her, you know?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think there's that much deeper happening there, to be honest.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think she could post Hawking any product.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, her, she is, like, totally lost.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know,
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: like you said,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: like, nobody expects her to, like, That she's actually using any of these products.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, she could do an ad for, like, Home Depot tomorrow.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there is, like, no such thing as, like, brand alignment, I feel like, with her anymore.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: She's moved beyond that.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost like she's just a model for the internet editorial age, you know?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: And everyone understands that.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: And if you give us a fierce image, like, she does look great, as Melissa said in this image.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: Then it's like,
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: great, maybe I'll put on this outfit and pretend I look like that too for a second.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: But nobody's actually believing the deeper that Kylie really believes in this or
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: that you're going to look like Kylie if you buy this.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's all fantasy.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And like for the brands, it's like.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: They know if they get her to post wearing anything or advertising anything, it'll be in like E!
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: News and People magazine within the hour.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And like that will get them the eyeballs they're looking for.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's just like a conduit.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: I also think she's an influencer's influencer in that if influencers see
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: That she's working with Aloe,
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: then it's more favorable to them to want to work with Aloe.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe they'll post, oh, I got sent this Kylie collab for free.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas in the past, they might have not posted that because it doesn't serve them.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: But having that connection to Kylie is helpful to them.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I think there's that element of it too,
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_02: of like the ecosystem of this social media influencer, especially in LA space.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's notable that oftentimes we talk about things that Melissa's like,
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: this didn't reach me, this didn't reach me.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: And Melissa's like, this reached me and all my friends, you know?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it's working.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I totally agree that she's an influencer's influencer.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: The way they talk about her,
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: like I see influencers in the LA,
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Calabasas area,
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: talk about Kylie Jenner's impact on their style,
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: the brand deals that they do, how they actively live their lives, is really wild.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Has had generational impact, for better or worse.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: No, actually, she has.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: I think, from what I can tell, Kylie is a nice girl.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that helps, too.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, so much of culture, especially in L.A., is, are you good in a room?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: And people probably like her.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: They meet her.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: She had a brand.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that she's honestly just very well-liked.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: And people like to work with her.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: And they get good results.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a lot of what her success is,
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: is just she lives the charmed life and that's part of the appeal, you know?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like she's a combination of Kim and Khloe with that.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: In that she has super, super sharp aesthetics like him and a super controlled image.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: She super controls her like physical image.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the likability and perceived relatability of Chloe,
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: I saw her and she has like, she started the Nepo friend.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe Paris Hilton started the like Nepo friend.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: I saw her two best friends,
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Stassi Baby,
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: who is now a full-blown influencer because of her proximity to Kylie,
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: and her former assistant, Vic,
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: who is a full-blown influencer now,
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: have a podcast, and they recently had Kylie on, I think...
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Last week, and I got served a ton of clips from it.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I've never gotten clips from their podcast, and that's the episode that reached me.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: It was pretty interesting to see her talking about cosmetic work that she's got done.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think she's fully transparent about everything she's gotten done.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: She picks and chooses.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: But how she wants to get another boob job and the timing of that.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: But she doesn't want to get it done before her 30th birthday.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And she's really annoyed by that.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: It was so interesting.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like she was as honest as she is comfortable being about the problems
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: and things that she's thinking about.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it was highly fascinating.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, second topic.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be workshopping Megan's next piece that will be on for you next week.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And she kind of previewed it,
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: if you're lucky enough to be in Cool Shiny's Wednesday Call yesterday.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's Ross, Ross, Dress for Less.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're trying to get it to just Ross now.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Their latest marketing campaign.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Megan, do you want to give a brief rundown on what they've been up to?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we started noticing a couple months ago that they were leaning into,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was around Coachella,
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: actually,
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: that they had a Coachella influencer strategy
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: and actually were doing something around festival season.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: And just in general,
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_02: we're investing in It seemed reaching a younger,
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: more culturally attuned online audience.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: And they were doing that through an influencer strategy.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: They were having events in downtown LA.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: And we thought that was really great, really cool.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then recently,
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: I've been a little bit confused by some of the activations and things
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: that they're doing.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's just such a testament to it's not just about being in
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: the right place at the right time, but also having the right strategy.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's very clear to me that Ross is a brand that is very residual,
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: is trying to live in a more dominant immersion space.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: And they've seen that influencers and creators and social media is the way in,
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: but they're kind of fumbling and maneuvering their way in.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: So they have this concept,
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: this hero campaign called Ross World, but it's very unclear what that means.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: So the first thing that we saw was Sierra,
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: the singer Sierra, in some sort of vignette that's vaguely horror adjacent.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just strange.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'll send it to you, Emma, so you can link it here if people want to watch it.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: And then she falls asleep, has a dream.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: And she's in a musical.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's Ross World.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then I keep getting served an ad on TikTok of a bunch of creators
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: who I recognize saying, welcome to Ross World.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just like 60 seconds of creators saying,
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: welcome to Ross World, which to me screams that they had this event.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: They had all these creators.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then they're like, we should get content since they're here.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_02: But they didn't really have a content capture plan.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: So they're just having these creators say, welcome to Ross World.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then they're pushing that as an ad.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then the last thing that I thought was kind
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: of weird is they had this event like Ross Wonderland that was a party,
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: an influencer party, and it was beautiful.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: It was like A Midsummer Night's Dream themed.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: It looked like an enchanted forest, but I was like, what does this have to do with Ross?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: And they didn't really make that connection back to the brand or Ross world.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think the whole thing to me is just a little bit misguided,
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: but I see what they're going for.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so I just wanted to spend more time of like, what do I think Ross, what should Ross do?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because clearly cultural relevance is something they're after.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think they're in the right spaces,
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: but how can they Do it in a way that's more aligned with their brand
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_02: to actually make it work harder for them.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that's how this came to pass.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did a bit of a deep dive in prep for this.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you said the overarching thing that went
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: through my head was what does this any of this have to do with Ross?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the Sierra commercial,
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: her kids were in it and she falls asleep and she's watching like a 1950s musical and
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: then she falls asleep and then she's in this
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: This Cuban Havana,
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: like salsa musical,
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: totally disconnected from what she had been watching on the TV
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: before she fell asleep.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm Cuban myself.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, is Sierra Cuban?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: She is not.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: What is the connection to this?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really see any clothes.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: She was wearing this fabulous dress.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't seem like the type of thing you would buy at Ross, but is it?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, tell me, can I buy the shirts at Ross?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it was totally different vibe and aesthetic from the Ross world in Wonderland.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was like two...
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was tropical and bright and salsa and Havana.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then it was like dark,
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: to your point, Midsummer's Night Dream with a bunch of very popular influencers.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: But what did they do there?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: What was there?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for welcoming me into Ross World, but I don't know what it is.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm curious more on what you saw on their social media,
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: but also I had to guess like the Ross World strategy,
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: like what I think they're going for.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like you can become whatever you want at Ross.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: We have stuff to be a tropical dancer, to be this, to be in a winter wonderland.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: But they're not conveying that super well.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it's also not a distinctive value prop anymore.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like every single brand carries every aesthetic.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: So the idea that you could like tap into all
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: of these different worlds is not unique enough to Ross to me to green light that as
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: the strategy that I would want to go with of like,
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: this is something we can uniquely offer.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: To me, this is giving anthropology,
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: like where they completely transform the store and the space and you can Go into
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: an immersive aesthetic world.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: But to me,
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: this seems like a culturally compelling strategy that Ross
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: in themselves doesn't really have the permission to execute on.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's also interesting.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm scrolling through their TikTok.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see any back to school content,
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: which I would imagine would be a very big moment for Ross.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's all Ross world.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Festival young people in their 20s being glamorous around the world.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: They also,
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: in the past couple of days,
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you saw this,
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: launched a franchise, a video series with Khalid, the singer, songwriter.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's called On My Way.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's him mentoring kind of these two up and coming artists.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: But again, What does this have to do with Ross?
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I also,
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think something too that I want to dig more into and unpack is
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: from what I can tell,
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Ross has a very Hispanic and people of color user base and like our customer base.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of the content I get served and what I had pulled to share in
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: a radar report was of creators who are often speaking Spanglish.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like that's interesting and that's something that they could run with.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so I feel like they're By the talent that they're selecting,
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: that's the only nod to their actual audience and what their audience is doing.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: And like you said,
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_02: the life stage of their act is back to school at Ross would have been a huge thing.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I actually did a deep dive analysis into content of like where back people are.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: There was a trend of,
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: So it is a
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: place that younger generations are fond of and have this kind
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: of relationship to, but it's not being reflected in their strategy right now.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I worry that it's not going to get them the cultural relevance
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: that they could have if they were doing something that was more authentic
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_02: to their customer and who they are and how they use the brand, you know?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I also went into the comment sections of these posts just
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: to see what people were saying, if anyone else was confused like I was.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really just people,
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: fans, excited to see their favorite artists or creators in content.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody was talking about Ross as a brand.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was all, oh my gosh, Sierra looks amazing.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love Khalid.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Brand Flakes.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, that's good, at least that the sentiment is positive.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was very positive.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think that they're not capitalizing on the brand connection.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like it's like they were like, we want to do something cool.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do cool things.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: But they didn't really think about how that coolness would tie back to their brand, if at all.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: Even with the Ross Wonderland,
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: a lot of what I was seeing was creators excited that they had been selected.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that was the bulk of the video.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm so glad to have this honor.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: But once there, it was just like, I'm here.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't that great?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: But there was no there there of,
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: and here's what Ross wanted me to relate to you, my loyal follower.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_02: It was just,
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: let's be excited for me and influencer because this is an important moment for me
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: of being invited by a brand somewhere.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: But there was nothing deeper there, I feel like.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I also noticed none of this content had a call to action on what to do next or
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: if there were any next steps that audiences could take,
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: whether it's like Sierra has a new collection coming out with us
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: that you can get this fall or shop our Wonderland collection.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think, to your point, it feels like they're riding the hype of celebrity and influencer.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: I wish they would go a little bit deeper.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I like the idea of them doing festivals.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: I feel I go to festivals and Ross would be a place I would shop for festival clothing.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, like,
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: make it more tangible,
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: like Sierra curating a collection or a little, like, section on the website.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe this exists, but they haven't mentioned it at all.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just, like, the production value on the content is great.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: I just wish there was—it went a little deeper.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: Totally.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: From a brand perspective, I agree.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, this is a really well-produced ad, but what does it have to do with Ross?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think they did actually a micro drama series which is when we first talked
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: about them that we felt was more aligned with Gen Z and it was shot in a Ross store
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_02: and was about people shopping for different things and they all ended up with
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: the same pair of boots and it was that was obviously so clearly aligned with Ross
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: because it was shot in a store and about people shopping.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: I was confused by the pivot to something that was so, this is relevant to your consumer.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_02: You're literally embodying them to this influencer strategy.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm going to do some thinking about if there is a Ross influencer strategy,
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: what do we want it to be?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it might just be as simple as Watching influencers make content
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: of them shopping and what can you find at Ross and how do you shop at Ross.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a loyal TJ Maxx home goods shopper and I see so much of that, like TJ Maxx home goods.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: There's kind of like a culture of TJ Maxx memes and isms that you kind of come to know.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like, oh,
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going to not actually buy anything because the line's too long and I'm just here
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_02: to smell candles.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: And there's all of these things that I feel like I'm not as much of a Ross shopper,
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: so I don't know.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_02: But what are those things that you can highlight and Kind
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_02: of build lore around your brand that already exists rather than trying
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: to create new lore by borrowing cool aesthetics that don't really have anything
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_02: to do with your brand.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: I am also a Maxinista and I have my go-to products that I specifically go to TJ Maxx for.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: I would be interested to know what are the go-to products that these influencers,
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: celebrities go to Ross for because it sells basically everything.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I go to TJ Maxx,
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm getting my specific hand soap that I like because they always have the brand
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: and it's always half price.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: I will look at the body lotions and then the candles.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I get at TJ Maxx.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I go to TJ Maxx.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Why do people go to Ross?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll do some digging and have some answers in the piece and some takeaways
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: of like,
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: this is what we think Ross should be focusing on
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: as they're building their social media narrative and their lore.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because they're clearly invested in a good way and they're clearly spending
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: the money and they're clearly like invested in finding the right talent and finding
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: the right partners.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that they'll nail it.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: And like, I would love to have a take on how I think they should do that.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: And to your point, like, people are, sentiment is very positive for us in the comments.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel like they have all the opportunities.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: So very excited to get into it next week.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much, Megan.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we will see you next week.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: See you later.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.