Google, Instagram and blogs were once the most popular places to discover trends and help leverage brands. Now, TikTok has become the driving force behind trends and the go-to place for companies that need to keep track of what’s new in their industry.<\/p>\n
With over 50 million active users<\/a>, TikTok has become a behemoth in the social media world and is changing the way companies develop and release products<\/a>, according to an article by the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n Industries are taking advantage of the hype around new trends launched within the app to better understand their target audience and create products that engage with these consumers. And, with any luck, become the object of desire for active users of what is currently the most popular app around.<\/p>\n Aeropostale, for example, had a great idea that increased its profits in 2025. Through the \u201cloose jeans\u201d trend and with the remoteness<\/a> of skinny jeans on TikTok, the brand was able to increase its offers of loose jeans, which grew from 7% of sales in 2020 to 40% in 2025 and saw a profit\u00a0 increase of 15%<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve doubled down on TikTok since then because we see how strong the ROI is,\u201d said Natalie Levy<\/a>, CEO of SPARC Group – the joint venture between Simon Property Group and Authentic Brands Group. Aeropostale now works with dozens of TikTok influencers, including Lexi Hidalgo who has a reach of over 2 million followers on the platform.<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny how just a handful of videos can shift an entire sales strategy practically overnight. What happened with Aeropostale isn\u2019t some isolated case; you\u2019ll see it with makeup, books, even oddly satisfying kitchen gadgets. The trick, apparently, is being bold enough to jump in early\u2014sometimes brands hesitate, worried it\u2019ll all blow over and they\u2019ll be left with warehouses full of unsellable \u201cviral\u201d product. But TikTok\u2019s unpredictable magic keeps changing the risk calculus.<\/p>\n Not every attempt lands. There\u2019s this lingering anxiety behind the curtain\u2014will the next trend you chase strengthen your business, or is it just noise? Social teams now spend hours scrolling, digging for the next big thing, while execs try to guess what trends will stick. The cycle\u2019s a little dizzying, but for brands hungry to stay relevant, the chase has become almost as crucial as old-school R&D was a decade ago.<\/p>\n Gap also saw in TikTok an opportunity to increase the brand’s valuation and managed to popularize its sweatshirt with the Gap logo<\/a>, by sending the product to popular people on the social network. From there, sales of the product took off, even with initial resistance from the company’s CMO to creating a TikTok brand-exclusive.<\/p>\n With this relevance for TikTok among brands, American companies have become hostage to the whims of the application, as stated by the WSJ.<\/p>\n Chipotle, for example, added \u201cKeithadilla<\/a>,\u201d a menu hack created by TikTok celebrities Keith Lee and Alexis Frost, to its menu. Chipotle saw in this case a way to incorporate a dish already popular on TikTok into its menu, attracting influencers to its stores.<\/p>\n But you must be wondering where the problem is in this? After all, Chipotle made a profit, right?<\/p>\n The viral quesadilla hack was a great organic marketing strategy for the Chipotle company. The problem is that with the boom of a quesadilla – which didn’t even exist in real life -, Chipotle employees started to show dissatisfaction with the changes generated by a viral trend from TikTok. OneTikTok user, @bmar1992, posted a<\/a> video showing a sign she saw posted at her local Chipotle register.<\/p>\n \u201cPROTEIN AND CHEESE ONLY IN THE QUESADILLA! No TikTok trends allowed,” reads the sign shown in the video.<\/p>\nBrands influenced by TikTok<\/h2>\n
But not everything is perfect\u2026<\/h2>\n