E.l.f. Cosmetics and First Aid Beauty tapped into this year’s TikTok trends to create next level holiday campaigns.

E.l.f. Cosmetics and First Aid Beauty tapped into this year’s TikTok trends to create next level holiday campaigns. Known as “Big Mood, Big e.l.f.ing City,” the cosmetics brand worked with ad agency Movers+Shakers to create a TikTok “movie” featuring popular creators like Fia James, Kalen Allen, Vanessa Pena, ADAMRAY, and GLAMZILLA. The movie takes place in three, three-minute installments following Fia James (a.k.a. Ash in the series) as she travels to NYC to surprise her friend, only to realize they’re out of town. From there, Ash links up with GLAMZILLA inside a makeup store where she buys some of her favorite E.l.f. products. Long story short, the beauty products (a.k.a. “The Holy Grail”) can talk, and they take Ash on a NYC adventure, all while (not-so-subtly) riffing on things only TikTokers would know (like Couch Guy, sea shanties, Emily Zugay’s logo designs, and Emily Mariko’s salmon rice bowl). E.l.f. asked TikTokers to audition for parts in the movie by duetting with the creators featured, and the push is complimented by a holiday album (“E.l.f. the Hauls”), remixing iconic songs like “Deck the Halls” and “Jingle Bells.” First Aid Beauty is also getting in on TikTok holiday marketing with its own song, “TikTok Made Me Buy It,” playing on the viral success beauty products have experienced this year (specifically some of First Aid Beauty’s) thanks to #TikTokMadeBuyIt. According to First Aid Beauty’s CMO, the song is intended to celebrate the “amazing feeling” of discovering new products from the vast array of content creators on TikTok. YPulse’s Pop Culture Redefined trend research shows a meme / viral video on social media is the No. 1 pop culture moment Gen Z and Millennials care about, and creating content that speaks to the trends they care about is one way to authentically engage with them. (Marketing Dive, Glossy)