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the guide to getting your song TikTok viral

Brooke and Jess are the not-so-secret duo behind new music success

By Laina Claydon

Friday, 9th of December 2022

We’ve all seen a TikTok dance go viral when a new song is released, but who creates them in the first place?

More often than not, it’s the same duo behind a dance routine: Brooke and Jess aka BrookieandJessie.

Wearing their trademark tracksuits and sunglasses, the pair have created many of the TikTok viral dances to your favourite songs.

With 2 million followers on the short-form video platform, Brooke and Jess are the girls in glasses you need to know.

Remember the ‘jiggle jiggle’ dance to the rap from Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date interview with Louis Theroux? That was them. It’s now been named the top US trend on TikTok’s fifth annual ‘Year on TikTok’ report for 2022.

Amelia even joined the girls to do the dance after it became a success. And if that’s not impressive enough for you, the dance became a feature on Fortnite. It also earned the girls a shoutout on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon when Shakira did the dance.

The routine was created initially on Jess’ solo account before they set up their joint account and began making dance routines together.

Their success saw the duo employed by Netflix (and their 28.8M TikTok followers) to create a promotional dance video for season four of the sci-fi smash hit series Stranger Things and then First Kill.

More recently, Brooke and Jess danced to Meghan Trainor’s new single ‘Made You Look’. The video racked up more than 500K likes, and Meghan herself even made a video to the dance and tagged the pair with dance credits in the caption. The video has 3.7M likes.

When Lewis Capaldi made his music comeback earlier this year with ‘Forget You’, Brooke and Jess also helped the song grow on TikTok. The singer later joined them for a video but struggled to keep up with the dance routine and simply bopped along in the background.

Their choreography took the platform by storm again when they danced to Lizzo’s song ‘2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)’. The girls posted some of the stars who recreated their dance to their Instagram page, and names included Lizzo herself, Dani Minogue, Jojo Siwa, Lorraine Kelly, and Stephen Mulhern.

But how did they start out?

“We were just messing around in our lounge”, the pair told Echo News. “I was making pasta at the time and Jess played the Jiggle Jiggle song and it was so catchy that we were bopping around to it.

“We didn’t plan on dressing up or anything, so we put the glasses with the hoodies on, because we didn’t want to make an effort, and that seems to be our brand now”.

@brookieandjessie
but here we are x
♬ Malibu - Miley Cyrus

Brooke and Jess are both professional performers in musical theatre, have been in pantos, and are graduates of the Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, Surrey.

And it’s not just TikTok that they’re big on, the duo also have an Instagram account, YouTube channel, and their very own merch line where they now sell the hoodies they are always wearing in their videos.

Another creator who has been influential in the TikTok dance world is Nifè aka @itsjustnifee who created the Love Nwantiti dance.

Love Nwantiti is a song by Nigerian singer and songwriter CKay.

Nifè’s sound to her original dance has racked up 642.3K videos being made to it and the video has 1.8 million likes. As a thank you to Nifè, CKay then brought the TikToker on tour with him.

That’s not all she’s done. Nifè also choreographed the dance to Antigoni’s ‘You Can Have Him’ and was later featured in the music video.

TheLady aka @4ladycapri also made a viral dance to Camidoh, Mayorkun & Darkoo feat. King Promise’s Sugarcane and was later brought out on stage at Ghana Party In The Park which took place at Trent Park in Enfield.

These are just a few examples of the amazing ways in which musicians give credit to the choreographers and creators who had a huge impact on a song’s success.

There are some artists, however, who are accused of creating a song or specific lyric just to go viral, as it usually results in high charting and more sales.

Taylor Swift did it well when she released her latest album ‘Midnights’ and created the #antiherochallenge to promote the leading single.

Initially on YouTube Shorts, the trend was quickly picked up on TikTok which is commonplace when something goes viral on one platform for it to quickly pick up traction on another. It’s since racked up 34.4M views on TikTok and ‘Anti Hero’ has been at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks running – so it’s safe to say this was a success.

The beauty of TikTok (and the randomness of its algorithm) means it’s not just new songs that trend. An old song can pop up and trend at any time and even Meghan Trainor herself couldn’t explain why her 2016 song ‘NO’ started trending recently, but she went with it!

TikTok dances are no new thing and have been around since the app first launched, but it’s exciting to see the new and innovative ways in which artists and creators are collaborating – and that artists are making sure to give credit to those who coined the dance routine which helped make their song a success.

The creators tackling the cost of living crisis

We share the creators using their platform for good in a time of need

By Bella Hales and Nana Akosua Frimpong

Thursday, 19th of November 2022

With the cost of living crisis being an ever prevalent issue in the UK, there have been questions raised about influencer culture and their seemingly cash-rich lifestyles.

According to a survey by Room Unlocked, six out of ten people find influencers insensitive and infuriating amid the dramatic rise in the cost of living. There are, however, many people using their platform for good during the recession. The #costoflivingcrisis hashtag, for example, has been trending on TikTok and has been viewed over 556 million times – but this time for a more positive reason. Under this hashtag, you will find content creators across many different niches using their platform to make a difference, whether it be by providing their audience with accessible budgeting tips and financial information or key money saving advice.

Keep reading to find out some of the top content creators who have used their financial expertise to help their audience during this difficult time and, if you would like to see a more extensive list of creators sharing their best financial advice, head over to our Instagram.

Gemma Bird is a very well known money saving guru. Growing up with a saving addiction, she decided to turn this into her personal brand where she educates people on the power of scrimping and saving. She can be found sharing bargains, deals and discounts to her audience in an attempt to show that being thrifty doesn’t have to be boring. Her relatability and down-to-earth personality has grown her a loyal and dedicated following.

Clare Seal aka My Frugal Year is a Fin-fluencer (financial influencer) from London. She began her account in 2019 as a means to tackle her £27,000 debt that she had accumulated, and now shares tips and tricks on budgeting and improving relationships with money. Clare founded @thefwforum as a place for honest and supportive conversations about money and more recently, is known for her coverage on topics such as mortgage and financial property.

In addition to the increase in financial advice being shared by content creators, here at THE FIFTH we have seen a noticeable increase in crafting and DIY content. #CraftTok, for example, has now been viewed over 1.3 billion times on TikTok, with more and more people going online to get DIY and crafting inspiration in a bid to spruce up their homes and give their decor a refresh on a budget.

Here we highlight two of the top craft creators using their platforms to share thrifty craft and DIY tips:

Sergei Urban aka The Dad Lab is a craft, DIY and parenting content creator and shares cheap yet exciting activities to do with your children. These include fun science activities, building sets, activity books, educational tools and creative paper crafts. A lot of the activities are created from upcycling, for instance making an infinity car track from cardboard, all of which share the message that entertainment doesn’t have to include buying expensive toys.

Duygu is a DIY content creator, retired teacher and founder of the Good Things Studio. She specialises in Punch needle embroidery, an old and special technique where a punch needle is used to poke loops into fabric. In 2015, she started her youtube channel, Duygu’s DIY Diary, in order to share her crafty, do-it-yourself ideas with more people. As her content creation career has progressed she has taken this over to Instagram and TikTok where she shares how-tos of her latest cheap and innovative creations.

If you would like to continue reading on crafty influencers, head over to our Instagram post where we spotlighted some of the key talent in this area.

Crafting and DIY isn’t the only thing to trend as a result of the cost of living crisis. With supermarket prices on the rise, there has been an increase in appetite for cheap and budget-friendly recipes. Below, we include some of the most influential UK foodies and content creators who are exhibiting some of the most delicious and cheap, home cooked meals, for those who are looking to tighten their belts.

Jack Monroe is food content creator, author and anti-poverty campaigner. She used to be known as the £10-a-week blogger, who would share how you can make 3 cheap and easy recipes a day for a total £10 a week. Now she shares affordable recipes on her website and often creates series such as 20p recipes or 15-minute meals. Most noticeably, after the increase in prices of essential products at Asda, Monroe complained that even the low-price range was too expensive. This resulted in the supermarket agreeing to make the range more accessible. She is a great example of the power influencers have in making a positive impact.

Nina Mackenzie is a lifestyle blogger who shares parenting content on instagram. This can include reviews and recommendations of children’s products and crafting activities. Nina is also well known for her cooking content, where she shares affordable meals for the family, and recently has partnered up with Sainsburys to create a series called family dinner for under £5.

Click here to read more on the most influential talent creating budget friendly recipes.

As mentioned previously, influencers and celebrities who spend large amounts of money on clothes are frowned upon amid the rising costs of living. There are, however, a number of fashion content creators, who are promoting upcycling and thrifting as a way of staying stylish whilst saving money. Here we highlight those creators who are using their platform to talk about how cost-effective these methods are, and not to forget, how sustainable they are too! Head over to our Instagram post to read more.

Hudi Charin aka @thethriftythinker is the CEO of the sustainable and personalised fashionwear service @bigsisterswap. She encourages her followers to swap clothes instead of buying new clothes as a contribution to being sustainable and without breaking the bank.

Alexandra Stedman is an art director, writer and social media consultant, best known for her ethos that ‘dressing stylishly needn’t be expensive’. She is also the owner of the blog page The Frugality, where she shares accessible and budget-friendly fashion tips.

With the cost of living crisis being troublesome for most, it is understandable as to why creators who are sharing content centred around budgeting and financial advice are more in-demand than ever. Crucially, social media and content creators play an integral role in providing their audiences with accessible and easy-to-digest financial information.

The Power in Owning Your Name

To mark Black History Month, we explore why names should be pronounced correctly

By Nana Akosua Frimpong

Friday, 27th of October 2022

To mark Black History Month, we wanted to talk about names and why we should all make an effort to pronounce them correctly in the workplace. We hear from THE FIFTH’s Apprentice Nana Akosua Frimpong who explores why her name holds meaning to her as a Black woman – and how creators are now using their platform to speak out on an issue that has been overlooked for years.

Imagine there’s a new starter at work. They introduce themselves as you shake their hand and realise you didn’t hear their name clearly enough. You ask them to repeat it, not once but twice, and then say it back to them again incorrectly. The new employee might shrug it off and accept a somewhat close enough variation of their name to avoid awkwardness – but they shouldn’t.

Your name is your identity. It is what your family, friends, colleagues and even strangers use to call upon you. Our names have meaning, whether it is cultural, religious or personal, and are a part of who we are as an individual.

Repetitive mispronunciations can lead to people not feeling important or worthy then, and it can induce annoyance because the same people can easily pronounce Euro-centric names such as Niamh and Llewyn.

This has driven some ethnic minorities to anglicise their name for the sake of being accepted. Failing to call someone by the name given to them is the eradication of the culture and heritage that has been bestowed upon them, and not only undermines inclusivity but can affect the person’s emotional well-being.

When you refuse to take the momentary effort to pronounce someone’s name correctly, it suggests your own discomfort with their identity and essentially shows that they aren’t important enough to expel the energy – making it a form of microaggression.

Many influencers have come forward in support of owning their names. Yewande Biala from Love Island wrote for The Independent and has even written a book, Reclaiming, as an ode to reclaiming oneself a piece at a time.

After experiencing teachers mispronouncing her name at school, Yewande wrote that she vowed to give her future children European or normative names. When she told this to her mother, her response was: “There is power in your name, and power in the tongue who speaks it. Raise your head, smile, and boldly tell them that your name is Yewande, daughter of Biala.”.

As a Black Woman with a strong African name, I have faced multiple forms of racism and microaggressions. My younger self barely understood the relevance of shortening my name. It wasn’t until my twenties that I learnt the true reason behind the shortening of my name: I chose to make it easier for others to pronounce my name by forgoing the entirety of my first name. I chose to put others’ comfortability first before my own.

I distinctly remember a point in my life when I would hate to introduce myself because others couldn’t take a moment to ask or learn to pronounce my name correctly, instead, they chose to ‘remix’ my name.

I remember being uncomfortable hearing my name be pronounced differently and worse the dismissive attitude of the person when I tried to correct them. I learnt quickly that it would be easier to introduce myself with an easily pronounceable version of my name than to ask people to learn my full first name.

As I entered my twenties, however, I realised that no one knows who I am. Most people call me Nana and a fair few outside my family know me as Akosua or Akos yet not many know me as Nana Akosua.

Although I still go by Nana, I no longer choose to forgo the entirety of my first name when introducing myself. My name has meaning and it is an embodiment of who I am. Nana means Queen/King and Akosua means Sunday born translating to Queen of Sunday.

To truly understand the damaging effect of mispronouncing someone’s name, you have to educate yourself as to why names matter.

In some cultures, names are given that are deeply rooted in social and cultural beliefs. In Ghana, Abadinto (outdooring) is a traditional naming ceremony. This occurs eight days after the birth of the child when parents present their newborn ‘outside’ for the first time to give them a ‘day’ name. A day name is chosen depending on the day of the week and the gender of the child.

In other cultures such as India, an infant naming ceremony is called Naam Karan. It is a tradition where parents, families and relatives make extensive efforts to determine a suitable name for the child, often relying on astrological beliefs.

Our names hold power and should be celebrated. We all should therefore be making a conscious effort to pronounce them correctly. Take a moment or several to ask someone how to pronounce their name. The effort in asking shows a willingness to learn, which is duly appreciated and acknowledged.

Content creator and poet known by her pseudonym simplysayo introduces herself as “Adésayó not Sayo” on her podcast Nailing It, reminding everyone of who she is whilst owning her name.

Having phonetic spelling in your bio or email helps to educate people and alleviate social hesitation. It also helps to normalise the practice for others and makes it easier for those who benefit from it to do the same.

It is worth noting and remembering how different people prefer their names to be said, even if it requires more effort. Taking the time to pronounce a person’s name correctly conveys respect and inclusion and a willingness to treat everyone equally.

We should make saying names a positive experience for everyone. We have the power to promote a more positive, diverse, inclusive and accepting culture and environment.

Take power in owning your name, like I have of mine.

THE top video podcasts you should be listening to right now

We look at why vodcasts have become so popular – and which ones you should be watching

By Nana Akosua Frimpong

Wednesday, 26th of October 2022

Over the last few years, we’ve seen an influx of creators take to podcasting alongside posting on their various other channels.

While podcasting has been around for more than a decade, video podcasts have grown in popularity as it connects listeners to the hosts in a different way – and adds another element to the way in which you can consume the content.

Video podcasts have created an opportunity for listeners to feel much more involved, almost as though they are privy to behind-the-scenes of the filming process.

It has created an intimate interaction between the host and their listeners, as they pick up on body language nuances that you can’t experience through audio. It creates a feeling of being part of the conversation as it transpires.

With 24.2% of users going on YouTube to watch and listen to podcasts, it’s no surprise that Spotify has taken to expanding its podcast resources to include vodcasts. Pushing this expansion to other territories such as Italy, Germany, France, Spain and others, Spotify is looking to compete with YouTube and Apple Podcasts as the best platform for vodcasts.

Here, we share a few of our favourite video podcasts where the conversations are real, unfiltered and, most importantly, entertaining.

Nailing it: A Spotify Original vodcast about navigating the everyday challenges and toasting the triumphs of life in your twenties with your hosts Priscilla Anyabu, Wunmi Bello and Adesayo Talabi aka Simply Sayo.

The Receipts Podcast: A Spotify exclusive podcast where Your girl, Tolly T, Just Call me Audrey and your Mamacita Milena Sanchez come together to give their fun and honest truths about anything and everything.

Cocktails and Takeaways: Hosted by Madame Joyce, C&T is a podcast all about oversharing, unpopular opinions, failed relationships, light-hearted banter, celebrity gossip, world news and everything in between with a dash of alcohol to keep in good spirits.

Call her daddy: Alex Cooper hosts the most listened-to podcast by women. Cooper cuts through the small talk with every guest and topic. Asking the questions you want answers to, you can never guess what is going to happen or be said.

Private Parts: Join Made in Chelsea’s Jamie Laing and friends as they dive deep under the covers of your favourite celeb’s lives to find out their most intimate stories and naked truths.

Say It with your chest: Hosted by Char, this is a visual podcast that shines the light on the corners of important conversations that are often missed out of the media or seen as taboo.

Working hard, hardly working: Grace Beverely moves away from the traditional business podcast rhetoric to get a better understanding of what actually goes on behind the scenes of the brightest success stories.

Diary of a CEO: The unfiltered journey into the remarkable people who have defined culture, achieved greatness and created stories worth studying. Hosted by entrepreneur Steven Bartlett, this podcast regularly tops the podcast charts.

The Peter Crouch Podcast: Hosted by Pete Crouch, this podcast is a guide to being a professional football player with insight on dressing rooms, transfers, managers, football confessions and everything in between.

ShxtsNGigs: A weekly podcast from two best friends, James and Fuhad, where they try to give their full, unfiltered opinion on anything that comes to mind.

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: Join Jay Shetty as he has fascinating conversations with the most insightful people in the world.

Pass the Meerkat: 8D Audio of the animated web series hosted by 9 Black/Asian men from London. The guys give their interesting takes on a variety of topics and share crazy stories.

JaackMaate’s Happy Hour: Join Jack and Stevie as they invite an array of the internet’s best celebrities to join the conversation ranging from YouTube drama to life’s big questions.

Saving Grace – Join TikTok’s GKBarry for absolutely outrageous conversations with a selection of very special guests, walking you through her WILD life filled with embarrassing stories from university and beyond.

Podcasts have an innate ability to reach a captive audience with personalised messaging and with many podcasters having built a passionately dedicated following over the years, brands would be remiss not to consider podcast adverts as a marketing tool.

Spotify keeping up and listening to its audience’s preference by boosting video podcasting on its platform is a step in the right direction. It is also an excellent opportunity for brands to further connect with new audiences or engage their current audience through authentic brand partnerships.

Podcasts or vodcasts are intimate and trusted digital media channels that reach people in a very direct and personal way, and they offer brands the ultimate opportunity to gain insights into their audiences and creative solutions that can truly capture consumer attention.

What vodcast keeps you engaged and entertained?

The live stream event Raising Millions for Charity

Z Event 2022 raised over €10 million

By Nana Akosua Frimpong

Friday, 14th of October 2022

Z Event is a gaming charity project organised every year since 2016 by well-known gaming creators Adrien Nougaret and Alexandre Dachary. Named after his online pseudonym ZeratoR, Adrien alongside Alexandre organises the annual Twitch event to bring together French streamers and players whilst raising money for charity.

Streaming events are well-known and popular everywhere but what makes Z Event special is the unique format. The event takes place face-to-face with personalities invited by the pair and the public tune in remotely, watching live on Twitch via the player’s channels. The three-day marathon welcomes all types of streamers from around the world to participate in hilarious challenges, mentor new streamers and produce worthwhile content with the ultimate goal of connecting with each other and raising money.

Adrien and Alexandre, aka ZeratoR and Dach, unexpectedly started the Z Event in Adrien’s living room back in 2016 when they invited fifteen streamer friends over to join Belgian player Athene’s humanitarian battle call to raise funds in aid of Ethiopia’s famine crisis. That year, they raised €170,000.

The success of the first unofficial event prompted Adrien and Alexandre to improvise and organise another the year after. The team grew to include well-known influencers in gaming such as Doigby, Mister MV and Sardoche, and they raised €500,000 for the French Red Cross.

Since the first unexpected and unpretentious event, Z Event has grown and consistently broken its previous donation record. In 2021, for example, they raised a whopping €10 million for Action Against Hunger.

With the help of 57 gaming personalities and over 50 hours of streaming, this year’s Z Event in September raised donations across five charity organisations – Time for the Planet, Sea Shepherd, The Bird Protection, WWF and the Sea Cleaners.

It started with a fun-filled musical concert featuring musical ensemble French Fuse, beatboxing crew Berywam, rapper Soprano and many more. The opening night also saw participants share their donation goal cards all across Twitter using the hashtag #ZEvent2022.

Streamers use donation goal cards to set challenges to complete when a donation goal is reached. This is tracked on the participants’ Twitch channel as they stream online. Viewers are then able to see when a goal is reached and watch the streamer complete their challenge.

Streamer Ceb set a goal of coaching a viewer live on his channel when he reached a donation goal of $7,500, whilst another streamer pledged to send a picture of Lionel Messi to Cristiano Ronaldo Jr on Instagram when his donation goal reached €1,000,000.

Each participant created their own donation goal making it entertaining for viewers everywhere.

Z Event is also known to attract well-known celebrities. On the second day of this year’s event, French streamer Etoiles invited TV host, actor and director Alain Chabat to host Z Event’s quiz game “Questions for the streamers: Burger Edition”.

Over the three-day action-packed marathon event, viewers tuned in to watch their favourite streamers’ Twitch channels, donate and join in on the fun. This year, Z Event raised €10.1 million with a massive upsurge in viewership.

Every year, fans of the event look forward to joining the event, and it goes without saying that Z Event has become a staple in the French Twitch gaming community.

The event has not just become a big opportunity for streamers to grow their platform but to connect with their fans by showing their real and personable side – and fans can be active participants.

Twitch is a platform that enables communities and Adrien and Alexandre have taken the opportunity to not only shed light on world issues through charitable donations, but to also grow a community where people can reach out and learn from their mentors.

It has become evident that streamers love to challenge themselves and others and so we are likely to see more creator-led streaming events in the future.

Will you be tuning into the next Twitch live stream or, like Z Event fans, are you eagerly awaiting the 2023 event that is sure to be even bigger and better than the last one?

Check out the best of #ZEvent2022 on YouTube.

What is Quiet Quitting and will it last?

The latest trend to take over the workplace

By Bella Hales

Friday, 7th of October 2022

Quiet Quitting is the latest buzzword to emerge on TikTok in the past few months, exploding in America and quickly taking over Europe. Contrary to what it sounds like, it isn’t about quitting at all. Instead, it represents a rising trend where employees are actively embracing the traditional concept of ‘work-to-rule’ – but this time, as more of an antidote to relentless work expectations, long hours and post pandemic fatigue. Quiet Quitting builds on the emergence of a culture which embraces the work/life balance.

The term was coined by American TikToker, Zaid Khan aka @Zaidleppelin, who posted a video in July 2022 after his job as a software engineer became all encompassing. In his post on TikTok, he encouraged people to renounce hustle culture and quit “the idea of going above and beyond”, arguing that you as an individual are worth more than just your labour and that “work is not your life”.

In a recent interview, he summarised the reasoning behind the movement, stating that “overworking only gets you so far. And like a lot of us have experienced in the past few years, mental and physical health really takes a backseat to productivity in a lot of these corporate environments.” This idea sure hit home, with his social media post being viewed by 3.5 million people.

@zaidleppelin
On quiet quitting #workreform
♬ original sound - ruby

It is no coincidence that this trend comes with the influx of Gen Z’s joining the corporate world. In a survey carried out by ResumeBuilder.com, 30% of people between the ages 25 and 34 said that within their workplace, they are doing the bare minimum, which is in stark contrast to 8% of workers who are over 54 years of age. This indicates that the younger generation are more inclined to take a step back and remove themselves from certain responsibilities.

It is also clear that the pandemic has changed people’s attitude towards work. An associate professor at the University of Nottingham, Maria Kordowicz, told the Guardian that the rise in Quiet Quitting is linked to a noticeable fall in job satisfaction. She stated “the search for meaning has become far more apparent. There was a sense of our own mortality during the pandemic, something quite existential around people thinking ‘What should work mean for me? How can I do a role that’s more aligned to my values?”.

This heightened sense of self and ability to challenge previously accepted norms is part of the work revolution, where there is a growing confidence that it is good to look after yourself and work life balance is healthy. Quiet Quitting normalises this mindset; it’s not aggressive, but is a clear antithesis to the ‘work every hour you can’ ethos.

But this idea of covert action is not necessarily healthy – both for employees or employers. Stepping aside from certain responsibilities without conversation can create an atmosphere of distrust and secrecy. It would be far more beneficial for employees to be able to have an open dialogue with their employers so that they can create a better working environment and there be greater opportunities for change.

Crucially and undeniably, the role a job plays in our lives has shifted. It means the ways in which we are working – and where we are working from – are changing. And though the pandemic might have been the catalyst for the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting, this isn’t something that started with the COVID crisis. These feelings of dissatisfaction in the workplace were there already, the pandemic simply acted as an accelerant. Now, employees are prioritising workplaces that cater more to their needs and offer a better work/life balance. Instead, things like flexible hybrid working, ensuring you take lunch breaks and frank discussions about burnout and mental health are seen as the tent poles to a good working environment – and that’s definitely a good thing and one we encourage.

Social media has allowed employees to take matters into their own hands, but with the cost of living and major recession, these trends may well be slowed down – and the quiet confidence that allowed employees to Quiet Quit could be halted altogether.

Trendsetters: Scandinavian Fashion

Where Sustainability meets Style

By Milan Charles

Friday, 30th of September 2022

Scandinavian style has become the fashion crowd’s most coveted aesthetic. With brands like Arket and Ganni growing in popularity, the Scandinavian look breaks away from the glitz and glamour of fast fashion and leans into a slower, more attainable, and most importantly sustainable lifestyle.

This is nothing new. Scandinavian lifestyle trends have been all the rage for years, and if you’ve been scrolling through Instagram, you’ll see many are doing their best to replicate them in their wardrobes and homes.

Capturing the unique characteristics that Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland have in common, the Scandinavian style is about far more than just aesthetics. It’s a philosophy encompassing art, furniture and interior design, mindset, attitude, lifestyle and cultural norms.

Looking to adopt the Scandinavian style yourself? Here, we share some guidelines for you to live by:

Sustainable and Ethical Fashion Choices

Scandi fashion goes beyond aesthetics to promote sustainable and ethical living by removing what’s not necessary and focusing on what’s left – as well as higher quality and longer-lasting items. Finnish fashionista, Sandra Emeliah, adds her own personal touch to Scandinavian fashion by finding staple items second-hand and championing slow fashion.

Everything Must Go With Everything

The idea behind the Scandi style is that everything must go with everything. You can play with textures, but mainly within a neutral colour palette. Characterised by functionality and minimalism, Nordic clothing mixes high-quality solid fabrics with sleek accessories and elegant details creating a look that is both casual and stylish at the same time. Check out Phalguni, from Sweden, for ultimate neutral fashion inspo.

Comfort First

The Scandinavian design aims to improve people’s lives under the modernist mantra “form follows function”. To achieve the ultimate state of cosiness, most Scandinavian clothing breaks the confinements of form-fitting shapes. In Copenhagen, Maria Jonsson marries style and comfort perfectly – often spotted in airy fabrics and loose-fitting silhouettes, her wardrobe embodies this mantra.

Building a Capsule Collection – Items that are High Quality and Long-lasting

The typical Nordic wardrobe is not about what’s trendy and completely about what’s timeless with simple and classic clean-cut lines. For instance, you’ll rarely see Scandinavians wear T-shirts with flashy logos or extreme embellishments. Instead, the style opts for long-lasting items, basics and tailored pieces that you can repurpose throughout the seasons for many years to come. Swedish content creator and healthcare worker Lydia Tsegay has been building her Scandi-inspired capsule collection over the years. Her ethos is “personal style, not fashion” truly embodies the Scandi way.

Genderless Clothing

The Scandinavian fashion industry challenges gender stereotypes, with many brands opting for a more fluid approach to style. Nordic countries have maybe the most inclusive cultures, with the dress code being one of the many ways in which they demonstrate this to the world. The Scandi street style tends to feature androgynous silhouettes or outfits consisting of both masculine and feminine items. William from Norway and Emelie from Sweden could most likely share a wardrobe, leaning heavily into genderless street style with a heavy Scandinavian influence.

So, what do you think – could you adopt a Scandinavian wardrobe? If you’re still in need of a little inspiration, check out these content creators:

Nicole, Stockholm

Anna Sofia, Stockholm

Elin Wahlberg, Sweden

Greta Urban, Sweden

Selina, Denmark

Austeja, Norway

Dina Hansen, Norway

The Fifth wins two blogosphere awards

We were the Beauty Creator Campaign Winners for our work with fenty beauty

By Esra Gurkan

Monday, 26th of September 2022

We’re absolutely over the moon to have won two awards at the Blogosphere Awards last week.

We were delighted to be announced as the Beauty Creator Campaign Winner for our collaboration with Fenty Beauty and their Fenty Icon Lipstick. A special shout out to the incredible creators ALICE x T, Danielle Marcan, Candice Brathwaite, Anchal, Ava Welsing-Kitcher, Alice Dickson, Michaela and Lisa Potter Dixon who helped bring this campaign to life. THE FIFTH’s Charlie Ross, Freya Sheard and Milan Charles also deserve a special mention for working tirelessly on the campaign and for sourcing the perfect creators.

Not only that, THE FIFTH TALENT’s creator Tasha Bailey also won Health and Wellbeing creator of the year. If you don’t follow her already, Tasha is a qualified therapist and creator who uses her Instagram platform to talk about all things mental health, anxiety and wellness.

Bringing a modern and intersectional perspective to the topic of wellness, Tasha openly reflects on her experiences as a Black British, plus-size woman navigating a field which lacks diversity. Tasha is passionate about systemic change for mental health and intersectionality, and enjoys working closely with brands to encourage this. As a qualified creative psychotherapist, she brings her expert knowledge to the social media space in a “real talk” way.

Congratulations to the Fenty Beauty team, to Tasha and to all nominees. What a night!

Shuffles: Pinterest’s worst kept secret

The new collage-making app that is already trending everywhere

By Laina Claydon

Friday, 16th of September 2022

Shuffles by Pinterest is a new app designed for collective collaging. You can ‘unleash your creative energy’ and build your own aesthetic scrapbook-esque mood board using photos from Pinterest’s library or photos you’ve taken yourself.

Soon after it was released, Shuffles managed to have its own trend on TikTok, where these “aesthetic” collages were then set to music and posted. This helped create a buzz around the app and is also where a lot of people found out it wasn’t as easy as just popping into the AppStore to download it.

Interestingly, Pinterest decided to go down the ‘invite only’ route with Shuffles. If you’re lucky enough to receive a code from somebody who already has the app then you can download it and share a code with five others. If they’re too late and your five exclusive codes have already been used up, they’ll receive a ‘we’ve reached the limit for this invite code’ message.

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Understandably, this exclusivity tactic has led to more of a buzz around the app and created FOMO for those that can’t get a code. When something seems limited, time-sensitive or exclusive, it only makes you want it more, however this strategy doesn’t always work. Clubhouse, for example, launched with a similar technique but hasn’t been able to sustain its popularity since. It does, though, give Shuffles more time to fix any bugs that emerge and make changes to the app before it’s available to the masses. Pinterest was originally released in this format back in 2012, and there are already TikTok accounts dedicated to Shuffles such as @pinterestshuffles_ and @pinterestshuffles.x whose only posts include giving out codes for others to get on the app. It’s like a secret club!

Admittedly, this is an interesting marketing strategy from Pinterest. Last year they introduced an in-house team, called TwoTwenty, whose sole focus is to grow the user base through innovation, and they are the same people who released this app. It’s safe to say that this was a success as Shuffles has already spent time as the No.1 Lifestyle app in the US App Store. There are even videos on TikTok showing users how to create their very own Shuffles and people sharing their love of the app.

On Shuffles, users can choose to add effects and motion to the images to make them shake, spin, pulse, swivel and more. You could, for instance, add an image of a record player and then animate it so that it actually spins. Other cool features include being able to ‘reshuffle’ someone else’s Shuffles, meaning you can take another user’s design and customise it to make it your own.

Like with any other trend or creation, once something is popular on one platform, it then spreads across others in similar forms. We aren’t, for example, just seeing this collage content on Shuffles anymore. TikTok users are already jumping on it and calling it the ‘collage trend’, and people are using apps such as Canva, Capcut, and Magic Eraser to create that similar ‘cut-out’ style and put it to music on the platform.

Shuffles is also very similar to a new iOS 16 feature from Apple. Here, you can effortlessly crop an object from one of your photos and then paste that cutout anywhere you choose – like in an iMessage chat. You only need to touch and hold to lift the image away from the background. Cool, right? This style of content is also becoming more common on Instagram ‘Reels’.

Even since beginning writing this article, Tiktok has now created a filter to give a very similar ‘cut-out’ effect which feels eerily familiar.

Shuffles is targeting a younger demographic that’s using social media in a new way: for self-expression, not just networking. Why the app is resonating with Gen Z seems to be a combination of the technology it uses to simplify collage-making, coincided with the desire for creative expression tools that serve that demographics’ social habits.

The app also opens up new social commerce opportunities. The objects in users’ collages, for example, are linked to Pinterest and a tap will bring you to a dedicated page for the item in question. In the case of items that are available for purchase — like fall fashion or home decor, for instance — users could also buy the item by clicking through to the retailer’s website.

Shuffles has provided users with a great way to get creative and people are using this app for a variety of reasons, from creating their dream outfit to their dream home. It might even be the new platform to create memes such as this beauty. And despite its soft launch, Shuffles is currently placed number 21 in the lifestyle section of the UK AppStore. Will it fall out of popularity, or will it continue to rise as more users are allowed access to the platform? Only time will tell.

NEW GENERATION OF MUSIC SAMPLING

modern day tribute to our favourite guilty pleasures

By Nana Akosua Frimpong

Monday, 12th of September 2022

TikTok has proven itself as the go-to place for discovering new music. We have seen songs that trend on the app go on to top the Billboard charts, and it’s become evident that TikTok has been at the forefront of generating new trends – as well as reintroducing old ones. With the app’s continuous push of music from challenges to TikTok-specific sounds, there has been a surge in old songs being sampled on new tracks.

Music sampling is nothing new. The concept first originated in the early 70s and is a technique popularised in hip hop which saw up-and-coming producers take a section of a completed or uncompleted track and repurpose it to make it fresh.

Over the years, more and more producers have learned to splice and reuse old tracks to create their musical pieces. Some have even perfected the art by adding their unique signature to blend and piece different tracks together. Kanye West is a great example of a producer who puts his signature on the art of sampling.

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In our current digital age, with computer-based workflow used in creating music, the ethics of sampling and fair use is a topic that is greatly debated even before the involvement of technology. But as we have heard from popular artists such as Doja Cat, Drake and many more, musicians are much more lenient towards sampling usage now than when it first came about.

Currently, UK artists have a bit of an obsession with sampling 00s pop songs. In recent months, we’ve heard homegrown rappers jump on beats that lift heavily from old-school garage songs to Eurodance hits. Brighton-born new age rap artist Ardee, featuring Digga D, leaned on rapping over a heavy sample of T2’s bassline classic Heartbroken, and Tion Wayne’s drill version of La Roux’s ‘In For The Kill’ saw him chart in the UK Top 10.

Turn of the century hip hop and Rnb are also fair game, as Digga D’s latest mixtape pays homage to 50 Cent with three reworks of his tracks.

Based on the definition of sample music, some of these samples may not adequately fit the term. Many can be categorised as a cover version rather than a meticulous and creative music production. Irrespective of this, the UK sampling trend has escalated to the point that it is being credited as a sub-genre called ‘sample drill’.

The trend is indicative of fans’ interest. The nostalgic-yet-modern sound has meant new audiences have been introduced to old sounds. The trend of sample music banks on the cultural mainstay of guilty pleasures with some new music becoming a guilty pleasure of their own.

TikTok creators such as Jarred Jermaine and Doc Boj are an example of people who not only educate their followers on new singles with sample tracks but also cherish the guilty pleasure aspect of them. Creator Lua Lua has a YouTube channel dedicated to reviewing music – including reviews on sample music.

Sampling has grown and developed since its inception and with the help of the internet, it has streamlined the process making it more accessible as an educational tool for artists and music fans. While some sample music can be used in poor taste or isn’t utilised to the best of its ability, it has always been about paying homage to the artist and producers.

With ‘sample drill’ being indicative of the new era of sampling, it’s also about the nostalgic memory of being a teen in the 2000s and going to dance raves, updating your MySpace account and pairing up your Bluetooth on your Sony Ericsson to be able to share the latest single streamed late at night on LimeWire.

With all that being said, all trends have an expiry date but the more intriguing question is: what guilty pleasure song from the 2000s wouldn’t you mind being sampled and which artist would you want to see jump on the track?

How authentic is bereal, really?

the ‘anti-instagram’ photo-sharing app everybody is talking about

By Bella Hales

Friday, 26 of August 2022

Recently, it appears Instagram’s day of being ahead of the curve has approached its end. Celebrities like the Jenner/Kardashian clan have become increasingly publicly disinterested with the app as a result of its TikTok-esque changes, and it seems that social media has been calling for something innovative and fresh to change things up for a while.

BeReal, a photo-sharing app that has now famously been dubbed ‘anti-Instagram’, was created by French founders Alexis Barreyat and Kévin Perreau and designed to encourage users to be their real selves.

Want to know how it works?

Once a day at any given time, users receive a ‘warning’ notification indicating that it is ‘time to BeReal’. A 2-minute window is then offered to take your photo, using both your rear and front camera. Once you’ve shared your snap-of-the-day, you are then allowed access to your newsfeed, displaying everything your friends are doing in that same timeframe. Users can add captions and interact with friends’ posts through comments and RealMojis (emojis in the form of a selfie). Your feed only updates itself once a day, with all uploads expiring when the next notification is sent out, and only you are allowed to look at your past posts – which is very resemblant of the ephemeral nature of Snapchat.

The restraints of only being able to post once a day poses us with less reason to aimlessly scroll; you only need to check the app once or twice a day to stay updated which is undoubtedly a lot less time that avid social media users spend on the likes of Instagram and TikTok. Importantly, BeReal provides no filters, means of editing and notably, you cannot track metrics like followers and likes, thus removing the widely criticised social performance pressures that Instagram has been accused of catalysing.

With this philosophy in mind, it is clear that BeReal has made a great attempt at filling the void between social media and authentic reality.

But how authentic is it?

@bee.austin matty healy didnt kniw what a bereal was #mattyhealy #the1975 ♬ pass the dutchie sped up - vevonix

Whilst BeReal does provide guidelines on how to best utilise the app, these are very malleable. Despite the two-minute time frame, you can still post any time after the notification, with the only consequence being that your friends get a notification to say you posted late. As a result, users are able to wait until they are looking their best, or doing something they feel is more ‘fun’ or showcase worthy to their friends. Ultimately, this fluidity of the app’s rules, defeats its own mission to shun social performativity.

The emphasis on only being able to take unfiltered and untouched images of oneself is certainly one of the most true features to the app’s core vision, but it does come into paradox with itself when highlighting the fact that users can take unlimited retakes of their photos. Surely this encourages the same rose-tinted reality posed online that Instagram does?

Undoubtedly, BeReal has set a new precedent – a unique, new way of online photo-sharing. But as they have blurred their values with those of the more traditional apps, so have their users. BeReal snaps are now also making their way onto the mainstream channels, in an attempt from creators to cement their social status, centre-staging aspects of their ‘mundane’ livelihoods.

Examples of this can be seen on influencer and celebrity channels including the likes of Chloe Frater and Tyler the Creator. These are just two of the famous figures including BeReals in their photo-dumps. Mashable’s Elena Cavender has seemingly rightedly coined that “BeReals are the new selfie”. In her eyes, this makes the app “now just another way to commodify your life.”

It’s not only Instagram that’s had BeReal creep into its feed, multiple TikTok users’ for-you-pages have been bombarded with young girls attempting to get celebrities to feature in their snaps, such as Bee Austin, posting her BeReal with the 1975’s Matt Healy which has garnered 546k views to date.

Despite the numerous arguments to be made against the platform, its fundamentals are in the right place and it is clear that the principle is founded upon good intention. Nonetheless, it has not yet achieved the ultimate goal of online authenticity and is still offering a social platform with the means to contrast and compare with peers.

My takeaway from this: do I think that BeReal has been a positive force in social media? Yes (regardless of the ‘buts’). Will I keep using it? Absolutely.

Clean Beauty Aesthetic

the lifestyle trend that has over 300 million views on tiktok

By Nana Frimpong

Wednesday, 10th of August 2022

#CleanGirlAesthetic is the latest lifestyle trend taking over TikTok, with over 300 million views. #CleanMakeup even has 400million views on the platform.

Both hashtags showcase natural or minimal makeup looks that creators like Tasha Green are known for and according to creators like Geena Hunt, to achieve the ‘clean girl’ look you only need tinted moisturiser, light concealer, eyebrow pomade, lip balm, tints and oils. It sounds simple and achievable, but is it?

As you scroll through the hashtag, you’ll notice that #CleanGirlAesthetic is not just about makeup – it covers all things lifestyle and having the perfect organised life. You may also notice one common anomaly under #CleanMakeup and that is that most, if not all, of the advocates of this beauty trend seem to have poreless, clear skin.

Like with any trend, there is always the question of appropriateness and inclusivity. With the premise of the #CleanGirlAesthetic being about slicked-back hair, minimal makeup over glossy, buttery skin and gold hoop earrings, some creators have questioned how the trend caters to those with acne and hyperpigmentation.

Others have even come forward to critique the choice of wording. On first look, the term “Clean Girl” alone represents those with clear glossy skin and perfectly placed hair, suggesting that those with blemishes, texturised skin and untamed hair are ‘dirty’. Creators such as Uche Natori went as far as to tweet that the beauty trend is ‘anti-black’ as Black girls need “coverage and structure”.

TikTok creator Katouche Goll explained further that the “clean girl look relies on prerequisite terms of how you are supposed to look”, which vilifies those who fail to meet those terms. It further asserts that people who don’t fall into this westernised beauty standard are not worthy of being celebrated.

Beauty influencers like Rikki Sandhu and Izzie Rodgers, however, are championing and reimagining the so-called ‘clean girl make-up’ and ‘clean girl’ aesthetic.

And it is worth celebrating those taking the trend in the right direction.

Creators I am Dodo and Neenz have also taken the opportunity to adapt the trend to fit their own aesthetical needs with the creation of #cleangirlaestheticblackgirl and #cleanmakeupforblackgirls. These hashtags were created to allow accessibility for Black creators to join a popular trend – and therefore show that it can be inclusive too.

Taking into consideration what it takes to achieve the ‘clean girl’ look – with everything from facials, brow tints, lash lifts and more to good lighting and filters – it begs the question: do you have perfect skin or did you buy it?

We often need to remind ourselves that some of the beauty videos and pictures we come across on social media have a cleverly-used lighting trick, a natural-looking pre-set filter or in some cases permanently purchased tweaks.

With more and more people embracing no-makeup and wellness trends, it has therefore been exciting to see people embracing their authentic selves. And with the rise of BeReal encouraging no-filter photos, it’s intriguing to see how it may change our view on beauty standards in the future.

Gen Z audiences prefer authenticity over everything and have found a home on TikTok where they can truly be themselves. On the app, there is everything from the #CleanGirlAesthetic to relatable and accessible beauty content. And they both live side-by-side in a way that doesn’t seem to exist on other platforms.

By embracing TikTok, Gen Z has made the platform their very own news and trends source, which makes it even more exciting to keep up with the next beauty trend that emerges on there. What do you think it will be?

It’s Disability Pride Month so why is nobody talking about it?

I explain how and why we need to be more inclusive to Disabled people.

By Disabled Eliza

Friday, 22nd of July 2022

July is Disability Pride Month. A month to celebrate all Disabled people regardless of gender or sexuality. Disability Pride is for all Disabled people and even has its own flag designed by Ann Magill. The reason it takes place in July is because the American Disabilities Act was passed in 1990 so the month coexists with that. It is a worldwide event that happens every year in July.

But why do Disabled people need a pride month? The simple answer is: we don’t have equal rights.

Disabled people in the UK (and around the world – however I am talking about my experience here) are more likely to be in poverty and have issues with accessing housing, work or funding, healthcare, education, self care, carers. The list is endless. In fact, it costs on average £500 more a month to be Disabled.

I speak from experience. I am a 25-year-old Disabled person, I am a wheelchair user and I have various health issues which impact me every day. Let me tell you it is expensive. One of the worst things for me about living in a world only made for non disabled people is I can’t get into most of the shops in my local area because they are simply not accessible. This isn’t rare either, I’d go so far as to say most places are not accessible for me. So, until Disabled people have equal rights, we are going to need Disability Pride.

But if you are non disabled or a brand, why is it important to talk about Disability Pride Month? Well, for starters, it’s important because a LOT of people are Disabled – the estimate is around 14.6 million in the UK alone. That is one of the biggest minority groups. It is also a group that anyone could become a part of at any time. Yes that’s right, anyone could become Disabled at any second of their lives, and many will!

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As our age increases, unfortunately for many our health may decline. So when we don’t talk and learn about these things, it means we are leaving out a large group of people and shows we are not educated on the topic. A topic that could directly impact us at any moment. That isn’t to ‘scare’ anyone into caring about Disability rights. It’s just a simple fact, but as a society we often hide disability away. It’s something to be scared of, ashamed of, a ‘negative’ but that isn’t the case. It is simply neutral. Disabled people have always existed and will always exist. So rather than shaming us for our existence, we should love and embrace the community and show that Disabled people exist too.

Many brands don’t talk about Disability. We don’t see many Disabled models, actors or presenters and we are often pushed out of the spotlight. But Disabled people are wonderful and, speaking from experience, we are pretty cool too. Disabled people want to support companies, events, shows and more but so often we are not given accessibility or feel we are not represented by brands. This is only highlighted further when companies don’t mention us at all during Disability Pride. The silence feels empty, as if Disabled people are not valued consumers.

This is made evident from inaccessible shops and the lack of inclusion – which aside from everything else is a terrible business model (please be aware the reason for supporting and including Disabled people in business should not amount to money, however I am aware that money exists and is important when it comes to business so here we go…).

The Purple Pound is the spending power of Disabled households and is over £249 billion in the UK alone. That is a lot of money. Keeping us out of your business model is not only discrimination, it’s also losing you a lot of pennies! Access and inclusion helps everyone! Not just Disabled people. The more accessible and inclusive you make your business the more people will want to shop and support your company.

Disability Pride is the perfect time for brands to be showing their support for Disabled people, paying Disabled content creators, donating to charities and publicly saying that you support the community.

Question yourself: how accessible is your business? How could it be improved? Could you pay for an accessibility consultant to make it better?

Remember, this isn’t just about words or a simple Instagram post. It is about making your brand more inclusive, about championing Disabled voices and being pioneers in a vital movement. It is about listening to a mix of Disabled voices and educating yourself on a topic.

Always remember to pay your Disabled employees and creators fairly because we have high overheads and it’s hard to get work out here.

Happy Disability Pride Month.

Find out more about Eliza and the work they do here.

HAS AI KILLED OFF THE CREATIVE?

dall-e 2 takes on the role of creative and designer

By Joel Newman

Thursday, 14th of June 2022

AI has taken another scalp, and this time it’s come for us Creatives.

This might not be wholly true (cue a collective sigh of relief), but OpenAI are getting mightily close. They’ve created a system called ‘DALL-E 2’ that uses AI to create images and art based on a collection of descriptive words inputted by its users.

The service has already seen its first brand involvement with Cosmopolitan, the entertainment magazine, using it to create a bespoke front cover for their latest edition. Although the service is still quite clunky – it took Cosmo quite a few hours (and a few hundred prompts) to perfect the combination of descriptive keywords – it does take on the role of both Creative and Designer. This streamlines the creation process and opens us up to the possibility of endless outcomes mere mortals may never have considered.

For years I’ve fought the case that Creatives are a sacred species (admittedly I am perhaps a bit biased) and something AI could never replace. The creation of DALL-E 2 however, has potentially derailed my theory, bringing it crashing down to earth in a burst of flames, sharpies, and precious tantrums – creative stereotypes the OpenAI team have overlooked for some reason.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the end is nigh for us Creatives. I’m sure when services like Photoshop were first launched, similar questions were likely to have been asked. Similarly throughout history whenever new creative innovation came about, uncertainty arose on the necessity of the older, less shiny version, but ultimately it just creates the opportunity for collaboration between the two.

For example, DALLE-2 can be used by us as a creative tool; hours of endless searching on Google Images for that one incredibly niche, impossible to find, reference for a pitch deck has now been reduced to a quick search and a few key words. In the same vein, this could also be a quicker, sleeker, partner to specialist skills such as scamping and storyboarding – both of which are seen as necessary requirements for all Creatives to have in their arsenal.

Ultimately the OpenAI team have created more questions than they’ve answered, which I suppose is the goal when launching industry defining projects. The big question though, is what is next for AI in creative? Personally, I’ll start getting worried when the waitlists to use services like DALL-E 2 are shorter than my lifetime.

The Fifth talks community at cannes

wHAT’S NEXT FOR THE CREATOR ECONOMY?

By Esra Gurkan

Wednesday, 29th of June 2022

Last week, THE FIFTH held a lunch for leaders from across the industry to discuss what’s next for the creator economy.

Our guests joined us waterside in Antibes for an afternoon escape away from the mayhem of La Croisette and the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

One hotly debated topic during the lunch is what to call the people, animals and even robots we work with. One thing we all agreed on is that we’re clearly all too hung up on titles. ‘Creator’, ‘Influencer’, ‘Talent’, ‘Social Content Producer’ all have a place and each represent a category within the ecosystem.

Another subject heavily discussed was of course the #Metaverse. No one was in dispute over the fact that creators will be key to building it.

“Cannes confirmed what we have long known” explained THE FIFTH’s CEO Oliver Lewis, continuing, “creators will shape the future of creativity, disrupting traditional advertising as their cultural role strengthens across both real world and virtual”.

Reflecting further on Cannes-conversations Oliver said: “Community is often the word missing from conversations in influencer marketing meetings. Qualitative metrics will begin to overtake followers, impressions and engagement rates as the value of the craft is realised and paid media and brand channel asset generation become the primary vehicle for audience acquisition. In the near future, we will see transactional campaigns replaced with partnerships as creators establish themselves as brands in their own right, boosting creativity.

“The Metaverse is the word on everyone’s lips; it must be built by creators, not techies and big business, or the community will never arrive. The vision for the Metaverse should be one of inclusion, human connectivity and blended reality. Brands will increasingly lean on creators when building their experiences in the Metaverse, creating worlds that represent and reflect their communities.”

We’d like to say a big thank you to Meta’s Becky Owens, Brandtech Group’s Oliver Walls, Influencer Marketing Trade Body lead Scott Guthrie, The Barber Shop’s Dino Myers-Lamptey, New Digital Age’s Justin Pearse, Storyful’s Lisa McDonald and T Brand Studio’s Arif Durrani for your contributions. We’re looking forward to continuing the conversation at MAD//FEST LONDON next week!

The Fifth wins four awards at the influencer Marketing Awards

iNCLUDING GOLD FOR BEST CAUSE LED CAMPAIGN

By Esra Gurkan

Friday, 10th of June 2022

THE FIFTH has won four awards at the Influencer Marketing Awards 2022.

🏆 GOLD for Best Cause-Led Campaign for our work with YouTube for Pride Month

🏆 GOLD for Best Use of YouTube for our work with YouTube for Pride Month

🏆 SILVER for Best Team in Influencer Marketing

🏆 BRONZE for Best Large Influencer Marketing Agency

It was an evening filled with good food, great company and huge celebrations all round.

Describing why we were chosen as the winners for the Best Cause-Led Campaign category, the judges said we had an “Out of the box approach for a very relevant topic which is at the centre of a number of campaigns in the last months, well executed”.

When talking about our Best Use of YouTube win, the judges commented: “What a fantastic campaign – bringing together diverse talents, creativity and a strong strategy, all with an important purpose.

“The results speak for themselves. Well done YouTube and THE FIFTH!”.

We are absolutely delighted with the results of the night and are happy that we were recognised for both the Best Team and Best Large Influencer Marketing Agency categories with Silver and Gold.

As always, we want to say a big thank you to the entire FIFTH team for their hard word and to our clients for entrusting us to tell their brand’s story.

It was a real joint effort and the awards were an amazing celebration of the work that we do.

Congratulations to everybody who won and was shortlisted. What an industry to be a part of!

Trendsetters

BINLEY MEGA CHIPPY

How A Local Chippy Turned Into A Viral TikTok Sensation

By Laina Claydon

Wednesday, 1st of June 2022

If you have TikTok you’ve probably heard of Binley Mega Chippy. The fish and chip shop in Coventry has blown up on TikTok (currently at over 200m views) and even has its own trending song.

A series of videos and memes based around Binley Mega Chippy started popping up on everyone’s FYP, and now there are queues of people eager to try the ‘Morbius Meal’. It has been quoted to have a ‘festival atmosphere’ as there is such a buzz surrounding the shop; sounds like a pretty great experience to go and collect your takeaway, right?

Who doesn’t love the British sense of humour? Surely no other country would make a random suburban chip shop a viral sensation.

While the randomness is what makes it funny, is there something else going on underneath the surface?

It can be tricky to understand the origins of a viral trend on TikTok, when there’s so much related content and chronologically ranking isn’t an option (except on a profile page). However, with the Binley Mega Chippy trend playing out in real time we are able to unpick it.

@craigskebabhouse (currently 2k followers) started posting videos on the 20th April. Heavily leaning into the lo-fi aesthetic of the platform, it is essentially a budget slideshow of budget UK food and drink items like Rustlers burgers and K Cider. The audio on these posts is a mix of drum’n’bass and happy hardcore, appealing to an audience who like to celebrate the irony of budget British things.

One of these posts on 26th April was a slideshow of chip shops and kebab outlets including ‘Jason Donervan’ (genius), ‘Phil’s Yer Tum Fish & Chips’ and, of course, ‘Binley Mega Chippy’.

From here, on 18th May, an account called @binleymegachippyfan53 (currently 8k followers) started an appreciation account of BMC, with each video consciously utilising viral sounds, referencing Stella Artois, Anime and also tapping into macro mainstream British news – with references to Prince Philip (341k views). Combined with the Queen’s imminent Platinum Jubilee celebrations, this awareness of topical news may be a factor.

@binleymegachippyfan53 #fyp #fypシ #fishandchips #voiceeffects #megachippy #chippy #binley #phillip #princephilip #funny ♬ We'll Meet Again - Vera Lynn

Further to this, there is another trend that has been taking place for a while; ‘Blokecore’ – recently picked up by fashion magazines as well as mainstream media, the trend took a foothold on TikTok, and has spilled out onto the streets, with young guys in particular wearing 90s football shirts to go to the pub even when there is no football on TV. There is some psychology behind this too; in a time when people are coming back together ‘post-covid’, wearing clothes that are nostalgic and a celebration of coming together as a group of friends feels relevant.

@nicksfits My guide to Bloke Core! Love this “trend” because I love the sport!U should get into it too! I’ll tag Lukas in the comments as well! #greenscreen #fashion #fashiontiktok #blokecore #fashioninspo #fyp #fashion101 ♬ original sound - Nick Ramos 🃏

Another aspect, which plays a part, is that Coventry, where Binley Mega Chippy is located, happens to have just hosted Radio 1’s Big Weekend and is also this year’s UK Capital of Culture. With increased attention on the city, while surely deserving, Coventry on the surface is potentially not an obvious choice for celebrating culture, so perhaps the timely rise in fame of Binley Mega Chippy comes with a sense of irony.

As for the audio (sonic branding can do wonders for a brand FYI), there is a feeling of familiarity to it, but it’s quite hard to place. Upon closer inspection it sounds very close to ‘For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow’ – another British classic (side note: this song is originally French, but adopted by the British). This is combined with the familiar text-to-audio voiceover making it feel native to TikTok.

A viral video is hard or even impossible to predict and engineer, however, wider trends and macro news events can provide the foundations and relevance that enable virality. Being aware of these is key to being agile. Who knows, maybe Binley Mega Chippy chips will collab with McCain and soon be available to buy in supermarkets. You heard it here first.

The Fifth shortlisted for 6 imas

including best large influencer marketing agency

By Esra Gurkan

Thursday, 12th of May 2022

We’re absolutely delighted to be shortlisted for not one, not two or even three but SIX Influencer Marketing Awards this year.

Now in its 4th year, the Influencer Marketing Awards hosted by Talking Influence rewards and recognises brilliant campaigns, delivered creatively and transparently.

We’re incredibly proud of the hard working teams who worked across the campaigns and are grateful to our clients who put their trust in us to create effective, creative and inclusive collaborations.

The IMAs mission is to ‘reward individuals, teams and campaigns that have pushed boundaries, and above all delivered excellence across the board during the last 12 months’.

The awards, which were first established in 2018, span the breadth and depth of influencer marketing and the creator economy, and much like the industry, are constantly evolving.

Excitingly, The Fifth are shortlisted for every category entered and the categories and campaigns are as follows:

Best Cause-Led Campaign – THE FIFTH x YouTube Originals: Pride
Best Cause-Led Campaign – THE FIFTH x YouTube Originals X Don’t Panic: Seat at the Table
Best Food and Drink Campaign – THE FIFTH x Slim Chickens #ChickenOut
Best Use of YouTube – THE FIFTH x YouTube Originals: Pride
Best Large Influencer Marketing Agency – The Fifth
Best Team in Influencer Marketing – The Fifth

There is an international jury of experts and peers debating and determining who will take home gold, silver and bronze awards and we’re looking forward to the in-person awards ceremony that will be taking place in June at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in London.

Congratulations to everybody shortlisted.

To view the IMA shortlist in full, click here.