Scrub Daddy is a product made in the USA and introduced through Shark Tank in 2013.

It is a
phenomenally successful product created by Aaron Krause. Aaron used grassroots marketing
(and the power of Shark Tank) to grow his product. In the past two years, the company has used
Tik Tok as a way to have conversations with their consumers. Go to Tik Tok and look at the
posts in the past six months

1) How many followers does the Scrub Daddy brand have on Tik Tok? (1 Pt)

Presently, the Scrub Daddy account has 4 million followers on TikTok, as well as almost
90 million total likes. Many of their top videos have tens of millions of views, and it’s not
infrequent that their posts well surpass a million views.

2) What brands has Scrub Daddy partnered with? (1 Pts)

Scrub Daddy has partnered with Unilever, who makes Cif cleaning products, and
Dremel, which is a manufacturer of tools. The Cif collaboration includes co-branding
cleaning solutions and sponges, while the Dremel collaboration includes a motorized
scrubber optimized for Scrub Daddy attachment heads.
 Scrub Daddy also recently announced their partnership with Benefit Cosmetics, with
which the company created a makeup remover towel. Comments under Instagram posts
discussing the new product read “a makeup remover??? Why are you guys everything I
need?” and “Scrub Daddy is slowly taking over my life… and I’m not mad.”

Scrub Daddy has also partnered with companies for social media engagement. The most
notable of these collaborations has been with notoriously unhinged media phenomenon,
DuoLingo, in which a torrid love affair and pregnancy announcement was depicted in a
TikTok between the two companies’ respective mascots.

The video opens with the two mascots kissing (as much as mascots can, I guess) and text
reading “I’m glad you 🌊 CAME 🌊.” The following sequence of shots depicts the
DuoLingo owl giving birth to owl-shaped Scrub Daddy sponges.

3) Scrub Daddy uses paid influencers to carry its message. Find one and describe how they
frame the product. (3 Pt)

“CleanTok” is a popular genre of TikTok creator, where creators garner audiences of

millions by creating videos depicting them cleaning. The main draw of this genre is how
 “satisfying” the before and after transformations are, as well as the ways in which
creators go about the cleaning itself. Among the post popular in this genre is
@NotTheWorstCleaner, run by a woman named Brogan. With almost 6 million
followers, Brogan uses her platform to share different cleaning projects she has
completed. While she has accepted several brand deals from Scrub Daddy, one of her
most popular is a video of her utilizing the company’s Power Paste and a Scrub Mommy
to clean her oven. The narration includes her referring to other instances in which she’s
used these products, and referring to them as her favorites. This is a classic “CleanTok”
video, which gained popularity for a reason. Brogan’s large following trusts her when it
comes to cleaning, as it’s her whole brand, and the product results are evident from the
videos she posts. This trusted testimonial alongside proof of effectiveness provided from
Brogan’s account is great press for Scrub Daddy.

4) What is new in the Scrub Daddy corporation? (1 Pt) (Go to the Scrub Daddy website and do
some digging)

A lot of big things have been happening in the world of Scrub Daddy as of late. Two new
collaborations have been released recently. One is an expansion on their partnership with
Cif. The duo just released their first cream cleaner together. Scrub Daddy’s partnership
with Benefit was also recently released, and was announced on social media this past
week, receiving mostly a positive response. Additionally, within the last few months,
Scrub Daddy became available in India, which expands the market exponentially.

5) What do you think works in the Scrub Daddy Tik Tok posts and what would you do
differently when creating original content? (4 Pts)

The type of content that performs well on TikTok is best described as unhinged, in terms
of brand identity, can be seen as the exact opposite of professionalism, so many
companies are hesitant to release anything that’s too “out there.” Scrub Daddy isn’t afraid
to capitalize on current events and drama such as the recent eclipse and the running
controversy surrounding celebrity Jojo Siwa. Inherently, incorporating a sponge into
current trends very easily lends itself to the realm of unhinged, but Scrub Daddy is unique
in its shape, which allows the product itself to personify more than any other sponge. For
example, a sponge company simply talking about Jojo Siwa is out there, but decorating
the Scrub Daddy in Jojo’s now-iconic makeup and hair is something no other sponge can
do, and something most other companies would want to shy away from.

The one thing I notice about this strategy as it relates to Scrub Daddy is that their
participation in these trends is reliant on consumers already having foundational
knowledge of the brand. Sure, their target audience will understand these jokes and be
able to laugh along, but if the video pictured above was seen by someone who was not
inside the joke, so to speak, they would likely just scroll without learning about any of the
benefits that Scrub Daddy is uniquely able to offer.