"TikTok allows us access to a unique and highly engaged audience, making it easier to build genuine relationships through original and inspiring content. We also see opportunity for more realness and positivity on the app, and Aerie is here to bring it!"

– Stacey McCormick, SVP Aerie Marketing

Fashion brand Aerie was founded on principles of body positivity and inclusivity, but on TikTok it’s discovered a community of like-minded souls, dedicated to showing up as their genuine selves. That philosophy inspires creator partnerships, too. “We collaborate closely with the creator and provide a brief that includes an overview of what we’re looking for, and then give them the freedom to interpret that and be creative with their final output,” McCormick says. “But one thing that we won’t compromise on: no retouching at all, from the brand or any of our partners!” The brief resonated with Vi Luong, who had migrated over from Instagram and began giving digitally savvy advice to other creators. “With the rise of video came a ton of girls who had never experienced the social media landscape before,” Luong says. “I set it upon myself to become Tik Tok’s digital big sis.” For Aerie’s first-ever TikTok LIVE event “Love The Swim You’re In,” she and other creators showed off a range of swimwear and ways to style the outfits, drawing 49 million views for the event alone. Meanwhile, the #AerieREAL has hit more than 9 billion views to date.

"We love our community’s TikTok content because they have more room to show their full creative expression. It’s less curated and more real-life. "

- Stacey McCormick, SVP Aerie Marketing

Q&A with Stacey McCormick,

SVP Aerie Marketing. How does your experience as a brand on TikTok differ from other channels?

We love our community’s TikTok content because they have more room to show their full creative expression. It’s less curated and more real-life.

What does being a Culture Driver mean to you?

It means not being afraid to make change while maintaining your core values. It also means considering the impact social media is having on young people and how can we help provide a safe place to feel confident and good about themselves. As a brand, we’ve always led with being real, and the moment we made a conscious decision to stop retouching our models, and eventually real people, we’ve seen the impact this has. It comes with a lot of responsibility, but if you stay authentic and don’t conform to what the world expects of you, you can make real, positive change.

Have you ever had a #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt moment?

All the time. My Christmas list was 100% inspired by TikTok. At least two to four packages a week show up at my doorstep because of TikTok.

What superlative would you give to TikTok?

Class Clown and Most Likely to Make You Dance! TikTok is that one kid in the class that everyone loves and looks forward to seeing—the life of the party and the one that makes you feel good.

"I feel like I can just breathe and relax more on TikTok. I started my social media career during the rigid 'IG' era, so it’s definitely been a big mindset shift in regard to content creation and connecting with the community."

– Vi Luong