⏳ 6 minute read.
The purest thing on the internet right now is a TikTok video of Nathan Apodaca gliding down an Idaho highway on his skateboard, sipping on a bottle of Ocean Spray while lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 hit “Dreams.”
Who?
Ocean Spray is an American agricultural cooperative of growers of cranberries and grapefruit. Products include cranberry sauce, fruit juices, fruit snacks and dried cranberries.
In this article, you will learn:
- Why a 37-year-old labourer at a potato warehouse became an overnight global TikTok star.
- How this type of organic marketing landed him a new truck from the company.
Here’s the Tik Tok video everyone is
talking about:
Click on the Tik Toks to view
How did he go viral?
- Apodaca was on his way to work (a potato warehouse) when his car battery died.
- Determined to start his shift on time, he jumped on his skateboard.
- He shot the lip-syncing video to Fleetwood Mac’s hit in just one take.
- It has 5.2M likes and 73.7K comments (and counting!)
- His video inspired the band’s drummer, 73-year-old Mick Fleetwood, to join TikTok to re-create the video:
- This one TikTok video resulted in a massive increase across Spotify and Apple users listening to the song. This included users listening to the song for the first time.
- Apodaca’s video has since sparked a flurry of other users, yes even babies, joining in with the newly-created “#DoggfaceChallenge” on the back of Apodaca’s video.
- Ocean Spray Chief Executive Tom Hayes saw the video and joined in with the challenge:
- Aside from making Apodaca an instant star, the video brought Ocean Spray a tidal wave of free organic publicity.
- A representative of the company recently went to the R.V. where Apodaca lives with a surprise gift: a cranberry red Nissan pickup. The truck’s bed was filled with jugs of Ocean Spray juice.
Here’s the moment Apodaca got his new ride:
The man behind the viral video:
- Apodaca previously worked to suppress wildland fires in 2013 as part of a “camp crew.”
- He’s less know for his beanie business – he recently purchased an embroidery machine.
- Back when TikTok was still known as Musical.ly, his daughters Makyla and Angelia, persuaded their dad to give the app a try. In 2019, Makyla hopped on her dad’s skateboard and rolled backward, filming him as he grooved along to the country song.
- In less than 24 hours, Apodaca racked up 700,000 views and 100,000 likes on the above video.
- After his first brush with internet fame, Apodaca almost stopped posting. But, thanks to his eldest daughter, he carried on.
“Because I was like, satisfied, happy,” he said. “And then my oldest daughter is the one that told me, ‘No, you got followers. You’re dumb if you just stop now.’ I was like, Well, what am I gonna do?’
los angeles times
“She’s like, ‘Well, duh, you always dancing. Just dance!’”
@DigitalVinGill 