Dive Brief:

• Afterpay is offering holiday gift recommendations on TikTok with the help of popular late-'90s toy Furby, per an announcement emailed to Marketing Dive. The activation will last from Dec. 7 through Dec. 12.
• The "Impossible Gift Finder" was designed to help overwhelmed shoppers find gifts for "impossible" people, such as a dad who seemingly has everything or a friend obsessed with one-of-a-kind mementos. Furby, which experienced a shopping craze more than 20 years ago, will offer real-time advice through Afterpay's TikTok comments.
• As online shopping ramps up for the holidays, Afterpay is playing into nostalgic interest for a bestselling toy, while activating a popular mobile app to court younger consumers to its buy now, pay later service.

Dive Insight:

Afterpay is leveraging one of the most popular toys of the late-'90s to drive online shoppers to its mobile platform. The "Impossible Gift Finder" is a nod to the Furby craze that started in 1998, when the electronic toys became near-impossible to find after being rapidly bought up by shoppers. The Furby has since established a passionate fanbase, mainly with millennials who grew up with the toy, though Afterpay's move to bring it to TikTok could be a sign the platform is courting younger audiences.

The campaign revolves around the stress that shoppers experience when considering gifts for friends and family. Nearly one in four people feel overwhelmed by spending money this time of year, per Afterpay research cited in the announcement. To mitigate this issue, Furby will dole out advice on what to buy through the comment section on Afterpay's TikTok, while also encouraging shoppers to use the platform's buy now, pay later platform.

Nostalgic themes underlying the Furby activation are popular around the holidays as people embrace familiarity and years-old traditions. TikTok has proven to be an especially useful channel to deploy the tactic: Doritos last December brought back its original cone-shaped chip through a TikTok challenge and an appearance by the star of its original 1998 ad. More recently, Starburst went viral on the platform with the comeback of its 14-year-old "Berries and Cream" ad.

E-commerce sales are poised to grow 10% year-over-year this holiday season, per research from Adobe Analytics cited by Inc. Afterpay, which works with more than 100,000 brands to offer its installment-based payment system, is hoping to capitalize on this growth by appearing on burgeoning mobile shopping destination TikTok, which has been active this year in building out its social commerce capabilities.

Moreover, after activating traditional channels earlier this year for its first global campaign, Afterpay is now angling for younger consumers on a social app they commonly inhabit. The company claims nearly 50% of Gen Z are interested in finding holiday gift inspiration on its platform, per the announcement.

Social media marketing is an especially important strategy for companies driven by e-commerce to reach the kinds of consumers who might use their services. Buy now, pay later brands Klarna and Affirm are also activating various social platforms, with the former currently dominating the category, per a BrandTotal survey released in September. The survey also shed light on how Afterpay has previously floundered in courting Gen Z shoppers.