AARP TikTok: Gen X ASMR Series

How do you enhance perceptions of your brand and establish a connection with a generation that has often been overlooked? AARP launched on TikTok in September 2021 with the goal of reaching and engaging Generation X – a key demographic that has quietly aged into AARP’s 50-plus community. With a personality-driven account that taps into relatable experiences of aging, with heavy doses of humor and nostalgia, our presence on this youthful platform surprises viewers and has enhanced the way Gen X sees AARP.
A key driver of this success has been our Gen X ASMR series. Initially conceived as a spoof on the ubiquitous ASMR trend, the first video featured “AARP TikTok guy” Craig whispering into a mic and using nostalgic items to create sounds that transported Gen Xers back to their 1980s childhoods: blowing into a Nintendo cartridge, cranking a manual pencil sharpener, rewinding a VHS tape, and static on a spinning record player. The results were incredible: our first “viral” hit, this video gained 500K views in two days, received 72K likes, 5.5K comments and 14.5K shares. Not only did we get laughs, but we were flooded with requests for more sounds. To date, we’ve published 13 Gen X ASMR episodes fueled by user requests, with nostalgic items like an Etch-a-Sketch, Aquanet hairspray, a Slinky, dot-matrix printer paper, TV static, a rotary phone, Operation and Perfection, and more. We even snuck in a Rick Roll.
This series put AARP on the map with our target audience, and has been a primary driver of community growth and engagement. So far, Gen X ASMR has garnered 5.1M views, 406K likes, 20.5K comments and 41K shares. It has also helped improve brand affinity among Gen Xers, with that sentiment reflected in the comments:
“This series is the greatest thing I have ever watched and I will be joining when I get the next e-mail offer. Thank you @aarp!”
“I just watched every ASMR. Followed because this is the best marketing campaign EVER!”