These 5 Brands Are Building Superfans Through Authentic Engagement

The honorees for the 2024 Brands That Matter general excellence category are using innovative techniques to get consumers and younger audiences interested in their product. From the Beachwaver embracing TikTok’s e-commerce platform to drive growth and interaction to Applebee’s leaning into its reality TV-star fans, these brands have demonstrated creative ideas that have helped them grow while establishing their roles in culture. 

Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill + Bar

If the past year has felt like Applebee’s was somewhat ubiquitous—that’s by design. The chain successfully capitalized on viral momentum and built buzz around an appearance in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers and reality-TV-star fans and brand ambassadors. Applebee’s came into 2024 having capitalized on a viral video of fan Steve Mazzari talking about drinking the chain’s Dollaritas ($1 margaritas) during an earthquake by teaming up with “Dollarita Steve” to bring the promotion back (and fueling a sales bump in Q4 of 2023). Throughout 2024, the brand continued to generate buzz by focusing on reality TV, with ads starring Vanderpump Rules cast members. Applebee’s also sponsored a prize on Survivor—its Bourbon Mushroom Swiss Burger—that became the focus of the episode for one contestant, who said the burger was part of a weekly ritual with her daughter (but ultimately didn’t win the prize). 

Beachwaver

Though the Beachwaver was founded by celebrity hairstylist Sarah Potempa in 2010, the brand and its flagship rotating curling iron have leveraged TikTok’s livestreams and e-commerce platform to engage its 1.3 million followers. The brand’s TikTok account is part QVC, part community engagement. It conducted more than 200 livestreams in the past year, ranging from flash deals and giveaways to showing Beachwaver employees packing orders every Tuesday, and even hosting educational streams about how to use its products to their full capabilities. All these efforts helped the Beachwaver sell $11 million worth of product in the first half of 2024, putting it into the top 1% of TikTok merchants. Now, after six years away from brick-and-mortar retail, the brand relaunched at Target in October and is stocked at Anthropologie, Dillard’s, and Von Maur. 

CeraVe

Skincare brand CeraVe wasn’t founded by actor Michael Cera, but you could be forgiven for thinking that after seeing its 2024 Super Bowl ad and accompanying ad campaign. The Cera-starring creative tapped into absurdist internet humor that made it more approachable to younger audiences across a staged website, fake PR, and strategic media involvement. The spot was named the top Super Bowl ad by Ad Age, Ad Week, and Forbes. The campaign earned agency Ogilvy the social and influencer Grand Prix award at summer 2024’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The brand also remains a hit with young consumers—in Piper Sandler’s fall 2024 “Taking Stock with the Teens” survey, CeraVe was the top skincare brand for its respondents for the fourth year running. 

Salt & Straw

Ice cream shop Salt & Straw has grown from its origins as a Portland, Oregon, food cart to a chain with 40 locations on both coasts through a combination of unique flavors—bone marrow is a cult favorite—and clever marketing. Last Christmas, it enlisted Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to promote its first-ever ice cream cake as his festive alter ego, Dwanta Claus. The cakes sold out in six hours, raising $17,000 for chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen. Earlier this year, Salt & Straw partnered with Taco Bell to relaunch the Choco Taco, generating 10 billion media impressions. The brand is about more than just viral moments—when it opens a new location, it often donates some proceeds to local schools and nonprofits and devises city-specific flavors. For its first New York City outpost, opened in October on the city’s Upper West Side, it rolled out three Jewish deli-inspired flavors—including pastrami and rye, chocolate babka, and cinnamon raisin bagels and schmear. With this tailored approach, Salt & Straw typically sells three times the average unit volume of its closest competitors and six times that of the average ice cream shop.

Whataburger

Regional fast-food chain Whataburger kicked off 2024 by opening its 1,000th location, in Atlanta—part of a flurry of more than 80 openings that began in 2023 and extended into this year and included a location on the Las Vegas strip. Even as it expands, the chain has prioritized an intentional approach to opening restaurants in new areas. In South Carolina, it hosted a listening tour that engaged city and school officials, nonprofits, and residents near its new outposts to ensure that it is a positive force in the communities it serves. It also listens to what consumers want from its restaurants—reviving fan-favorite items like jalapeño cheddar biscuit after enthusiasts filed a petition to bring it back. This engagement with its customers keeps its fanbase rabid and engaged—the Whataburger Fanatics Facebook group has more than 69,000 members, and its online merch outlet Whatastore constantly adds creative ways for patrons to rep the chain—including a themed Lotería set that nods to the Hispanic population of its home state of Texas.

This story is part of Fast Company’s 2024 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brand’s purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.