TikTok in 2026 — Trend Newsletter
Less fantasy, more real life. A newsletter that turns TikTok’s 2026 trend report into plain language, applies it to a creator, and ends with seven recommendations for brands.
- My role
- Research, writing, design
- Team
- Individual assignment
- Status
- Newsletter completed (PDF)
01Project overview
For a DCI assignment I read TikTok’s “Next 2026” trend report and wrote a newsletter for people who don’t have time to read it themselves. It explains the three main trends, shows how one creator could use them, and looks at what brands should watch for in 2027.
I also designed the header and the summary infographic.
02Business challenge
Trend reports are written in their own vocabulary. “Irreplaceable Instinct” and “Emotional ROI” mean little to a busy reader. The job was to translate the report into something a small business owner could understand and use.
03Target audience
- Marketing colleagues and small business owners who want the takeaways, not the report
- Readers who are sceptical that TikTok is relevant to their business
- Hospitality businesses in particular, where I can speak from experience
04Campaign objective
Explain three trends clearly, make them concrete with one example, and leave the reader with a short list of things to do.
05Strategy and approach
- Find the single idea behind the three trends: trust. Real people, real comments, real reasons to buy.
- Explain each trend in everyday words, with one brand example from the report.
- Apply the trends to one creator and his existing hotel partnership, where I could add a front desk perspective.
- Say which trends I expect to last and which hashtags are likely to fade.
- End with seven recommendations a company could start on next week.
- Use first-person language and my own hospitality experience so it reads like a letter, not a summary.
06My individual contribution
- Read and analysed the trend report and a creator overview.
- Wrote the full newsletter.
- Designed the header graphic and the trend infographic.
- Individual assignment.
07Creative samples and screenshots
Newsletter header Infographic: three trends, one idea. The percentages are examples cited from TikTok’s trend report, not my own results.
Documents
08Tools used
09KPIs
What I would measure — the newsletter was not sent to a real list
- Does the subject line earn the open?
- Open rate
- Do people reach the recommendations?
- Read time
- Does anyone write back with a question?
- Replies
This was a writing assignment. The figures inside the newsletter are quoted from TikTok’s trend report and describe other brands’ campaigns.
10Key learnings
- If I can’t explain a trend in one sentence, I haven’t understood it yet.
- TikTok is used like a search engine. Content should answer what people type, not only what a brand wants to say.
- Comment sections are where trust is decided. That is the guest review, moved to a new place.
- I started the course thinking TikTok was for dancing. I now see it as a large conversation, which is not so different from good hospitality.
Want to talk about this project?
I’m happy to walk you through the thinking behind it.