By Pauline Nacar
On January 5, 2019, a simple, unassuming egg with a mission dethroned Kylie Jenner for the world’s most liked Instagram photo. Its sole purpose at the time was to set a world record for the Instagram post with the most likes and to collect more than 18M ‘thumbs ups’ which it invited the whole world to be a part of.
Since then, #theegg has surpassed 51M likes on the platform, and has scored itself some partnerships and endorsements with known brands like LUSH UK, Pandora, The Sims, and the Philippines’ own telco, SMART, all eager to jump in on the trend and to connect with its loyal fanbase— the #egggang.
But what has gotten #TheEgg so much attention and support? Is it the way the brown egg has been placed right smack in the middle of a white background? Is it a classic case of “perfect timing” being released on a weekend right after the holidays, when most people are relaxing and scrolling aimlessly through their newsfeed? Or is it purely down to the thrill of it all, being a part of something big like breaking a world record with something as small and simple as a brown egg?
Whatever it may be, this egg has its audience hooked—something that even large brands are finding more and more difficult to achieve in this day and age with the amount of content accessible through the Internet. But despite all this, #TheEgg came through and, err, cracked through the clutter.
Could this be a perfect example of how people on social media nowadays gravitate towards authenticity and stories? The former wrapping itself around the image of the egg with quiet surety, just a simple egg wanting to break a world record, and the latter following through with #TheEgg’s team to continue the narrative through images of it cracking on Instagram, unaccompanied by neither a caption or an explanation, enticing the audience to anticipate what’s coming next.
With this, it is obvious how consumers or people, in general, are leaning more towards authentic stories in terms of consuming media and content. If a plain brown egg can gather this much traction and attention, what impact will this give to a brand and product that can offer so much more while employing the same recipe? Only time will tell.
