Brands on BeReal?

While the app BeReal has been around since 2019, but it’s been booming since the past few months. If you have been living under a rock: BeReal sends you a notification everyday, at a different time. When that notification pops up, you have two minutes to take a picture with your front and back camera at the same time. Result: an authentic image for you and your friends to see.

Usually, where new platforms appear, brands dive in. But BeReal is a tough cookie to crumble. A few brands are now slowly trying out this new ‘real’ social world. Netflix, for example, is fueling the fake BeReals that showcase iconic occasions where you might be taking a daily snap.

Another example is American fastfood brand Chipotle, where a staff members just post when the notification comes. Once this was at a Charli XCX concert. The Chipotle BeReals always contain an offered code valid for the first hundred followers that use it in the Chipotle app. Usually, these discounts are redeemed within one minute (!).

For brands, BeReal seems to be a platform to serve an exclusive view inside their brand to their most loyal followers.This is exactly what Innbeauty Project (a make-up brand) does. They share behind-the-scenes content, mainly focusing on new product launches and product development.

With these examples come a lot of questions: How can brands show up authentically? Is this a space where brands can add value? Why should people want to follow your brand on BeReal, if they want to follow you at all? Brands like Netflix, Chipotle and InnBeauty Project are doing brave attempts, but only time will tell if this is something people will react positive to once more brands hop on the BeReal wagon.