The Coffee Brand Taking Over TikTok ☕ (HBBIP #128)

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When I say ‘Golden Eagle,’ what comes to mind?

No, I’m not talking about Marquette, since they had nothing to do with March Madness this year. (HBBIP: come for creator marketing knowledge, stay for random Big East strays.)

By Golden Eagle, I’m talking about an espresso, caramel, and vanilla breve with a caramel drizzle. If that intrigues you, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t, then read on.

My own morning coffee isn’t as elaborate as all that. In fact, for the first roughly 30.5 years of my life, I didn’t have a consistent morning coffee at all. I like the taste of coffee well enough, and sitting with a mug of something is certainly pleasant, and sure, there are days when I could use a little extra energy, yet despite all that I simply never got in the habit.

But now I live with Mrs. HBBIP—isn’t it weird how that happens to be her name?—and she drinks coffee, which means, as these things go, that we drink coffee. By which I mean that I will finish the lukewarm dregs of her coffee after she goes to work. It’s a luxurious life, I admit, but someone has to lead it.

So yeah, I’m pretty much a coffee guy now. I have strong opinions about beans and such. Just got an espresso machine. And have I shown you my latest latte art?

Okay, I’m not that far gone, at least not yet. But I am, for the first time in my life, looking out for more coffee options. Which brings me, via this rambling, hypercaffeinated stream of consciousness, to the Golden Eagle. More specifically, it brings me to…

The Top Brand of All Time (of the Week): Dutch Bros

First, a disclaimer: Dutch Bros does a lot more than just coffee. That’s probably why ‘coffee’ is in a slightly smaller font on their logo, but I digress. From traditional coffee to shakes to tea to energy drinks, Dutch Bros boasts a wide array of options to keep you awake, alert, and satisfied.

In addition to some truly impressive caffeine variations, Dutch Bros boasts one of the more impressive brand growth stories that I’ve encountered while writing HBBIP. Founded in 1992 by, get this, a pair of Dutch brothers (at last, truth in advertising!), the brand has evolved from a humble street cart in Grants Pass, Oregon, to a billion-dollar empire with over a thousand locations across the United States.

This whirlwind rise from the sidewalk to the floor of the NYSE is beyond inspiring. But can Dutch Bros’ creator marketing program claim the same skyrocketing growth?

Short answer: yes. Long answer: read the rest of this newsletter.

What does social media growth on par with Dutch Bros’ massive brick-and-mortar expansion look like? Well, a little something like this:

Dutch Bros Creator Count, 2020 - 2025

That’s Dutch Bros leaping from 640 creators in 2020 to 9.2k creators in 2025—a 14x growth, for those keeping score at home. That’s a lot of Cocomos!

Even more impressive than this creator community growth? The exponentially greater progress that these creators have powered for Dutch Bros’ post count:

Dutch Bros Post Count, 2020 - 2025

From 1.1k posts in 2020 to 24.1k posts in 2025, Dutch Bros saw a 22x expansion in its volume of mentions across social media posts from U.S. creators. I wish we had a number for the amount of people who heard of Dutch Bros for the first time from 2020 to 2025, because I bet it’s astounding. (That number includes yours truly, by the way.)

What we do have is a number for Dutch Bros’ Earned Media Value (EMV), a metric that reflects virality and buzz within those dramatically expanded social media conversations. And if you thought the growth we’ve seen so far is impressive, which it is, then oh boy:

Dutch Bros EMV, 2020 - 2025

That’s a 48x improvement in EMV: $1.6M EMV in 2020, $77.8M EMV in 2025. We’re going to get into just how something like that is possible (hint: it rhymes with “SchmikSchmok”), but for now, we’ve got more crazy stats to get to.

Remember when I said I wish we could get a number for how many people first heard of Dutch Bros during the last six years? Impressions is probably as close to that as we’re going to get.

Dutch Bros Impressions, 2020 - 2025

We now see a completely ridiculous 78x increase, with Dutch Bros surging from 9.7M to 756.6M impressions in the span of six years—absolute madness. However, we’ve often seen brands experience a drastic spike in impressions, especially when they’re popular on SchmikSchmok, and not back up that growth when it comes to engagements. How about Dutch Bros?

Dutch Bros Engagements, 2020 - 2025

While in this case Dutch Bros had to settle for a mere 17x growth, the brand avoided one of the common pitfalls I’ve observed for high-growth companies between 2024 and 2025: a decline in engagements. Instead, Dutch Bros surged ahead, garnering more engagements than ever.

I might have already given away the game a bit, but where exactly are these gains coming from? What platform is fueling Dutch Bros’ incredible rise to the top?

Let’s take a channel-by-channel look at impressions first:

Dutch Bros Share of Impressions by Platform, 2025

Oh, okay. So maybe just a look at one channel, then.

Obviously, this graph paints a pretty definitive picture of where Dutch Bros’ impressions are coming from. But how about the momentum that the brand is experiencing on each platform? Does Dutch Bros run the risk of tapping out the TikTok market?

Based on YoY growth in impressions for these channels, the answer isn’t clear-cut:

• Instagram impressions: +90% YoY
• TikTok impressions: +38% YoY
• YouTube impressions: +6% YoY

It’s going to take maybe a century or so, but when it comes to Dutch Bros’ impressions, Instagram might just catch up to TikTok someday. Still, the fact remains that Dutch Bros is indisputably a TikTok-first platform—even when it comes to engagements, which is often a tougher metric for TikTok, in that it skews more toward Instagram:

Dutch Bros Share of Engagements by Platform, 2025

There is a bit of that skew, but it’s still a pretty stark advantage for TikTok. This advantage remains even when we look at YoY growth:

• Instagram engagements: +129% YoY
• TikTok engagements: +114% YoY
• YouTube engagements: -41% YoY

Apart from concluding that maybe YouTube isn’t Dutch Bros’ happy place, we can see that the brand is continuing to rack up likes, comments, and impressions across both Instagram and TikTok, even if the latter is clearly the straw that stirs the Caramelizer.

So how did Dutch Bros get so big on TikTok so quickly? Who are the TikTok creators drawing so much attention to the brand?

Sometimes it takes a while to answer that question, but not this time. For Dutch Bros, this question is easy to answer. The brand blew up on TikTok thanks to women who enjoy consuming and talking about massive sugary drinks in their cars.

Sounds pretty niche at first, but if you consider the broader demographic picture, that is a market with millions of extremely online consumers. They love Dutch Bros, and most importantly, Dutch Bros loves them back.

Take Dutch Bros’ top overall EMV-driver in 2025, Marina Jones, aka ElvisLover1973 on TikTok. Marina powered $2.2M EMV via 59 TikTok posts, trying out various drink combinations and poking fun at her own dietary habits. Importantly, Dutch Bros got in on the fun via its owned account, commenting directly on this post (from 2026) where Marina sampled an extra-sweet Golden Eagle:

It’s calling my name too, whoever manages the Dutch Bros Coffee Official TikTok account. Fr. (Also, please show this newsletter to your boss and ask for a raise, because you’re doing a great job.)

Marina isn’t alone in her love of these supersized, supercharged beverages. You’ve also got Britni Glover, who’s far from shy about her love of Dutch Bros—see exhibits A and B:

Those are some vivid hues, alright. And like any influencer worth her electric blue tea, Britni makes sure that viewers at home can sip along with her, compiling her favorite orders:

I could go on, and share content examples from Adi, or GiaNina, or Alyssa, but I think you get the idea. Dutch Bros has done one of the hardest things a brand can do on social media: build a genuine, passion-driven subculture. With elements of viral challenges and secret menus woven into the fabric of its brand, Dutch Bros has read the room and emerged with all the trappings of a pro-level food and beverage social media strategy. And don’t even get me started on the madness when the holidays roll around.

It’s not hard to see why creators love Dutch Bros. Their beverages are customizable, endlessly variable, aesthetically eye-catching, a little over-the-top, and ultimately satisfying—in other words, they’re a lot like creators themselves. Plus, it takes a massive amount of caffeine to give creators the energy they need to stay creative, and Dutch Bros is clearly up to the task.

Now they just need to open a branch near me, so I can become a full-fledged coffee guy. Like, come on now Dutch Bros. It’s hard not to take this personally:

Welp, guess I’m going to Raleigh. Save a Golden Eagle for me!

*All data, unless otherwise specified, stems from CreatorIQ's public-facing brand leaderboards. We will never share performance metrics from a customer's CreatorIQ profile, or any brand's private information.

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