There’s a lot of noise right now about B.Laban – بـ لبن’s downfall.
But let’s not rewrite history to fit a narrative.
TikTok didn’t cause the collapse. It created the lift.
The argument that “TikTok entertains, value chains protect” sounds clever. But it’s the kind of blanket statement that folds under pressure. Because TikTok has, very clearly, built brands. Real ones. With reach, revenue, and resilience.
Let’s start with the obvious.
CeraVe: The skincare brand was once a quiet pharmacy staple. Then came a TikTok wave led by dermatologists and creators alike, praising the formula, the price, the results. Sales exploded. In 2020, CeraVe saw a 65% year-on-year increase. L’Oréal doubled down, launching TikTok-specific campaigns. Today, it’s one of the top-selling skincare brands globally.
E.l.f. Cosmetics: They created one of the most successful branded TikTok campaigns of all time with the “Eyes. Lips. Face.” challenge. Over 5 million user-generated videos. 10 billion views. Product sales soared. They built a Gen Z empire not through prime-time TV, but through a track and a hashtag.
Little Moons: A mochi ice cream brand that had been around for years. One viral TikTok in 2021 sparked a buying frenzy. Tesco ran out of stock. Waitrose had queues. Sales jumped by over 700% in some outlets. Today, they’re exporting across Europe and expanding in Asia. All because people discovered their product on TikTok and made it cool.
Glow Recipe: Another skincare darling that leveraged TikTok’s visual culture to drive product education and demand. Their Watermelon Glow range consistently sells out. The brand saw over 200% growth after launching targeted content on TikTok.
BookTok: A genre in itself now. It didn’t just revive reading for Gen Z. It made Colleen Hoover a household name. It turned niche indie authors into bestsellers. Publishers redesigned covers and rewrote marketing plans around TikTok-led demand. In 2022, BookTok drove a 50% increase in fiction sales in the UK.
TikTok does build brands.
But only when the product is good. When the offer is clear. When the promise is delivered.
You can’t blame TikTok for a broken supply chain. You can’t pin food safety failures on creators. You can’t ask content to cover for contaminated ingredients.
TikTok creates exposure. That’s what it’s good at. The brand’s job is to back that exposure with delivery.
What happened to B.Laban is not a lesson in the dangers of TikTok. It’s a reminder that scale tests your systems. It reveals whether your operations are ready for what your marketing achieved.
TikTok can make you famous. It can flood your stores. It can turn your small-batch local idea into a household name.
But what you do after that? That’s still on you.
So don’t blame the platform. Don’t mock the hype. Don’t dismiss the influence because the infrastructure fell short.
Brands aren’t built in labs. They’re built in the minds and behaviours of people. And right now, the minds and behaviours of people live on TikTok.
Ignore that, and the platform won’t be your problem.
Relevance will. Also, there are tons of case studies here.
Moey writes here. 
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