Aura Farming: The meme dance that's powering global brand collabs and Gen Z cool

In July alone, Indian users clocked over 12 million reel views on Instagram and YouTube Shorts, all for one trend: a deadpan dance performed on the prow of a canoe. The clip—starring 11-year-old Rayyan Arkan Dhika from Indonesia—sparked an internet movement so potent that brands from Swiggy and Zomato to InDrive and restaurant chains began tapping into it. The virality wasn’t driven by influencer marketing in the conventional sense, but by something deeper, memeable, and harder to quantify: aura.

Aura Farming blends two wildly different internet worlds: “aura,” Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s shorthand for effortless charisma, and “farming,” a gaming term for repeating actions to level up. Together, it describes the act of projecting stylish aloofness, intentionally looking unbothered while being perfectly aware of how others perceive you. It’s charisma without effort—or at least the illusion of it.

The original clip shows Rayyan in a red sarong, black shades, and a stiff stance, dancing precisely with a vacant stare as a canoe slices through the river during the Pacu Jalur boat race in Indonesia. That was enough for TikTok and Instagram users to crown him “the ultimate aura farmer.” The video exploded in the last week of June and has since spun off hundreds of lip-syncs, choreographies, and brand tie-ins across markets.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rayyan Arkan Dhika (@rayyanarkandhika)

Global Ripple, Local Push

Klug Klug, an influencer intelligence platform, reports that 40.6% of Rayyan’s audience is in Indonesia. But the next biggest cluster—at 16.8%—is in India. Other surprising pockets include the Netherlands (8.3%) and Brazil (7.1%). Interestingly, most of his followers aren’t teens; nearly 75% fall in the 18–34 age range, with the highest concentration in the 25–34 bracket, a segment that marketers often consider premium spenders and early adopters of social trends.

This gives the meme dual value: one foot in the Gen Alpha playground of irony and performance, the other in the monetizable zone of Millennial and Gen Z engagement.

Brands Rush In—But Quietly

By mid-July, Swiggy had dropped a reel using the trend’s trademark stiff expression and choreo. Zomato followed with a cheeky version set in a delivery backdrop, while InDrive referenced the meme in its urban youth-targeted campaigns. A Gurgaon-based restaurant chain recreated Rayyan’s canoe set-up using waiters dressed in sarongs holding cocktail trays. Most brands avoided heavy branding and instead opted for lo-fi, quick-turnaround content—mimicking the tone of user-generated reels rather than polished influencer videos.

“This kind of content isn’t about a CTA,” said a senior brand manager at a QSR chain who requested anonymity. “It’s about being part of a conversation without killing the vibe.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fatoush (@eatatfatoush)

Aura = Influence Without Selling Out

Marketing experts say the success of “aura farming” points to a growing shift in how influence is perceived online. “The moment something becomes ‘try-hard’, you’ve lost Gen Z. Aura farming is about pretending you don’t care while deeply caring. It’s a performance of anti-performance.”

Trends tied to soft performance—like aura farming—tend to have a longer shelf life than hyper-choreographed Instagram challenges. This is because users perceive them as authentic, even if they’re inherently staged.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by inDrive Nepal (@indrive.np)

Social mimicry is a major driver here. As per a study by BCG published earlier this year, 61% of Gen Z shoppers in India said they were more likely to purchase or try something if their online peers were doing the same—even if they didn’t fully understand the trend. The same behavior applies to memes and reels.

Still, the meme has delivered something rare: a cross-cultural, cross-age-group format that’s simultaneously cool, funny, and marketable. From PSG footballers to BTS’s Jungkook and V, Travis Kelce, MotoGP’s Marc Márquez, and even national forces like CRPF India and the Singapore Navy, many have recreated or referenced Rayyan’s iconic moves.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zomato Delivery Partners (@zomatodeliverypartner)

As of early August, the hashtag #AuraFarming has crossed 500 million views globally across TikTok and Instagram. And while Rayyan Arkan Dhika remains largely offline and uncommercialised, his deadpan dance has become the unexpected blueprint for what digital “cool” looks like in 2025 as "Demure" trend was a hot pick in 2024.