Ride the wave

“Ride the wave” is an idiomatic expression meaning to take advantage of a current trend, situation, or opportunity to achieve success. (Picture a surfer riding a wave toward the shore. The surfer is enjoying the momentum of the wave; the surfer didn’t create the wave, he’s just riding it.)

If there’s a new trend on TikTok or Instagram, a business might “ride the wave” by introducing a product to take advantage of the trend. For example, a viral TikTok video showed a man drinking cranberry juice as he rode a skateboard.

The juice maker, Ocean Spray, decided to ride the wave and and create its own advertising and promotions around the viral video. This means that the company decided to take advantage of the trend.

Here are a few more examples:

• Investors on Reddit started buying up AMC stock. AMC, a movie theater chain, decided to ride the wave and created promotions that appealed to Reddit investors (like give away free popcorn to shareholders).
• Taylor Swift is dating a football player, Travis Kelce. America’s National Football League is riding the wave by creating social media videos and other promotions targeted at Swifties who might be new football fans.