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MACHINES
MARKETING
Episode 3: Creativity
Eliza Williams is editor of Creative Review, and a writer, critic and broadcaster on advertising and design. She also hosts the Creative Review Podcast.
Eliza has published two books with Laurence King Publishing, titled This Is Advertising and How 30 Great Ads Were Made, and has contributed texts to several books published by Phaidon, including The 21st Century Art Book and The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design.
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A three-part podcast series created by Marketing Week, Creative Review and Econsultancy, sponsored by Facebook, investigating the impact AI has on marketing, creativity and digital
SPONSORED BY
Creativity on TikTok: how brands are embracing the popular video app
TikTok has become the go-to destination for people looking for fun, entertaining and inspiring short-form videos. But how can advertisers make the most of the app? In the second instalment of our partnership series, we explore how brands from Balenciaga to Mercedes-Benz and Converse are using TikTok to drive engagement, raise awareness and reach new audiences, and offer some advice for those who are new to the platform
By now, you'll have all heard of TikTok: the short-form video app that has taken the world by storm. Since its launch in 2017, the platform has established itself as a place for positivity and creative expression - bringing joy to millions of people - and has become the most downloaded video app in the world.
For brands, TikTok can deliver a big audience, but it delivers even bigger engagement. Take one of the most popular trends on the platform right now – #ratethings, where users post videos rating anything and everything with a score out of 10. That hashtag has had over 1.3 billion views from the hundreds of thousands of videos users have created. Or the #FlipTheSwitch trend. Even though it is over a year old, people are still creating videos with their friends and family where they swap clothes at the flip of a switch, and video views have rocketed past the 6.1 billion mark.
So where do brands fit in? Many brands have already embraced the communities, platform codes and ad products that are present on TikTok, and are seeing impressive results. Brands as diverse as Pretty Little Thing, Converse, Balenciaga and Mercedes-Benz are posting on the platform in a variety of ways. Some are interacting with communities through Branded Hashtag Challenges; others are using impressive organic strategies managed by in-house teams; while some have staged ambitious through-the-line campaigns, mixing TikTok, Creators, competitions and events to produce significant spikes in brand awareness and engagement.
As with any emergent platform, the way brands use it is still developing – and fast. For those who are new to the platform, we've put together some advice on how to approach the app, and rounded up some of its most successful and innovative campaigns.
Step 1: Get to know your TikTok community and their codes
Eliza Williams
Editor
Creative Review
HOST
GUESTS
Marcus du Sautoy
Professor of mathematics
Oxford University
Ian Edwards
Planning director
Facebook
A fellow of New College, Oxford, Marcus is the author of The Creativity Code, a book examining how AI is being used to "write, paint and think".
In 2008 he was appointed to the university’s prestigious Simonyi professorship for the public understanding of science, taking over from Richard Dawkins. In 2009 the Royal Society awarded him the Faraday prize for excellence in communicating science to the public and in 2010 he received an OBE from the Queen for his services to science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 2016.
Ian is the planning director at Facebook for Northern Europe. He joined Facebook in 2015 to set up the Connection Planning team. Prior to this, Ian spent 14 years working in planning and strategy at some of the biggest agencies in London.
Ian was a contributing author to 'What is a 21st Century Brand? New thinking from the next generation of agency leaders'. He also writes regularly for WARC, MediaTel and Admap, and is the vice-chair of the Media Trust.
© MMXX X—LABS
© MMXX X—LABS