Italian pasta brand Barilla was given top honors at the TikTok Ad Awards Grand Prix for dynamically harnessing the platform’s power to not only build and engage audiences but also spark a movement around a sustainable cause: eliminating food waste. Their #SecondLifePasta campaign recognized that people often cook more pasta than they actually eat. To discourage users from discarding that extra food, Barilla partnered with creators of some of TikTok’s most-shared pasta cooking videos to craft completely new dishes from their leftovers. Leveraging TikTok’s Stitch tool, the campaign then invited users to select which type of leftovers they would like to repurpose, and explore how to give it a delicious new life. After maximizing the benefits of TikTok’s diverse ad formats like TikTok Lead Generation, TopView Ads, Top Feed Ads and In-Feed Ads, the campaign drew over 110 million views. It also inspired hundreds of new videos that were shared worldwide, leading to a digital cookbook, restaurant experience and cooking show. Most importantly, Barilla’s initiative resulted in 500,000 new dishes created from leftovers that would have otherwise gone unused, creatively galvanizing a movement to eliminate food waste.
Ultimately, the TikTok Ad Awards, and the European brands it shortlisted, demonstrate how the advertising industry is leveraging the platform to build campaigns that uniquely resonate with audiences. TikTok has a host of tools and resources designed to make creating for the platform easy, so companies can begin driving awareness, inspiring viral movements, broadening partnerships and transforming perceptions. To learn more, sign up to receive the TikTok For Business Europe newsletter.
Trends that start on TikTok can create social movements. That's precisely what IQ, an independent Swedish government subsidiary, did when it leveraged the platform to launch a campaign that empowered young people to drink more responsibly—and sparked a social conversation. IQ developed a 10-part drama portraying the complex relationships between youth and alcohol, then used TikTok's Duet feature to invite people to audition for a role. Hundreds of entertaining video submissions engaged viewers through content that felt native to TikTok, or “TikTok-first,” with creators speaking directly to camera, using lo-fi video, or adding text overlays. IQ then promoted the videos with Spark Ads, TopView Ads, Top Feed Ads and In-Feed Ads—ultimately engaging millions of users, and surpassing its target number of audition submissions by 910%. "For us in the jury, it’s always a mix of three things: it has to have innovation, it has to have that creative layer, but at the same time deliver results and performance,” said Rasmus Bjurström, TikTok Ad Award Nordics Jury Chair. “IQ and ABBY.WORLD had all three. We were mesmerized by how they so fully engaged with what is inherently TikTok.”
Polish drugstore chain Rossmann Polska leveraged the power of sound to create a shared TikTok experience that resonated with the platform’s audience and reached new customer communities. To spread awareness of their low prices for on-sale items, which can be identified in stores by distinctive red labels, the company developed a catchy rap song that captivated users. Rossmann Polska featured the song in several entertaining and upbeat videos created for TikTok that showed employees wearing the brand’s signature fleece jacket while performing dance routines inside its drugstores alongside on-screen visuals. Using CapCut to edit and Spark Ads to boost engagement, this campaign’s impressive results highlight how a TikTok-first strategy leads to brands forging deeper connections with consumers.
Spanish jewelry brand TOUS’s latest product line was catapulted to success by a TikTok ad campaign that built interest in a unique form of self-expression: nail jewelry. The company collaborated with two popular nail artists, Nails Galore and Divine Nails, to co-create TOUS Claws nail jewelry kits during live-streamed video sessions. TOUS then prompted the TikTok community to vote on their favorite creation. The company also partnered with lifestyle creator Gigi Vives and harnessed TikTok ad solutions like Instant Page, Spark Ads and Interactive Add-ons to boost their reach and spread awareness of the campaign. It worked; tens of thousands participated in the live vote, and the demand for TOUS Claws exceeded all expectations. Stock quickly sold out and the TOUS community gained thousands of new followers—demonstrating how brands can leverage TikTok from ideation to purchase.
Small business brand Glow For It created authentic, TikTok-native content that fostered trust and intimacy by featuring real customers speaking directly to the camera to share the honest results of their eyelash and eyebrow serums. Shortly after the launch of its campaign, Glow For It sold over one month's worth of product stock in less than 48 hours. That helped the brand quickly generate enough revenue to develop a number of new product lines, hire a team of six employees and move into a full-time office space. "This campaign has allowed me to scale my small business more than I could have ever imagined,” said Daisy Kelly, founder of Glow For It. “It has propelled my business years ahead of where we planned to be…I will be forever grateful to this platform and all that it has offered."
To engage a new generation of photographers and videographers, Nikon launched their “TikTok Mystery Box Challenge,” in which creators received a curious package of mirrors and yellow paper, and were asked to curate a shoot with only those contents and their Nikon camera. The brand used CapCut to edit, Creator Marketplace to source creators, Commercial Content Library for music and Creative Center to explore and discover trends. The result? Authentic, innovative and artistic shoots that refreshed brand perception, and saw 19% more users describing Nikon as “modern.” "We gave creators the freedom, and they rewarded us with their talent,” said Ana Karen Jimenez Barba, art director at charles & charlotte, the creative agency which collaborated with Nikon on their campaign. “This synergy not only put Nikon back on the map with Gen Z but also took our branding to a whole new level. The best marketing just doesn't look like marketing."
How do you get one of the most famous brands in the world to follow you on TikTok? Burger King partnered with TikTok creator @masdak_trading to create a viral video challenge that enticed users with a free Whopper hamburger if they could make content that gained enough attention to earn Burger King as one of their TikTok followers. To inspire maximum creativity, Burger King provided intentionally vague guidelines for users on how to get noticed. The results were particularly inventive, with participants
live-streaming themselves singing, creating special "Burger King subscriber” accounts, making logos and more. Ultimately, Burger King's playful approach to community engagement succeeded with the TikTok audience, netting them 100,000 new followers and a number of other campaign achievements.
