Is anyone out there still resisting the age of TikTok? Countless brands are (finally) capitalising on the hottest social hub for creativity and content, be it through influencer marketing or creating their own accounts. It’s not as easy as it sounds though—more strategy is needed than meets the eye for a brand to land on the For You page, where the likelihood of visibility to the app’s 689 million viewers jumps by leaps and bounds. If you’re at a loss on where to even begin video ideation, don’t fret! We’ve gathered our top 10 TikTok ads below to serve as inspiration.
Fenty Beauty is renowned for its fantastic marketing, creating a loyal following (862.8k on TikTok) through their relevant and relatable content as well as their witty replies to customers. Their presence feels both authoritative and personal across all their social media platforms: they’re the beauty community’s big sister. One way they achieved this coveted reputation is through posting instructional videos, like this TikTok, which teaches viewers how to contour a specific face shape while featuring the efficacy of their own products. The high production value and editing further adds a layer of credibility.
This tea infuser bottle company is making waves on TikTok despite only jumping on the app a few months ago in May. Their biggest TikTok shows a simple question flashed on the screen: Will the bottle break when dropped? The answer comes in the form of a myriad of glass shards on the floor following the creator dropping their product.
As simple and pointless as it seems, the video was a viral hit, with 15.8 million views to date. An overwhelming majority of users not only found the video funny, but thought the brand’s transparency was refreshing in a sea of sugar coated claims. One user even commented “thats it i’m buying one just because of your honesty. i dont even know what the product is” with 142k likes from other users in support.
Another way to show transparency is through featuring a brand’s team. Though Texas-based bakery Case Bakes has a more humble following, their behind-the-scenes videos letting their team shine enjoy a visible boost in views and overall engagement, with this one hitting a cool 11 million views. In this TikTok, one team member rather impressively saves one of their bakes from falling and destroying what appears to be a custom cake.
While the death of print is still up for debate, Washington Post’s presence on this app proves the flexibility of their newsroom to deliver news in an informative, yet entertaining manner to a growing audience with shrinking attention spans. One of their latest TikToks delivers top Olympics headlines in a manner you’d least expect: a comedic skit. It’s no wonder that they’ve got 968k followers keeping up with their videos.
Musical artist Sarcastic Sounds (Jeremy Fedryk) executes a stellar example of guerilla marketing with this TikTok to hype up his upcoming song, Closure. In the video, he claims that he didn’t write the lyrics for the song down and can’t decipher what he’s singing in the teaser. He then asks if anyone can help figure out what the lyrics in the audio are, a sneaky way to drive up engagement through the comments of users doing so! Where TikTok’s algorithm favours actions like comments and likes, his video likely appeared on more users’ For You pages evident from his million views—much higher than those of his other videos.
This brand has a pretty cool origin. TikTok creator Caffeinication was initially a mere interest account posting aesthetically pleasing videos preparing all sorts of beverages from lattes to matcha. These videos turned out to hit a sweet spot: caffeine addicts and ASMR fans loved their content. Caffeinication saw this opportunity and took it, using their existing follower base as a launching pad to sell barware now featured in their recipe videos. Their content is easily distinguishable; the brand never fails to include their pristine marble countertop, soft music, and gorgeous glassware.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is the event on everyone’s lips right now, and the event’s official TikTok account is making sure it stays there for a while to come. Besides posting more common compilation videos, they’re gaining favour among the younger Gen Zs through incorporating trends into their videos as well. Here, they poke fun at the Olympic’s attempts to justify the cardboard beds all competing athletes sleep on, after a rumour spreading that the material was chosen to prevent sex among athletes.
Pizza Hut Singapore’s first foray into TikTok is rather ambitious. To promote their Cheesy 7 pizza, they launched Say Cheese, a miniseries on TikTok with a new episode launching daily. Though ongoing, it appears to be paying off: the series collectively has about 741k views, and it doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon. It’s a strategic format complementary to TikTok’s algorithm, where new viewers are bound to drive engagement through watching older “episodes” to catch up. This, combined with the daily posts, has the algorithm leaning to Pizza Hut’s favour.
Though not impossible, we reckon it would be difficult to find a Singapore resident unfamiliar with at least one of Shopee’s jingles. From the days of “seven, seven, eleven, eleven,” to the incessant “Shopee-pee-pee-pee,” it’s hard to get these earworms out of your head when you first hear them. The biggest one on TikTok right now seems to be “dis one my Shopee haul”, a catchphrase meant to be followed with users showing off their loot from the app. Its catchiness, paired with their hashtag (#shopeesghaul) is a recipe for success. The hashtag itself has 6.7 million views in total, with an abundance of organic videos from Shopee’s customers.
And there you have it—a variety of brands and types of videos you can have a look at to get those creative juices flowing. Now, what are you waiting for?
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