Whether we like it or not, TikTok is becoming a serious advertising channel for more and more brands. And despite the skeptics who initially thought this channel only attracts kids, companies are increasingly exploring TikTok and increasing their advertising budgets for this platform.
But, TikTok is not just another advertising channel where brands can repackage their existing ads and make them work there. Here, different rules apply to building your audience. Organic videos, influencer marketing, and long-term partnerships are just a few more successful ways to build campaigns on TikTok.
To help you get in the TikTok game, we bring you a selection of the 10 best TikTok ads, with a little background story about each successful campaign.
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Best TikTok ad campaign examples
In a world before TikTok, we all had a pretty standard image of what advertising looked like. Even with other digital media, brands found relatively typical ways to tell their unique stories through ads.
Once TikTok entered the advertising arena, many known concepts and trends went out the window, and brands had to learn this new advertising language if they wanted to adapt. In TikTok, ads are hashtags, user-generated content, co-created campaigns with partners and influencers, and more.
That’s why this list is about more than just the most creative video or visual commercial you’ll see on TikTok. It’s about the campaigns that used all available resources from the platform and created the most engaging content.
Here’s a list of the 10 best TikTok ad examples:
1. Netflix – #WhatsYourPower
Netflix is on a mission to entertain the world. And what’s more entertaining to Gen Z than following a viral trend of user-generated content? That’s exactly what marketers from Netflix had in mind when they created their #WhatsYourPower campaign to promote their movie Project Power.
The #WhatsYourPower campaign encouraged users to use the hashtag with the branded filter telling them their own superpower. Users then went ahead and created their original content based on the filter. This was likely the biggest use of UGC for any brand on TikTok, with 112, 000 people using the filter.
Ultimately, it’s worth saying that Netflix is the second most followed brand on TikTok. Their interviews with actors, funny sketches, and videos from the latest shows helped them increase the success of the #WhatsYourPower campaign.
2. Marc Jacobs – “Perfect as I am”
Marc Jacobs creative team came up with an uplifting and positive message, “Perfect as I am,” to promote the release of their latest fragrance named “Perfect” to Gen Z and Millenials.
Their “Perfect as I am” branded hashtag challenge was released in collaboration with a famous TikTok influencer, Rickey Thompson, and helped them spread the positive message of self-love across the platform.
All TikTok users were encouraged to use this hashtag and show the world how they are perfect exactly as they are, which generated over 10 billion views to this day and created massive awareness for the fragrance.
3. Dunkin’ and Charli D’amelio
In the case of Dunkin’ and Charli D’amelio, we’re not talking about standard ads but more of a clever way of using influencer marketing to introduce a product to a new audience. In this case, Dunkin’ built a strong, lasting partnership with the influencer and used her channel as the window to the younger audience.
Charli D’amelio, a TikTok star and a proud Dunkin’ patriot posted over 120 videos with Dunkin’ products. We can’t say that any of these videos were anywhere close to being a creative masterpiece, but the whole campaign worked incredibly well for the brand.
More specifically, there was a 57% increase in downloads of the Dunkin’ app. Plus, there was a 20% overall sales boost for cold brews the day they released their new drink and a 45% increase the following day.
Source: insider.com
4. Chewy – Chewy Chatty Pets
An American online retailer of pet food, Chewy, created their Chewy Chatty Pets campaign to authentically connect with the new generation of pet parents. Their goal was to drive brand affinity and engagement by encouraging TikTok users to bring their pets’ most entertaining inner monologues to life.
Two main factors made this campaign a winner on TikTok:
- Branded hashtag challenge #ChewyChattyPets campaign built on the channel trend of sharing quirky and relatable pet moments
- Pet owners love to personify their pets and then watch others do the same.
Over the three-day campaign, the brand saw a staggering 1.8B+ impressions on their branded #ChewyChattyPets hashtag. Plus, they generated more than 578 user submissions (more than 695 million video views), in less than 24 hours.
Here’s an example of UGC with the #ChewyChattyPets hashtag:
5. Crumbl Cookies – Rotating Menu
Crumbl Cookies creates and delivers irresistible cookies across America. As a part of their rotating menu, the company releases new flavors weekly and has them available for a limited period. This concept creates FOMO (fear of missing out) among their following, which is perfect for TikTok campaigns!
As a part of the two-month-long campaign, the company created a cool and sexy new ad promoting the release of each unique flavor. With the combination of great video production and the FOMO effect in their ads, Crumbl achieved astonishing results.
Here are some of the results of the campaign:
- Reached 22 million accounts
- 2 million new followers (1,500% increase in follower count)
- Turning to TikTok as the main advertising channel for the brand
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6. Amazon Fashion – Pajama Jam challenge
This holiday season, Amazon Fashion was looking for a way to communicate their core values of inclusive fashion to a broader audience.
Together with the Movers+Shakers creative agency, they designed a TikTok challenge that communicates this inclusivity, builds brand affinity, and amplifies their holiday Pajama Jam in a fun and festive way.
The challenge was about walking a fun catwalk to their original song while dressed in pajamas previously ordered from Amazon and using a #PajamaJam. The brand ended up generating 13,000+ videos with their original song and hit a total of 1 billion views in the first 24 hours.
Source: movershakers.co
7. Levi’s – Future Finish
To overcome the sales challenges associated with the outbreak of COVID-19, Levis created a clever and creative, engaging TikTok campaign named “Future Finish,” which blew the minds of their followers.
As a part of the campaign, four TikTok influencers personalized their denim, and the creators’ videos were posted in a period of one week in the form of In-feed ads. TikTok users had until the end of that week to click on the ads’ “Shop Now” button and buy these unique designs from the video.
In their company post, Levi’s reported that watch time for their influencer videos was twice as long as the platform average on TikTok. Plus, product views to Levi.com’s “Future Finish” pages had more than doubled for every product included in those videos.
Here’s an example Future Finish ad, posted by Callen Schaub:
8. Crocs – #CrocTok ads
Even at first glance at the Crocs TikTok feed, you can clearly see that their content managers are having a great time posting on this account. As most of the world knows, Crocs aren’t considered the prettiest item to own. And this brand, instead of running away from it, decided to embrace this image.
Their #CrocTok ads show many dads and fake fashionistas enjoying this quirky, colorful footwear to make sure their followers primarily have fun when choosing their next pair. As a result, the brand has 824k followers and 5.5 million likes on TikTok.
Here are two best TikTok ad examples of #CrocTok:
9. Vessi – Stop Crying and Put Some Vessi On
Another humorous brand on TikTok is Vessi. This Canadian brand creates water-resistant footwear and is all about having fun on social media. The brand combines organic growth with its hilarious content and often partners with TikTok influencers who use humor in their posts.
For one of their latest campaigns, they partnered with Canadian TikToker Kris Collins who created a collection of parody videos for the brand with the “Buy Now” call to action button at the end of the video. This helped the brand to reach a wider audience while keeping the humorous tone of the ad.
For a smaller brand, the Vessi account is having remarkable success on TikTok with 164k followers and 1.8 million likes.
10. GymShark – Change Your Life
As one of the early TikTok adopters, the famous British sportswear brand GymShark was one of the first brands who created an incredibly successful TikTok challenge as a part of their Change Your Life campaign.
The brand encouraged its users to choose a fitness goal for themself and upload it on the first day of 2019. Precisely 66 days later, on 7th March, they were asked to upload a photo of their final transformation. And the winners would take home a free year’s supply of Gymshark goods!
The campaign reached astonishing results with over 1.9 million likes, 12k comments, and 45 million views for the #gymshark66 hashtag.
Here’s an example of a #gymshark66 challenge video:
TikTok ad formats
Before you start advertising on TikTok ads you should understand all types of ads you can create on this platform. And while some ad formats resemble everything you already know about digital marketing from other social media channels, others may be a completely different concept.
Here are five TikTok ad formats you can use to promote your brand:
- In-feed ads
- Brand takeover ads
- Top view ads
- Branded Hashtag ads
- Branded effect ads
In-feed ads
TikTok In-feed ads are video ads that are a part of the native news feed, so users see them while scrolling through their “For You Page.” As the name suggests, they blend in with the TikTok feed, making them feel less like an ad and more like another post.
While users can quickly scroll through these dynamic ads, they can also interact with the ads by liking them, sharing, or commenting on them.
Each TikTok In-feed ad features a clickable CTA button that can be used to drive traffic to external landing pages, app downloads, or your brand’s TikTok account. This helps you create engaging content for your target audience and have them purchase your product in just a few clicks.
Brand takeover ads
Brand takeover ads are designed for brands to literally take over a person’s feed for three to five seconds. These ads appear immediately after someone opens their TikTok, and users can only see one brand takeover ad per day, which decreases competition for the ad space.
Brands can create short videos or 3-second images and use these “unskippable” ads to drive traffic to their external landing pages (or elsewhere, depending on the campaign objectives).
The downside of Brand takeover ads is that they are pricey, so make sure to develop a good strategy before you go ahead and create one.
Top view ads
Top view ads are a powerful way to capture user attention. They can be up to 60 seconds long and appear at the top of the “For You feed” when first opening TikTok. This format can offer your viewers an immersive viewing experience with no other competing content.
With Top view ads, you’ll get a wide reach and a high number of impressions, making this an ideal format for raising brand recognition through your TikTok ads.
Branded Hashtag ads
This is where TikTok completely transformed the way brands interact with their audiences. Branded hashtag ads on TikTok are designed to encourage the audience to co-create their content with a specific hashtag. These dynamic ads help brands create viral content and drastically improve their brand awareness.
Branded hashtag ads appear at the top of the discovery page with a specific hashtag. When users click on the hashtags, they land on a TikTok page with a collection of other videos from the same hashtag challenge.
This format works in favor of brands and TikTok creators as both can use branded hashtag challenges to leverage each other’s audience and increase their visibility on the platform.
Branded effect ads
Branded effects ads allow brands to create and add custom filters to the app. These filters can last up to 10 days, and the brand can engage in other activities to help boost the success of its filter. Filters are mainly used for brand awareness and increasing impressions.
Branded filters go hand in hand with branded hashtags and can work wonders for promoting a specific brand aesthetic.
How to efficiently collect feedback on your TikTok videos
If you’ve ever created TikTok videos (in-house or for a client) you must have been in a situation where you had to consolidate various feedback from different platforms. This takes time and costs you nerves, trying to figure out how to interpret all the feedback.
A video review and collaboration tool like Filestage can help you avoid this scenario by inviting all your reviewers in one platform to leave their feedback. Your whole team can then share, discuss, and approve all their files, all in one place and without stress.
Final thoughts
You’ll undoubtedly need to rethink your marketing strategy if you decide to start with TikTok advertising. Even more than other social media channels, this platform emphasizes the personal approach and stimulates all its users to become TikTok creators, and different advertising strategies arise.
Hopefully, this article gives you a little insight into how most successful TikTok ads look and encourages you to give it a shot!
