5 Creative Brands to Inspire Your TikTok Marketing

27 Jun , 2022

TikTok marketing has proven to be a must-have strategy for every savvy digital marketer. Recognized as an international version of Douyin, TikTok has spread like a virus all around the world since its launch in 2017. This year, TikTok is expected to soar to $5.96 billion by its consumer spending, signifying its tremendous potential for market success. As a result, how to create a TikTok marketing campaign that captures viewers' attention and becomes the rage on TikTok is a topic worth further study. In this article, we'll go over five distinct brands with you and provide you with some new inspiration for your future TikTok marketing:

1. The Reasons Why We Should Study TikTok Marketing

2. 5 Creative Brands to Inspire Your TikTok Marketing

3. What Makes a TikTok Marketing Campaign Go Viral?

1. The Reasons Why We Should Study TikTok Marketing

TikTok’s proprietary algorithm set it apart from other social media platforms. With the interest-based algorithm, TikTok users are no longer bound to the content from the people they follow or their social spheres. Instead, they’re served with content that entirely tailored to their preferences and the videos they watch and engage with. This saves a huge sum of effort for brands looking to do TikTok marketing. Reaching a huge audience is remarkably simple, and brands can reach a wider audience even if they do not have a significant following. If you are new to TikTok, you can click HERE to read the fundamental introduction of TikTok and its common strategies.

With over 3 billion downloads and more than 1 billion active monthly users, TikTok marketing has become a must-have digital marketing strategy for brands, and its feature of 15-second short videos makes it the best platform for viral marketing. However, on a platform with such a sizable volume of content and users who are easily distracted, marketers must gear up with a holistic TikTok marketing approach in order to excel on the platform. If there isn’t a substantial sense of excitement or highlight, your brand may instantly lose sight of your audience. And that is why we have assembled 5 successful brands on TikTok to inspire your next TikTok marketing campaign.

2. 5 Creative Brands to Inspire Your TikTok Marketing

2.1 McDonald: Soft-Serve Ice Cream Challenge Campaign in Thailand

· 130% Increase in sales of soft-serve ice cream

· 83% Increase in in-store traffic compared to the previous month

· 9M Video views

Despite the fact that McDonald's is a globally recognized fast-food brand, it continues to strive to improve brand awareness and customer loyalty. In this case, McDonald's Thailand converted the trend among Southeast Asian TikTok users into part of its TikTok marketing, returning with remarkable success.

i. Catching the Buzz with TikTok marketing

Two McDonald's customers in Indonesia sparked the idea by recording themselves carrying containers to the restaurant, ordering several soft-serve ice creams, and mixing them. The video was mimicked by others in the TikTok community and quickly became a craze. This works in Thailand McDonald’s favor, allowing the company to promote its brand through user-generated content and boosted consumer engagement.

ii. Maximize Campaign Results with TikTok Advertising Tool

McDonald's has not only grabbed the popularity trend but has also made effective use of the TikTok marketing ad formats, specifically Spark Ads in this marketing campaign. In simple words, Spark Ads is a native ad format for brands to create ads by amplifying organic TikTok content. McDonald’s leveraged the naturally trending TikTok content and converted it into advertising. Thanks to the authenticity that the unpolished content holds, the TopView or In-feed ad appears to be organic content that blends seamlessly into the TikTok interface. Accordingly, McDonald’s may level up their presence while also increasing conversions.

McDonald’s Thailand TikTok Marketing Result

McDonald’s launch of the Soft-Serve Ice-cream TikTok marketing campaign has created a buzz in Thailand. To encourage more customers to participate in the TikTok marketing campaign, McDonald’s created a new menu and offered containers at locations, resulting in a massive spread. Overall, McDonald's soft-serve ice cream accumulated over 9 million video views on TikTok, together with 130% increase in soft-serve ice cream sales and an 83% increase in customer traffic after the campaign's kick-off.

2.2 Garnier: #GiGiGi Campaign

· 30% Increase in sales on Shopee

· 6.6% Lift in brand recommendation

· #1 Serum on Shopee during the campaign month

Garnier is a famous skincare brand under L'Oreal. In order to promote its new serum skincare product in Vietnam, Garnier created a powerful TikTok marketing campaign. According to their local market research, they noticed that the brand's target customer is most affected by the influencers, thus Garnier took full use of the power of TikTok KOLs in this awareness campaign. Also, they capitalized on TikTok's high engagement rate by initiating a Hashtag challenge, which sparked a lot of interest in the community and brought a large amount of traffic to the campaign with a bunch of creative works.

i. Celebrity Endorsement Enhance Your TikTok Marketing Effort

Garnier first collaborated with Amee, a well-known Vietnamese celebrity, to create colorful and cheerful music “Miss Toàn Thư Bách Khoa” and related dances as the signature of the #GiGiGI campaign, motivating TikTok video producers to cover the dance. Garnier successfully attracted a significant number of Amee fans and raised awareness by partnering with Amee. Aside from this, Garnier invited 5 TikTok KOLs and 20 entertainment KOCs who are famous for dancing. This attracts additional TikTok video producers who are prominent in dancing to take part, leading a viral-like "spreading chain."

ii. Use of a Special Effect to Develop a Distinct & Memorable Brand Image

The #GiGiGi campaign aims at highlighting the product's features. In particular, Garnier has employed the iconic brand colors of light green and lemon yellow to create a branded effect for its TikTok marketing campaign. By using the same color tone as the effect, Garnier can create a strong and vivid brand image, which can also strengthen the long-term brand impression and boost brand awareness.

iii. TikTok Marketing by Incentives & User Experience Optimization

Garnier's simple user journey design was crucial for the TikTok marketing campaign's success. When viewers first landed on the #GiGiGi campaign video, they were encouraged to visit the Hashtag Challenge site to access the original music and branded effects. Garnier also offered exclusive gifts, including M1 MacBook Air, 128GB iPhone 12, and Airpod Pro as incentives to motivate TikTok users to participate in the #GiGiGi Campaign. This not only accelerated consumer engagement but also improved the ROI of the TikTok marketing effort.

Garnier TikTok Marketing Result

Garnier used a brilliant marketing approach by carefully analyzing the target customers, and fully utilized TikTok's mass effect and ad format to strengthen the TikTok marketing campaign's outcome, resulting in over 1.3 million campaign participants, 20.16 million related videos created, and 1 billion views in the four weeks of the campaign. The campaign also resulted in a 30% rise in Shopee sales, and the Serum product, which was the core of the campaign, eventually topped the Shopee rankings during the campaign time, showing considerable results.

2.3 Colgate: #WinWithASmile Branded Hashtag Challenge Campaign

· 2.2M video creations

· 1.2M creators participated

· 2.2B video views

Colgate created a World Smile Day campaign and selected TikTok as one of the main platforms for the campaign to celebrate World Smile Day and promote the message of oral care. Colgate launched the TikTok marketing campaign in four Southeast Asian regions – Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam – in order to boost brand traffic and conversions.

i. Branded Hash Tag Challenge with Gamification for TikTok marketing

Colgate, same as Garnier, used the Hash Tag Challenge as one of its primary TikTok marketing tactics. Colgate, on the other hand, implemented a gamification strategy, encouraging TikTok users to record interactive videos with Colgate's custom game effects. The creator had to smile while swallowing balls floating around the screen to win points and accrue a certain number of points to receive a crown. This gamified Hash Tag Challenge is simple to understand and fun to play, therefore it attracts a large number of viewers. Additionally, because the ball is assigned randomly to every game, it encourages users to play repeatedly in order to acquire the perfect shot and thus boosts the Ad recall rate.

ii. Campaign Rewards Drive Product Purchases

Users who completed the #WinWithASmile Branded Hashtag Challenge Campaign are eligible to get Colgate's 6-day Coupon Rewards, which offers discounts. This will not only encourage more people to interact with the campaign but will also motivate them to add products to their shopping carts and make payments.

iii. TikTok KOL Marketing to Increase the Campaign's Exposure and Publicity

Colgate invited renowned TikTok video creators from various fields to participate in the challenge at the beginning of the campaign. Their massive fan base boosted campaign visibility, and these notable individuals as vocalizers encouraged users to interact more, enhancing the virality.

iv. Implementing TikTok's Ad Formats to Boost the Advertising Effect

Colgate utilized TikTok to position its own advertising, with In-Feed Ads and TopViews as the primary ad formats. The challenge was featured as a Banner and # In List on TikTok's Discovery page.

Colgate TikTok Marketing Result

#WinWithASmile Branded Hashtag Challenge by Colgate was indeed a big success. The challenge drew over 1.2 million participants, contributing 2.2 million videos on TikTok, as well as generating 2.2 billion video views. Aside from these impressive statistics, a Brand Lift Study was carried out in all three areas with excellent outcomes. Specifically in Indonesia, Brand Awareness grew by 14.77%, Intent to Purchase climbed by 10.44%, and Ad-Recall increased by 42.85 %.

2.4 PUBG Mobile: #chaybodensang (Run To The Light) Campaign

· 229M video views

· 14.4M engagement

· 90K video submitted

PUBG is a well-known battle royale game that has a large number of supporters. In head to stand out from the fierce competition in the gaming industry, PUBG Mobile jumped on TikTok to expand its player base and grab the attention of its existing and potential players. More than half of Southeast Asia’s TikTok users are under the age of 30, which perfectly matches PUBG Mobile’s target demographic, and so the TikTok marketing campaign was extremely effective there. The core of this campaign was to increase reach and engagement; thus, they designed the #chaybodensang (Run To The Light) Branded Hashtag Challenge campaign.

i. TikTok Celebrity Effect Hash Tag Competition

PUBG teamed up with Jack, a well-known Vietnamese celebrity, to make a challenge to TikTok viewers to sing with Jack, sprint with Jack, and leap over Jack.

ii. TikTok Marketing by Boosting Participant Incentives

The TikTok campaign was meant to capitalize on Jack's popularity but also on PUBG Mobile's desire to promote their games. In view of this, they offered gifts related to Jack and PUBG during the campaign, such as Jack's autographed "PUBG Mobile x Jack" product (e.g., mobile phone cases and T-shirts), to provide stronger incentives to drive participation and optimize reach.

PUBG Mobile has also vowed to contribute 1 VND to a charity fund for every kilometer people run in the challenge. The campaign attracted more individuals to participate, as well as non-gamers, and therefore extended the campaign to a wider audience, capturing more potential players.

iii. TikTok Customized Branded Effect

Pan is a well-known weapon in PUBG so as the public, and even non-PUBG players have heard jokes and parodies about it. Therefore, PUBG mobile takes advantage of this feature and generated a specially made effect for the campaign. In addition to the pan, the effect also incorporates the game's bulletproof undershirt and helmet. When the video producer applies the branded effect, the recorded video recognizes the human body and "dresses you up" in gear, so the audience not only notices the KOL but also the PUBG content.

iv. TikTok Advertisements as a Spark to Start the Campaign

With a smart branded Effect, appealing branded Music, and an engaging branded Hashtag Challenge in place, all that was needed was a firestarter to kickstart the campaign. One of the TikTok marketing strategies used by PUBG mobile was Auction ads. PUBG Mobile used In-Feed Ads with the objective of increasing challenge awareness and reach, whereas Brand Takeover ads were not only useful for encouraging visits to PUBG Mobile's profile and increasing its follower count, but they also encouraged TikTok users to participate in the viral challenge.

PUBG Mobile TikTok Marketing Result

The #chaybodensang (Run To The Light) Branded Hashtag Challenge was a huge success, combining celebrity collaboration with TikTok marketing. During the six-day campaign, 90k challenge videos were published, making a total of 229 million views and 14.4 million engagements, and PUBG mobile acquired more than 40,000 subscribers.

2.5 ZALORA: #ZStyleNow Challenge

· 1.1K video creations

· 19.75% brand takeover CTR

· 991K video views

ZALORA is one of the most popular fashion e-commerce platforms in Asia. With over 3,000 worldwide brands and designers, ZALORA offers distinctive designs and commodities for a variety of styles. To encourage TikTok's vast audience to join in the ZALORA fashion festival, ZALORA decided to hold a unique branded hashtag challenge in Singapore. ZALORA wrapped off the campaign with uniquely designed performance advertising that raises awareness for its hashtag challenge while also driving new app installations.

Zalora selected Singapore and created the campaign on the Hash Tag Challenge, one of the most popular features of TikTok marketing.

i. Fashion Sharing Hash Tag Challenge

ZALORA's #ZStyleNow challenge invites participants to flash the "Z" signal to the beat of the event's custom branded music, which will activate the illusion of an immediate dress-up.

ii. Stimulate the Desire to Share and Offer Chances

ZALORA addressed the audience's pain point by offering young people a fantastic opportunity to showcase their fashion style with others through a Hash Tag Challenge, which addressed the audience's need to "show off" and let ZALORA's challenge became widely popular. The young audience fit right in, with TikTok serving as their de facto forum for self-expression.

iii. Engaging Prizes

To encourage yet more participation, ZALORA announced at the end of the challenge that each winner would receive up to $200 in ZALORA products.

iv. Using TikTok Marketing to Power Campaigns

ZALORA conducted a full A/B test of the ad creative utilizing TikTok's brand takeover and in-app banner advertisements, which enhanced exposure to ZALORA's branded hashtag challenge while increasing traffic to ZALORA's website and garnering new visitors.

Zalora TikTok Marketing Result

The TikTok marketing effort delivered extraordinarily positive outcomes, with the #ZStyleNow challenge video achieving almost one million views in Singapore with just 5.86M individuals and 62K users participating in the challenge video's production. The brand takeover click-through rate (CTR) reached an astounding 19.75%.

In addition, during the planning period, ZALORA used TikTok marketing services to test the campaign and not only achieved amazing results, but also significantly reduced the cost per click and cost per install by 54.3% and 27% respectively.

3. What Makes a TikTok Marketing Campaign Go Viral?

We can see some similarities between the aforementioned five successful TikTok marketing cases.

i. Effective Use of TikTok KOLs and Ad Features for TikTok Marketing

Many brands are using KOL marketing in their TikTok marketing strategies. For example, Garnier Vietnam invited the well-known Vietnamese singer Amee, and Colgate engaged TikTok creators to be the callers for their marketing campaigns, therefore enhancing exposure by leveraging their fan base. TikTok's own advertising tactics, such as Sparks Ad, In-Feed Ad, TopView Ad, and so on, were employed in addition to influencers to reach more audiences and produce a geometric spread similar to viral marketing campaign.

ii. High Audience Engagement - Turns the Audience into the Medium for TikTok Marketing

TikTok marketing essentially takes advantage of TikTok's high audience involvement feature. Brands can fully exploit the TikTok KOCs to become the "host", which accelerates the spread of the marketing campaign while also letting them be the brand's target. This enables the marketing campaign to generate a lot of buzz at a minimal cost while still being successfully realized.

iii. Offer Incentives to Stimulate Audience Engagement & Drive Purchase Decisions

Prizes are often used in the aforementioned five cases to attract customers to participate in TikTok marketing campaigns, such as PUBG's product in collaboration with Jack for the best video producer, and ZALORA's $200 in ZALORA products.

TikTok marketing focuses on the user experience of driving purchasing decisions, in addition to the incentive of rewards. For example, McDonald's Thailand employs Sparks Ad, which places brand-related links, such as a download or add-to-cart button, beneath the creator's video. This raises the potential for conversions.

On top of the TikTok marketing's conversion approach, there are several ways for companies to entice users to make purchases or download apps, such as Colgate's 6-day Coupon Rewards program and Garnier's simple user journeys, which are all tailored experiences. These businesses have created plans based on a clear user profile to assist them in making TikTok marketing decisions.

Summary

Never miss the TikTok market with huge market potential and a vast audience base! Brands can leverage TikTok's high audience engagement feature and develop TikTok marketing campaigns like Hash Tag Challenges and collaborate with TikTok KOLs to drive audience participation in video creation and make your TikTok marketing campaign go viral. After getting inspiration from the above creative TikTok marketing brands, are you interested in developing a highly engaging and trendy TikTok marketing campaign like them? In AsiaPac, we have a team of seasoned TikTok experts who can provide you with tailored TikTok marketing solutions and maximize your campaign’s performance. Click here to enhance your TikTok strategies now!

About AsiaPac Net Media

With an extensive digital marketing experience of serving more than 2,500 clients across Asia in sectors such as ecommerce, finance, gaming, travel, retail, beauty, FMCG, education, health products etc., AsiaPac’s expert team is highly recognized for the excellence in providing performance-driven services to businesses across Asia, and global corporates targeting Asia markets. If you’d like to learn more about AsiaPac and the work we’ve done, visit our Cases page. For more information on AsiaPac/ AdTech and our services, please contact us at info@asiapac.com.hk/ info@adtechinno.com.