Previous winners
Take inspiration from the winners of the 2023 TikTok Ad Awards. These brands and agencies embraced everything that TikTok embodies, leaning into entertainment, culture, creators and unfussy creative to build campaigns that truly resonated with their audiences.
Greatest TikTok 2023
IQ | ABBY.WORLD | Wavemaker
Tapping into culture and scaling an important message
Trends that start on TikTok have the ability to move off the platform and create real cultural moments. That's why Swedish brand IQ, armed with an important message, leveraged the platform to launch a culturally defining campaign that empowered young people to drink more responsibly. To portray the complex relationships between youth and alcohol, IQ planned to create a TikTok-first drama series to reach its target group, but first the brand needed to find the last actor for the drama. They utilised TikTok's Duet feature and invited people across Sweden to audition for a role in the drama. The campaign generated hundreds of entertaining videos and leaned into TikTok-first practices such as breaking the fourth wall to engage directly with viewers, using native text and creating a lo-fi aesthetic that felt authentic and allowed the audience to connect with the topic on a personal level. These videos were then promoted using Spark Ads, TopView Ads, Top Feed Ads and In-Feed Ads. The campaign ended up generating enough audition videos to surpass the brand's target by 910%, and to help source the perfect candidate to play the role in the drama, all through TikTok. All in all, the campaign drove more than 16 million views, 156,000 likes, a 447% increase in followers, a 13.9% increase in ad recall and 13.6% increase in awareness.
Greatest Creative 2023
Cloetta Suomi Oy / TV Mix | Bängeri Oy | ToinenPHD
Broadening appeal by working with TikTok creators and tapping into trends
Successful TikTok campaigns embody the platform's ethos of authenticity and creativity, so working with creators and staying close to trends is a surefire way for brands to engage audiences. Confectionary brand Cloetta wanted to broaden the appeal of their Nomppa candy, so they developed an innovative creator-led campaign to engage the TikTok community. The brand incorporated a playful Live format and invited users to discover the candy's inner secrets. With platform-native content like an ASMR eggshell-peeling livestream parody video boosted as Spark Ads, the brand reached more than 986,000 customers and achieved a staggering average watch time of 7.3 seconds.
Greatest Performance 2023
Oddlygood | Bright Mind Agency
Gaining market share and standing out in a crowded competitor landscape
If your brand's goal is to stand out, then there's no better place to make your mark with audiences than on the platform that prizes uniqueness and individuality. Oat drink brand Oddlygood wanted to stand out in a crowded market, so they leveraged TikTok's creative tool CapCut to make sure they were speaking their audience's language, entertaining them and bringing value. After boosting their content as Spark Ads and In-Feed Ads, the brand's rating on the Nepa brand tracker climbed from 34% to 72% in just two months, putting them in first place when compared to other oat drink brands. Further, offline sales reached an all-time high and increased by more than 40%, showing that TikTok is the go-to platform to engage audiences and, critically, convert that engagement into real-world action and sales.
Greatest Small Business 2023
Brödinstitutet | Jung Relations
Changing perceptions with humorous TikTok-first content
Brödinstitutet embarked on a mission to reshape young adults’ perception of whole grain bread. Featuring Maria Sitell, CMO of the Bread Institute, in satirical documentary sketches, the campaign used humor to engage viewers authentically. Leveraging previous trends on TikTok along with Spark Ads and In-Feed Ads, the intentionally "dry" content sparked organic engagement that felt native to the platform, resulting in 840,000 video completions, 28,000 engagements, and 25,000 campaign page visits. TikTok played a pivotal role, funneling over 80% of website traffic and securing 20,000 engagements out of 28,000 total, with a post-campaign analysis revealing a 30% increase in regular consumption of whole grain bread among viewers. This transformative journey not only engaged audiences but also created a shift towards healthier dietary habits, marking a true win for Brödinstitutet.