9 Best TikTok Ads That Can Help You Level Up Your Marketing
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You know what's the one thing that all successful marketers have in common? They study successful ad campaigns. And with TikTok's momentous rise to fame among Gen Z and Millennials, you better get your pen and paper out to study the best TikTok ads.
Despite launching only 6 years ago, TikTok has become one of the most successful platforms in 2022 with tons of active users.
With more than 1 billion active users, TikTok can surely help you scale your business if you can get your ads right. So, marketers who want to get their brand recognized in the eyes of Millennials and Gen Z better take stock of their TikTok ads.
And what's more important is that Millennials and Gen Z are skeptical towards aggressive advertising. So, your TikTok advertising has to be on point.
Putting all this doom and gloom aside, you can still get TikTok users to engage with your ads. You just need to know what to do. And that's exactly what I'm going to show you by breaking down the 9 best TikTok ads of recent times.
Quick tip if you're in a rush:
VEED is an excellent video editing tool that makes the process of turning videos into branded ads as simple as 1-click. Not only does it let you easily create a brand kit to keep your videos consistent but it's also includes auto-transcriptions (with translations into different languages), editing tools, team collaboration functionality, and more.
Contents
Common Features of the Best TikTok ads
All good TikTok advertising is based on some core principles. Sure, you can tweak here and there, do some A/B split tests, and change the already established wheel a bit to see where it takes you. But the primary ingredients of a great TikTok ad remain the same.
Clear Message
So simple yet so elusive. A lot of marketers believe that TikTok users crave flashy and colorful ads. While it's true to some extent, you can't let the colors compromise clarity. Don't fall into the "getting the ads super flashy" trap.
If you don't have a clear and concise message, your ads won't go anywhere. That's why all the top-performing TikTok ads have one clear message and goal.
Getting the Right Ad Type According to Your Campaign Objective
Once you get into your TikTok ads account, you'll see that there are 6 distinct TikTok ad formats.
1. In-feed ads
2. Brand Takeover Ad
3. Topview Ads
4. Spark Ads
5. Branded Hashtag Challenge
6. Branded Effect Ads
Each TikTok ad format has its own advantages and disadvantages. If you want your TikTok ad campaigns to succeed, you need to know which ad formats work better according to your objective and target audience.
So, the best course of action here is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each ad format. Align it with the needs of your TikTok campaign and go from there.
Entertain and Engage – Don't Bore
TikTok users like to be entertained. 44% of TikTok users want the content to entertain. So, instead of hard-selling to the skeptical Gen Z and Millennial audience, the better path is to go for personality-driven TikTok advertising.
Branded hashtag challenges are a great example of engaging with TikTok users (check out more great ideas for TikTok challenges here). If a challenge goes viral, people will create tons of content by themselves.
Remember, the target of an ideal TikTok ad is to entertain and engage. So, whenever you're designing TikTok ads, make sure you're doing it with a smile on your face! And there are ways to create a viral video and grow a massive following on TikTok. You just need to either get on a trend or create one with the proper marketing.
Use Established TikTok Creators/Influencers
Influencer marketing has been around since 2009. And it can certainly work for the TikTok advertising platform as well.
TikTok creators can drive traffic. Loyal traffic. So, working with a TikTok creator is an easy way to get your brand noticed. Ads in collaboration with a TikTok creator got 65% more 2-second views.
Creators can increase the visibility of your brand through a branded hashtag challenge or by introducing your brand to their audience without hard selling.
But you need to do some homework on the creator first. Figure out what sort of audience they serve. And if a particular TikTok influencer caters to your target audience, bingo. Using creators is a powerful albeit expensive technique. So, you have to get your campaign objective in line before you collaborate with TikTok influencers.
To make your videos stand out, you can use a tool like VEED. It helps you get your videos prepped and ready quickly.
Both free and paid options are available. So, you can take this browser-based simple editor for a ride with the free version. And if you enjoy it, you can get the paid version to remove the watermark and get more premium features.
9 Best TikTok Ads Currently Worth Studying
Once you study some of the best TikTok ad examples, you'll start seeing patterns. That's when you know how TikTok campaigns work. And with TikTok becoming the new video king, you better get your study hat on.
Here, I've compiled a list of 9 top-performing recent TikTok ads. I'll explain what they're doing right and how they're getting more engagement.
Note: If reading this article makes you want to study more ads, you can always visit TikTok's Creative Center to get a quick look at all the ads that are working now.
Rocket Money
One of the most successful TikTok advertisements I've seen of late is the short ad for Rocket Money. It's in the Financial Service industry, and it got 136,331 likes within 30 days. The purpose of this ad is to get users to install their app. And they've been pretty successful at it.
It's a great example of what an in-feed ad should look like.
Takeaway
This TikTok ad has a very clear message. It shows clear benefits of why a user should download the app, gives pretty specific stats, and touches on a certain pain point. That's why it's one of the better in-feed ads.
But the voiceover is clearly AI-generated. Now, I have nothing against AI voiceovers. But the user engagement would've been much better if it were a human voice.
Get the stats on how this ad performed here!
Adventure Chef
Adventure Chef's collaboration with popular musicians The Band McMillan shows us the true power of influencer marketing. It's about two siblings where the elder sister thinks her younger brother is cheating on his girlfriend.
Turns out, he is cheating with a game - Adventure Chef.
Takeaway
It's a classic example of creators who can place products in a non-intrusive and entertaining way. At first, it looks like a normal TikTok video. But you get to see the product at the very end. And the creators never even tell people to download or play the game. They just play it themselves and have fun.
A natural-looking TikTok ad like this can get you tons of engagement. Plus, it blends in nicely with what TikTok users see every day. So, there's little chance that they're going to get their defenses up.
Disney Bundle
Well, Disney has so many Tiktok in-feed ads and such a huge fan following that we can't put our fingers on a specific ad and say that it's created all the magic. But this one stands out to me because of its vibrant colors and characters.
Takeaway
While there are a ton of Disney's in-feed ads, this one feels natural. And it's pretty colorful to boot. The color, character, voice, and animation all come together and make this ad stand out among all the in-feed ads that Disney keeps sending our way.
Find all of the details of the ads' success here!
Beat Saber X UZZO
Only a 6-second ad with no commentary. It's just a person playing the Beat Saber game. Seems pretty simple, right? Not exactly. The song playing in the background is Lizzo's 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready). Two months after premiering on August 15th, this song already got over 20 million views (check out our article on how much does TikTok pay you for 1 million views).
So, even if it's a short 6-second in-feed ad, it's hitting the right notes (pun intended).
Takeaway
This is one of those TikTok ad examples where the marketers in Beat Saber know when to cash in on trending music. Right now, this song is extremely popular. And team Beat Saber decided to bank on it to get more app installs.
It's always better to pick up something that's trending and leverage it before the fire burns out. That's exactly what this ad campaign is doing.
Plus, the objective of this ad is reach (although it's clear that Beat Saber wants more app installs). But reach gets their ad more eyeballs. So, the target here is to play the music over and over to increase ad recall.
Find out how this ad performed here.
In My Denim Campaign
A wildly successful ad campaign, the #InMyDenim ad was a combination of brand takeover and hashtag challenge. This has been one of the most successful brand takeover ads of all time in TikTok.
Guess (a popular American clothing brand) launched this hashtag challenge using 4 creators. With a brand takeover, the ad pops up right after a user opens the TikTok app. So, 4 creators led this hashtag challenge, which ended up getting 5500+ user-generated content.
Takeaway
Successful marketing campaigns are built on precise audience targeting. As the TikTok audience is mostly Gen Z, they're more likely to respond to a branded hashtag challenge where they can show off their fashion sense and style.
Appealing to the audience's desire the right way is what got Guess the brand the recognition they wanted from this ad.
Linktree Ad
A lot of rookie marketers think that TikTok is only good for advertising apparel and video games. However, the reality is quite different. If your TikTok campaigns target marketing solutions, you should get some notes from this Linktree ad.
The ad is simply an influencer telling you how she grew her TikTok account. And the solution is that you can grow a following on all social media platforms using this marketing solution.
Takeaway
This ad is a living example of the classic model – AIDA.
- The influencer gets your attention by showing you the numbers on her last post.
- She informs you that she got from 100 to 150k followers using Linktree.
- You now want the service because it stimulates a person's desire to be popular.
- Finally, there's a clear CTA towards the end directing you to Linktree's marketing solutions.
Check the stats on this ad here.
Hulu (Rosaline Trailer)
Another really interesting Tiktok ad is for the movie Rosaline. It's only available on Hulu. There's nothing unique about the ad, though. It just shows the trailer of the movie.
Takeaway
What's interesting is that Hulu has a ton of content on its platform, but the team deliberately chose Rosaline. Why?
- Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is super popular, and there have been many iterations.
- Most iterations are just a retelling of the same love story of the torn couple.
- But Rosaline is unique. It's from the perspective of the jilted ex who Romeo left behind in pursuit of Juliet.
- So, anyone who has ever read Romeo and Juliet or watched a movie/theatrical will be on board to watch this completely unique take on a legendary Shakespearean tragedy.
Upside
Upside's advert is a benchmark for TopView ads. TopView ads take up the whole screen right after a user enters their TikTok feed. So, there's a greater chance of getting people to connect with your message if you can pique their interest.
That's exactly what Upside does right with their ad. The girl stalking her neighbor can grab the user's attention immediately. And from there on out, it's a simple procedure of outlining the benefits of the app to get more installations.
Takeaway
You can understand how this ad by Upside stands out if we compare it with Fetch Reward's variation. Fetch Reward's ad is a bit more aggressive, starting with “TikTok, I'm warning you.” Now, if your target market is Gen X or early Millennials, it just might work.
But a more curiosity-based ad works well with late Millennials, and Gen Z. Interest is the keyword here. And Upside's ad has a great hook to keep users glued to their screens.
Netflix (Tribes of Europa)
TikTok's ad platform gives ad managers the opportunity to combine various forms of ads to create a completely unique and unforgettable experience. A common pairing is branded hashtag + branded takeover + branded effects.
When Tribes of Europa was a title nobody really knew about, Netflix launched their #TRIBESCHALLENGE. It quickly got a lot of love from users because of the brand takeover ad. Afterward, the online scavenger hunt from 4 popular twitch creators went viral.
The branded hashtag challenge came along with a branded effect. In short, branded effects are TikTok filters that you can use to create content around it. All three ad types came together and formed one of the most successful and elaborate ad campaigns of all time.
Takeaway
This example goes to show that you don't have to rely on a particular ad type to get clicks, sales, or engagement. TikTok ad system is different. So, you can capitalize on this uniqueness if you know how to mix things up.
With the #TRIBESCHALLENGE, Netflix put together different types of TikTok ads, brought in Twitch streamers, and created an elaborate campaign with many moving parts. In the end, the campaign was followed by people for 3+ million minutes. That's massive.
So, you should think about how you can add TikTok to your overall marketing campaign to generate more hype. That's the lesson here.
Types of TikTok Ads (Know and Capitalize)
Knowing the different types of ad creatives available in TikTok will definitely make you better at running ads. Once you know the basics, you can mix and match them to see what works and what doesn't.
In-Feed Ads
In-feed ads pop up when you're browsing through TikTok feed while watching videos. Similar to watching stories on Facebook or Instagram, these ads come in when someone is scrolling through TikTok videos recommended for them.
The time cap for these ads is 9-15 seconds, and the ads are skippable. But you can include more than one CTA (call to action) to get a click from the user.
TopView Ads
The TikTok TopView ad is pretty similar to YouTube's Masthead ads. But unlike YouTube's Masthead ad, where you need to reserve a spot, you can use TopView anytime. The ad is placed on top of the user's FOR YOU page with sound and auto-play.
So, if you want to get quick brand recognition, TopView ads are the way to go.
Branded Hashtag Challenges
I believe hashtag challenges paved the way for Tiktok's incredible audience growth. The concept here is pretty simple. A hashtag challenge prompts users to perform something or take action and create their own content.
TikTok's separate Discover page allows users to browse through different branded hashtag challenges. A challenge like this can generate thousands of user-generated content, increasing your brand's reach beyond imagination if the challenge goes viral.
Branded Effects
Branded effects pair well with hashtag challenges. It's a video filter used to create content. Whenever you see a video with a brand's colorful watermarks, that's a branded effect. These effects/filters can create brand awareness if your challenge takes off and engages users.
Branded Takeover
As the name suggests, it takes over the TikTok app. When people get into their app, a branded takeover ad comes up immediately. This ad can give you quick traction when you have a proper marketing campaign in place.
A branded takeover is expensive compared to other ad types. But it can really drill your brand image in the user's head if you can do it right!
Best TikTok Ads: Final Thoughts
All the good ad creatives come from months of studying and planning. And if you want to succeed with TikTok ads, it's important to analyze and break down the best TikTok ads to see what angles each ad is using, what hooks work, which influencers get more engagement, and how to connect with your audience.
Once you start seeing the pattern underneath, it gets easier to come up with new ad ideas. And if you're going the influencer route, you might want to know the best time to post on TikTok to give yourself a head start.
Anyways, I hope the 9 TikTok ad examples here, coupled with my personal take on why they're working, gave you an idea of how to come up with your own TikTok ad creatives. Cheers!
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