1: Greatest Creative

Award Description: The Greatest Creative award recognizes a brand’s ability to craft an outstanding overall creative strategy on TikTok. This includes a clever blend of organic content and paid media, along with a deep understanding of TikTok’s unique features and trends. The goal is to build a TikTok-first presence that resonates with the platform’s culture, captures attention, and drives engagement.

Winner: KFC – Oil Up Campaign

• Credits: KFC | Uncovered | Mindshare
• Campaign Overview:
  KFC’s “Oil Up” campaign exemplified what it means to take full advantage of TikTok’s viral, trend-driven culture. With a goal to become an iconic brand among Gen Z in the UK, KFC tapped into the emerging TikTok slang “Oil Up,” which had already been adopted by several brands, including Duolingo, creating a perfect opportunity to engage with the platform’s younger audience.
• Strategy:
  The campaign began with social listening via BrandWatch to monitor trends and TikTok Creative Centre for insights on platform usage. The team quickly identified that “Oil Up” was a popular term used by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, which fit perfectly with KFC’s quirky, humorous brand voice. Instead of creating generic ads, KFC produced a hero video featuring a London warehouse, a paddling pool, two giant bottles of cooking oil, and—of course—KFC’s famous herbs and spices.
  • Teaser Strategy:
    KFC used a series of organic teasers, including engaging with users through the reply-to-comment format, to build anticipation before launching the hero ad. The organic interaction sparked significant curiosity, making the audience feel involved in the build-up to the campaign’s release.
• Execution and Results:
  • Organic Reach: The organic teasers alone reached over 2.3 million unique users, demonstrating how TikTok’s community-driven culture can organically drive massive reach without relying solely on paid media.
  • Engagement: The campaign generated over 560K unique interactions (likes, shares, comments, and saves), with positive sentiment from the audience.
  • Paid Media Impact: KFC amplified the campaign using Spark Ads and In-Feed Ads, reaching even more users and driving the CPM down significantly while maintaining engagement levels.
  • Total Reach Growth: The paid ads helped increase KFC’s reach by 21%, proving that when combined with organic content, TikTok’s paid ad formats can enhance the campaign’s effectiveness and efficiency.
• Key Takeaway:
  KFC’s “Oil Up” campaign is a textbook example of how brands can make a significant impact on TikTok by tapping into emerging trends, using humor, and crafting content that feels native to the platform. By blending organic and paid content seamlessly, KFC demonstrated that creative content is not only the heart of TikTok ads but also a key driver of efficiency.

Jury Insights:
Claire Beale, co-founder of Creative Salon Worldwide, emphasized how KFC embraced TikTok’s culture in a way that felt genuine and resonated with their Gen Z audience. This campaign showed that fantastic creative content can drive not only attention but also long-term engagement and efficiency.

 2: Greatest Performance

Award Description: The Greatest Performance award celebrates the brand or campaign that demonstrated exceptional use of TikTok-first creative and campaign strategy to achieve outstanding lower-funnel results, such as sales, conversions, or customer acquisition.

Winner: The Works – BookTok Campaign

• Credits: The Works | Nonsensical: The TikTok Agency
• Campaign Overview:
  In 2024, The Works, a UK-based retailer specializing in books, toys, and games, leveraged the “BookTok” trend to drive both online and in-store sales. The campaign’s main objective was to capitalize on the viral BookTok community—a group of TikTok users who regularly share book recommendations, reviews, and reading hauls—to increase engagement and boost sales of trending titles.
• Strategy:
  The Works’ approach was highly methodical, focusing on test-and-learn principles. They began producing TikTok-native videos and collaborated with key BookTok creators to amplify their content. The videos showcased popular books in creative ways, mimicking the BookTok haul format and BookTok Live sessions to maintain engagement and relevance. By constantly refreshing the content to reflect trending books and keeping a dynamic presence, The Works kept their audience engaged throughout 2023 and into 2024.
• Execution and Results:
  • ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): The campaign achieved a ROAS of 9.6, a 77% YoY increase, showing the effectiveness of TikTok as a channel for driving sales.
  • CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): The Works successfully reduced their CPA year-over-year, optimizing ad spend and improving conversion rates.
  • Sales Surge: By aligning with the BookTok community, the campaign generated a surge in online sales, proving that TikTok can be an effective tool for driving direct purchases.
  • Engagement Metrics: The campaign’s success wasn’t just about sales. It also fostered organic conversations around the featured books, driving social proof and peer recommendations through TikTok comments and shares.
• Key Takeaway:
  The Works’ success with the BookTok campaign highlights how TikTok’s organic, community-driven trends can be leveraged not just for brand awareness but to drive measurable business outcomes, including direct sales. The campaign’s test-and-learn approach ensured that content remained fresh and aligned with audience interests, demonstrating how agility and platform insights are essential for TikTok success.

Jury Insights:
Olly Gosling, VP of Strategy at Influencer, commended The Works for their multi-pronged strategy, which combined organic engagement with a targeted paid media approach. The campaign didn’t just meet performance goals; it reshaped the company’s understanding of how TikTok could influence purchasing decisions and behaviors.

3: Greatest Branding

Award Description: The Greatest Branding award rewards the most innovative branding campaign that demonstrated exceptional upper-funnel results, such as awareness and brand differentiation.

Winner: Dove – #TheFaceof10 Campaign

• Credits: Dove | Mindshare | Ogilvy UK
• Campaign Overview:
  In early 2024, Dove responded to the unsettling trend of young children (as young as 10 years old) purchasing anti-aging products. This social commentary went viral, and Dove saw an opportunity to address this harmful beauty standard. As a brand that has long championed real beauty, Dove launched the #TheFaceof10 campaign to promote self-love and challenge the ageist beauty ideals that were creeping into the market.
• Strategy:
  Dove used TikTok’s native, full-screen, sound-on format to create powerful, authentic content that encouraged viewers to embrace their natural beauty. They collaborated with diverse creators—including parents, body positivity advocates, and even celebrities—to spread the message that a 10-year-old’s face should not be a canvas for anti-aging products.
  • Creator Collaboration: The creators used TikTok’s interactive features such as transitions, captions, and stitches to create content that felt authentic and engaging while promoting Dove’s message.
  • Spark Ads Strategy: To amplify the organic content, Dove used Spark Ads to ensure the message reached a wider audience without losing the authentic, native feel that TikTok is known for.
• Execution and Results:
  • Reach: The campaign reached over 7.8 million unique individuals, sparking widespread conversations about beauty standards.
  • Impression Growth: Dove overdelivered on its planned impressions by 34%, proving the power of authentic, creator-led content to amplify brand messaging.
  • Brand Impact: The campaign not only raised awareness but also positioned Dove as a leader in the conversation about self-love, reinforcing the brand’s long-standing commitment to real beauty.
• Key Takeaway:
  Dove’s #TheFaceof10 campaign is a perfect example of how a brand can use TikTok’s unique format and creator-driven content to spark important conversations and raise awareness about critical social issues. By staying true to its core values and utilizing TikTok’s tools, Dove was able to create an authentic and emotionally resonant campaign that resonated deeply with the platform’s audience.

Jury Insights:
Melo Meacher-Jones, Head of Social & Influencer Strategy at Accenture Song, praised the #TheFaceof10 campaign for its bravery in tackling a controversial topic and its effective use of TikTok’s interactive and inclusive features to amplify the brand’s core message.