Earlier this week, my friend Simon Andrews and I hosted a webinar on how brands should be approaching TikTok as a marketing channel.
We were fortunate to have David Hoctor (Brand Partnerships EMEA, TikTok) and Pankaj Duhan (Marketing Director, RB South Asia) join us and provide their perspective on TikTok.
Pankaj was responsible for orchestrating the biggest ever TikTok ad campaign, a multi-market campaign across Asia by the disinfectant/cleaning supply brand Dettol. Pankaj spent a lot of time telling us how they came up with the big idea and how he was very satisfied with the campaign results.
Dettol worked with a handful of local TikTok creators to do a ‘branded hashtag challenge,’ which was a song and dance routine that encouraged healthy hand washing behaviour. The TikTok creators first did their own videos of the #HandWashChallenge and then encouraged users to create and share their own versions.
Even though the campaign happened in March, you can still look up the #HandWashChallenge page on TikTok and see that the challenge has accumulated 124 Billion Views.
Can you please say that to yourself out loud? 124 BILLION views. The scale is insane.
While many of us on the webinar were reflecting in awe at the results, what happened next completely changed the tone of the discussion.
Inevitably, someone then asked David about the “Chinese elephant in the room;” TikTok being banned in India and what might happen in other markets like the US.
If this was a real-life workshop and not a Zoom webinar, I’m sure the attendees would have heard my heart start beating faster and my palms begin to sweat. The last thing I wanted to do was create an unnecessarily political discussion or make anyone attending the webinar feel uncomfortable.
Thankfully, all my fears were assuaged by what happened next…
David answered the question with exceptional professionalism. His answer was incredibly comprehensive, pragmatic and in my opinion very impressive.
The underlying message we all understood was that whatever happens next is in the hands of government and no one in our webinar could change that.
Pre-emptive disclosure: David (from TikTok) and I actually used to work together on the same team at Facebook.
Putting aside politically-driven decisions around technology, it’s important to point out that this example of TikTok creative excellence came from Asia. We’ve come to a point where Asia is the place to see not only some of the most innovative technology (like TikTok/Bytedance) but some of the most forward-thinking marketing.
When I worked at Facebook, I managed relationships with clients at a global level. A large part of my job was assessing which countries did the best or worst job for the global brand. For example, when my client was Heineken I would run data analysis, create reports, and present to global executives on how well each country was doing.
Was Heineken Mexico selling more beers through Facebook ads versus Heineken Nigeria? Which Heineken country in Europe had the most creative, award-winning ads over the last quarter? How well was each country around the world using the quantifiable best practices around how to buy and optimise Facebook ads?
One major insight from my five years doing this job was that innovation comes from the most unlikely places.
It usually wasn’t Heineken USA that was most creative, it was a market like Vietnam. When my client was Ford Motor Company, the most creative European markets were usually smaller ones like Portugal or Belgium. When I worked with Procter & Gamble, we looked to markets in Asia-Pacific as having the most sophisticated marketing.
And when Simon and I scoured through dozens of TikTok case studies, we found Dettol’s multi-market campaign across Asia as the perfect example.
So whatever happens to TikTok or any tech platform, the people in Asia like RB’s Pankaj Duhan will be the ones who ensure Asia remains at the frontier of marketing.
Most popular East West Hurricane post this week:
Good media I have consumed recently:
CNBC is reporting that TikTok is poaching many Facebook and Google employees. To me, that’s one of the most important signs related to the future health of a company. A mass exodus of Google employees to start working at Facebook preceded one of the company’s greatest periods of growth.
Scott Galloway’s latest No Mercy/No Malice article ‘Fire & Fawning’ has him posing hypothetical questions to the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook who are set to testify in front of US House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. The questions are tough and some of the best framing I’ve ever heard for tech executives.
TikTok launches 200 million dollar fund for US creators and US investors allegedly looking to buy TikTok - both are strong examples of TikTok playing offence and defence against the recent scrutiny.
Lauren Hallanan, an American former livestreamer in China, shares her experiences with Chinese livestreaming and if/how it could work in the West.
My friend Simon Andrews’ newsletter is Mobile Fix. I’ve read so many tech newsletters and can honestly say this is one of the best and most underrated.
P.S. If you are interested in watching our full TikTok webinar, you can find it here at this link. *Please do not share this widely and please reach out first if you would like to play this for any public audience.*
Weekly Update July 26 - Politics and Creativity