The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has kicked off for 2023, bringing together those that work in creative communications and advertising from every corner of the planet.
Mediaweek is on location in the South of France, chatting to some of the most influential people in both Australian and global media. First up is Brett Armstrong, TikTok Australia’s general manager.
With over one billion users globally every month, and hashtags like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt reaching over 56 billion views, the team behind the app have a massive sample size when it comes to collecting data. TikTok has found that 47% of a brand’s sales lift from advertising comes from the creative more than any other element, and that nearly eight in ten (79%) TikTokers agree the platform is a place for brands to demonstrate a bit of personality and express themselves.
As for the brands already on TikTok? The platform has found that one in two people on TikTok say they would trust a brand that partners with creators more.
The Carlton Hotel, TikTok’s home in Cannes
TikTok at Cannes
TikTok is involved with the organisation outside of France, sponsoring the Young Lions back in Australia. On top of their existing work, Armstrong says that there is a reason that the team see are so keen to have a presence at Cannes
“One thing that hit me coming to Cannes is that this is the centre of excellence for creativity in advertising. Everyone is here. In Australia, we’ve always punched above our weight – Australian creatives, they do a good job for a small country, they come here and do really well, you can see that in all the awards.
“The reason why we’re here is because Australia is batting above their average. It’s always been a creative mega house of the world, and this is the perfect place to come and celebrate – and to make sure that we’re helping our partners do even more.”
As a platform, Armstrong says that one of the driving forces or TikTok is making an impact, both on communities and the brands looking to reach them
“One thing I talk about a lot, TikTok is the power of the community. This is where the future of I think the industry is heading – for the creatives that are coming here, excitingly TikTok has created a whole new way for them to get messages out. For brands, 41% of people that see an ad from a brand on TikTok trust it more than before.
“How do we enable this amazing next generation of future talent, like what we’re doing with the Young Lions, to empower them with the tools and understanding so they can take these ideas further? We’re just the stage, we’re not the ones creating the culture and trends in the world – but we will make it easy for them.”
Australians on TikTok
Despite being such a global app, Australians are some of the largest consumers of TikTok in the world, a fact that Armstrong says comes back to the fact that the app has built such a strong – and uniquely Aussie – community.
“Australians don’t take themselves too seriously, and TikTok is the perfect example of just being real and having fun. The more real and vulnerable people are on the platform, the more connection you get.
“We’ve seen the numbers, more than eight and a half million people are on the platform, so a large percentage of Australia is now getting involved. We’ve got very creative and humorous people in Australia, and the tools are pretty easy for anyone to make content with.”
It’s not just Gen Z on TikTok anymore either, with Australians from all walks of life getting involved.
“The good thing is you can see from the number of Australians that are on the platform, that there’s something there for everyone,” says Armstrong. “This is the beauty of the platform, what you see, what I see, and what my parents see are all going to be very different because it’s about immersing yourself in the world. What I think everyone that gets on the platform has seen is that the content is just so bloody good and authentic. It doesn’t matter who you are, you’ve got a tribe and a community that is going to resonate.”
Businesses on TikTok
For as hard as TikTok plays, Armstrong says that it works just as hard.
“The platform is thriving. It was so good to announce 350,000 Australian businesses are now on board – we’re seeing not only people getting in there and being entertained, but we’re seeing businesses realise that connecting with Australians, and people around the world, really impacted driving success.
“The thing that excites me is that I’ve seen brands coming to us in the team every day saying ‘This was one of the best things we’ve done, we’re selling so many products’. A big part of our team’s job is to get out in market and help these agencies, partners, brand managers, and mums and dads to be effective, and to understand how they can use this tool to get their business, their story, and their product across to these communities.”
TikTok has always been a platform that creatives have taken to like a duck to water. While integrating commerce into that space may seem like a potential challenge, Armstrong says that the move has really just been an evolution of what we already know about advertising.
“Creativity is what is driving the success of commerce, it’s not an ‘or’, it’s an ‘and’. We’re seeing success for brands like L’Oreal in Australia, and Sara Lee selling out off the shelves. These are big brands that have a very long history of advertising, but they tapped into the authenticity of the platform.
“Advertising hasn’t changed, the rules about what creates an engaging ad are the same. All those factors that we learned years ago, that took 21 years for TV to harness from the first day, businesses have figured out in a matter of months here. For me, it’s a matter of helping these creatives understand the capability and ease of platform, and making it as easy as possible to get that idea across.”
The future of the platform
The tech sphere is changing so rapidly that it can be hard to look ahead to what comes next. However, with a clear eye on the future, Armstrong and the TikTok team have got a few predictions.
“The good thing about TikTok is that everyone is a producer – anyone can get on tomorrow and create a bit of content that’s going to work really well. Even for advertisers, one of the strengths in driving good campaigns is making sure you’ve got enough content, keeping it fresh, and learning from what works. But fundamentally, it’s these creators and people coming up with ideas.
“From a future perspective, despite the tools already making it easy to create ads and content, I think we’re going to see even more advances in ways that we can remove some of those administrative tasks and make it easy to scale content. Ultimately, it’s going to still require those creative ideas.”
What type of TikToker is Brett Armstrong?
As a man who works with huge amounts of content each and every day, Mediaweek couldn’t let Armstrong leave without asking what his favourite corners of TikTok are.
“I love DIY, despite being in my business clothes all week, I definitely love to get my hands dirty working in the yard and building things. I love to cook, so FoodTok is a big one for me. There are some great chefs like Max Mariola where I learn how to make pasta or how to barbecue.
“Food, DIY and probably music are a few of my passion points.”
See Also: Brett Armstrong: Would my early career be different today? You can bank on it
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Top Image: Brett Armstrong