Successful TikTok Campaigns: Learn From the Best

Advertisers are finally taking TikTok seriously. After all, TikTok’s video-centric approach and viral trends are perfect for brand promotion. The unique rules on the platform also give brands new opportunities to build successful TikTok campaigns. 

Discover the best of the best ad campaigns and get in on action!

What Makes a Successful TikTok Campaign? 

TikTok did not only redesign the social media landscape; it also redefined advertising on social platforms. What worked on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, etc. did not always automatically generate the same results on TikTok. 

Advertisers could not simply re-post or repackage their successful ads for TikTok viewers. 

On TikTok, a big budget, an expensive production, or an A-list celebrity won’t cut it. An ad has to resonate well with viewers to generate its intended reaction. Authenticity is crucial to a successful campaign. 

This is why content creators and creator-led campaigns rule the advertising realm on TikTok. They create the highest resonance with viewers as they’re also the most in touch with audiences’ needs and interests. 

If you need help running a campaign that converts, explore influencer marketing, TikTok UGC, and other creator collaborations. Learn how to use the various search and discovery tools on TikTok, such as Creator Search Insights and TikTok Ads Library, for inspiration. 

Now, it’s time to get down to business. Let’s take a look at ten of the most successful TikTok marketing campaigns to inspire your own ad creatives! 

1. #WhatsYourPower From Netflix

As part of its promotion for the movie Project Power, Netflix launched the #WhatsYourPower campaign on TikTok. It leveraged user-generated content (UGC) and encouraged users to get as creative as possible in making videos that showcased their superpower.

Using the campaign’s associated filter, which randomly selected a superpower, users had tons of fun editing their videos to reveal their power!

2. Marc Jacobs’ “Perfect as I Am” Campaign

The uplifting and positive message of self-love encapsulated the “Perfect as I am” campaign, which promoted the brand’s “Perfect” fragrance. 

Generating a total of 1.6 million posts, the #PerfectAsIAm hashtag challenged users to duet with the TikTok influencer @RickeyThompson’s video. Celebrating self-love and individuality, participants showed how they are #PerfectAsIAm, or exactly as they are. 

3. Charli D’amelio for Dunkin’

Dunkin took the influencer marketing route and teamed up with a proud Dunkin’ fan and top TikTok creator, Charli D’amelio! The brand successfully tapped into D’amelio’s massive influence and used her channel to reach younger audiences. 

The infamous TikTok celebrity created more than 120 videos featuring Dunkin’ products. The posts were not extraordinary from a creative perspective, but the entire campaign was extremely successful nonetheless. Dunkin’ had a 57% increase in app downloads. When they released a new drink, they had a 20% sales boost on launch day and a 45% increase the next day. 

4. #ChewyChattyPets for Chewy 

The hashtag campaign leveraged fur parents’ love for personifying their beloved pets. Chewy, an online pet food retailer in the U.S., encouraged users to share videos of their fur kids’ funny inner monologues. 

The #ChewyChatty campaign generated nearly 600 submissions less than 24 hours after the launch and a phenomenal 1.8 billion + impressions over the first three days. Currently, the hashtag has more than one million posts.

5. Crumble Cookies’ Rotating Menu FOMO Campaign

The popular North American cookie brand is known not just for its mouthwatering cookie recipes but also for its weekly new-flavor releases. 

Each new cookie flavor is available for a limited time, and the brand leveraged the fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) culture for its TikTok campaign. 

The campaign ran for two months and featured sexy and mouth watering TikTok ads promoting new, weekly flavors. By the end of the campaign, the brand had reached 22 million accounts and had a 1,500% increase in followers!

6. Amazon’s #PajamaJam Campaign

Amazon Fashion’s holiday #PajamaJam TikTok campaign communicated the brand’s message of inclusivity. The company worked with the with Movers+Shakers creative agency to design the hashtag challenge that came with an original song. 

Participants wore pajamas they ordered from Amazon and got creative with their catwalks as the song played. The campaign successfully grew brand affinity, generating more than 13K posts and one billion video views in the first 24 hours.

7. Levi’s “Future Finish” Campaign

The campaign combined influencer marketing and shoppable in-feed ads to help boost sales after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Levi’s worked with four TikTok influencers, who created bespoke denim designs for the brand. Each creator’s personalized Levi’s design ran as an in-feed ad for a week and was available for purchase for that week only. Users could purchase the design directly via the ad’s Shop Now button. 

Levi’s reported double the watch time for their influencer videos compared to the platform average. “Future Finish” product views on their website more than doubled. 

8. Crocs’ #CrocTok Ads

The #CrocTok hashtag takes a page straight out of the practice of appending a TikTok du jour subculture with the “Tok” syllable. And it makes sense for the unfashionable notoriety of the brand’s footwear! 

#CrocTok ads embrace and dare to flaunt the iconic quirkiness of the brand’s line of products. Most #CrocTok ads show fashionista wannabes and dads modeling their purchases with delightful and even aesthetic posts! 

9. Vessi’s “Stop Crying and Go Get Some Vessis” Influencer Marketing Campaign

The relatively small Canadian shoe brand teamed up with Canadian TikToker Kris Collins for the hilarious campaign. As the “CEO of dry socks,” Vessi and Collins promoted the water-resistant footwear via a collection of parody videos on TikTok. The campaign is consistent with the brand’s good-natured humor in its organic posts. 

10. GymShark’s #ChangeYourLife Challenge

The British sportswear brand was among the first to create a successful branded hashtag challenge on TikTok. GymShark’s #ChangeYourLife challenge is a simple reinterpretation of the countless fitness challenges on social media. 

Although formulaic, the #ChangeYourLife campaign, also known as #GymShark66, was a big hit on the relatively new platform. The challenge encouraged participants to set a fitness goal and upload a video of themselves on the first day of 2019. 

After 66 days, they had to upload a video of their transformation. Winners of the challenge took home a year’s supply of GymShark merch. 

Successful TikTok Campaigns: Frequently Asked Questions

If you want to guarantee the success of your brand’s marketing strategy, run your campaign on TikTok! It’s never too late to hop on the TikTok bandwagon and start building your brand on the wildly popular platform. 

Let’s answer a few FAQ to better steer you towards a successful TikTok advertising journey!

Explore Rewarding Advertising Opportunities on TikTok

While you may need to develop a separate marketing strategy for TikTok, it’s well worth the effort! TikTok’s unique landscape also offers new opportunities for advertisers to build brand awareness and affinity, promote a product/service, or boost sales. 

Compared to other social media channels, TikTok encourages a personal and authentic approach — even with ad campaigns. This is one of the ways that the platform reinforces its support for its creators. 

Hopefully, our list of successful TikTok campaigns helps spark some of your brightest and most creative ad ideas! 

Learn from the best of the best, particularly those in your industry. Utilize all the resources available on TikTok to discover trends that can inspire your next incredible campaign and many more after. 

Need expert help to reach your target viewers? Sign up for a High Social plan! 

Make sure your next ad will find its way to more genuinely interested audiences with High Social’s advanced, proprietary AI targeting solution. Start growing your TikTok today! 

TikTok 101