MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The last quarter of the year presents arguably the most exciting and competitive season in digital marketing. This is especially true as we approach the time of mega sales where consumers are more eager to hunt for new products and old favorites, both online and on-ground, and brands clamor to be included in consumers’ wish lists and holiday present piles. Understanding this, TikTok Philippines held “TikTok Unboxed 2024” on October 10, 2024 at The Fifth at Rockwell, presenting its latest offerings as marketers plan their end-of-the-year campaigns – showcasing how TikTok can help clients and agencies go from “Brand Fame to GMV Game,” and build their brand and drive conversions effectively.
Hosted by Joseph Albert Meñez, TikTok Philippines Channel Partnerships Lead, the event presented exciting ways to build brands on TikTok, uncover secrets to commerce success, a creative ecosystem with innovations that take creatives further, and case studies upon case studies on how they all work together to drive conversion.
Sea Yen Ong, Head of Partnerships for Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam at TikTok, kickstarted the program with thought-starting questions that will later on be answered by each of the speakers: “How can I build brand affinity with our audiences?” “Is that something that’s really really on our mind right now?” “How do I close that sale?” “How do I get more customers?”
In asking these questions, he primed the audience to be in the mindset of propelling their brand in authentic ways, and connecting with consumers through TikTok’s unique offerings. As he put it, there are three things that TikTok does very well as an ecommerce platform — Reach, Relevance, and Results — and the rest of the afternoon’s speakers illustrate exactly why that is the case.
The Main Stage Show then proceeded with five main tracks — Greater Impact with Full Funnel, Full Funnel is Built on a Strong Core, Secrets to Commerce, Building more Creatives more Easily, and Success Stories — before breaking into dedicated breakout sessions for “Journey towards Brand Frame” and “Winning the GMV Game.”
Full Funnel is Built on a Strong Core
TikTok Philippines Head of Brand Partnerships Paolo David built on this discussion by underlining the “holy grail of marketing”: upper funnel and lower funnel campaigns in one execution. “With branding, your headroom becomes bigger. But the most important currency is consideration,” he stressed.
His presentation then drove the full funnel strategy further by sharing the different features TikTok offers: Audience base and reach expansion via Top View, Top Feed, and In-Feed Ads; Capture high-intent shoppers via Product Shopping Ads (PSA); and Encourage checkout via Video Shopping Ads (VSA) and LIVE Shopping Ads (LSA).
Secrets to Commerce
Heroes and superheroes took center stage at TikTok Philippines Client Solutions Lead Jardy Adolfo’s session, empowering marketers with tools to identify their “Hero” and “Superhero” SKUs. As he put it, TikTok is a platform for discovery, but when consumers see brands on the platform, they immediately take action. This makes it a very valuable tool in identifying the products and campaigns that resonate the most to consumers, from awareness to conversion.
Jardy stressed two inflection points. First, an SKU that goes up to 30 orders each day for the last 30 days marks a Hero SKU, while a Superhero SKU are products that further accelerates to more than a hundred daily orders within the past 30 days.
Building More Creatives, More Easily
Dentsu Creative Manila then took the stage to talk about empowering creativity through TikTok’s AI programs with Chief Creative Officer Jerry Hizon, Creative Director Nonie Azores, and Associate Creative Director Hannah Magno and Business Development Director Carla Dado.
The agency shared the story of “Face of Courage,” a campaign that aims to solve real problems through Gen AI by creating a smart avatar that gives domestic violence victims a voice to tell their stories safely online. The campaign was launched on TikTok in May 2024 with its wide reach among Filipina women, resulting to 66 million reach, 506.43% engagement, and more impressive numbers presented on its case study page.
TikTok Southeast Asia Head of Global Business Marketing Anny Havercroft also took the stage to share the different tools and experts creatives have access to in different stages with TikTok as a partner, namely:
- During Ideation: Spark TikTok ideas and discover insights via Creative Center and Symphony Assistant
- During Production: Create TikTok-fit content with services or partners via Symphony Creative Studio, TikTok Creative Exchange, and TikTok One Creator Marketplace
- During Optimization: Fine-tune campaign assets with just a click via TikTok Ads Manager
Success Stories
Finally, Nestlé Business Lead for Food & Beverage Clarisse Yeung inspired the audience of marketers with success stories on TikTok Shop. Clarisse shared that it actually took a while for the brand to go on TikTok, but with the platform being so collaborative and helpful as a partner, the brand successfully won on digital as one of the top F&B brands during one of the biggest sales of the year — April 04 or “4.4” — in 2024.
“We’re very good with upper funnel — making our products known — but how do we sell them?” she stressed, proceeding to explain how the brand was able to maximize the ACE Framework on TikTok: Assortment, Content, and Empowerment. In practicing Assortment, Nestlé served different products that are not available in grocery stores, curated specific products online, and added free gifts to its packages to encourage more consumers. Furthermore, the brand made sure to utilize a robust Content strategy for each of Nestlé’s four profiles on TikTok — all with their distinct purposes and content themes. Lastly, for Empowerment, the brand amplified its strategies by leveraging on TikTok Shop Ads.
Winning Seasonal Moments
Wrapping up the main stage program, TikTok Channel Partnerships Manager Trisha Sindiong underlined key strategies on TikTok that are reflective of consumers’ holiday shopping behaviors. This is amplified by a recent finding that the platform is a powerful tool that fuels holiday shopping, with users 1.9-times more likely to spend on Christmas gift shopping, and 81% agreeing that TikTok entertains them with festive content. Trisha stressed that planning for the holidays early is key to success for brands, as TikTok users are twice as likely to start shopping for the holidays in September, but it’s never too late to start.
The program then broke off to two separate tracks: Journey Towards Brand Fame and Winning the GMV Game. These breakout sessions furthered and laid down more direct frameworks and pathways for marketers to follow to fully leverage TikTok’s powers, adding to the afternoon’s already insight-packed and inspiring discussion.
adobo Magazine is an official media partner of TikTok Unboxed 2024.
