BEIJING – TikTok has concluded its search for a global media partner, appointing PHD as its Global Agency of Record to manage media planning and buying duties across all channels in international markets outside of China. The appointment is effective immediately and will see the global media network facilitate duties across the globe, working closely with the social platform’s global leadership team in Beijing.
As one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world, hitting 1 billion downloads globally in February 2019, TikTok’s tremendous success has contributed to its parent company, ByteDance, being named the world’s most valuable startup. The app, which specialises in short-form video content, became the world’s most downloaded iOS app in the first half of 2018 and has remained among the top 4 global apps on all mobile operating systems ever since. The company will now leverage PHD’s global media expertise to drive further growth.
Anna Chitty, CEO of PHD China, adds: “As a ‘challenger brand at scale’, PHD shares common values and thinking with TikTok, which has broken records in the social media landscape to become the fastest-growing platform in history. We are honoured to partner with such an incredible success story and look forward to the challenge of accelerating their global momentum further.”
Philippa Brown, Worldwide CEO of PHD said, “We’re delighted to be partnering with TikTok at this exciting stage in the platform’s growth journey. The global assignment utilises PHD’s key network capabilities and expertise in areas such as technology, data and digital content.”
Omnicom Media Group China’s Chief Operating Officer, Claudine Kwek, comments: “This is yet another validation of our brand-led, Group-powered approach in delivering market-leading solutions for our clients. It is also a testament to all the transformation efforts we have undertaken as a Group in China, attracting a new breed of clients with our agile systems and highly focused Centres of Excellence. We look forward to deploying these services for TikTok and working with them on the continuation of their global success story.”
About PHD
A challenger mindset has been at the heart of PHD since it was founded in London in 1990 as the first media agency to offer strategic and creative planning. Today, PHD is a challenger brand at scale with over 100 offices in 74 countries, united by a philosophy of Finding a Better Way.
Even challenging the usual ways of working, PHD’s gamified operating system, Source, connects the network’s 6,000 brilliant minds to deliver innovation and creativity for clients across all traditional and emerging media channels.
According to benchmarking report The 2019 WARC Media 100, PHD has the most globally awarded offices and is the second most globally awarded network in the world.
As a thought leader in the industry, PHD has published several books, including Merge | The closing gap between technology and us and Overthrow II: 10 strategies from the new wave of challengers.
Part of Omnicom Media Group, PHD benefits from the buying power of the group and the cutting-edge, people-based precision marketing and insights platform Omni.
PHD is today one of the world’s fastest-growing media and communications agency networks and currently holds three Network of the Year 2018 awards from Campaign, Eurobest and Cristal. www.phdmedia.com
