The campaign changed the perception of entertainment on TikTok; showcasing, unearthing and supporting a wave of creators on the platform that could entice a new audience onto the platform.

In doing so #LearnOnTikTok connected with an audience in a new way - one that was not only sceptical about the usefulness of the platform, but also didn’t see learning as a form of entertainment.

TikTok cemented its place as the digital platform of 2020: bringing entertainment, fun, memes, lols and music to its 800 million active users worldwide – particularly during the national lockdown of Summer 2020 where many of us sat bored in the house, in the house bored.

But such rapid growth amongst a core younger target audience alienated an older generation of Instagrammers, Facebookers and Tweeters. Why would they need another app on their phone? Particularly one that they perceived to be silly and superficial. TikTok had a perception problem.

Our brief was to increase relevance and grow brand love, by highlighting the educational and useful content that provided value to users’ daily lives. Getting to an idea that could improve usage, likeability & association and celebrate the creators on the platform.

We started by creating a bonafide sub-brand and hashtag: #LearnOnTikTok. This championed real creator learning content, fueled by the multi-million dollar Creator Learning Fund. The foundations were in place.

We then needed a creative platform simple enough to connect diverse markets (UK & DE) and house a breath of TikTok content, in order to shift perceptions in a big way. Our idea, the A-Z of TikTok. It’s beauty is its simplicity. Just as we have always used the alphabet to teach kids about the world, we used the A-Z construct as a large structural campaign idea to enable TikTok to highlight an array of dazzlingly different and surprising subjects – all brimming with fun, educational content from the app. Equally, it enabled us to serve this content across relevant moments as well as bigger scalable media (EG: TV) that could push out to a broader audience in mass channels.

TikTok’s growth amongst a core younger audience alienated an older generation. Why would they need another app? Particularly one that they perceived to be silly and superficial. TikTok had a perception problem.

We needed a communications strategy designed to overcome rejector mindsets, encouraging detractors to see TikTok as a valuable and relevant destination.

To solve this problem, we knew the perfect place to start. The platform itself. TikTok has a community of creators innovating new ways of learning architecture, pottery, sign language, baking, sexual health, football trickshots… the list goes on. We needed to bring this entertainment to the forefront.

Our challenge was to devise a media-neutral creative platform that could house the breadth of TikTok content. Identifying the right individual and organisations for us to hero across the board to convince our target audience of the usefulness of the platform. Making TikTok a new part of their lives.

The campaign put TikTok content front and centre, and championed real content creators, putting authentic content from the platform as the hero in each execution.

A single TVC execution voiced by Stephen Fry captured the imagination of British audiences, whilst the campaign also ran in social media, OOH, online video, through a spread of partnerships and of course in-app formats where a dedicated A-Z alphabet landing page on TikTok discovery tab directed interested users to relevant hashtags on topics ranging from baking to Zoology. Not to mention a mouth-watering TikTok Live broadcast with PleaseCakes in November.

We used a heavy frequency with multiple messaging executions to build depth of learning into our campaign, creating hundreds of pieces of distinct content. Our intention was that upon experiencing this layered messaging, audiences would have the sense of a campaign that was much bigger than the sum of its parts.

The campaign was a huge success. And Stephen Fry wasn’t the only fan, whose mind was changed on TikTok.

Non-user likability uplift +29%

Download +14%

Associations (Educational Content +19% & Empowering Content +15%)

And it wasn’t just new users who felt a change - the campaign built further brand love with campaign recall in the UK being 22%.

On performance (Facebook Google) channels, the A to Z campaign performed 10 - 20% above benchmark for 25+

Engagement with in-app learning ecosystem during the campaign period 436.1M

We even went again this year, spreading the internet with digital ads that told surprising 'Did you know?' facts! Taking over UK cities with bold murals celebrating our creators facts! Letting people know each & every time, you can #LearnOnTikTok