This work was created entirely by partnering with TikTok influencers to subvert the tropes of sponsored content.

In partnership with Beats by Dre, we decided to break culture to make culture on their TikTok in the summer of 2022. This campaign sought to do “authenticity” a little differently, by leaning into the inherent awkwardness of sponsored content. We didn’t try to hide that we were making ads. We made it obvious, and more importantly, entertaining. After all, Beats by Dre has always been known for its use of in-your-face product placement. So instead of fake authenticity, we had our creators embrace the awkward fake-ness of “sponsored content” and have fun with it.

We collaborated with six creators with over 6M in reach to create concepts that fit their unique voices and spoofed what fans expect from typical advertising partnerships. We got Ben Palmer to stage an email thread between himself and Beats’ marketing team to try to perfect a promotional script. KP Parker impersonated an unenthused influencer fulfilling their millionth brand deal of the month. Connor Boyd staged a back and forth between the “marketing team” and himself to poke fun at the typical relationship between corporations and creators. Then, our creators used the Duet feature to duet their original content and extend the joke by continuing to make fun of the advertising they created.

To get the savvy TikTok audience to pay attention to sponsored content from Beats by Dre and their partners, our strategy was to not be subtle about the fact that we were making ads. We made it obvious and more importantly, entertaining. Our approach was to be self-aware and be subversive with our TikTok content, leaning into the inherent awkwardness of sponsored content by encouraging creators from various TikTok communities (comedy, fashion and beauty to name a few) to make sponsored content that poked fun at common sponcon tropes.

Over the course of 4 months, we collaborated with creators to create TikToks that fit their unique voices and spoofed what fans expect from typical advertising partnerships. From staging interactions with Beats by Dre’s marketing teams, to pretending to be an enthusiast influencer fulfilling their millionth brand deal of of the month, our Creators poked fun at the corporation-creator dynamic on both the Creators’ owned TikTok channels and Beats by Dre’s TikTok channel. We started by publishing the Creator’s first video on the Beats channel and had them duet to them on their own channel. The double subversion of the content emphasized the realness and humor of our content approach. This also allowed us to tap into our Creators’ audiences and bring them to the Beats by Dre channel to tune in.

Our content outperformed Beats historical benchmarks, successfully garnered the engagement and traction Beats looked to achieve for their TikTok page, and ignited a conversation and purchase intent among Gen-Z. As our assets gained in organic reach, we worked with our media partners to Spark the best performing videos, driving further engagement. More important than metrics, the comments shows our community was in on the joke - and loving this new, not-so-serious side of Beats by Dre. Conversation around our content told us that we were doing it right. Comments like “this is amazing advertising lol” to “Bruh 💀💀💀” and “I’m actually going to buy one now” showed our community was in on the joke - and sparked conversation and purchase intent.

4.2M Total Impressions

+89% Engagement Rate vs Previous Beats Campaigns

+2.4x Average Watch Time vs Previous Beats Campaigns

+298% Completion Rate vs Previous Beats Campaigns