CANNES — Brands must build creative for TikTok itself in order to drive attention and outcomes on the platform, says TikTok’s head of global marketing science.
“Build for the platform,” says Jorge Ruiz, Global Head of Marketing Science at TikTok, in this video interview with Beet.TV. “If you do a TV spot, it’s going to work on a TV campaign. You do a TikTok ad, it’s going to work on TikTok.”
Ruiz’s comments amount to a plea against shovelware, or repurposing of creative designed for a different medium.
Empowering Talent
Ruiz, who leads TikTok’s global marketing science practice, says his team focuses on answering two key questions for advertisers: “Do the ads work and why and how (do) they work?”
To do so, Ruiz has assembled measurement, research and data science teams that work closely with TikTok’s product and marketing organizations.
“At the end of the day, hire smart people, let them do their job and empower them,” he says. “I think part of it is you first want to bring in very high calibre talent, find smart people, but then what you tend to look for is you have to have practises where there’s high level of operational discipline.”
Measuring Outcomes
Four years ago, when TikTok was just beginning, the platform worked with measurement firm Nielsen to demonstrate the value of advertising on TikTok.
“We did globally with our partners at Nielsen, we went throughout the world and every model we ran, we saw consistent return on ad spend and effectiveness and efficiency for TikTok,” Ruiz says.
Now, brands are asking how to grow with TikTok and seeking to understand metrics like incremental reach. “It’s a growth journey, but applying a measurement portfolio for the right questions at the right time,” he says.
Advising Brands
When brands come to TikTok with a campaign idea, Ruiz says his team aims to guide them on best practices without being prescriptive.
“You have to follow clients where they are and helping evolve their journey because clients also need, part of it’s about trust, but they also need a journey in a certain way because they have to convince their stakeholders,” he says. “It’s not like a three day campaign. It’s a three year campaign that we go through.”
Ruiz believes authenticity is key to driving attention on TikTok.
“When it comes to, I’ll give you an example, so when I’ve done with a team a lot of research and thinking and lot of attention, to me it’s like, well, why does TikTok have a lot of attention?” he says. “And you know what keeps coming up? Authenticity. It’s about the tone and the context of how you’re building for the community.”
You’re watching “Your Performance Is Only as Strong as Your Measurement Plan,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series at Cannes Lions 2024, presented by TikTok. For more videos, please visit this page. To view all of Beet.TV’s Cannes Lions 2024 content, please visit this page.
