Campaign Staff
May 20, 2024

TikTok Ad Awards 2024 honours the best ad campaigns from Singapore and Malaysia

The inaugural awards programme is aimed at celebrating the best TikTok campaigns in Southeast Asia— all of which showcase boundless creativity.

TikTok Ad Awards 2024 honours the best ad campaigns from Singapore and Malaysia
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Creativity is the reason TikTok is often perceived as a harbinger of entertainment and culture trends. It’s also the reason TikTok creators continue to gain influence and grow their following, as they continually create authentic content that both informs and entertains.

Right alongside creators, brands too are using their creative prowess and know-how to produce novel ads and branded content exclusive to the platform. And given that so many brands in the region are keen to show off their playful side with irreverent content, TikTok is naturally suited to convey brand messaging in a hugely entertaining way.

There’s plenty of evidence that creativity is the fuel for performance marketing, and many brands in the region are smart enough to use compelling narratives leading to real-world action. And if persuasion is key, there’s no better way to engage and convert than an entertaining TikTok video.

So, for the first time this year, TikTok is celebrating the best ads in the region with The TikTok Ad Awards, an annual awards programme for Southeast Asia with the purpose of celebrating creative brand solutions, innovation, and effectiveness on the platform. Seeking entries from key markets across the region, the work is judged by an esteemed jury comprising brand and agency leaders, with separate panels for each market.

There are four accolades to be won for campaigns: best branding, best performance, best commerce, and best local hero. The latter award is intended to celebrate businesses that have leveraged TikTok ads to impact their business and local community. Additionally, there are separate awards for best media and creative agencies.

Despite 2024 being the inaugural year for the annual awards, TikTok garnered an impressive 1,047 submissions across Southeast Asia, with 228 of them from Singapore and Malaysia. The decision for the awards to be judged at a local-market level means that homegrown nuances and context do not get lost in translation. As it were, the perceived homogeneity of Asia markets in the West is the reason so much great content from Southeast Asia often flies under the radar on the global awards stage. 

So, let’s break down a few of the winners so far. 

In Singapore, local brand Sterra was a big champ as it won a gold for best performance and silver for best local hero for its innovative air purifier campaign that resonated with pet owners, using the hashtag #PetsofTikTok. Within the prevalent hashtag, the brand inspired creators to share their pets’ shedding habits, linking them to the brand’s air purifier and dehumidifier products.

Sterra

Meanwhile, the Singapore Civil Defence Force picked up a gold for best branding for its viral campaign to educate the public on only contacting emergency medical services when a real emergency occurs. Local recruitment app JobsOnDemand — in collaboration with local agency Visibiliti — impressed jury members with its skit-based campaigns and picked up two awards in two respective categories: best local hero (gold) and best performance (Bronze). 

SCDF

JobsOnDemand

Across the pond in Malaysia, McDonald’s surpassed 50 competitors to clinch a gold in the best branding category. The brand leveraged TikTok-native content by showcasing Malaysia-based singer Alyph’s rendition of a viral song. The campaign was successful in engaging Gen Z audiences with interactive ads and the #DoDaDip challenge to promote the brand’s McNuggets sauces. Overall, McDonald’s gained a 16% boost in ad recall and a 6% increase in nuggets purchases among teens.

McDonald's Malaysia

In the best performance category, telco giant CelcomDigi’s attention-grabbing ads that centred around value propositions and savings managed to target pre-determined cohorts: subscribers, non-subscribers, and region-specific audiences. As a result, the brand achieved a 52% decrease in cost-per-lead and an impressive 41% surge in conversions.
 
Patricia Goh, country lead, brand partnerships, Singapore & Malaysia, at TikTok, said that entries from both markets embodied immense passion and creativity. This high standard of creativity will certainly go together with the platform’s plan to grow its commerce features in an already-saturated landscape.
 
“As shoppertainment content grows in popularity on TikTok in this region, there is definitely huge potential in the future for brands and agencies to create more innovative commerce campaigns,” said Goh. 
 
Based on the 2024 Global Digital Report by Meltwater and We Are Social, in Singapore alone, users spend over 33 hours each month on TikTok, making it the most popular app in terms of time spent. In Malaysia, time spent on TikTok is even higher, standing at nearly 39 hours a month. With more than 325 million monthly active users in Southeast Asia, TikTok continues to be a home for entertaining content, coupled with its focus on social-commerce goals and support for small businesses in the region.
 
On trends she noticed this year, Goh said that most award winners in Singapore and Malaysia were TikTok-first in nature, exemplifying the platform’s sheer ubiquity in the region. 
 
“A lot of the content was true to the visual trends and style of the platform and used creators to showcase their messaging in fun and authentic ways,” she added. “Whether they took a high- or lo-fi production approach, the winners all understood what made great content on TikTok—entertainment. Through great use of music, humour or editing style, they created immersive content that was enjoyable for our audiences.”
 
Goh also thanked brands and agencies for their support that has helped catapult TikTok into a fast-growing platform in the region. She said, “We are grateful to all the brands that took the time to submit their campaigns to this year’s inaugural awards and look forward to celebrating with more campaigns next year.” 
 
Brands who missed out on this year’s awards, ought to watch out for entry dates for next year’s edition. As a bonus, it’s free to enter. Right from the outset, The TikTok Ad Awards have proved themselves to be a great opportunity to showcase your creative prowess, instincts for effectiveness, and ability to move the needle demonstrably on brand performance metrics. All powered by TikTok — one of the region’s most engaging platforms for entertainment, content, and commerce. Why would you want to miss out on a chance to be shortlisted next to some of the region’s most dynamic brands? 
 
To get inspired by this year’s creatives, please check out our Malaysia 2024 and Singapore 2024 award winners.

 

Source:
Campaign Asia

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