On a day that most Madison Avenue is dedicated to TV Upfronts, TikTok launched Branded Mission this morning. It’s an innovative (and subversive) way for brands to crowdsource real (and creative) content from the TikTok community.

Branded Mission empowers creators to interact directly with brands to create (and monetize) their content for marketing campaigns.

This launch illustrates that TikTok is ready to provide digital marketers with new ways of reaching Gen Z and millennial audiences-with or without an advertising agency of record (AOR)-while simultaneously providing allow creators to monetize their creativity with TikTok.

In turn, it eliminates the need to go through one of the thousands of agencies and companies that have emerged to offer influencer marketing services.

Talk about cutting the middleman! So, what is the likely impact of TikTok’s digital disintermediation?

Well, as often happens, the devil is in the details.

TikTok Branded Mission Details

TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide. TikTok tops for the most downloaded apps in the first three months of 2022, beating Instagram and Facebook.

For digital marketers, Branded Mission allows brands to invite creators to contribute to a campaign-if they can create content that is both to their brand and to their TikTok communities. For example, brands might:

• Encourage the community to participate in branded campaigns.
• Let the creators tell the most relevant brand story in a real way.
• Discover the diverse ecosystem of creators who are the main cultural drivers in TikTok.

For creators, Branded Mission gives the broader creator ecosystem the opportunity for digital marketers to choose to create branded content. For example,

• All creators who are at least 18 years old with over 1,000 followers will be eligible to participate in a Branded Mission, which provides more opportunities to earn money with TikTok.
• Creators whose videos are chosen by the brand as ads will get boosted traffic and will also benefit from TikTok’s ad revenue share program, announced two weeks ago on IAB NewFronts.

Now, why are people watching TikTok videos?

While many traditional marketers still think of it as Gen Z’s platform for dance challenges, TikTok said people are being inspired by the broad spectrum of diverse communities as well as the discovery of new brands. , products, and ideas.

Breaking the boundaries of entertainment and cultural definition the creators seem to have a finger on the wrist of the latest trends and appear to represent a new generation of storytellers.

So, if storytelling really brings communities together at TikTok, then it has the potential to create an important opportunity for brands and creators to work together to create compelling content. In TikTok’s view, the participatory nature of the platform has created a completely new way for brands to interact with creators and connect with diverse communities across TikTok.

Let’s see if they are right.

That is why TikTok launched the Branded Mission. This is a series of attacks on advertising agencies that believe Connected TV (CTV) has become a place for people to come back and enjoy their favorite content. And, more than 50% of ad -supported streaming viewing time happens on YouTube CTV for people age 18 and older, according to Nielsen.

TikTok has no CTV option, so they doubled down on the inspiring partnership of the brand and creator. To get an idea of ​​how they position Branded Mission, watch the overview they uploaded to Vimeo.

According to TikTok:

“Branded Mission is an industry-leading ad solution that allows advertisers to crowdsource authentic content from TikTok creators, turn high-performing videos into ads, and improve brand relevance to media impressions. “

In other words, it’s a new way for brands and creators to collaborate on creating branded content.

Now, this new matchmaking service has the potential to help brands discover emerging creators across the wide TikTok – if that’s what they’re interested in doing. Some brands will try the water – and others will wait and see what happens. So, it’s hard to predict if the Branded Mission will start as fast as TikTok itself.

Discovering the Power And Creativity Of Co-Creation

So far this week, the brands that have seen the most success with TikTok are the ones who took the time to watch and listen to the TikTok community before contacting specific creators.

Branded Mission has the potential to bring more brands closer to TikTok communities if-and only if-they’re willing to empower creators they haven’t reviewed yet to contribute to a campaign.

I expect challenger brands are the most likely to fit this profile. And I expect that most market leaders and niche brands will wait and see what happens next. I also expect that a similar phenomenon will occur on the part of the creator of the matchmaking process.

The most likely creators to check out a challenger brand’s Branded Mission page to see if it represents an opportunity to monetize their next video are nano-influencers (1,000 to 10,000 followers) or micro-influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers). And I expect that most macro influencers (100,000 to 1 million followers) and mega or celebrity influencers (over 1 million followers) will wait and see what happens next.

This may have made the early days of Branded Mission as awkward as a middle school dance. But, it can also yield some surprising results. Who knows, things could snowball fast.

Branded Mission is currently in beta testing and is only available to brands and marketers in a dozen markets worldwide. But, TikTok expects Branded Mission to be available in additional markets starting in late 2022.

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