We’re in 2023 now, and we’ve decided to look at some of the best TikTok ads across 2022 and 2023. With over a billion monthly active users, TikTok can’t now be ignored by marketers, particularly those targeting the younger generations. Globally, TikTok has a potential reach for its ads of 884.9 million users aged 18 and over, 17.9% of all internet users.
We recently created a TikTok Paid Ads Guide for Beginners that explains how you can showcase your brand on this vastly popular platform. Although there are similarities to the Facebook and Instagram ad markets, there are also distinct differences. In particular, most successful TikTok ads don’t look like ads, although we have found some notable exceptions. Like everything else on the platform, ads need to entertain their cynical audience, not look like they are hard-selling. The very best TikTok experts can target your ads with pinpoint accuracy, meaning you won’t have to pay for ads delivered to the “wrong” people.
We have honed our skills from working with many high-profile clients who have been willing to experiment to reach the right audience. And many brands have discovered massive success with their TikTok advertising. Their ads have resonated, attracted high interest levels, and ultimately converted precisely the way the advertisers wanted. This post examines a selection of videos from the UK and abroad that have stood out as the best TikTok ads in 2022 and 20237 Best TikTok Ads of 2022 (and 2023) So Far.
1. The M&S 2022 TikTok Campaign
@mandsfood Meet the latest arrivals to the Omballs party – our new Omballs choccy chums, fruit Omballs and bubbly Omballs! Which one are you after? 👇
You would think that cynical Gen Z TikTokers wouldn’t take much notice of ads from a traditional retail chain like M&S (Marks and Spencer). Yet, that isn’t true in practice. M&S have enjoyed many successful campaigns over the last few years, most recently with the video above Omballs video. To quote from M&S’s website, “discover the Belgian chocolate treat, brand-new fruit Omballs, bubbly Omballs, Omball choccy chums and more”.
M&S made this ad (which they have also shared as a standard TikTok video) with ‘Reach’ as their campaign objective. Over its first week, the ad received 12.7k likes, 606 comments, and 176 shares. In addition, the shared video version received 360 likes and 14 comments.
While most people in the UK will already know M&S, Omballs are a new quirky product, first introduced in 2021 as shelf mates to existing food characters, Colin the Caterpillar and Percy Pig. This ad focuses on providing brand recognition for the product and highlights new Omballs in the range.
We believe this is one of this year’s best TikTok ads because it emphasises that even big High Street brands can pique the interest of traditional ad-haters. All they have to do is make their videos enjoyable enough to keep attention to the end. When you compare the CTR at different stages of the video, you can see most clicks occur in the last second.
Last year, M&S created a TikTok ad celebrating Valentine’s Day. They received 18.5 million impressions on this ad, with an engagement rate of 15.47%, indicating that the Omballs campaign still has some legs to continue its successes.
2. Samsung S22 TikTok Ads
@thegalox_ The new Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra! goes on sale February 25th in the US. #samsung #galaxys22ultra #tech
The official global Samsung TikTok account has 1.5 million followers. Samsung has recently released its S22 Ultra phone and emphasises night photography capabilities as its most significant selling point.
Samsung has used the 30-second ad we show above globally, but it has been particularly successful in the UK, where it has received 59.7k likes, 629 comments, and 394 shares over 30 days recently. Notably, TikTok data shows that the highest click-through from the ad occurs in the last few seconds (when it displays the Samsung logo). Clearly, the ad appeals to TikTok users interested in upgrading their phones.
Samsung has continued to push the phone and the capabilities of its camera and partnered with the British Fashion Council and “fashion’s king of the night” Charles Jeffrey to create a film shot entirely at night. These new videos highlight the effectiveness of the camera’s night mode, enabling better photography in low-light environments.
3. Adventure Chef Game’s TikTok Content
@thebandmcmillan what is going on?!?🧐😰😱 #fyp #fypシ #foryou #viral #trend #siblings #crush @AdventureChefOfficial #adventurechef @Episode #episode
♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
One of the most successful recent TikTok gaming ads certainly doesn’t look anything like an ad. The game Adventure Chef partnered with musicians and influencers, The Bank McMillan, to make a video where it appeared that one of the characters was cheating on his girlfriend with another woman. His sister listening in to his conversations, bursts into his bedroom, only to find that he is “cheating” with the game, Adventure Chef.
This is a classic example of influencer marketing, where influencers make and share an entertaining video where they just happen to mention a brand’s name. They don’t labour on the game and don’t even use graphics to name it on-screen. It is also one of the earliest TikTok videos to exceed the 1-minute limit, coming in at 70 seconds, taking advantage of TikTok’s recent increased video length limits.
Adventure Chef has then reused this influencer video as an in-feed ad with App Installs as their primary campaign objective.
4. Coconut Lane’s TikTok Content
@coconutlaneuk COCOGYM25 for 25% off 🙌 redefining activewear for all 🥰 @laurenleahamer #coconutlane #cocogym #activewear #fyp #foryoupage #foryou #trending
The successful London-based fashion and lifestyle accessory eCommerce store Coconut Lane produce trend-led, must-have tech and lifestyle accessories for Millennials and Gen Z. Recently they chose to create two TikTok campaigns, utilising TikTok’s new Shopify integration.
Coconut Lane has recently launched a gym brand, Cocogym. One of their TikTok ad campaigns (using the above video) focused on driving sales to Cocogym and targeted their more athletic Millennial and Gen Z followers.
The brand used behaviour targeting with In-Feed Auction Ads to promote the new range to users directly in their For You feeds, featuring a call-to-action directing them to the new gym range on Coconut Lane’s Shopify website. The ad, which plays sound-on and in-feed, looks very much like other Coconut Lane videos shared on TikTok and includes no hard-selling techniques.
The ad received 595,000 impressions, 5,000 clicks, and 2,200 likes, considerably more than Coconut Lane receives on its organic videos. In addition, the ad generated an impressive cost per click of £0.09.
This was the second of two ads Coconut Lane used to promote products available in their Shopify store. In the earlier ad, they featured their Khaki Leopard Apple Watch Strap. Together, the two ads generated close to 6,000 clicks and 3,000 likes.
5. The 2022 BMW TikTok Campaign
@bmw What colour is your mood? 🧘♀️#BMWiX #BMW #carsoftiktok #Hello2022 #fyp
BMW has traditionally targeted customers from an upper-class social background as they are more likely to be able to afford a luxury vehicle. For the same reason, they typically direct their marketing to middle-aged people who currently earn a high income. However, they clearly see the benefit of promoting their innovative vehicles to the upcoming generation, with TikTok now an essential part of their marketing calendar.
We can’t find a video they have shared on their page similar to their showcased best TikTok ad (for the BMW 1 Series), so the video above depicts another recent successful BMW promotion (72.1K likes to date).
BMW UK created their BMW1 Series ad with the objective of driving mass brand awareness with a new, younger audience on TikTok. In a 25-second video, they intertwined visuals of two Team GB athletes – gymnast Joe Fraser and BMX’er Chaz Worther. It focused on BMW’s 1 Series, which they referred to as ‘The 1″. Fraser and Worther backflipped and wheelied their way around the car whilst showing innovative features like gesture control and optional parking assistance.
BMW used both Top View and In-Feed Ads, giving a mix of organic engagement and massive, impactful awareness. As a result, the ad has received 27 million impressions and a 16.08% click-through rate.
6. Curiously Cinnamon on TikTok
Curiously Cinnamon UK (part of Nestle) is one of those brands that advertise on TikTok but don’t run an active TikTok account where they make organic posts. However, many people still remember the cereal by its former name of Cinnamon Grahams and is a ‘curiously different’ cinnamon whole grain square cereal.
Curiously Cinnamon’s goal on TikTok was to raise mega brand awareness. They did this by creating screen-dominating Top View and engagement-boosting In-Feed ads.
Since 2020, TikTok has partnered with OpenSlate to provide a brand safety solution for TikTok in-feed ads. These ensure ads are delivered in a brand-safe environment by applying OpenSlate ratings pre-campaign and then sharing video-level reporting to confirm the outcome. This OpenSlate solution was integrated across Curiously Cinnamon’s In-Feed Ads to calculate the percentage of impressions served within verified content.
The short 11-second ad featured two animated Curiously Cinnamon squares bumping into each other on-screen and breaking up, with their googly eyes hanging longer than anything else in the air. Sure, it was clearly an ad, but it was short enough to bring a smile to even the most ad-hater’s face before the ad was over. In addition, the ad included a voiceover and suitable branding, making it instantly recognisable.
So far, the ad has brought in over 9.8 million video views and more than 2.4 million clicks. The Top View version of the ad received a 15.65% engagement rate. Additionally, the OpenSlate software reported that 99.73% of all Curiously Cinnamon’s campaign impressions on TikTok were verified brand safe.
7. University of Strathclyde’s Approach on TikTok
@unistrathclyde Why study anywhere else? 😉 #StrathLife #Glasgow #Campus #Autumn #FYP
There is a clear synergy between the target market for a university and typical TikTok followers. Glasgow’s University of Strathclyde has won the Times Higher Education UK University of the Year Award twice (it highlights its 2019 success in its ad) and is no stranger to innovation. Clearly, they don’t want to be looked upon as a traditional old-school stuffy bastion of learning.
The university ran a suite of In-Feed Auction Ads to capture the attention of prospective undergraduate students on TikTok. It made its ads look very similar to the everyday TikTok videos it posts. While the above video is not identical to these ads, it has similar visuals with a different soundtrack.
The university ran three creatives, focusing on a different aspect of university life. The videos intertwined footage showing landmarks and campus buildings combined with text narrative and pieces-to-camera by students.
The campaign has resulted in 1.47 million impressions, delivering over 14,000 clicks. It achieved £0.09 cost-per-click.
House of Marketers (HOM) is a leading TikTok Marketing Agency. Our global agency was built by early TikTok Employees & TikTok Partners, which gives us the insider knowledge to help leading brands, like Redbull, Playtika, Badoo, and HelloFresh win on TikTok. Want us to convert more of Gen Z and Millennials with TikTok? Get in touch with our friendly team, here.